Rtx 3060RTX 3060 works with PCie 3.0 x8 slot and supports V-Sync functionality.
Rtx 3060RTX 3060 works with PCie 3.0 x8 slot and supports V-Sync functionality.
I recently bought an MSI RTX 3060 gaming GPU and mounted it on my MSI Z390 gaming edge AC motherboard. I placed it in the second PCIe slot, which is PCIe 3.0 x8, because the x16 slot was too close to my CPU cooler and putting it there could cause contact issues. I haven’t seen a major performance drop yet, but using V-Sync on my 60 Hz monitor keeps the GPU usage around 60-70%, giving a steady 60 FPS. If I disable V-Sync, the GPU runs at about 99% with 100+ FPS on most games, but it gets very hot (around 80°C) and causes frame stutters. My main concerns are: 1) Should I always use V-Sync with a 60 Hz monitor for better stability and cooler life, or should I turn it off to let the GPU run at full capacity? 2) Why does the RTX 3060 overheat more when in x8 compared to x16? Is it because of bandwidth limits or typical behavior for this model? 3) Is it acceptable to use the RTX 3060 in the x8 slot instead of the x16 slot, especially since the latter is unavailable? Could the x8 slot become a bottleneck due to limited bandwidth? Does a 3060 really need more than the x8 lanes for gaming?
You can choose to do it if you wish. I remember Luke covered hardware durability, and the main takeaway was that better hardware lasts longer. This applies more to multi-year periods than just a few years. If the machine performs better in the X16 slot, consider relocating the GPU. It's okay—bandwidth differences won't be a big deal in everyday use.