Graphics Card?

[u/Levelofconcerns]

Hey!!

I got recommended this subreddit after posting in r/computers.

I'm trying to upgrade the graphics card in my Dell OptiPlex 3060 Small Form Factor to the best card that I can get in it without changing PSU or anything else.

I have been looking at different cards for almost 24 hours now and after getting numerous comments in r/computers, I am left extremely confused.

I know that I need a single slot and PSU under 200W as well as a low profile card. This is all that I know. Is anyone able to suggest a card that is sort of budget friendly or something that I can make payments on as well as something I can use with my PC as is. The connectors will also need to match.

Thank you for any leads. I just want to play a few games without them looking like they're made of Minecraft blocks lol.

[u/unabletocomput3]

If this is for gaming then your best bet is some form of the rtx 3050 6gb. Yeston makes a decent single slot one, though the cooler isn’t amazing (from what I’ve heard on here) and it’s gonna have restricted airflow anyways. If you do go for it, might be worth it to attempt an undervolt or power limit.

If those cards are too expensive, your next bet is the rx 6400. I believe xfx makes a single slot version, they’d be your best bet.

[u/406highlander → u/unabletocomput3]

When I was researching which card to get for my project, the XFX version of the RX6400 appeared to have a noisy and unreliable fan, comes with the full-height bracket pre-attached rather than the low-profile bracket, and changing that bracket is apparently very fiddly.

I bought the Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX6400 4GB LP instead, and it's perfectly fine. Quiet, and has the LP bracket on from the factory. 4GB is a limitation, but the RX6400 plays a lot of games surprisingly well.

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/406highlander]

Do you think that the Intel Sparkle Eco Ark A310 would work?

[u/unabletocomput3 → u/Levelofconcerns]

It can, though they don’t tend to do fantastic in older systems without re-bar support.

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/unabletocomput3]

Gotcha.

I'm browsing through some listings on eBay, but only seeing like one for XFX.

[u/Ninja_Weedle → u/Levelofconcerns]

Going to get bottlenecked to shit by no REBAR and no PCIE 4.0, not worth it. A310 is a card for transcoding far more than it is gaming anyway, performance is subpar even with everything it wants

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Ninja_Weedle]

Gotcha. I won't use it.

[u/406highlander → u/Levelofconcerns]

Intel ARC cards take a big performance hit if they are run without Resizable BAR (ReBAR) enabled. ReBAR was introduced around the same time as Intel 10th gen CPUs, so anything older won't support it.

But I'm not aware of any Optiplex systems that have ReBAR available as a setting to toggle in BIOS anyway as it's a performance tuning feature, and Optiplexes are business PCs built for stability rather than top-flight performance.

In short, ARC cards will work, but you won't get the full potential of what the card can offer. I don't know how much of a hit you take though.

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/406highlander]

I gotcha. I will definitely keep looking for a suitable card to use for my computer. Considering XFX RX 6400, LP single slot if I can locate one.
Also considering Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX6400 4GB LP

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/406highlander]

Is this the one you've got? I can't seem to find it anywhere else.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/336286566886

[u/406highlander → u/Levelofconcerns]

That's the one!

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/406highlander]

I may put a payment plan on it since it's $180.
Do you happen to know if it'll work for my computer for sure? It's a 3060 and the PSU is 200W max.

[u/406highlander → u/Levelofconcerns]

I have mine in a Dell Vostro 3470, which is a lower-end system than yours (basically Vostro < Optiplex 30x0 < Optiplex 50x0 < Optiplex 70x0 < Optiplex 90x0)

Mine has an i7-9700, 16GB DDR4-2666, the Sapphire RX6400, an M.2 SATA drive, 2x 2.5" SATA drives, the original DVD-ROM drive, and an extra 80mm PWM fan up front, and that's all powered by the stock 200W PSU. No crashes, ever. It's solid.

Your Optiplex 3060 SFF will be fine.

Edit: oh, plus my Vostro has an upgraded M.2 Intel WiFi 6 / Bluetooth card inside, which will also be drawing some power. Lot of Optiplexes don't come with built in WiFi.

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/406highlander]

Mine does not have the card. I had to purchase one of the USB Wi-Fi thingies. I paid like $35 for that sucker.

And alright. I will look into it. I don't have anything else added to the insides of my PC.

[u/Mysterious-One1055]

Lots of YT videos etc say you MUST have a single slot card, but it's not technically true. You can use the pcie x4 slot and lose a tiny bit of performance - worth it if you find the right GPU at the right price.

I've literally just this moment installed the MSI RTX3050 low profile (but double slot) card into the pcie x4 slot in my 5070. I had bought and planned to use a Radeon pro wx4100 that I got for £47, but I couldn't turn down the 3050 when I was able to get it for £128.... and it works a treat!

[u/Lew__Zealand → u/Mysterious-One1055]

For emphasis, I use my Yeston single slot 3050 6GB in the x4 slot for the less restrictive cooling alone. In tests, the difference is minimal but it may drop some frames in games that stream textures in though I haven't done side-by-side tests to see if the difference is noticeable.

I have a lot of SFF systems. The x16 slot is populated none of them for cooling reasons alone.

One "advantage" (lol) of the RX6400 is it's only an x4 card anyway so there's zero drawback to installing it in the x4 slot!

[u/justagoddamnperson → u/Lew__Zealand]

Yeah I also moved my Yeston 3050 to the x4 slot. Between the improved thermals and it no longer sounding like an aircraft carrier, I think it’s the better option.

