Question Graphics Card Upgrade

deholtsl

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Jul 26, 2013
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I'm wanting to upgrade my graphics card (if I can get my hands on one). My system is probably about 8 years old, I built it. Here's the specs-- gigabyte 990fxa-ud3 motherboard with AMD FX-8350 CPU and 8 GB single channel DDR3 ram. I'm running windows 10, want to put a NVidia 3060 TI GPU in this setup. My question is, will it work? Thank You, Dan
 
It would be awesome if you could list all of your system specs. I would say you could build a new computer for less than you could buy a GPU right now and be in a much better position to upgrade your GPU at a much more opportune time. CPUs have come a long way since the time of your FX-8350.
 

HappyTrails

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Oct 30, 2020
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Would agree with others maybe just build a new one after 8yrs. Not being the judge before I built this pc my old one was 13yrs old and got very good mileage. With new pc maybe all parts moderately priced you can build a nice one until you try buy gpu. 3060ti I see available locally $1200. Maybe you want check price and availability for you. :)
 

deholtsl

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Jul 26, 2013
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I'm not planning on paying the scalper prices for a GPU. Best Buy has them listed for $399, I can be patient lol. I'm just curious about unforseen problems (will the card work in that motherboard? Will it overheat the CPU? etc.)
 
If you would consider it, buy a whole new system, prebuilt. You are running a very old platform, and your PSU may be running the risk of failing soon, especially if it is a lower quality model. I am all for building a computer yourself, I have done it personally, and helped friends do the same. However, right now, the GPU market is too wild. Prebuilt manufacturers can actually get their hands on GPUs, and have entire, complete, PCs for not much more than some scalpers want for the GPU alone sometimes. You do need to make sure you get a good quality prebuilt, that uses quality components, but it is a route I would suggest you look into.

As for your question, an RTX 3060 ti would work without issue in that system. The only real constraint is your PSU. It needs to be strong enough, both in wattage, and in quality to be able to take a stronger GPU in the current build. You may also run into issues where your CPU will struggle to keep up with what the GPU can do, but this is not an actual problem, just a balance issue with the PC, as long as your CPU can stay cool enough under high load. I know the FX series are very power hungry, and need some very good cooling.
 
Without knowing anything else about your system I can tell you it would be a bad idea to upgrade to a $400 GPU on that old CPU. It could barely keep up with a $400 GPU from 2 generations ago let alone one from this generation. Sell it, get what you can out of it, and buy Ryzen 3000 or 5000 or 10th gen intel. You'll want 16GB of RAM minimum too. Preferably 32GB. All in all if you want it prebuilt you're probably looking at a cost of $1200 USD if you're in the US. I know you probably wanted a cheap and easy fix to be able to play games but your system is too old to just 'Upgrade' like that.
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
Yup, just to amplify what others have said, there's no purpose in getting a 3060 Ti for an FX build. It varies depending on the game, but past a 1050 Ti or so, gains for any FX CPU diminish very quickly. The basic fact is that this is a platform that's going on a decade ago and wasn't a particularly great gaming performer when it was new.
 

deholtsl

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Jul 26, 2013
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So I bought a GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB) on Newegg. The next day I won the shuffle and got a Geforce RTX 3060 (12 GB) card. I cant use both, now I'm torn what to do. I really don't want to be part of the scalping problem, I'm leaning toward sending the 1050 back and keeping the 3060, thinking I'll upgrade my MB and processor down the road. Or I could keep the 1050 and make a profit with the 3060 on ebay....