Question Can my PC handle a NVIDA 3060 TI without upgrading anything else?

[hexzero13]

Hi!
I used to dabble with computer building a bit but it has been many many years. I bought a gaming PC about 5 years ago from IBUYPOWER because life was happening and I couldn't build a new PC from scratch at the time when my previous had suddenly died. This machine still runs great and has given me no issues but I am considering upgrading from a 2060 Super to a 3060 TI. Can my motherboard/PSU/PC in general support this upgrade? Am I missing anything?

Just want to make sure I am not ordering something I don't have the right connections for or something bone headed like that(maybe lack of space? Is the 3060 a lot bigger etc).....like I said it's been a while haha. I am considering upgrading this for Battlefield 6 if that is helpful in anyway. PC's current specs below. Thank you so much for any help/guidance you all can provide!

Case	iBUYPOWER Element MR Mirror Finished Tempered Glass ARGB Gaming Case
Case Fans	Default Case Fan
Case Lighting	iBUYPOWER RGB Lighting - [FREE] 1 RGB Lighting Strip
Processor	Intel® Core™ i7-9700K Processor (8x 3.60GHz/12MB L3 Cache)
Processor Cooling	Asetek 550LC 120mm Liquid Cooling System - Standard 120mm Fan
Memory	16 GB [8 GB X2] DDR4-3000 Memory Module - Corsair Vengeance LPX
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER - 8GB GDDR6 (VR-Ready)
Motherboard	ASRock Z390 PHANTOM GAMING 4S-IB -- 802.11ac WiFi, ARGB Header (1), USB 3.2 Gen 1 (4 Rear, 4 Front)
Power Supply	700 Watt - HIGH POWER - 80 PLUS Gold
Advanced Cabling Options	Standard Default Cables
Primary Hard Drive	1 TB WD Black 3D Series SN750 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD -- Read: 3470MB/s; Write: 3000MB/s
Secondary Hard Drive	- [FREE] 2 TB SEAGATE HARD DRIVE 7200RPM - Today Only
Sound Card	3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Network Card	Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)

 

[COLGeek]

Yes (to answer your title question).

 

[Aeacus]

700 Watt - HIGH POWER - 80 PLUS Gold

I'm interested in what the model of the PSU is. Since that defines if you need new PSU as well or not.

Take a pic of the PSU's label (where watts and amps are seen) and upload the pic e.g www.imgur.com and share it here.

Can my motherboard/PSU/PC in general support this upgrade?

MoBo does fine.

While RTX 2060 Super is PCI-E 3.0 GPU and RTX 3060 Ti is PCI-E 4.0 GPU, PCI-E is backwards compatible and at worst, you loose few % worth of performance.

Is the 3060 a lot bigger

Completely depends on what AIB model you go with.

If you look here and scroll down past specs, you can see all different AIB models there are out there,
link: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-rtx-3060-ti.c3681

They vary vastly in size as you can see.

Just want to make sure I am not ordering something I don't have the right connections

Power wise, again, depends on the specific AIB model.

On FE edition, RTX 30-series has 12-pin PCI-E power connector. But proper adapter is included with GPU, which converts two 8-pin PCI-E to one 12-pin PCI-E.
Some AIB models may use the standard 8-pin PCI-E power connector.

I am considering upgrading this for Battlefield 6 if that is helpful in anyway.

To see if you need better GPU or not, make a simple test;

Play 2-3 of your games on high/ultra settings and note down average FPS.
Then, play same games again but put graphical settings to low/min. Look if FPS did increase or not.

If FPS did increase in a meaningful way (more than 5 FPS), then better GPU gives more FPS.
But if FPS didn't increase or remains within negligible difference (+/- 5FPS), then you're held back by CPU and better GPU does 0.

Yes (to answer your title question).