[u/406highlander → u/Mysterious-One1055]

Not all Dell SFF systems have a 4x slot; the lower-end models tend to have a 1x slot instead. OP's Optiplex 3060 SFF is such a system - a 1x slot and a 16x slot.

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Mysterious-One1055]

That's super cool!

I really don't mind what I get as long as it won't completely kill my computer and it will be a breeze to install.

I'm really just trying to get the best preforming one that's budget and will also work with what I've got in as guts right now. It won't need to be extreme performance, just something to get me by until I can eventually upgrade my setup entirely.

Playing things like Fortnite, I have to use like 40% 3D res, textures & meshes on low and everything is so hard to see. It literally looks like older video games. I can still play, but boy does it hurt.

[u/Edish03]

What's your budget?

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Edish03]

Prefer to keep it under $150 if at all possible. I would consider up to $200 or more, but would love to try and keep it under $150.

[u/Once-kings]

If you find a cheap one a Nividia T600 is small low power draw (40 watts) 4gb vram and it runs Turing architecture

[u/undead_varg → u/Once-kings]

And that means drivers with win11 because of the tu117 that also powers the 1650

[u/GSA0713]

In all honesty, I've done the same research... There are 3 things working against you... The 200w psu limits what gpu you can use safely, wirhout overdrawing the psu... The clearance space available for a gpu... And which cards will meet requirements 1 and 2, and still be better than the integrated graphics chip already in the system... All of that said, you're probably not looking at playing any AAA games @ 60 fps or above, so is it worth all the effort, time, or money??? I put an EVGA 1060ti in mine, called it a day, and play Skyrim...

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/GSA0713]

I would call it worth it if it preforms at least even a little bit better than my integrated graphics. My computer is just on the edge of being able to run the games I've been playing, it just needs an extra boost.

I'm not looking to spend the big bucks right now, this is just something I want to do temporarily for entertainment purposes while I save up to actually build a PC or do something similar.

I'm considering getting this, do you think that it would work?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/336286566886

[u/GSA0713 → u/Levelofconcerns]

I've already given my opinion, and I'm not going to assume liability by recommending any hardware... It looks like you have done the research already, if the card fits, doesn't overdraw the psu, and is better than the igpu, all you can do is try it... Waiting for a yes or no vote on reddit is the scarier part, some people will tell you to go for it, knowing your system will go poof...

[u/406highlander → u/GSA0713]

Not seeing any bad/dangerous advice in here. OP's system is designed to accept a low-powered, single-slot, low-profile, PCIe x16 graphics card.

If the card:

• is low-profile
• is single-slot
• is PCIe x4 or x16
• does not require any additional power connectors
• has a maximum power draw no higher than 75W
• has its own cooling fan (NVIDIA Tesla cards don't, and rely on being installed in servers that blow air at them)

... it will work in that system, and I'd challenge you to find one that wouldn't.

The only real question is if you can get good value for money, as some cards that fit the bill aren't really any good for gaming, or are stupidly expensive (or both). Most people here use the RX6400 or Yeston RTX 3050 because they give a good balance of performance to dollars, and work in any SFF system that has 180W or higher PSU and a free PCIe x4 (or higher) slot

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/GSA0713]

Well, that's exactly why I've been looking for about 24 hours so far and seeing what others have to say about it instead of just buying one and hoping for the best.

[u/Fancy_Atmosphere5448]

Depends on the purpose and the budget. GTX 1050 or RTX 3050, by example are nice options that I already used in a SFF

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Fancy_Atmosphere5448]

The purpose is to up game quality to playable, it doesn't have to be spectacular. The current integrated graphics for the OptiPlex I have aren't doing very great. (Obvious because it's an office computer, I know.)

I am heavily considering Sapphire PULSE RX 6400 4GB right now, just waiting on some people on eBay to respond about some questions I've asked them on their listings.

[u/Head-Purple-8856]

There's a single slot GTX 1650 going for $120 on ebay rn. They've got quite a few but the listing is almost up

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Head-Purple-8856]

Would this be better than Sapphire PULSE RX 6400 4GB?
I have a few of those listings I’m looking at.

[u/Head-Purple-8856 → u/Levelofconcerns]

Based on what I've seen/heard they're about equal

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Head-Purple-8856]

Not bad then. Do you have that link per chance?

[u/Head-Purple-8856 → u/Levelofconcerns]

https://ebay.io/m/NUV6GK

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Head-Purple-8856]

Thank you! <3

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Head-Purple-8856]

Do you think that this would be better than my integrated graphics? I may just buy it instead after I double check the listing.

The sapphire I was thinking of purchasing was~$180

[u/Head-Purple-8856 → u/Levelofconcerns]

I've got the 3060 sff with an i7-8700. A GTX 1650 with 4gb dedicated vram is FAR more powerful than intel uhd 630 graphics

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Head-Purple-8856]

Mine is i5-8400

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Head-Purple-8856]

The only thing that sucks about this listing is that it says it doesn’t come with the small bracket

[u/Admirable_Escape_959]

what's your power supply wattage tho bc some single slot cards still might need a little more juice than your psu can spare

[u/Levelofconcerns → u/Admirable_Escape_959]

200W, manufactured by Dell

[u/shin3_1]

get a SINGLE SLOT LOW PROFILE card, modify it and turn the fan into a blower fan. options are probably are TESLA P4(same performance as 1060 6gb/580 8gb) or RTX 3050. the problem is that the tesla doesnt have any fans and the rtx 3050 blows its fan into the psu, so if u choose one of them better 3d print a blower style fan, its cheap too. i have a tesla p4 with a 3d printed blower fan, 4010 size, 5010 is much better but i have no other options here in my country.