Rtx 3060 questions

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pavel

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I am looking to buy a 3060 and I thought that I should create a thread regarding the variety of 3060 cards out there - and then move to the build section (hardware) when I receive some ideas. :)

I hope that's okay? Everywhere I read - the reply is 'whatever is available.' Where I am, stock is like a revolving door and some sudden 'out of stock' and then uncertainty. Also, the prices vary.

So, I am wondering if I should focus on certain cards and prices?

These are the lowest priced cards - but, they sell out - and go out of stock - some become available at the same price or increased price.

$EVGA XC < $$ Asus Tuf OC < $$$MSI Gaming X/Asus Rog Strix

I'm only considering these cards for now - since the prices aren't crazy.... if they go out of stock, then obviously, I am just waiting.... if it comes back in stock at a significantly increased price, I will continue to wait. I'm trying to wait it out but I'm paranoid/concerned about sudden changes - something that happens in which stock deplete/increased prices/ whatever development that typically ruins my plans. :)

Is my strategy sound? I am not in the USA and so there's no stable price reductions, no Microcenter etc.

Thoughts?
My planned build: something like i5-12600K/12700 non-k / Z690 or B660 / P500A (hopefully), 850w psu - I'll expand with more details in the appropriate hardware section later. It's for video edting and light gaming.

TIA.
 
My opinion: The 3060 is kind of a weak card for the price you pay. If you can order off evga.com or newegg you can find them consistently now for $420 +s/h + tax.
https://www.evga.com/products/ProductList.aspx?type=0&family=GeForce+30+Series+Family

No idea what country you're in or what websites you can order from but you can try https://gpudrops.com/ and input your country to see potential deals. If you're willing to spend around $400-500, I would either get a 3060ti somewhere or a 6700XT from amd.com. Both of these are a major step up from a 3060 and I think are worth spending more.

Generally each brand has 2-3 tiers of the same card and IMO they all generally perform roughly the same although some of the higher tiers like the strix may have better cooling and do better at overclocking.

If you wait, card prices may continue to fall. If you're in a country with high electricity prices miners might start dumping cards soon as well.
 
sounds good, just avoid Gigabyte mobo/video card,/psu and you'll be fine

they have the most unstable monitoring tweaking software in the business, and their psus explode:
 
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wait a bit longer, prices are still dropping and availability is getting better. you might be able to get 3060 ti for less than 600 or more fairly soon. EVGA cards have been dropping a lot lately on their page just keep checking.
 
Andrew_Carr said:
My opinion: The 3060 is kind of a weak card for the price you pay. If you can order off evga.com or newegg you can find them consistently now for $420 +s/h + tax.
https://www.evga.com/products/ProductList.aspx?type=0&family=GeForce+30+Series+Family

No idea what country you're in or what websites you can order from but you can try https://gpudrops.com/ and input your country to see potential deals. If you're willing to spend around $400-500, I would either get a 3060ti somewhere or a 6700XT from amd.com. Both of these are a major step up from a 3060 and I think are worth spending more.

Generally each brand has 2-3 tiers of the same card and IMO they all generally perform roughly the same although some of the higher tiers like the strix may have better cooling and do better at overclocking.

If you wait, card prices may continue to fall. If you're in a country with high electricity prices miners might start dumping cards soon as well.
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I guess it will help if I mention the country, right? :) Canada.

Prices are way over msrp here.

whateverer said:
sounds good, just avoid Gigabyte mobo/video card, and you'll be fine
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Why are the Gigabyte video cards bad? They probably aren't an option anyway but I was under the impression, the Eagle, OC and Aorus Elite were good cards???? They aren't? I think they get sold out quickly... I think I saw one or two (the Vision? and maybe the Gaming OC???) for a so-so price....but, I didn't have enough $ yet anyway. Went out of stock/sold out and then 'returned' at a higher price - this is all on Newegg.
 
Bigbacon said:
wait a bit longer, prices are still dropping and availability is getting better. you might be able to get 3060 ti for less than 600 or more fairly soon. EVGA cards have been dropping a lot lately on their page just keep checking.
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I should have answered the comment about miners - are mining cards worth mining? Also, regarding used cards - I thought warranties aren't transferable anymore? Any issues there?

3060 Ti for less than $600 here? Probably not. They are often almost $900 here. I guess that's why they're rarely sold out or out of stock? I think the EVGA webpage - is mostly for American buyers? I think Canadians can buy from there but get import fees - and currency conversion etc. - makes it so getting a card for 3rd party retailer might be better?
 
