Question Trying to figure out what RTX 2060 would be the best fit in my case

[Cyber_Akuma]

I have a Xeon E5-2667 v2 system, it currently has an old Quadro card in it as it was meant to be a workstation that I am repurposing into a gaming system.

The PSU is 675 watts... but it only has a single 8-pin GPU power connector (It's also proprietary so I can't replace it). From my understanding, this means I can safely use a GPU that uses just the PCIe port for power (Pretty much nothing decent would do this), a single 6-pin (what it has now), dual 6-pin, or a single 8-pin. So any 6+8, 8+8, or any combination of three or more connectors is a no-go.

I was pleased to see that there are many 8GB versions of the RTX 2060 that have such power requirements, I figured that's about as high as I can go without worrying about huge bottlenecks from my CPU. But now I have two more issues.

First of all, which brand would even be good? I normally go with EVGA, but there aren't a lot of options for that which would work for me as many of them tend to have higher power requirements than my PSU can supply. On top of that, my case is not that roomy so I would also need to make sure it fits.

Based on my measurements, the current card has a length of 9.5in/241mm (Although it has a support bracket that extends it to 14in(ish)/355mm... but that thing bends UNDER other components specifically designed for this case and I am pretty sure I would not be able to use with any other card) and a width of 4.4in/111mm.

And from measuring the case I seem to have a clearance length of about 11.5in/292mm... depending if the card would slide just under the optical drive cage or not, if it does it would have a clearance of about 15in/381mm.. but I would go with the 11.5in one just to be safe. And a width clearance of 4.4in/111mm... 6in/152mm if I don't put the cover on but I am not planning to run it cover-less.

This is what it currently looks like:

https://imgur.com/ozD0UNm

View: https://i.imgur.com/ozD0UNm.jpg

https://imgur.com/kO1kG75

View: https://i.imgur.com/kO1kG75.jpg


So any suggestions on what RTX 2060 models and brands I can go with that would fit in this case and with with this PSU? If possible, I would prefer the power connector to be on the side instead of on the top just to avoid the possibility of the case hitting the power connectors but I don't think that's a 100% strict requirement.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You don't want to go with EVGA since they have left the graphics card manufacturing scene, so at this point going forward it's kind of senseless to choose their graphics card products since they are no longer making them and will at some point be unable to support them. This sucks, because they are generally my go to brand, but it is what it is.

Pretty sure almost all of the RTX cards have the auxiliary power connectors on the top of the card. I haven't seen any with them on the side.

What is your budget for this card and what country are you in?

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

You don't want to go with EVGA since they have left the graphics card manufacturing scene, so at this point going forward it's kind of senseless to choose their graphics card products since they are no longer making them and will at some point be unable to support them. This sucks, because they are generally my go to brand, but it is what it is.

I know, but I am talking about a RTX 2000 series card here, my only option is to buy used and I assume most are out of warranty already anyway.

Pretty sure almost all of the RTX cards have the auxiliary power connectors on the top of the card. I haven't seen any with them on the side.

Been looking at ebay photos of random 2060s for sale and some of them have it on the side.

What is your budget for this card and what country are you in?

In the US, I was hoping not to spend over 200, maybe less. But I won't be able to get it anytime soon, for right now I just want to see which specific models are even viable for this system since it's not like any new RTX 2060s will be launching, so whatever list of viable cards I find now will still be a viable list in the future.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

For just over 200 Newegg has an rx 6600

https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-radeon-rx-6600-gv-r66eagle-8gd/p/N82E16814932481

It would be a bit faster than the 2060. If you are looking at used cards you could take a chance on one like this rx 5600xt which should be similar to a 2060. Keep in mind used cards likely were mined on. Be sure to check the seller’s feedback and really run the card hard when you get it to make sure it’s good before any eBay guarantee runs out.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1552198531...1QoO_yZSxW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

It appears 2060s are going for just a few bucks more.

 

[Darkbreeze]

There are plenty of brand new RTX 20 series cards still for sale. And, that might actually not be the best option. In that same price range there are a number of RTX 3060 cards which might fit the bill, as I've filtered them by length and power requirements and there are options on the table.

As far as the price goes, not very realistic that you are going to get something in the 2060-3060 range for less than 200 bucks unless you buy used, and buying used graphics cards anymore is a fools errand. Almost all of them are ex-mining cards and the vast majority will have been ridden hard and either be degraded or simply have problems. There are only so many trips around the block for any component and mining hardware has generally been around the block a good many times. You might get lucky, but I wouldn't want to roll the dice on it with my money, or yours.

