Question Is the RTX 3060 GPU going to be my best bet?

[Haliax68]

I'm new to all this GPU stuff. I built my first ever PC a few months ago and purposely didn't worry about the GPU at that time, as I didn't even know if I'd ever want or need one. So I got the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G that has the built iGPU and so far it's just fine for what I'm doing. But now, I'm thinking I might wade into the deep end, and try to find a reasonably priced but good performing GPU so I can play some games. I'm not going to drop 500-800 on a PS5, when I just built and already have this kick a$$ PC and 27" monitor.

I've done some research, and it seems like GPU's are just OUT OF CONTROL expensive for a myriad of reasons right now. So getting good value is not going to happen. In addition, I'm not going to have many choices as far as color (I want white or silver to go with my all white build), affordable pricing, and brands. But so far, using this page as a guide GPU comparison chart, I've been able to sort of come to a conclusion, that the cheapest, but good GPU I will be able to actually find and buy is a RTX 3060?

It seems to be pretty high on the list, at the least expensive price, which is what I'm going for. I've watched videos of much more expensive cards that claim to be better and I can't even tell the difference between them. Nor do I care. They all look amazing to me. The last video game system I played on regularly was PS2, if that gives you an idea of what I'm coming from. So basically any video game from PS4 and on looks INSANE to me, haha. I'd say the only thing I want to make sure doesn't happen is lag or slow down. So meaning, as long as the games look pretty good and doesn't get choppy, I'll be happy.

The only other card I saw that is better in performance and around the same price is the still to be released RTX 4060. And who knows when that will be? And will it actually be $330 like they're saying? Will it be available from a lot of reputable companies right away? And in white or silver? And be available for purchase or sold out in secs?

So is an RTX 3060 GPU going to be my best bet in this crazy market right now? For the lowest price and highest performance? Or would do you have other suggestions? It has to have 8-12gb of RAM, be available in white or silver, and be $400 or less and from a good brand.

Thanks everyone!

 

[randyh121]

If you can, get the 3070.
3060 is okay, if you are fine with running medium settings on the newest games. But the problem with the lower end cards is they are not very future proof. The 3070 is 50% better.
UserBenchmark: Nvidia RTX 3060 vs 3070

 

[mjbn1977]

Just a few questions before recommending anything:

1. What Power Supply do you use in your PC? Maker, Model, Wattage?
2. What resolution has your monitor?
3. What kind of games are you going to play? Fast multiplayer? Single player?

The RTX 3060 is a good card for 1080p gaming. In that resolution it can even handle raytracing pretty good. But its not an ideal card for 1440p and defiantly not for 4k. It will mostly work fine with 1440p, but you probably need to skip raytracing on that resolution.....

Try to get at least a 3070......significantly better in 1440p. But also more expensive. Or you think out of the box and have a look at the Intel Arc A770. Comes with 16GB Vram and is performance wise right between 3060 and 3070. An AMD RX 6800 or 6800XT could also be an alternative. you have to consider availability and prices.

If you go the Nvidia route you at least get DLSS 2.0 which is a nice to have. But the DLSS alternatives from AMD and Intel are not that bad. But not quite Nvidia level....

Bottom line, if you only play on an 1080p monitor you can get away with the 3060, but if you want higher resolution you should invest a bit more money....

 

[Haliax68]

Just a few questions before recommending anything:

1. What Power Supply do you use in your PC? Maker, Model, Wattage?
2. What resolution has your monitor?
3. What kind of games are you going to play? Fast multiplayer? Single player?

The RTX 3060 is a good card for 1080p gaming. In that resolution it can even handle raytracing pretty good. But its not an ideal card for 1440p and defiantly not for 4k. It will mostly work fine with 1440p, but you probably need to skip raytracing on that resolution.....

