I came across a 3060 Ti graphics card while cleaning out an old house, and I'm curious if it's a good choice for building a PC to play games. I'm not super knowledgeable about PCs, but I do know that graphics cards are important. I'm a casual gamer, and as long as I can get the same or better frames than my Xbox Series S, I'd be happy. What do you think?
4 Answers
The 3060 Ti is quite a capable graphics card! It still holds its ground against some newer mid-tier cards that are out now. For instance, it performs just a bit below the 4060 Ti and is comparable to the standard 5060, which is retailing around $300. You can check out some benchmarks from Hardware Unboxed and Techpowerup for a deeper dive.
The 3060 Ti is a bit older now, but don’t underestimate it. It’s still quite solid for gaming at 1080p and can even handle 1440p without much trouble. I'm using one myself and it plays most current games on medium to high settings without a hitch.
While the 3060 is a lower-tier option when compared to the 3060 Ti, it's still decent, especially since you found it for free! Just keep in mind that performance between the two can vary, with the Ti definitely being the stronger card.
In terms of performance, the 3060 Ti is pretty close to the Xbox Series X and PS5, so it should serve you well for several more years with upcoming games. If you build around it, like using a Ryzen 5500 and a decent motherboard, plus some solid RAM, you'll have a pretty nice gaming rig.
Just a heads-up, though! Someone mentioned it might actually be a 3060 XC instead, which is a step down from the Ti.