EVGA says they have enough back stock to handle warranty claims for a while, now whether that's accurate or not I don't know. They've always been very consistent and highly customer service based so I have no reason to doubt that claim, but still. Despite that, if you don't mind spending a little more, this is probably your best bet that meets all the criteria.

It's only 202mm long. It requires a single 8 pin connector. It is only a two slot width card, and you probably aren't going to find ANY modern gaming card that isn't at least a two slot width form factor. And it's brand new, with warranty.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2H...-gb-ko-ultra-gaming-video-card-06g-p4-2068-kr

The real problem is your intention to "not get it anytime soon" because that pretty much makes everything moot. Nothing will be the same next week as it is now, and the week after that it will change again. The PC hardware market is highly volatile and has been for some time now, besides which we are trending into new generation release territory which means a lot of what is mainstream right now will soon likely see reductions in availability as newer, more expensive products inherit the mainstream. But mostly, prices and availability just change so rapidly and swing so wildly that it's impossible to look at options and have any expectation of actually having that mean something unless you are buying in the short term.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

There are plenty of brand new RTX 20 series cards still for sale. And, that might actually not be the best option. In that same price range there are a number of RTX 3060 cards which might fit the bill, as I've filtered them by length and power requirements and there are options on the table.

Wouldn't those cost more though? I think even a RTX 2000 is likely overkill for this old CPU, much less a 3000 series, so I didn't want to spend more for a card that could be significantly held back by the rest of the system.

As far as the price goes, not very realistic that you are going to get something in the 2060-3060 range for less than 200 bucks unless you buy used, and buying used graphics cards anymore is a fools errand.

Well yes, the plan is to buy used. I wouldn't say it's fool's errand, the last several cards I bought used and are working great, even this entire system was used. This is not exactly a high-end new build that I would want to buy all new parts for.

It's only 202mm long. It requires a single 8 pin connector. It is only a two slot width card, and you probably aren't going to find ANY modern gaming card that isn't at least a two slot width form factor. And it's brand new, with warranty.

Slots are fine, I probably have enough room for at least a triple if not a quad slot, though dual-slot preferred. The issue would be length and width, especially width as my case door has an annoying large handle-like protrusion on the inside that severely limits the width of the card.

Also, I mentioned I was looking for 8GB cards, and that one is 6GB.

The real problem is your intention to "not get it anytime soon" because that pretty much makes everything moot. Nothing will be the same next week as it is now, and the week after that it will change again.

Well like I said, I highly doubt any new 2000 series cards are going to be coming out ever, so if I find some models that would work out I can continue to look for those.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The last several cards you bought used, were not bought used after a historical ending of etherium mining when practically every card used for mining, worldwide, was suddenly flooded onto the used market. In fact, depending on when you last bought a used card, mining might not have even been a thing at that time.

But you are right about the CPU. Even the RTX 2060 is overkill for that. What resolution are you going to be running? You probably don't even NEED anything that capable unless you are running at a higher resolution.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

Likely 1080p, maybe I will do 4K in the future. Although I do have some high-refresh-rate displays.

To be fair, this is a backup system, and when I get my main rig running I will likely use it for more productive tasks and AI (Which is why I wanted more VRAM) but for now it's going to be a long time until I have my main system ready for gaming so I wanted to do what I could with this one. I was originally considering a 1060 but with dropping prices on the RTX 2000 series and seeing that there are single 6-pin or 8 pin versions I figured might as well at least step it up to RTX cards.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

As I said above you may also give a look at the 5600xt since those appear to be less than the 2060 but should be similar performance.

You may also look at cards like the 5700xt for under 200

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3943169337...1QoO_yZSxW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Or an rx 6600 like this.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2850104425...1QoO_yZSxW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

On the 6600 the guy says they were purchased in august for mining but that they sat waiting for mining to go back to profitability which obviously hasn’t happened so they are selling. So these are potentially like new cards. Worth a look anyway.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

Oh sorry, didn't see your previous post.

Not going to lie though, for this I would prefer to stick with Nvidia. On top of just being more familiar with their cards, I wanted the raytracing features and some of the CUDA-based software is more designed to run on Nvidia hardware.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, the card I linked you to is and has been for a long time, the least expensive way to get into an Nvidia RTX card. So long as any inventory remains, for however long that is, I don't see that changing but I'm sure there are plenty like you out there so I wouldn't expect remaining stock to last all that long. Especially with EVGA out of the loop now and them holding on to some of their remaining stock for warranty replacement purposes.