Try to get at least a 3070......significantly better in 1440p

1. Corsair CX550F
2. 1920x1080 (this monitor ASUS monitor)
3. For sure FIFA! Not sure after that. Maybe other sports games. I won't be getting into any first person shooters ever. Um.....I used to love playing the Final Fantasy RPG games, so maybe something along those lines. Maybe an F1 game or other racing games possibly. But for now, just FIFA football

 

[mjbn1977]

1. Corsair CX550F
2. 1920x1080 (this monitor ASUS monitor)
3. For sure FIFA! Not sure after that. Maybe other sports games. I won't be getting into any first person shooters ever. Um.....I used to love playing the Final Fantasy RPG games, so maybe something along those lines. Maybe an F1 game or other racing games possibly. But for now, just FIFA football

In that case you are fine with a RTX 3060. Just don't expect wonders if you ever upgrade your monitor to higher resolution. But in 1080p this card will be very fast....8GB should be fine in 1080p. Don't see a problem there. You could have a look at the 3060Ti. It's quite a bit faster than the 3060 but not as expensive as a 3070.

 

[Haliax68]

In that case you are fine with a RTX 3060. Just don't expect wonders if you ever upgrade your monitor to higher resolution. But in 1080p this card will be very fast....8GB should be fine in 1080p. Don't see a problem there. You could have a look at the 3060Ti. It's quite a bit faster than the 3060 but not as expensive as a 3070.

Thanks for the suggestions and info. I think I'm going to just try and find the best deal on a 3060 or 3060Ti. Price is more important in this situation, since I'll rarely be playing games, hence hardly ever using this GPU. I totally understand that a 3060 Ti or 3070 or something better would be a good idea, but like I said, I'm not a "gamer" and won't be playing much on this thing. I really didn't want to spend over 200, but after doing a bunch of research, and seeing how ridiculous the market is right now, I realized I wouldn't be able to get something even decent unless I go into the $350ish range. So spending even more, isn't something I want to do. But thank you.

The other question I have, is how good or how safe is it to buy a good refurbished GPU from NewEgg or some other reputable retailer? Is the warranty the same? Do they usually perform as if they were new? Is it a good deal or a bad idea?

 

[joan16v]

A RX 5700XT has the equivalent performance of the RTX 3060 and it costs a lot less.

 

[mjbn1977]

The other question I have, is how good or how safe is it to buy a good refurbished GPU from NewEgg or some other reputable retailer? Is the warranty the same? Do they usually perform as if they were new? Is it a good deal or a bad idea?

I usually don't buy used parts, so I don't want to recommend anything. But this video might help:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKgo-DWEKeY

 

[steven46]

I think the best choice will be the RTX 3070 better than the RTX 3060

 

[Haliax68]

Oh, and one thing I don't think anyone has answered, is: will it be worth it, to wait around until these newer low/mid prices GPU's come out? I see the RTX 4050 at $200 and RTX 4060 at $329. Does anyone have any idea if those will be that price? And if so, are they coming out soon? And there might even be others I don't know about, that are in that value range of $200-350. I don't need a GPU right now, and can easily wait a few more months if there will be more options at better prices.

 

[rcald2000]

Hello Haliax68. Since the only game that you named was FIFA 23, then I would recommend considering the AMD RX 6600 (new). Currently the cheapest model on NewEgg US is $250, but previously I've seen them as cheap as $200 a month or two ago. It should easily be able to fully utilize your 1080p 75 FPS display, once you've unlocked the framerate and turned off v-sync. A used Nvidia 1660 Super or used AMD RX 5700 XT, might offer you good value as well (~$125 - $175).

Addendum: I see used GTX 1660 Ti's selling for ~$10-$20 less than the Super variants. The Ti models are slightly more powerful, so it's just something to consider if you're looking at used GPUs.

