Graphic Cards Whats the fastest graphic card my motherboard will support?

[ch@ts]

I've got an old AMD Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P motherboard running an AMD FX8350 processor, with an Nvidia GT 1030 GPU.
I was planning on doing an incremental upgrade, getting myself an Nvidia 3060 GPU now, and doing a motherboard+RAM+CPU upgrade later this year.
But I'm not sure if the newer GPU's will work with my PC.
Will new GPU's work with an old chipset like AMD 970? What's the best GPU that I can get that'll work, and that's good enough to do some playing around with AI/ML with?

AMD 900 chipset series - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

GA-970A-DS3P (rev. 2.x) Specification | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...

www.gigabyte.com

 

[tearphones]

Your motherboard has PCI Express 2.0.
30-series Nvidia is PCI Express 4.0, that's 2 generations ahead.
PCI Express is backwards compatible. So while it will probably work, you have to make sure that you are not constrained on the bandwidth. For example, when choosing a card, make sure it is wired for all the pins of the PCI Express connector, and not just half the connectors, because that might bottleneck the link between the GPU and CPU.

Further, your CPU being so old will also bottleneck modern games, so you won't be able to enjoy everything that the 3060 has to offer.

 

[Mr.J]

Also, you may need to buy new power supply to handle the 3060.

But you can still buy the card and use it till you upgrade rest of the system.

 

[ch@ts]

For example, when choosing a card, make sure it is wired for all the pins of the PCI Express connector, and not just half the connectors, because that might bottleneck the link between the GPU and CPU.

How does one check that? Do you have any card recommendations?

 

[rsaeon]

How does one check that? Do you have any card recommendations?

Avoid all of these:

TechPowerUp

Graphics card and GPU database with specifications for products launched in recent years. Includes clocks, photos, and technical details.

www.techpowerup.com

TechPowerUp

Graphics card and GPU database with specifications for products launched in recent years. Includes clocks, photos, and technical details.

www.techpowerup.com

TechPowerUp

Graphics card and GPU database with specifications for products launched in recent years. Includes clocks, photos, and technical details.

www.techpowerup.com

TechPowerUp

Graphics card and GPU database with specifications for products launched in recent years. Includes clocks, photos, and technical details.

www.techpowerup.com

 

[ch@ts]

Avoid all of these:

Thanks a ton. That was really helpful.
Also, I can't believe that the 4060 uses an 8x bus while the 3060 uses a 16x.

 

[WelliXL]

Thanks a ton. That was really helpful.
Also, I can't believe that the 4060 uses an 8x bus while the 3060 uses a 16x.

similar situation here same mb, and cpu but a palit gtx 960. what card did you go for?
i'm looking at https://www.ebuyer.com/1141626-pali...al-oc-ampere-graphics-card-ne63060t19k9-190ad and

Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GAMING OC V2 Ampere Graphics Card for Gaming | Ebuyer.com

Get a great deal on a Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GAMING OC V2 Ampere Graphics Card for Gaming as well as thousands of products at Ebuyer!

www.ebuyer.com

not sure if my power supply will handle it tho

 

[Tarantula]

not sure if my power supply will handle it tho

Which is your current power supply? It is quite possible that it may not be able to supply enough power after you have installed the new graphics card.

 

[ch@ts]

similar situation here same mb, and cpu but a palit gtx 960. what card did you go for?
i'm looking at https://www.ebuyer.com/1141626-pali...al-oc-ampere-graphics-card-ne63060t19k9-190ad and

Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GAMING OC V2 Ampere Graphics Card for Gaming | Ebuyer.com

Get a great deal on a Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GAMING OC V2 Ampere Graphics Card for Gaming as well as thousands of products at Ebuyer!

www.ebuyer.com

not sure if my power supply will handle it tho

I haven't upgraded yet.
Like you, I need to upgrade my PSU first.

I think I'll probably buy a 3060 12GB, or a 4060 16GB (if/when that releases. - as it's more power efficient.)
There are YouTube videos of a guy with the same setup as us running a 4060, with it performing quite well.