If you’re looking to upgrade your old graphics card to one of the new RTX 3 series GPU’s, the 3060 is easily one of the best choices for your money.
How Many Watts for RTX 3060?
- The RTX 3060 at its peak consumes around ~170 Watts. That’s why your power supply needs to have a minimum of 340 watts, which is more than double the peak.
How Many Watts for RTX 3060 Ti?
- The RTX 3060 Ti at its peak consumes around ~200 Watts. That’s why your power supply needs to have a minimum of 400 watts, which is more than double the peak.
Why these double numbers?
Because every graphics card has an average and a peak power consumption part. While most will stay in the lower, idle part for the majority of their life, you want your power supply to be able to handle any peaks that happen during heavy gaming, even if just for a single second.
This 340/400 Watt information is not accounting for the fact that your PSU has to power everything in your computer though, which pushes the overall required number higher. On average, you could say around extra 200 Watts higher (for the CPU, fans etc.).
On top of that, if you ever plan on overclocking any of your components, this would need to be even higher. While Nvidia recommends your PSU to be at least 550W for the RTX 3060, their results were tested using a high-end i9 processor. Chances are, your overall required number is lower.
Is 400W Enough for RTX 3060 & 3060 Ti?
Unfortunately, while 400W would be enough to handle the GPU alone, it’s not nearly enough to run a good gaming computer, especially if your power supply is from an unknown brand, or came built-in with the case.
Because the RTX 3060 Ti needs even slightly more power, 400W is far from enough.
Is 500W Enough for RTX 3060 & 3060 Ti?
500W is where you can consider that the overall quality of PSU’s gets better, as many companies simply don’t want to put their best into sub-500W systems.
If you have a really quality power supply (Gold rated or even higher), then you could get away with 500W. It’s going to be close to the total usage of your computer though, which means your PSU won’t be as efficient as it could be.
The image above is an example of how efficient a power supply is at different rates. At ~45% of its load, it’s noticeably more efficient than when it’s closer to 100%. The differences are not so huge that it would be worth spending twice as much money on a more powerful PSU, but it’s still good to remember to not push it to its limits. While this graph is not the same for all PSU’s out there, you can assume the curve looks pretty similar.
For the RTX 3060 Ti, having 500W could be enough but we really don’t recommend it.
Is 600W Enough for RTX 3060 & 3060 Ti?
Yes, having a quality 600W is good enough for both of these cards. By quality we mean anything that’s Gold rated from one of many trusted brands.
It’s on the low end for the 3060 Ti, so if you’re looking for maximum efficiency and can find a 650W supply that doesn’t cost you more than 600W, we seriously recommend it.
What Power Supply We Recommend?
The PSU we recommend is Corsair RMX 650W+ Gold Rated. There’s even a few higher watt options from them for not a whole lot more if you want to be more future-proof.
It’s always good to remember that your power supply should be double the amount your computer uses while gaming.
If you’re just building out your computer, or aren’t on a tight budget, we seriously recommend you to go for a quality 650W+ PSU for both 3060 and 3060 Ti. This is more than enough to handle the peak, even if you overclock your GPU and CPU. Never settle on an unknown/low quality PSU because you’re basically betting your entire computer against a few dollars saved.
Can the RTX 3060 Run Games at 4K?
At ultra high or even high settings, most games will not run smooth at 4K resolution. It’s going to be quite hard to reach anything above 40, let alone 60fps, but changing to medium settings will get you super close in many games.
To keep it simple, for great 4K gaming, nor 3060 or 3060 Ti would be our recommended choices. You’ll have to look at the RTX 3070, but even that card is not the ideal card for that.
Can the RTX 3060 & 3060 Ti Run Games at 1440p at 144Hz?
Yes! Both RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti are excellent for 1440p gaming at 60fps and even higher.
Their performance is nearly identical to the more expensive, older, 2080 and 2080 Ti, which are monster cards.
Both cards can easily maintain 60fps in more complex games such as Red Dead Redemption 2, Assasins Creed, GTA 5 etc. Check out this Youtube video to see the performance in 20 games at 1440p.
How Many Monitors Can Nvidia RTX 3060 & 3060 Ti Support?
Both cards can support up to 4 monitors.
There is 1 x HDMI 2.1 port and 3 DisplayPort 1.4a ports. However, make sure to check your card specifically before buying, as some companies might have 2 x HDMI and 2 x DisplayPort rather.
The maximum resolution it can display is 7680×4320. For single monitor gaming purpose, these 2 cards will be fine, but for double or even triple 4K or 1440p intensive gaming, they’re not going to be able to run anything.
