Hi everyone,
It’s been many years since I’ve last built a PC from scratch or even upgraded any parts. I’ve been using a prebuilt Lenovo Legion Cube C530‐19ICB for several years now and I’m generally happy with it mostly because the case fits nicely in my living room cabinet (hooked up to the TV).
I have an option to purchase a new RTX 40 Series card in a few days for a decent price and I’m wondering which of these will be compatible to my existing PC:
-
4060Ti (8GB)
-
4070 Super
-
4080 Super
I assume I need to check dimensions (not sure if everything has a standard like “full height” etc.) and PSU Watts (how strict are these requirements?). Not sure if there’s PCI type/width issues or anything else I need to cover, or what do I get the info for both my PC and each card from.
If anyone can help guide me through figuring out which of these cards could be compatible, I’d appreciate it a lot!
Edit: Seems like the 4080 is too much for my current build (card length, PSU, etc.) but both the 4070 and 4060 could work. Thanks everyone for your advice!
Most current GPUs use PCIe 4.0, some of them x8, but they will still work in PCIe 3.0 x16. It’s a bandwidth thing.
Besides that I’d say take the TDP of the GPU, say it’s 200W, double that and you’ll be fine. Usually they’d say add all of your components’s maximum power, multiply by 2 and that’s your PSU. With current PSUs, they are efficient enough to manage 65-70% at maximum efficiency. Your GPU is the biggest power draw. Say your total system uses 450W and you have a 500W PSU, your PSU will run less efficiently but your system will still work fine.
Another consideration is your current CPU. Your CPU prepares every frame for your GPU to render. If your CPU is a lil older, it may bottleneck your GPU, ie it will have to work too hard to keep your GPU busy.
Your GPU is your most powerful component and every other component influences whether it can reach its maximum potential.