Thinking of upgrading to rtx 3070 but only have a pcie 2.0 x16 instead of 3.0/4.0, will this hinder performance noticeably?

[Vic K]

I currently run a 2070 super that seems to be faulty and cant run at stock speeds and so I've needed to underclock it, I've been able to comfortably run most games with little to no artifacting up until cyberpunk released, now I've seemingly reached the limit of the card while keeping it underclocked. Because of all this I'm finally considering getting a new gpu, only problem is I cheeped out on the motherboard during the initial build of my pc and only have a pcie 2.0 x16 slot for a gpu, from what I've read the memory bandwidth of a 2.0 slot is 8Gbps at a x16, while the 3070 card itself runs at around 15-16Gbps, will installing the 3070 in the pcie 2.0 cause noticeable bottlenecking? should I invest in a new motherboard first?

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Yes. Whats the cpu?

[Kc7vwc]

Keep the 2070 and buy a new CPU/Mobo/RAM - that's what's holding you back.

I'd think you'd have to be on a very old platform to only have PCIe 2.0. Like AMD Phenom type of old. 

At the least with your current system, check your power supply. If it's a pre-built system, (especially if it's from a retail store & not a PC specialist shop) then they probably cut corners on the PSU. You'll find something that barely meets the power requirements, or it's sending poorly conditioned power, and that will cause interference with PC parts that need precise voltage control. 

 

I have a 2060 and it pushes every game I own to 90+ FPS at max settings at 1080p. It's paired with a Ryzen 2700, both at stock voltages & clocks.
And for the price of a 30xx card, you can build a DAMN FINE platform to run any GPU on. 

 

[Levent]

No, if you have a PCIE2.0 system your main bottleneck will be your CPU no matter what.

[Vic K]

48 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Yes. Whats the cpu?

I have a 9th gen intel i7 9700k

[Vic K]

45 minutes ago, Kc7vwc said:

Keep the 2070 and buy a new CPU/Mobo/RAM - that's what's holding you back.

I'd think you'd have to be on a very old platform to only have PCIe 2.0. Like AMD Phenom type of old. 

At the least with your current system, check your power supply. If it's a pre-built system, (especially if it's from a retail store & not a PC specialist shop) then they probably cut corners on the PSU. You'll find something that barely meets the power requirements, or it's sending poorly conditioned power, and that will cause interference with PC parts that need precise voltage control. 

 

I have a 2060 and it pushes every game I own to 90+ FPS at max settings at 1080p. It's paired with a Ryzen 2700, both at stock voltages & clocks.
And for the price of a 30xx card, you can build a DAMN FINE platform to run any GPU on. 

 

Hi thanks for the detailed response! I think my cpu should be fine, its an 9th gen i7 9700k, as for ram I have 2 16gb sticks of ddr4 3200, but ya as I said my mobo is pretty bad, its a H310M A 2.0, I don't know much about motherboards but judging by the pcie gen I think you're right saying its fairly old. To address the pcu though I think mine should be ok, Im running a Corsair RM750X 80 Gold Plus. Just to clear things up I did build the pc myself, bought all the parts off amazon.

[Vic K]

33 minutes ago, Levent said:

No, if you have a PCIE2.0 system your main bottleneck will be your CPU no matter what.

So If I got the 3070 I'd be ok? my cpu is a 9th gen i7-9700k for context

[Levent]

2 minutes ago, Vic K said:

So If I got the 3070 I'd be ok? my cpu is a 9th gen i7-9700k for context

I dont think there is any 9th gen CPU motherboard with only PCIE2. Your motherboard has PCIE3.0 16x slot. 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

13 minutes ago, Vic K said:

I have a 9th gen intel i7 9700k

then it has 3.0 16x

[Vic K]

4 minutes ago, Levent said:

I dont think there is any 9th gen CPU motherboard with only PCIE2. Your motherboard has PCIE3.0 16x slot. 

Alright sweet thank you, I must've misread something on the amazon listing, just in case though if you want to check for yourself the motherboard model is Gigabytes H310M A 2.0

 

[Vic K]

5 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

then it has 3.0 16x

Thanks for helping clear this up for me, apologies I must've misread the amazon listing.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 minute ago, Vic K said:

Thanks for helping clear this up for me, apologies I must've misread the amazon listing.

yeah. (its the m2 thats the 2.0)

[Kc7vwc]

13 hours ago, Vic K said:

Hi thanks for the detailed response! I think my cpu should be fine, its an 9th gen i7 9700k, as for ram I have 2 16gb sticks of ddr4 3200, but ya as I said my mobo is pretty bad, its a H310M A 2.0, I don't know much about motherboards but judging by the pcie gen I think you're right saying its fairly old. To address the pcu though I think mine should be ok, Im running a Corsair RM750X 80 Gold Plus. Just to clear things up I did build the pc myself, bought all the parts off amazon.

Ok, cool. More info is always good. 
With this, and the other comments, you will be fine. It was the M.2 bus that's rated at PCIe Gen2 x4 (which is still nice & fast for file storage). 
And I have that exact same PSU in my system, so that is good as well. 

 

So yes, you are good to go. 

 

For your current 2070, are you still able to return it at all? I would try to get a refund if at all possible, or possibly RMA it for a working on. Then you could either keep the new 2070 as backup or sell it to help finance the upgrade. 
If not, I'd be curious why it's not running properly. 
I'd check temps on it first (a program like HWiNFO64 is a great tool). I had an AMD R9 390 several years back that ran too hot and I had to pull the cooler off & reapply thermal paste to it. Ran 15-20c cooler. 
If temps aren't an issue, then it probably is a hardware problem and something in the power delivery modules got damaged, either in production or shipping. 

 

** For the 30xx series though, be sure you do have enough PCI-e connections coming off your PSU to connect to the new proprietary power cable Nvidia is using. I'm not completely sure how it's wired, but most of the review videos showed how it connects together. I just didn't pay enough attention, as I know I won't be able to afford this upgrade cycle.