If so, care to tell me the PSU's model and build quality? 🤔

 

[COLGeek]

If so, care to tell me the PSU's model and build quality? 🤔

Surely the PSU can power the new GPU, as it is powering the current one. And the new GPU is not overly demanding in general terms of power needed.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-rtx-3060-ti.c3681

 

[hexzero13]

Thank you both for your help! I will take a look at the PSU and follow up with the brand just as a precaution.

Regarding the connectors...just want to make sure I am following. Are you saying my current setup would be using 2 8 pin connectors, and the 3060 would have a single 12 pin, but an adapter would be included? Sorry to sound so clueless just haven't really opened up a PC in 10 or so years so I am a bit out of touch!

On FE edition, RTX 30-series has 12-pin PCI-E power connector. But proper adapter is included with GPU, which converts two 8-pin PCI-E to one 12-pin PCI-E.
Some AIB models may use the standard 8-pin PCI-E power connector.

 

[powpowboom]

Thank you both for your help! I will take a look at the PSU and follow up with the brand just as a precaution.

Regarding the connectors...just want to make sure I am following. Are you saying my current setup would be using 2 8 pin connectors, and the 3060 would have a single 12 pin, but an adapter would be included? Sorry to sound so clueless just haven't really opened up a PC in 10 or so years so I am a bit out of touch!

3060 are old cards, I wasn't aware that they use the new 12 pin connector found in 40 and 50 series nvidia cards. So I wouldn't even worry about it or a simple google search should tell you what power connectors are on the card. But even if the 3060 used a 12 pin connector, I've purchased 6 nvidia 40 series cards in the last 2 years and they all came with adapters so I wouldn't worry about it.

Your 700 watt gold power supply is overkill for the 3060 ti, so as long as it is in good working condition, you should be ok

 

[COLGeek]

Thank you both for your help! I will take a look at the PSU and follow up with the brand just as a precaution.

Regarding the connectors...just want to make sure I am following. Are you saying my current setup would be using 2 8 pin connectors, and the 3060 would have a single 12 pin, but an adapter would be included? Sorry to sound so clueless just haven't really opened up a PC in 10 or so years so I am a bit out of touch!

Do you have a link for the specific GPU you are considering?

 

[hexzero13]

Do you have a link for the specific GPU you are considering?

Admittedly I do not...I would probably try to get one of the 'better' brands but I am way out of touch on what those would be. I was always a big ASUS fan. Are they still well regarded? Any recommendations?

Admittedly this all spun out of my friend texting me about the BF6 beta this morning so I am flying off a bit half cocked haha!

 

[Aeacus]

Are you saying my current setup would be using 2 8 pin connectors, and the 3060 would have a single 12 pin, but an adapter would be included?

For the most part, RTX 2060 Super uses one 8-pin PCI-E connector. But since there are many AIB models, some of them may use two power connectors.

Full list of AIB models here: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-rtx-2060-super.c3441

RTX 3060 Ti, for the most part, uses 12-pin connector. But when it does, proper adapter is included with the GPU.

.I would probably try to get one of the 'better' brands but I am way out of touch on what those would be. I was always a big ASUS fan. Are they still well regarded? Any recommendations?

Better ones include: Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte and MSI.

Here are comparison articles of the best AIB models,
article 1: https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-gef...u#nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-ti-founders-edition
article 2: https://hothardware.com/news/3060ti-roundup

Personally, i'd go with MSI Gaming X series (great cooling with minimal noise) or EVGA one (solid build quality and great for OC).

Though, at current moment, finding brand new RTX 3060 Ti is tough. But there are some options;
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=497,513&sort=price&page=1

Now, if you plan to buy used GPU, then most used RTX 30-series GPUs are most likely ex-mining GPUs. And i, personally, would not buy one.

Here's GamersNexus'es take on if you should buy used GPU or not. At 11:42;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Yp6pQRdns#t=11m42s

3060 are old cards, I wasn't aware that they use the new 12 pin connector found in 40 and 50 series nvidia cards.

Do note that 12-pin PCI-E used on RTX 30-series cards is not the same 16-pin connector (12VHPWR and 12V-2x6) as used on RTX 40- and 50-series cards.

