Question GeForce RTX 3060 12GB - Upgrade Query

[CarnorJax]

Hi All,

Hopefully I have chosen the right part of the forum for this. I currently have a NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 6gb GPU from when I got my PC back in 2018 and i'm looking for a modest/solid GPU upgrade at the moment instead of the expense of a new PC rig. I don't play a lot of new titles these days and I don't care about Ultra graphics etc but at the same time my 1060 is clearly being left behind the times now.

For example I'm currently playing Sons of the Forest (get in the 30 fps range generally with some brief increases in the 40 range and drops below 30 range. I use FSR much as I can in some games such as Cyberpunk 2077 as I don't have access to DLSS.

I came across a deal £230 for the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and it does look like a solid upgrade at a good cost and would also give me access to DLSS technology. My question is with my other components are there any issues I might encounter? I guess some bottlenecking but would it be too much of issue to really get in the way of my gaming. My biggest worry is the PSU usage of my entire PC when gaming...

I currently have...

AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six Core CPU (3.4GHz-3.9GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
ASUS® PRIME B350M-A (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) MOTHERBOARD
16gb DDR4 RAM
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
500GB WD Blue™ 3D NAND 2.5" SSD, (upto 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE

The site suggests a 550W for this card but that GPU requires around 170 watts so not sure about those other components and what they will all draw at maximum loads. Upgrading other parts of my PC would also defeat the point of this being a cost cutting methods as money is tight at the moment for what discretionary spending I am willing to commit too.

I did look at a PSU calculator (not sure how accurate these are) it said 500-599w and I sit right in the middle. 650w PSU aren't that expensive so I guess I could always increase my PSU though it would be preferred if I didn't have too.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

The site suggests a 550W for this card but that GPU requires around 170 watts so not sure about those other components and what they will all draw at maximum loads. Upgrading other parts of my PC would also defeat the point of this being a cost cutting methods as money is tight at the moment for what discretionary spending I am willing to commit too.
+
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
How old is the PSU in your build? Did it power the GTX1060 and the above listed build throughout it's tenure?

Out of curiosity, what BIOS version are you on for your motherboard? Got a link to your ram kit?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

The RTX3060 is a fairly efficient card, relative to most modern GPUs. I would not have any qualms about running that and the rest of your system on a (2017) TX550M Gold, even if its a few years old. These are quite good quality units.

I think your specs currently would be a fairly balanced pairing with a 3060 overall. If you do need an upgrade as long as you update your BIOS, your motherboard should support newer processors. 32gb ram would be a good upgrade option too.

 

[CarnorJax]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

The site suggests a 550W for this card but that GPU requires around 170 watts so not sure about those other components and what they will all draw at maximum loads. Upgrading other parts of my PC would also defeat the point of this being a cost cutting methods as money is tight at the moment for what discretionary spending I am willing to commit too.
+
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
How old is the PSU in your build? Did it power the GTX1060 and the above listed build throughout it's tenure?

Out of curiosity, what BIOS version are you on for your motherboard? Got a link to your ram kit?

My PSU came with the rig in 2018 and has powered everything throughout it's tenure.

Assuming I've done this right my Bios version/date states: American Megatrends Inc. 4014, 11/05/2018.

I'm trying to find my Ram Kit info - I upgraded from the 8gb model kit I had in 2018 some years later to a 16gb kit but I can't remember where I got it from at the moment so will get back to you on that.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

My PSU came with the rig in 2018 and has powered everything throughout it's tenure.

Assuming I've done this right my Bios version/date states: American Megatrends Inc. 4014, 11/05/2018.

I'm trying to find my Ram Kit info - I upgraded from the 8gb model kit I had in 2018 some years later to a 16gb kit but I can't remember where I got it from at the moment so will get back to you on that.

Is your ram 2 8gb sticks, or 4 4gb sticks?

 

[CarnorJax]

Is your ram 2 8gb sticks, or 4 4gb sticks?

2x8 Sticks.

I looked at MyCPU-Z app and it states...

DRAM Frequency 1463.2MHz so is that around 3000Mhz kit?
DRAM - SK Hynix (Cosair)
Part Number: CMK16GX4M2B3200C16

If any of that helps lol.

Not the most ideal ram in todays gaming market I know.

 

[Lutfij]

That PSU has a 7 year warranty. You would need to contact Corsair if anything did happen to the PSU/your build, just an FYI.

As for your motherboard, you have BIOS versions pending update. I state this since now would be a good excuse to eek out the most out of your platform if you haven't, by making sure you have a dual channel DDR4-3200MHz ram kit, or perhaps tweak the timings on your ram kit to squeeze some more perfoermance out of your platform. You could also pick up a 5000 series processor as an upgrade to yours but that Ryzen 5 2600 should stave off that upgrade for a little while.

Just saw your post, you should be able to hit DDR4-3200MHz at those timings by enabling D.O.C.P/X.M.P in BIOS.

 

[CarnorJax]

Thanks for your help Lutfij and NightHawkRMX.

Much appreciated