Can I upgrade from Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 to RTX 3060?

[deanmiller.offshore]

Hi, please can someone help.

My son has an MSI Aegis 3 gaming computer, it is now running slow on the latest online games.

He wants to upgrade the graphics card, can I upgrade it from Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 to RTX 3060?

What else will I need to do to it or is it just a case of swapping them out?

HELP! HELP! HELP! PLEASE! PLEASE!

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Maybe.

It would help to know what psu it has, and if its componets are standard

[IkeaGnome]

A 3060 will fit. I don't know about the power supply and it being able to handle it. 

What games is he playing that he "needs" this upgrade? It might not even be the most expensive part holding the computer back.

[IkeaGnome]

2 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Maybe.

It would help to know what psu it has, and if its componets are standard

Inverted motherboard, laptop ram, TFX(Maybe?) PSU. GN does say the 600W PSU is un user serviceable, but doesn't elaborate if it's proprietary shaped, connectors or anything.

https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2414-msi-aegis-unbuild-teardown-analysis

[deanmiller.offshore]

16 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Maybe.

It would help to know what psu it has, and if its componets are standard

How do I find out?

[Helpful Tech Witch]

2 minutes ago, deanmiller.offshore said:

How do I find out?

@IkeaGnome already did, and there are issues.

The psu is a no name 600w, so id not recomend any 3000 gpu or high end 2000 with it, just to try and minimise the risk of it not working

[Pixelfie]

It has a 450w PSU which isn't a standard ATX PSU (1U formfactor), so it's probably not going to work as the recommended is 550w. You may be able to find a higher wattage one, but generally 1U PSU's are low wattage and not the best quality. Not only that but not all 3060's will fit, which specific model were you looking at?

[Pixelfie]

1 minute ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

@IkeaGnome already did, and there are issues.

The psu is a no name 600w, so id not recomend any 3000 gpu or high end 2000 with it, just to try and minimise the risk of it not working

Actually it isn't, it's 450w

[IkeaGnome]

A lot of it is also proprietary. No 24 pin. CPU power might be ATX though.

 

6 minutes ago, deanmiller.offshore said:

How do I find out?

When he's playing games, have something like the MSI afterburner overlay open. It'll tell you what part is holding the computer back.

 

[deanmiller.offshore]

1 minute ago, Pixelfie said:

It has a 450w PSU which isn't a standard PSU, so it's probably not going to work as the recommended is 550w. Not only that but not all 3060's will fit, which specific model were you looking at?

It was the MSI Geforce RTX 3060 12gb Ventus 3X OC, looking for help with upgrading the specs for my sons computer. 

I know it has Intel i7-8700 CPU 3.2ghz 8gb

[deanmiller.offshore]

3 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

A lot of it is also proprietary. No 24 pin. CPU power might be ATX though.

 

When he's playing games, have something like the MSI afterburner overlay open. It'll tell you what part is holding the computer back.

 

Whats MSI afterburner overlay? 

[IkeaGnome]

1 minute ago, deanmiller.offshore said:

Whats MSI afterburner overlay? 

It's a program from MSI that will monitor hardware usage and show it on an overlay in games. We'd be interested in CPU temperature and usage, Memory usage, and GPU temperature and Usage.

If they're trying to play games like BF2042, New World and others like that on super high settings, that GPU is going to struggle a bit though. 

[deanmiller.offshore]

1 minute ago, IkeaGnome said:

It's a program from MSI that will monitor hardware usage and show it on an overlay in games. We'd be interested in CPU temperature and usage, Memory usage, and GPU temperature and Usage.

If they're trying to play games like BF2042, New World and others like that on super high settings, that GPU is going to struggle a bit though. 

I'll get it downloaded. Thanks. I'm sure it will give us a good starting point.

[IkeaGnome]

Just now, deanmiller.offshore said:

I'll get it downloaded. Thanks. I'm sure it will give us a good starting point.

If it is the GPU, that's going to be a hard choice. The 3060 draws about 60W more power than a 1060. The power supply might just not have that left over. It's a weird shaped power supply and not going to be easily changed(if it's even possible besides the 600W that you could get with that computer). 

Personally, I wouldn't do that. If it was me though, power supply before GPU to be safe. You're not going to be able to really upgrade that PSU, so that puts it at a new case. New case means new motherboard since that one is a weird (inverted) layout. 

[Pixelfie]

28 minutes ago, deanmiller.offshore said:

It was the MSI Geforce RTX 3060 12gb Ventus 3X OC, looking for help with upgrading the specs for my sons computer. 

I know it has Intel i7-8700 CPU 3.2ghz 8gb

The 1060 that's in there just barely fits, and the 3060 is about 4cm longer which likely won't fit. I'd look for a GPU that's under 280mm, that should fit. However, the problem is the PSU.

 

If you can find a 6600 XT that would probably work better because it uses less power than both a 1060 and 3060. It will also outperform both, and is often found cheaper than a 3060 currently. Just make sure it's under that 280mm limit, and it doesn't have to be MSI as long as it fits (this doesn't mean you have to avoid MSI).

 

But before buying a new GPU, I'd recommend looking at Afterburner like mentioned by @IkeaGnome. GPU usage 99%? GPU needs upgrade. GPU usage not 99%? CPU or RAM needs upgrade, most likely CPU if you have 16gb RAM or more.

[deanmiller.offshore]

Ok. I'll try the afterburner first. 

[deanmiller.offshore]

This was the result from the Afterburner whilst playing a game. So will I need to change the graphics card then? Or will I be able to? To what?