In this reddit thread, there is a picture where RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 4090 are side-by-side, showing different power connectors they have;
link: https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/102jam2/nvidia_30series_12pin_port_is_pin_compatible_with/

 

[COLGeek]

Admittedly I do not...I would probably try to get one of the 'better' brands but I am way out of touch on what those would be. I was always a big ASUS fan. Are they still well regarded? Any recommendations?

Admittedly this all spun out of my friend texting me about the BF6 beta this morning so I am flying off a bit half cocked haha!

What is your actual budget? With that info, we can make actual recommendations.

 

[Third-Eye]

Only the RTX 30 series Founder Edition and all of the FE and AIB RTX 40/50 series (also some new RX 90 series) cards use the new 12VHPWR/12v-2x6 connection. I don't know why multiple people have said most of the cards use it. The majority of the cards are from AIB and they use the same 6+2 pin PCIe power cable(s) as the RTX 2060 Super.

 

[geofelt]

Your pc seems to meet the minimum requirements for BF6:

• Windows 10
• Processor(AMD): AMD Ryzen 5 2600
• Processor(Intel): Intel Core i5-8400
• Memory: 16GB
• Graphics Card(AMD): AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB
• Graphics Card(Nvidia): Nvidia RTX 2060
• Direct X: DX12
• Online Connection Requirements: Yes
• Hard Drive Space: HDD - 55GiB
• Additional Notes: TPM 2.0 Enabled

Battlefield™ 6 System Requirements​

Recommended PC System Requirements​

• OS: Windows 11
• Processor(AMD): AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
• Processor(Intel): Intel Core i7-10700
• Memory: 16GB
• Graphics Card(AMD): AMD Radeon RX 6700-XT
• Graphics Card(Nvidia): Nvidia RTX 3060Ti
• Direct X: DX12
• Online Connection Requirements: Yes
• Hard Drive Space: SSD - 80GiB
• Additional Notes: TPM 2.0 Enabled

I suggest you stick with what you have until you try out the game.
You will then have a better idea as to what you really need.

I see many negatives with what you have now.
The cpu is old with no significant upgrades without changing the motherboard.
An aio does not last forever. Typically 5 years or so.

The 3060 ti upgrade is not such a big jump in capability.
I fear you may be disappointed if you don't see magical results.

Pre built pc's will usually supply only the minimum generic psu that will run your current parts.
They are not designed to be upgraded.
Much stronger graphics cards will be the main power draw.

Do you know the make/model of your case?

 

[logainofhades]

I personally would not recommend getting an 8gb GPU if you can avoid it. Though the system requirements are modest, you might run into issues, in larger player maps, with only 8gb vram. The 6700xt that is shown in the requirements is actually a better GPU, than a 3060ti, with regards to pure rasterization performance.

 

[Third-Eye]

I'd be buying an new RX 9060 XT 16GB or used RX 7700 XT (12GB VRAM) if near the price of the used RTX 3060 TI. The only reason I can see for buying such an old lower end RTX card is for DLSS, since ray tracing is going to be slow on all of these cards. FSR 4 for the RX 90 series is making it's way into more games, but at a slow pace. However, FSR 4 is near DLSS 4 quality, and a bit better than DLSS 3.x.

RX 9060 XT is something like 50% faster than the RTX 3060 TI at 1080p medium settings and 40-50% faster at 1440p medium. The RX 7700 XT within +/-5% of the RX 9060 XT 16GB performance.

 

[hexzero13]

For the most part, RTX 2060 Super uses one 8-pin PCI-E connector. But since there are many AIB models, some of them may use two power connectors.

Full list of AIB models here: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-rtx-2060-super.c3441

RTX 3060 Ti, for the most part, uses 12-pin connector. But when it does, proper adapter is included with the GPU.


Better ones include: Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte and MSI.

Here are comparison articles of the best AIB models,
article 1: https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-gef...u#nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-ti-founders-edition
article 2: https://hothardware.com/news/3060ti-roundup

Personally, i'd go with MSI Gaming X series (great cooling with minimal noise) or EVGA one (solid build quality and great for OC).