* notes *

1st video has an older cpu RX 6600 example
2nd video has a faster cpu RX 6600 example
3rd video has an older cpu GTX 1660 Super example

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm2z_tuI-pM

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGVOqrYaKf4

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjm86GMnoV0

 

[rcald2000]

Oh, and one thing I don't think anyone has answered, is: will it be worth it, to wait around until these newer low/mid prices GPU's come out? I see the RTX 4050 at $200 and RTX 4060 at $329. Does anyone have any idea if those will be that price? And if so, are they coming out soon? And there might even be others I don't know about, that are in that value range of $200-350. I don't need a GPU right now, and can easily wait a few more months if there will be more options at better prices.

In my humble opinion, no one can answer that. We don't know what the prices and performances will be. There is no way to answer this until the products are announced, or released on the market. Currently all I see are rumors online, and none of them state price or performance.

 

[Haliax68]

In my humble opinion, no one can answer that. We don't know what the prices and performances will be. There is no way to answer this until the products are announced, or released on the market. Currently all I see are rumors online, and none of them state price or performance.

Oh, ok. No problem. I did just read an article that said the chance that those cards coming out at the suggested retail prices I showed are slim to none! They said that if the last 6-12 months are any indication of future pricing, that they will be 250-500 more than the suggested retail price. Putting them WAY out of my price range.

So I think I'm just going to snag this White ASUS 3060 that NewEgg has. It's a good brand and a decent price. And it's white. Which is almost impossible to find these days without taking out a second mortage on your house to pay for it, haha. I've done some more watching of performance videos and looking deeper into this. And for the next few years at least, this card will be more than I need. So meaning, it'll work great. It's more than I want to spend, but trying to find anything in stock around $300 or less AND in white or silver is literally impossible. So I think I'll grab this.

https://www.newegg.com/asus-geforce...-white/p/N82E16814126603?Item=N82E16814126603

 

[Haliax68]

Hello Haliax68. Since the only game that you named was FIFA 23, then I would recommend considering the AMD RX 6600 (new). Currently the cheapest model on NewEgg US is $250, but previously I've seen them as cheap as $200 a month or two ago. It should easily be able to fully utilize your 1080p 75 FPS display, once you've unlocked the framerate and turned off v-sync. A used Nvidia 1660 Super or used AMD RX 5700 XT, might offer you good value as well (~$125 - $175).

Addendum: I see used GTX 1660 Ti's selling for ~$10-$20 less than the Super variants. The Ti models are slightly more powerful, so it's just something to consider if you're looking at used GPUs.

* notes *

1st video has an older cpu RX 6600 example
2nd video has a faster cpu RX 6600 example
3rd video has an older cpu GTX 1660 Super example

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm2z_tuI-pM

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGVOqrYaKf4

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjm86GMnoV0

Besides FIFA, I also definitely want to play Zelda BOTW on Cemu emulator. So something decent will work wonders for that as well. And then maybe an F1 game or an RPG, we'll see. Right now, all I use the new build for game wise, is running SNES/N64 emulator games. Mostly for my gf. She LOVES the old SNES games and it's so fun seeing her play some games she's decent at and can understand and play. She has a hard time with the newer more complicated games, haha. I just started playing Zelda Skyward Sword a few weeks ago and am loving it! So of course, now, when I'm done with this one, I'll want to play BOTW.

 

[Ar558]

I'm new to all this GPU stuff. I built my first ever PC a few months ago and purposely didn't worry about the GPU at that time, as I didn't even know if I'd ever want or need one. So I got the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G that has the built iGPU and so far it's just fine for what I'm doing. But now, I'm thinking I might wade into the deep end, and try to find a reasonably priced but good performing GPU so I can play some games. I'm not going to drop 500-800 on a PS5, when I just built and already have this kick a$$ PC and 27" monitor.

I've done some research, and it seems like GPU's are just OUT OF CONTROL expensive for a myriad of reasons right now. So getting good value is not going to happen. In addition, I'm not going to have many choices as far as color (I want white or silver to go with my all white build), affordable pricing, and brands. But so far, using this page as a guide GPU comparison chart, I've been able to sort of come to a conclusion, that the cheapest, but good GPU I will be able to actually find and buy is a RTX 3060?