Mining GPUs can be worth buying. Some of them don't have video output but a lot do. Depends. I would look into a freight forwarding company that will receive your package and forward it to canada. Probably will only add $50 or so to the cost.
 
pavel said:
Why are the Gigabyte video cards bad? They probably aren't an option anyway but I was under the impression, the Eagle, OC and Aorus Elite were good cards???? They aren't? I think they get sold out quickly... I think I saw one or two (the Vision? and maybe the Gaming OC???) for a so-so price....but, I didn't have enough $ yet anyway. Went out of stock/sold out and then 'returned' at a higher price - this is all on Newegg.
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gigabyte 3060 ti master is fine and 3080 ti/3090 aorus master/xtreme are fine I have had all 3 of these. I think asus has the better coolers this gen but usually those cost more. the only bad thing about the 4-slot aorus ones is they aren't really any better than the 2.5 slot ones and they look kinda ugly.

I'd just get whichever you can get for the best price to be honest.
 
I've been running a Gigabyte 2060 in one of my admin systems for a couple of years now with no issues. That system also has a Gigabyte Z270 chipset MB that's easily 4 years old. Cannot Speak to their power supplies, never owned one. The 3060 I bought last year when I built another system is an Asus TUF, but I also built it on an Asus TUF MB.
 
D-EJ915 said:
gigabyte 3060 ti master is fine and 3080 ti/3090 aorus master/xtreme are fine I have had all 3 of these. I think asus has the better coolers this gen but usually those cost more. the only bad thing about the 4-slot aorus ones is they aren't really any better than the 2.5 slot ones and they look kinda ugly.

I'd just get whichever you can get for the best price to be honest.
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I know about the Gigabyte power supplies - not even looking at them. For PSU, I'm only looking at Corsair and Seasonic.

I didn't know that mid range Gigabyte cards had any issues - I was including the Gigabyte Eagle on my short list but it's often either out of stock or overpriced.

I'm taking your advice and others who say just get the lowest price card - although, I think I will pass on the Ventus since it's not the only card that comes down in price.

The_Heretic said:
I've been running a Gigabyte 2060 in one of my admin systems for a couple of years now with no issues. That system also has a Gigabyte Z270 chipset MB that's easily 4 years old. Cannot Speak to their power supplies, never owned one. The 3060 I bought last year when I built another system is an Asus TUF, but I also built it on an Asus TUF MB.
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That's interesting. The Tuf is available at a local store but I need to drive there. It's not the lowest price for cards - but the XC, Dual and Ventus are out of stock apparently (they are usually around the same price - all three, about, $10 cheaper than the Tuf).

I heard conflicting/mixed reviews about the Tuf - most reviewers say the cooling/cooler is excellent - that it's overkill but the power limits are a bit lower than the Strix. Some reviewers claim that Asus downgraded 'newer' ones and some buyers claim their card has some minor coil whine. The latter claim scares me a little.
 
I can't hear any coil whine from any of my GPUs so ymmv. The tuf cards seem good for low end models, I'd rather one a tuf than a low-tier MSI card for example just based on the heatsink size. My ventus twin fan and zotac twin fan 3060tis run hotter than most of my other cards.
 
Andrew_Carr said:
I can't hear any coil whine from any of my GPUs so ymmv. The tuf cards seem good for low end models, I'd rather one a tuf than a low-tier MSI card for example just based on the heatsink size. My ventus twin fan and zotac twin fan 3060tis run hotter than most of my other cards.
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Wow, you have a lot of cards! :) Multiple builds or mining? :)

I picked up an EVGA 3060 XC at a local store - well, needed a bit of a drive. I didn't want to glue myself to the internet sites and stock update sites - although, that was the initial plan. I went to get the 3060 Tuf but it was sold. I was supposed to do some 'sign-up/reserve' process online - but, I read that sometimes the store sells it anyway so I thought I would just go there. Wrong decision - it got sold. Both were going for the same price. The EVGA card just arrived at the store - wasn't expecting it to be there. Oh well, I hope the EVGA is a good card. Now, I can plan the build around this card and I didn't pay too much over msrp - and it's already over in my country, anyway.

Thanks for all the recommendations, replies, suggestions and advice! It was really appreciated!
 
Bought rtx 3060, is this a problem? This is from the game rdr2...i have high temperatures and quite noisy fans...
GPUZ.gif
 
b1rd said:
Bought rtx 3060, is this a problem? This is from the game rdr2...i have high temperatures and quite noisy fans...
View attachment 468737
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At 98% load? Your temps are fine. 78 C under load is perfectly normal, the card is designed to handle up to 93 C for the overall temp. For air cooled cards, it's normal for the hot spot to be 10-20 C higher than the overall GPU temp. I would be concerned only if your operating temp reaches above 93 and/or your hot spot temp is more than 20 above your GPU temp. You're fine with what you've shown.
What resolution and settings are you running and how many FPS are you getting?