Though, at current moment, finding brand new RTX 3060 Ti is tough. But there are some options;
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=497,513&sort=price&page=1

Now, if you plan to buy used GPU, then most used RTX 30-series GPUs are most likely ex-mining GPUs. And i, personally, would not buy one.

Here's GamersNexus'es take on if you should buy used GPU or not. At 11:42;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Yp6pQRdns#t=11m42s


Do note that 12-pin PCI-E used on RTX 30-series cards is not the same 16-pin connector (12VHPWR and 12V-2x6) as used on RTX 40- and 50-series cards.

In this reddit thread, there is a picture where RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 4090 are side-by-side, showing different power connectors they have;
link: https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/102jam2/nvidia_30series_12pin_port_is_pin_compatible_with/

Thank you! I definitely have heard to avoid used GPUs. Don't want that! In the past I had bought ASUS gpus so I will look for that or MSI. Thanks again!

 

[hexzero13]

What is your actual budget? With that info, we can make actual recommendations.

I'd be willing to spend 3-500$ if it would make a difference, more than that and I'd likely save for a whole new PC I think.

I plan to test the beta some tomorrow and see how it runs with current setup and if that is tolerable haha. As some other folks have said MSI and ASUS are good options do you think I would find that in this price range.

Am I better off looking for an even stronger video card?

 

[hexzero13]

I'd be buying an new RX 9060 XT 16GB or used RX 7700 XT (12GB VRAM) if near the price of the used RTX 3060 TI. The only reason I can see for buying such an old lower end RTX card is for DLSS, since ray tracing is going to be slow on all of these cards. FSR 4 for the RX 90 series is making it's way into more games, but at a slow pace. However, FSR 4 is near DLSS 4 quality, and a bit better than DLSS 3.x.

RX 9060 XT is something like 50% faster than the RTX 3060 TI at 1080p medium settings and 40-50% faster at 1440p medium. The RX 7700 XT within +/-5% of the RX 9060 XT 16GB performance.

So you recommend buying something stronger than a 3060? That makes sense I suppose if your gonna spend a few hundred bucks spend a bit more for something optimal. So an RX9060 would work with my setup?

 

[COLGeek]

I'd be willing to spend 3-500$ if it would make a difference, more than that and I'd likely save for a whole new PC I think.

I plan to test the beta some tomorrow and see how it runs with current setup and if that is tolerable haha. As some other folks have said MSI and ASUS are good options do you think I would find that in this price range.

Am I better off looking for an even stronger video card?

I would recommend a more current model.

Something like this if staying Nvidia.

https://a.co/d/36pwMWx

The previous recommendation for the RX 9060 XT is solid as well.

 

[Aeacus]

Only the RTX 30 Founder Edition and all of the FE and AIB RTX 40/50 series (also some new RX 90 series cards) cards use the new 12VHPWR/12v-2x6 connection. I don't know why multiple people have said most of the cards use it. The majority of the cards are from AIB and they use the same 6+2 pin PCIe power cable(s) as the RTX 2060 Super.

Not all RTX 3060 Ti AIB models use the 8-pin connector. Some still use 12-pin or 16-pin connector.

Few examples include:
Asus Atlas Shark (older ones had 12-pin, newer ones have 16-pin), article: https://wccftech.com/asus-geforce-rtx-3060-ti-atlas-shark-gpus-come-with-16-pin-12vhpwr-connector/
Asus ATS/Megalodon (16-pin), article: https://wccftech.com/geforce-rtx-3060-ti-with-12vhpwr-connector-melts-badly/

But in any event, proper adapter is included with the GPU when need be. So, there would not be power connector issue.

Bigger issue would be PSU's build quality, hence why i asked the label of it.

So an RX9060 would work with my setup?

It works. But since RX 9060 XT is PCI-E 5.0 GPU, you'd have a bit of performance loss. ~4% or so.

