Hey everyone! I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. I'm considering upgrading from my GTX 1650 Super to something better, and I'm looking at two options. The first is the 3050 8GB, which costs about $250 in my country. I don't need super-high settings—I'm fine with 1080p on medium settings, and I'm not looking to upgrade my monitor anytime soon. I know a lot of people aren't fans of the 3050, but based on benchmarks, it seems like a decent upgrade with features like RT and DLSS.
On the other hand, I saw that a basic 4060 8GB goes for around $350-$380. From what I've read, it should outperform the 3050 significantly. The catch is that I'd need a new PSU since I'm currently running a Corsair CX550, which I got in 2020. While it's reliable, I was thinking of getting a modular PSU eventually to tidy up my cables. If my 550W can handle the 4060, I might just skip the new PSU for now. Also, does anyone have recommendations for a good PSU calculator?
Here's my current build:
- B550 Tomahawk
- Ryzen 5700x
- GTX 1650 Super ROG Strix
- 2x 8GB DDR4 Corsair RAM
- 1 SSD for OS + 1 SSD for games + 1 NVMe for modern games + 1 HDD for storage
- 1 DVD drive (yeah, still using it)
- 1 wireless receiver for Xbox controllers
- 3 case fans (intake + exhaust) and the CPU fan.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
4 Answers
I'd say go for the RTX 4060 if your PSU can handle it. The extra performance will be noticeable, especially if you're planning to keep this card for a while. Just avoid overclocking and don’t add too many extra fans or lights, and you should be good with your current 550W PSU.
Honestly, for $350 you might want to consider the 9060XT with 16GB of VRAM instead. It's a solid alternative if you're not strictly tied to NVIDIA for CUDA-based rendering. Just keep in mind your rendering needs with Blender!
Using PCPartPicker for estimates, I calculated that with everything you have, even including the 4060, you're looking at around 379 watts. That should leave you plenty of headroom with your 550W PSU. You shouldn't have any issues powering the 4060!
Exactly! Many people really overestimate the PSU requirements for GPUs. Your 550W should be completely fine, considering all you've mentioned. In fact, I've seen builds running even higher-end cards with 550W PSUs without issues.
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