rtx 3060 GPU in PCie 3.0 x8 vs 3.0 x16

[Sambit]

I have recently purchased MSI RTX 3060 gaming X and installed it on my MSI Z390 gaming edge AC motherboard. 

 

However,  I installed the GPU in the second PCie slot which is PCie 3.0 x8 since the x16 slot is very close to my tower CPU cooler and putting the GPU in the x16 slot would almost make the GPU hit the CPU cooler. This I had to install my RTX 3060  in a PCie 3.0 x8 slot because of the fact that the x16 slot was very near to my huge tower style air cooler. 

 

I have not yet noticed huge performance drop but the card significantly heats up under load (around 70-75 degrees). I called MSI and they said put the card in x16 slot for performance gain but did not clarify the bandwidth constraints. 

 

I still have the following doubts:

 

1. Why the 3060 or 3070 is significantly overheating when put in x8 instead of x16? Is it because the card working harder to push the bandwidth constraints in x8? 

 

2. Also is it okay to use the 3060/70 card in PCie 3.0 x8 slot instead of 3.0 x16 slot (incase x16 slot isn't available)? 

 

3. Do PCie 3.0 x8 slot gets choked/saturated (because of limited bandwidth) by a 3060/3070 leading to a bottleneck? Does a 3060/3070 really need more than PCie 3.0 x8 (8 lanes) for only gaming? 

 

4. Will this impact my hardware (the GPU) in anyways if I keep using the x8 slot only?

 

Spec:

Processor:           i7 8700k

Motherboard:      MSI Z390 gaming edge AC

CPU cooler:         cooler master hyper 212 evo

GPU:                      MSI RTX 3060 gamingX (plugged in PCie 3.0 x8 slot) 

PSU:                      Corsair RM 750

[komar]

6 minutes ago, Sambit said:

(around 70-75 degrees)

This is not overheating. Even kinda low temp if its under full load.

Use your cards and don't overthink those stuff.

[GuiltySpark_]

Over the years there have been loads of benchmarks done on this from reputable sites/publications. Here is a more recent one.

 

https://www.techspot.com/review/2104-pcie4-vs-pcie3-gpu-performance/

 

GN did one back in 2016. 

 

https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2488-pci-e-3-x8-vs-x16-performance-impact-on-gpus

[tishous]

15 minutes ago, Sambit said:

1. Why the 3060 or 3070 is significantly overheating when put in x8 instead of x16? Is it because the card working harder to push the bandwidth constraints in x8? 

Probably just a coincidence or because it is closer to the PSU shroud, so restricted airflow.

15 minutes ago, Sambit said:

2. Also is it okay to use the 3060/70 card in PCie 3.0 x8 slot instead of 3.0 x16 slot (incase x16 slot isn't available)? 

15 minutes ago, Sambit said:

3. Do PCie 3.0 x8 slot gets choked/saturated (because of limited bandwidth) by a 3060/3070 leading to a bottleneck? Does a 3060/3070 really need more than PCie 3.0 x8 (8 lanes) for only gaming? 

For the 3060, I doubt there would be a big difference between x8 and x16. For the 3070, it may cause a bottleneck, but nothing too significant, so yes it would be fine to use an x8 slot.

15 minutes ago, Sambit said:

4. Will this impact my hardware (the GPU) in anyways if I keep using the x8 slot only?

No, it will be fine.

 

[Sambit]

3 minutes ago, komar said:

This is not overheating. Even kinda low temp if its under full load.

Use your cards and don't overthink those stuff.

It's not always under full load. 

I have observed that in PCie 3.0 x8 slot the card is being used around 70% while the CPU usage is at 60%  giving 60 FPS under moderate settings with 6 GB VRAm usage (data from MSI afterburner while playing resident evil 2) 

 

I am not sure whether the card not hitting 99% or 100% usage because of being put into the PCie 3.0 x8

[Sambit]

5 minutes ago, tishous said:

Probably just a coincidence or because it is closer to the PSU shroud, so restricted airflow.

For the 3060, I doubt there would be a big difference between x8 and x16. For the 3070, it may cause a bottleneck, but nothing too significant, so yes it would be fine to use an x8 slot.

No, it will be fine.

 

Thanks. I was very concerned about my new GPU since these days it's even more expensive than gold. I just want the hardware to be performing at it's best. 

[tishous]

1 minute ago, Sambit said:

Thanks. I was very concerned about my new GPU since these days it's even more expensive than gold. I just want the hardware to be performing at it's best. 

Yeah I understand. As a general rule, if the component doesn't fail within a week or two from receiving and installing it, it will survive for years as long as it isn't choking and overheating or you're running an unstable OC.

[Sambit]

9 minutes ago, rickeo said:

Over the years there have been loads of benchmarks done on this from reputable sites/publications. Here is a more recent one.

 

https://www.techspot.com/review/2104-pcie4-vs-pcie3-gpu-performance/

 

GN did one back in 2016. 

 

https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2488-pci-e-3-x8-vs-x16-performance-impact-on-gp

Sorry but your first link states the difference between PCie 4 vs PCie 3 whereas I need to know the performance difference between PCie 3.0 x8 vs 3.0 x16 and that too on the recent 30 series Nvidia cards. 

 

Could not find anything relevant on the 30 series cards on the internet so far. 

[GuiltySpark_]

Just now, Sambit said:

Sorry but your first link states the difference between PCie 4 vs PCie 3 whereas I need to know the performance difference between PCie 3.0 x8 vs 3.0 x16 and that too on the recent 30 series Nvidia cards. 

 

Could not find anything relevant on the 30 series cards on the internet so far. 

If you read the article and look at the graphs, you'll see that is clearly tested in there.

[Sambit]

1 minute ago, tishous said:

Yeah I understand. As a general rule, if the component doesn't fail within a week or two from receiving and installing it, it will survive for years as long as it isn't choking and overheating or you're running an unstable OC.

So in my case using the rtx 3060 in PCie 3.0 x8 slot alongwith i7 8700k will be fine and not choking/bottleneck or saturating anything right? 

(GPU temp around 80 degrees, CPU temp around 60 degrees while playing Witcher 3) 

 

Sorry but I am a bit noob to pc building as this is my first build and rather my first ever dedicated gpu thus making sure I understood correct. 

[tishous]

2 hours ago, Sambit said:

So in my case using the rtx 3060 in PCie 3.0 x8 slot alongwith i7 8700k will be fine and not choking/bottleneck or saturating anything right? 

(GPU temp around 80 degrees, CPU temp around 60 degrees while playing Witcher 3) 

 

Sorry but I am a bit noob to pc building as this is my first build and rather my first ever dedicated gpu thus making sure I understood correct. 

Yeah that's all within spec. You could probably raise the fan speeds using MSI Afterburner to get below 75C (what I consider ideal) or improve case cooling. CPU is fine, arguably on the lower side of normal gaming temps. Either way, no cause for concern.

[apoklyps3]

Would a 4070 loos alot of performance on a pcie3 8x bandwidth. I got an nvme sharing bandwidth my gpu slot and my board is b450