Source: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5090-pci-express-scaling/32.html

Also, not that many AIB models to choose from;
specs: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-rx-9060-xt-16-gb.c4293

For AMD GPUs, Sapphire ones are the best.
AIB model comparison: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...p-every-announced-card-from-every-aib-partner


But i'd still like to know your PSU's model. Since as said above, PSUs in prebuilt PCs are usually poor ones. And with this, you surely don't want your new GPU to be killed by the old and poor PSU, do you now?

Edit: There is RX 9060 XT and new, upcoming RX 9060. XT version is better performing. Also, there are no reviews of the regular 9060, only announcement of it;
article: https://www.techpowerup.com/339595/amd-officially-launches-radeon-rx-9060-non-xt-gpu

 

[logainofhades]

So you recommend buying something stronger than a 3060? That makes sense I suppose if your gonna spend a few hundred bucks spend a bit more for something optimal. So an RX9060 would work with my setup?

A 9600xt 16gb fits into your budget perfectly.

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: ASRock Challenger OC Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $369.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-08-07 13:45 EDT-0400

There is no significant performance loss going with gen 3, unless you are using the 8gb version, which I wouldn't recommend. The card itself isn't fast enough to fully saturate a 3.0 x16 bus.

 

[Third-Eye]

If you do stay nvidia and don't plan to upgrade your CPU to something new any time soon, the lowest I'd go is an RTX 5070 or a used RTX 4070/70 Super/70 TI. The 4070 Super matches the 5070 in performance.

RTX 5060 TI and lower RTX 50 series are all x8 bus cards and will have a massive performance penalty on a PCIe 3.0 system like yours. They're also annoyingly way over priced for what you get and they're just terrible for older PCs because of the x8 bus issue before the 8GB VRAM possible issue.

Also, there is a Super refresh of the RTX 50 series coming probably by the end of this year, and that might make the 5070 even cheaper to buy or possibly make the 5070 Super worth grabbing instead with a VRAM uprade to 18GB.

Either way, For $500-600 range I'd be picking a RX 9070 non XT (16GB VRAM) or an RTX 5070 (12GB VRAM). For you're current system if you stay in a lower budget, the RX 9060 XT 16GB specifically is the best choice if you think you don't care about DLSS.

 

[artk2219]

I'd be willing to spend 3-500$ if it would make a difference, more than that and I'd likely save for a whole new PC I think.

I plan to test the beta some tomorrow and see how it runs with current setup and if that is tolerable haha. As some other folks have said MSI and ASUS are good options do you think I would find that in this price range.

Am I better off looking for an even stronger video card?

If you're looking to spend 3 - 500, an RX 9060 XT 16GB is a solid bet, I would not go for an RTX 3060 of any form at this point. As for the brand of the GPU, I wouldn't get hung up on it. Some particular models may be better or worse than others, but the brands themselves all perform about the same, and are about the same in terms of reliability. Also MSI currently does not make any AMD GPU's and the cheapest Asus card is like $440, 70 dollars more than the cheapest RTX 9060 XT 16GB.

I would also consider upgrading your system RAM from 16GB to 32GB, 16GB is getting to be a little light for some newer games.

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: *ASRock Challenger OC Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $369.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-08-07 14:13 EDT-0400

 

[hexzero13]

But i'd still like to know your PSU's model. Since as said above, PSUs in prebuilt PCs are usually poor ones. And with this, you surely don't want your new GPU to be killed by the old and poor PSU, do you now?

Edit: There is RX 9060 XT and new, upcoming RX 9060. XT version is better performing. Also, there are no reviews of the regular 9060, only announcement of it;
article: https://www.techpowerup.com/339595/amd-officially-launches-radeon-rx-9060-non-xt-gpu

Thank you again this is super detailed. based on the last few posts it looks like the RX9060 is probably a better plan to shoot for. I will definitely take a look at the PSU tonight and let you know....stuck in the office for a few more hours today yet! Thanks again for all of your help!