Question Keep one, sell one.

[Mercian]

My old computer died but the RTX 2070 graphics card is fine. I bought a pre owned PC which has an RTX 3060 installed. I currently use a 1080p monitor which is only a year old and I do not intend to upgrade for a year or so. I use th PC for all taks including gaming,
Which card is better uited to my needs?
Thanks.

 

[Colif]

2070 Super is slightly better, there isn't much between the two. 3060 more energy efficient.

They based on different architectures, they give and take in comparisons - https://www.topcpu.net/en/gpu-c/geforce-rtx-2070-vs-geforce-rtx-3060

If the 3060 is already installed, I would leave it in and maybe sell 2070 Super. Last upgrade I did, I just kept my 2070 Super as a spare since you can't really get them anymore.

 

[stonecarver]

I would keep both one as a using card and the other as a back up. With the $$$ new cards are going and the market with Nvidia putting a big shift to AI cards $$$.

I just like keeping spares around like keeping your old clunker car as a back up. We all love our new hot rods but when your running out the door and hot rod has a flat, just a hiccup taking the clunker while the others tire is being fixed.

I still feel the sting from coved and bitcoin GPU shortage and now with this AI shift just keeping my eyes wide open. And congrats on your new to you PC with the RTX 3060.

 

[Colif]

i kept my 2070 Super to act as backup, just in case. As my previous backup card was a GTX 960 and it probably wouldn't like my 1440p 144hz monitor.

Better than having an emergency and needing to buy a new card right away.

 

[punkncat]

The issue I see is that the longer you keep it sitting on your part shelf the more and more it will de-value. I would sell it now to recoup the most amount of money possible.

My opinion would be to keep the 3xxx series cards for the additional capabilities it has.

 

[Phaaze88]

My vote goes to keeping both.

 

[DSzymborski]

I'd sell the old card. While keeping an extra GPU for troubleshooting if you don't have a CPU with integrated graphics is a good idea -- I certainly do -- you can sell the 2070 Super, depending on which one, for somewhere between $175-$225 or so. Use $50 or so and get a used GT 1030 or even something cheaper and pocket the rest.

 

[punkncat]

^ Yup, troubleshooting graphics card should be something that takes no additional power and already well past the curve so it's inexpensive.

 

[artk2219]

^ Yup, troubleshooting graphics card should be something that takes no additional power and already well past the curve so it's inexpensive.

I keep a gt 710, r7 250, and GTX 460 for testing purposes, the 460 let's me test to make sure the pcie power cable is working. Ditto on keeping both though, the 2070 is a good spare.

 

[Colin Hollenback]

My old computer died but the RTX 2070 graphics card is fine. I bought a pre owned PC which has an RTX 3060 installed. I currently use a 1080p monitor which is only a year old and I do not intend to upgrade for a year or so. I use th PC for all taks including gaming,
Which card is better uited to my needs?
Thanks.

It's really up to you and whether there's any sentimental value to it. If there isn't, I don't think I would keep it unless you want to try out some projects or maybe give it to a friend down the line.

 

[Mercian]

My old computer died but the RTX 2070 graphics card is fine. I bought a pre owned PC which has an RTX 3060 installed. I currently use a 1080p monitor which is only a year old and I do not intend to upgrade for a year or so. I use th PC for all taks including gaming,
Which card is better uited to my needs?
Thanks.

Thanks to everyone for your advice.

 

[Avro Arrow]

My old computer died but the RTX 2070 graphics card is fine. I bought a pre owned PC which has an RTX 3060 installed. I currently use a 1080p monitor which is only a year old and I do not intend to upgrade for a year or so. I use th PC for all taks including gaming,
Which card is better uited to my needs?
Thanks.

The RTX 3060 is about 2% faster than the RTX 2070, has a TDP that's 5W less and usually has 12GB of VRAM instead of the RTX 2070's 8GB. The VRAM advantage alone is enough to use the RTX 3060 over the RTX 2070.

The RTX 3060 also has better resilience to RT but none of them are cards that I would say are useful with RT on unless you're playing Minecraft RTX.

Use the RTX 3060 but keep the RTX 2070 as a spare because you never know for sure how long a used card will last and it's good to have a plan B. If the RTX 3060 fails, you just pop in the RTX 2070 and continue gaming (assuming that they use the same driver package). The performance difference between them is pretty slight so you won't lose any sleep (or gaming hours) over it.