3060 advice!

[MistahHaskins]

I saw this card particularly because of Amazon Payment Plans and I figured why not, however with my PC and a 650W PSU and all that's in it I am worried it wouldn't be enough.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BYk4jZ

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W8DGK3X?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

 

Says it would be a wattage of 389w but I am unsure what the power draw is on the this particular card is.

 

Is it worth the money from upgrading from a 1650 Super?

[Pixelfie]

The PSU is fine for the 3060 and the cards I mentioned, but if this is used for gaming that 3060 is an awful buy for it's price. You can get a 6600 that does 95% of the things for half the price. Or a much faster 6700 XT, for the same price as the 3060.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NdvdnQ/asus-radeon-rx-6600-8-gb-dual-video-card-dual-rx6600-8g

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/V4nypg/asus-radeon-rx-6700-xt-12-gb-dual-video-card-dual-rx6700xt-12g

[MistahHaskins]

10 minutes ago, Pixelfie said:

The PSU is fine for the 3060 and the cards I mentioned, but if this is used for gaming that 3060 is an awful buy for it's price. You can get a 6600 that does 95% of the things for half the price. Or a much faster 6700 XT, for the same price as the 3060.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NdvdnQ/asus-radeon-rx-6600-8-gb-dual-video-card-dual-rx6600-8g

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/V4nypg/asus-radeon-rx-6700-xt-12-gb-dual-video-card-dual-rx6700xt-12g

I didn't think about the 6700 XT although I heard drivers weren't the greatest right?

[Pixelfie]

5 minutes ago, MistahHaskins said:

I didn't think about the 6700 XT although I heard drivers weren't the greatest right?

I personally haven't had a single driver issue in the last 2 years with my RX 6600 and RX 5500 XT. From what I've heard the recommended drivers are actually pretty good. 

 

I think Nvidia has a lot of bugs but usually very minor, while AMD has very few but some of them are actually pretty major like video playback bug which got fixed in the last driver

[MistahHaskins]

1 minute ago, Pixelfie said:

I personally haven't had a single driver issue in the last 2 years with my RX 6600 and RX 5500 XT. From what I've heard the recommended drivers are actually pretty good. 

 

I think Nvidia has a lot of bugs but usually very minor, while AMD has very few but some of them are actually pretty major like video playback bug which got fixed in the last driver

Jeez there is the Powercolor RX 6600 Fighter card for $250 but it also has a payment plan like the 3060 I wanted. I am seriously thinking about ditching the 3060 for this card for real https://www.amazon.com/PowerColor-Fighter-Radeon-6600-Graphics/dp/B09H3PY14M/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3GNS5C26Z1DQ9&keywords=rx+6600&qid=1666555120&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0LjM4IiwicXNhIjoiMy4yMSIsInFzcCI6IjIuOTYifQ%3D%3D&s=electronics&sprefix=rx+6600%2Celectronics%2C156&sr=1-2

[Pixelfie]

2 minutes ago, MistahHaskins said:

Jeez there is the Powercolor RX 6600 Fighter card for $250 but it also has a payment plan like the 3060 I wanted. I am seriously thinking about ditching the 3060 for this card for real https://www.amazon.com/PowerColor-Fighter-Radeon-6600-Graphics/dp/B09H3PY14M/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3GNS5C26Z1DQ9&keywords=rx+6600&qid=1666555120&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0LjM4IiwicXNhIjoiMy4yMSIsInFzcCI6IjIuOTYifQ%3D%3D&s=electronics&sprefix=rx+6600%2Celectronics%2C156&sr=1-2

I have that exact one, pretty good card. Stays very quiet under load and temps are in the 60s, even with my crappy case that has about no airflow. But ambient temps are also low at 16-17c, so I'd assume it should be around 70c in a normal room.

 

I'd just try it. If there are driver issues or something else you don't like, you can always return it to Amazon for a refund and get an Nvidia card.

 

Also I really recommend playing around with undervolting on this card. Because it's bottlenecked by it's own power limit of 100w it clocks to about 2300mhz. With a good undervolt it should be around 2700mhz, which for me easily unlocks another 10% more performance. Or you could undervolt it and lock it to 2300mhz, which will give same performance as stock with lower power draw and less heat.

[MistahHaskins]

1 minute ago, Pixelfie said:

I have that exact one, pretty good card. Stays very quiet under load and temps are in the 60s, even with my crappy case that has about no airflow. But ambient temps are also low at 16-17c, so I'd assume it should be around 70c in a normal room.

 

I'd just try it. If there are driver issues or something else you don't like, you can always return it to Amazon for a refund and get an Nvidia card.

 

Also I really recommend playing around with undervolting on this card. Because it's bottlenecked by it's own power limit of 100w it clocks to about 2300mhz. With a good undervolt it should be around 2700mhz, which for me easily unlocks another 10% more performance. Or you could undervolt it and lock it to 2300mhz, which will give same performance as stock with lower power draw and less heat.