It seems to be pretty high on the list, at the least expensive price, which is what I'm going for. I've watched videos of much more expensive cards that claim to be better and I can't even tell the difference between them. Nor do I care. They all look amazing to me. The last video game system I played on regularly was PS2, if that gives you an idea of what I'm coming from. So basically any video game from PS4 and on looks INSANE to me, haha. I'd say the only thing I want to make sure doesn't happen is lag or slow down. So meaning, as long as the games look pretty good and doesn't get choppy, I'll be happy.

The only other card I saw that is better in performance and around the same price is the still to be released RTX 4060. And who knows when that will be? And will it actually be $330 like they're saying? Will it be available from a lot of reputable companies right away? And in white or silver? And be available for purchase or sold out in secs?

So is an RTX 3060 GPU going to be my best bet in this crazy market right now? For the lowest price and highest performance? Or would do you have other suggestions? It has to have 8-12gb of RAM, be available in white or silver, and be $400 or less and from a good brand.

Thanks everyone!

I would consider a 6700XT cheaper and usually faster than 3060 unless you massively need RT (but on a 3060 it's gonna be patchy anyway).

 

[Haliax68]

Another thing I'm doing research on in all of this is my PSU. I have a good Corsair CX550F 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX PSU. I purposely bought one with WAY more power than I needed, just in case I in fact decided to add a GPU later on. But I'm getting conflicting reports, depending on what PSU calculator I use online. Some of them say I'm well within the range of the 550 W psu I bought if I add the 3060 or 3060 ti. They say I'm most likely using around 410 W with the 3060 ti and my build. While other sites say I'm in the 500-599 range? So just wondering what is THE MOST accurate PSU calculator site? And do you think I'll be fine with my build/PSU and adding either the 3060 or 3060 ti. I'm actually leaning now towards a 3060 ti, as it will be more future proof to a better degree than the 3060. I'll get more years out of it. And I found one that is only 100 more than the 3060 I'm looking at.

So now I'm just trying to make sure my PSU is good enough for it. This "seems" to be one of the more accurate/detailed PSU calculator sites. Some of the others just ask for the CPU, memory, gpu, storage and mobo. Where as this one asks for everything. And when I put in ALL my stuff, I come out with around 410 W power needed. And mine is a 550 W. So I feel like I should be good with either the 3060 or 3060 ti?

https://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

 

[Ar558]

I wouu

Another thing I'm doing research on in all of this is my PSU. I have a good Corsair CX550F 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX PSU. I purposely bought one with WAY more power than I needed, just in case I in fact decided to add a GPU later on. But I'm getting conflicting reports, depending on what PSU calculator I use online. Some of them say I'm well within the range of the 550 W psu I bought if I add the 3060 or 3060 ti. They say I'm most likely using around 410 W with the 3060 ti and my build. While other sites say I'm in the 500-599 range? So just wondering what is THE MOST accurate PSU calculator site? And do you think I'll be fine with my build/PSU and adding either the 3060 or 3060 ti. I'm actually leaning now towards a 3060 ti, as it will be more future proof to a better degree than the 3060. I'll get more years out of it. And I found one that is only 100 more than the 3060 I'm looking at.

So now I'm just trying to make sure my PSU is good enough for it. This "seems" to be one of the more accurate/detailed PSU calculator sites. Some of the others just ask for the CPU, memory, gpu, storage and mobo. Where as this one asks for everything. And when I put in ALL my stuff, I come out with around 410 W power needed. And mine is a 550 W. So I feel like I should be good with either the 3060 or 3060 ti?

https://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

Tbh with 30 Series it's not necessarily the power draw thats the issue it's the Transient spikes that could be your issue. I have a 3060Ti and I went 750W just to be sure.