Question Is the RTX 3060 a good GPU and is it compatible with my build ?

[sburhan10]

Hi guys. Its been a while since I posted something here. Life has been busy but now its time for an upgrade so what better forum to ask for help.

Two days ago, I ran into a problem on my PC. I was working on it and it showed me the BSOD (Blue Screen). This problem wasn't very frequent until that day and but now its a thing every time I start my PC. My first thought was to change the PSU that I have.

I have two hard disks, one is a WD Green 240GB SSD and the other is a Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB HDD. Before that day, my HDD used to get disconnected frequently but my Windows kept running and I could see it connect and disconnect. So my first thought was that the power supply to that HDD is not constant because everything was working but the HDD. And that way I got to know that my PSU is [redacted] which is this one: iBall Marathon 500w

So when two days ago I started seeing this BSOD, I first thought of changing my PSU and getting a good one with 80 Plus Gold rating because if the power supply is not enough for my HDD it must not be enough to run my PC. So I am now going with this PSU: Deepcool PM850D. So my first question is: should I buy this PSU or go for something else?

Now since I am going for a higher watt PSU, I thought it would be a waste of so much power as I don't have that anything that consumes that much power. So now I am also looking to upgrade my GPU. The last I updated my GPU was in 2012 which was a GTX 650. And as you know with great powers comes great responsibilities, I decided to go with an RTX 3060. So my second question is: should I buy this GPU or go for something else? And if I go with this GPU will the PSU that I buy be compatible with it?

I would really appreciate a detailed answer for both of these questions. I would be happy to provide any specific details you require.

My current build:
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: GTX 650
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB DDR4 3000 x2
SSD: WD Green 240 GB
HDD: Seagate BarraCude 1 TB
PSU: iBall Marathon 500W
Case: Chiptronex Spline ATX Mid Tower

 

[Lutfij]

What sort of PSU's do you have access to and what sort of a budget have you allocated towards your build? If the RTX3060/RTX3060Ti is the card that you're going to stick with for a long time, you can look into a 650~750W reliably built unit and call it a day. If you intend to upgrade the entire platform around the corner with a much beefier GPU, with the way the parts TDP are looking, you should look into an 850W unit and should be able to retain it for a few builds down the road.

One other note, I see you buying a better designed case to alleviate the issue of your current case not having proper airflow/front panel ventilation to allow for good airflow in the case.

 

[sburhan10]

Thank you for replying. I have a budget of INR 40,000 for my GPU and around INR 8000-8500 for my PSU. I think if I buy a GPU now, I might stick with it for atleast 3-4 years down the road. My concern was with the compatibility of my MB and my CPU with RTX 3060. Will they be compatible if I buy it? I want to be able to play games like Cyberpunk with pretty good FPS but also be able to use blender and Premiere Pro for faster renders. So will this GPU be enough for that?

I would like to have a bigger PSU to make myself future proof as I don't want to be spending again on a PSU in my future builds. Will the case be a bigger problem in my build? If so then, I'll add more fans to it or upgrade it fully.

 

[Lutfij]

The GPU will drop into any motherboard that has a PCIe x16 slot. You meet that requirement, processor wise, you might need something a little higher.

 

[sburhan10]

Oh upgrading the CPU? I think that would be hefty change. If I keep using the same CPU, what can be the problems I can run into?

 

[Avro Arrow]

I can't recommend the RTX 3060 because it's not worth the asking price and that's assuming that it's a real RTX 3060 12GB and not the RTX 3060 8GB which is actually a slower card.

I'll explain what I'm talking about:

The RTX 3060 12GB costs at least $345 for a single-fan model. However, for only $15 more, you can get an RX 6700 XT.

That means the RX 6700 XT is 4% more expensive than the RTX 3060. However, the RX 6700 XT is 27% more powerful than the RTX 3060.

This makes buying the RTX 3060 objectively a bad decision. The RX 6700 XT does have a TDP of 230W while the RTX 3060 has a TDP of only 170W but that's normal for a card of a higher performance tier. If you have the budget to afford the RTX 3060, then I recommend the RX 6700 XT instead.

 

[sburhan10]

But what about the capabilities of the RTX 3060 in terms of ray tracing. Does the RX 6700 XT outperform the RTX 3060 in terms of ray tracing?

My concern for buying RTX 3060 is the ray tracing capabilities and being a little future proof. I would run this new card for atleast 3 years.

My usage will be gaming, streaming and some editing in premiere pro and blender. So does the RX 6700 XT works better with rendering and multi threaded applications?