EDIT: As for fan noise, I don't think there's a whole lot you can do other than reduce the load or possibly adjust the fan curves. With the former, you'll get slightly worse performance or a little less pretty graphics, but it shouldn't be enough to be a game-breaker. With the latter, you'll save performance and visuals but your temps will go up (which you still have a bit of space before you start pushing maximums and risk throttling your card). Depending on your case, overall setup, what you're comfortable modifying or adding, etc. you could be able to reduce temps by changing the airflow in your case, if you're concerned about the heat but still want to slow your fans down.
 
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JonCZ said:
At 98% load? Your temps are fine. 78 C under load is perfectly normal, the card is designed to handle up to 93 C for the overall temp. For air cooled cards, it's normal for the hot spot to be 10-20 C higher than the overall GPU temp. I would be concerned only if your operating temp reaches above 93 and/or your hot spot temp is more than 20 above your GPU temp. You're fine with what you've shown.
What resolution and settings are you running and how many FPS are you getting?

EDIT: As for fan noise, I don't think there's a whole lot you can do other than reduce the load or possibly adjust the fan curves. With the former, you'll get slightly worse performance or a little less pretty graphics, but it shouldn't be enough to be a game-breaker. With the latter, you'll save performance and visuals but your temps will go up (which you still have a bit of space before you start pushing maximums and risk throttling your card). Depending on your case, overall setup, what you're comfortable modifying or adding, etc. you could be able to reduce temps by changing the airflow in your case, if you're concerned about the heat but still want to slow your fans down.
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Temps are ok but I wouldn't want to live with the fan that high. Just got a 3060 for $331 out the door (open box). Its a plain dual fan ASUS. My advice tweak the card. I only dropped from 170w to 150w with lowering the voltage curve but it is much quieter and a bit faster than stock (I have it set to 1930Mhz at 925mv - It didn't crash at 900mv but I upped it to be safe). Noticing his is running 1.0810v at 1912Mhz. My card goes to 71-72C at about 1800rpm on the fan. If I wasn't satisfied I could have dropped the clocks a bit.
 
I like the idea of a RTX 3060 having 12Gb of memory but, not for the price, as stated already the RX 6700 XT was at $479 the other day and falling since the RX 6750 XT hit the block.
 
Ericwi said:
Temps are ok but I wouldn't want to live with the fan that high. Just got a 3060 for $331 out the door (open box). Its a plain dual fan ASUS. My advice tweak the card. I only dropped from 170w to 150w with lowering the voltage curve but it is much quieter and a bit faster than stock (I have it set to 1930Mhz at 925mv - It didn't crash at 900mv but I upped it to be safe). Noticing his is running 1.0810v at 1912Mhz. My card goes to 71-72C at about 1800rpm on the fan. If I wasn't satisfied I could have dropped the clocks a bit.
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JonCZ said:
At 98% load? Your temps are fine. 78 C under load is perfectly normal, the card is designed to handle up to 93 C for the overall temp. For air cooled cards, it's normal for the hot spot to be 10-20 C higher than the overall GPU temp. I would be concerned only if your operating temp reaches above 93 and/or your hot spot temp is more than 20 above your GPU temp. You're fine with what you've shown.
What resolution and settings are you running and how many FPS are you getting?

EDIT: As for fan noise, I don't think there's a whole lot you can do other than reduce the load or possibly adjust the fan curves. With the former, you'll get slightly worse performance or a little less pretty graphics, but it shouldn't be enough to be a game-breaker. With the latter, you'll save performance and visuals but your temps will go up (which you still have a bit of space before you start pushing maximums and risk throttling your card). Depending on your case, overall setup, what you're comfortable modifying or adding, etc. you could be able to reduce temps by changing the airflow in your case, if you're concerned about the heat but still want to slow your fans down.
Click to expand...
Thanks, gpu is gainward rtx 3060 ghost 12gb, yes, it's from rdr2 game, mostly all ultra at 1080p, ryzen 2700x.
On the other forum they told me it was as abnormal, that I should like to advertise.
Mostly I did undervolt at 0.900V and 1897MHz and 2075MHz for gpu memory and now the condition is much better.
I also threw out a discrete sound card asus strix soar 7.1 which blocked my air to one fan, it was under the gpu card.
Now it's much better with undevolt.
And I added noctua fans to the case(inwin 303) and now it's even better.
 
crazycrave said:
I like the idea of a RTX 3060 having 12Gb of memory but, not for the price, as stated already the RX 6700 XT was at $479 the other day and falling since the RX 6750 XT hit the block.
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It feels strange having more ram than my 3080 that actually runs 4k. I'll fix that with 4000 (or RDNA3 equiv) at some point.
 
havoc lingers said:
How is ray tracing on 6700 compared to 3060?
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I can't answer that question but, I am sure their is a review out there comparing the cards doing RT .. I have the RTX 3070 and have used it in Metro Exodus , it's kind of sweet.

I don't know what kind of platform you have now but I believe that a RTX 3070 (2080Ti) is going be more where you want to be for RT gaming on a budget, even with the old 3700x Heaven is no match.

 
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