Why would AMD lock its power limit? Seems like an odd thing to do without giving the consumer the ability to unlock it.

I was looking at the 6600 XT also, and people are saying that DDU with Nvidia can brick systems so if that's the case I don't want to switch and have that happen. But hearing what AMD is offering for price to performance its seems like it could be worth the risk. I also looked and I couldn't find an 6600 XT with payment plans either which would've been amazing for me personally

[Pixelfie]

2 minutes ago, MistahHaskins said:

Why would AMD lock its power limit? Seems like an odd thing to do without giving the consumer the ability to unlock it.

You can unlock it to 120% in the Radeon software which removes that bottleneck, but imo undervolting would be a better option to do so. They probably did this to make the card as efficient as possible, because apart from the 4090 the 6600 currently has the best performance/watt.

 

4 minutes ago, MistahHaskins said:

I was looking at the 6600 XT also, and people are saying that DDU with Nvidia can brick systems so if that's the case I don't want to switch and have that happen. But hearing what AMD is offering for price to performance its seems like it could be worth the risk. I also looked and I couldn't find an 6600 XT with payment plans either which would've been amazing for me personally

What about the 6650 XT? Usually it's actually cheaper than the 6600 XT for some reason. 

 

Never heard any issues with DDU bricking a system.

[MistahHaskins]

1 minute ago, Pixelfie said:

You can unlock it to 120% in the Radeon software which removes that bottleneck, but imo undervolting would be a better option to do so. They probably did this to make the card as efficient as possible, because apart from the 4090 the 6600 currently has the best performance/watt.

 

What about the 6650 XT? Usually it's actually cheaper than the 6600 XT for some reason. 

 

Never heard any issues with DDU bricking a system.

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-RX-6600-XT-MECH/dp/B09BK8NCPB/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3QSFSGFPVYXTQ&keywords=rx+6600+xt&qid=1666556248&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjA5IiwicXNhIjoiNC4yMyIsInFzcCI6IjMuODUifQ%3D%3D&s=electronics&sprefix=rx+6600+xt%2Celectronics%2C252&sr=1-3 6600 XT from MSI with Payment Plan. Looks like a nice card but unsure if it would like the 3060 work with my 650w PSU. If it does I will order it right now if its worth the money

[Pixelfie]

20 minutes ago, MistahHaskins said:

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-RX-6600-XT-MECH/dp/B09BK8NCPB/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3QSFSGFPVYXTQ&keywords=rx+6600+xt&qid=1666556248&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjA5IiwicXNhIjoiNC4yMyIsInFzcCI6IjMuODUifQ%3D%3D&s=electronics&sprefix=rx+6600+xt%2Celectronics%2C252&sr=1-3 6600 XT from MSI with Payment Plan. Looks like a nice card but unsure if it would like the 3060 work with my 650w PSU. If it does I will order it right now if its worth the money

Will work too. It uses less power than the 3060 iirc. Do note that MSI Mech cards have locked power limits, so if the 6600 XT has a similar bottleneck you might as well get the 6600.

[IkeaGnome]

3 minutes ago, Pixelfie said:

Will work too. It uses less power than the 3060 iirc. Do note that MSI Mech cards have locked power limits, so if the 6600 XT has a similar bottleneck you might as well get the 6600.

It's a bit of a flip flop.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/msi-radeon-rx-6600-xt-gaming-x/34.html

Runs lower on average in games by like 12W, but can spike higher than the 3060. 220W vs 201W

I wouldn't think it's enough to warrant a different power supply though. It's so close it really wouldn't matter at the end of the day.

[MistahHaskins]

21 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

It's a bit of a flip flop.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/msi-radeon-rx-6600-xt-gaming-x/34.html

Runs lower on average in games by like 12W, but can spike higher than the 3060. 220W vs 201W

I wouldn't think it's enough to warrant a different power supply though. It's so close it really wouldn't matter at the end of the day.

Do I get the 6600 XT or do I not?

[IkeaGnome]

4 minutes ago, MistahHaskins said:

Do I get the 6600 XT or do I not?

Unless you need Nvenc for encoding, I would. Better than a 3060 across the board.

 

[MistahHaskins]

Just now, IkeaGnome said:

Unless you need Nvenc for encoding, I would. Better than a 3060 across the board.

 

I play games, and only games

[IkeaGnome]

7 minutes ago, MistahHaskins said:

I play games, and only games

Then I'd go 6600xt if you wanted 3060 performance for less, or 6700 xt if you wanted more performance for the same amount of money.

As far as the drivers go, some people have had issues with them. I've ran a 6800xt since right after release with no major issues. Due to my work rotations I'm usually an update or two behind depending on where they were in the cycle when I left for work.