Since I am needing Nvidia, looking at new cards with more memory.  Seems pointless to spend money on another 8gig card just for a name.... so,  I found this....  Price varies but under 1k.  Good card or stay away?

Thanks.

MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 15 Gbps GDRR6 192-Bit HDMI/DP PCIe 4 Tri-Frozr Torx Fan Ampere RGB OC Graphics Card (RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio 12G



Graphic Design, PHP Programming, More - Applebite Media
(www.applebitemedia.com)

I usually like consulting this chart when looking for the latest video cards... opinions will vary depending on the size of their projects - but specs never lie.

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

I'll usually scroll down that list from the top and stop at the price i'm willing to spend -  then look around at the higher ranking versions on sales / refurbished / or used - then i set the item in my mind thats in my price range as the worst case scenario and getting a good discount on a better card the best case scenario, so I know i get the best option available to my budget. -  black friday is coming soon,  so there's that.    

• My Spotify  My Twitter  My Virtual Art Gallery
  
• My NFT    My Marketplace My Blog
  
• Music Sync Licensing

☯🐉

"To define Tao is to defile it" - Lao Tzu

Hi, 

I have the same spec card but not exactly this one, mine is 3060 with 12Go but this one has 3 fan, mine, less. For what I do with Iclone, UE, omniverse, I'm really satisfied (may be not others, it depends on each other's requirements) Don't forget the importance of CPU too. Good luck


     

Thanks guys.   I am going to look over the chart and see what else might be available as well.  My search on amazon was just Nvidia 8+ gig vram.  There were a bunch of models with Ti added to it which were much more money.  Even the ones with 8 gig.  I have seen this model with 24 gig on it but that is out of the budget.

I am currently using a Radeon RX580, (off the top of my head without looking lol).  It's a great card for regular video which is what it was purchased for.  It's is good with iClone with smaller or more basic scenes.  Larger or more complex scenes I have to drop the view quality to function and it's still a little slow.  Reallusion had once told me bach when I purchased this software that there were issues with this software and that card.  I was having issues at the time but they have been fixed and the card has been running this program well.

I am understanding that iRay video will require even more than a card like this but I would like still images to render faster.  Currently, all I have is CPU processing and no GPU.   Thinking that using up the GPU and half my CPU's processors I should double what I am getting now, or better... I hope.   I am also looking to uprade to a card that will be valid for a while.  I do plan on adding full mocap one day.  It would be nice to cover the graphic card issues now and not when I would  purchase the gear. 

After the graphic card I plan on upgrading my motheroard.  My current motherboard will max out at 64 gig of ram, I would like to double that too.

Thanks again for the advice!!!  My patience will be put through a tough test.  I can purchase this card within the next week or so, anything more and I would have to wait a month or two.  That would be hard     I thought about waiting for black friday but there is a "shortage" of just about everything it seems... prices are already higher for it and the supply may not be there by black friday.  Even the bakery I am working in is short on everything.  You know the shortage is serious when your parent company is Amazon and you are running out of product.

Looking at the list... the card I listed above is now retailing 800.00 plus.  On the list listed above has it at a retail price under 400.00.  It seems the Ti version with lewss ram has a better performance and is within range.  Looking on amazon the proce seems to be more on target of the list and within range.  Funny how less ram gives better performance.



Graphic Design, PHP Programming, More - Applebite Media
(www.applebitemedia.com)

If you are planning on updating additional computer components, you should also consider just getting an entire computer with a RTX 3060 in it. Holiday season pricing should provide some good deals.

I build my own, I find I can build exactly what I need for a cheaper price.  I am a frugal shopper.... I waited for 3dXchange to go down from 599 to 249 before I could get it.  Although I am sure if I wait this too will come down but you never know.... the motherboard is not a real concern, getting faster 3D in iClone is more of a priority for me atm and something I am not sure I am willing to wait that long for LOL.




Graphic Design, PHP Programming, More - Applebite Media
(www.applebitemedia.com)

Does name brand matter?  MSI? Gigabyte? ASUS?  Does it matter?  The 3060Ti is the base and most important feature correct?



Graphic Design, PHP Programming, More - Applebite Media
(www.applebitemedia.com)

This is a great site to use to sketch out a custom pc -

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/

my personal way of using this site,  is I just went bat nip crazy picking the best parts ever for my dream computer....( which is currently priced at over $15k lol )
then I studied part by part what I did and didn't need for power on each aspect,  the site compares prices from various stores for an average price per part.
then came the compromising stage -  cutting back on stuff I didn't need and going barebones so I had more power in areas that I needed for CG than toys and parts I'd never use - no robotic coffee cup holder for me thanks.

Then I'd compare other pre-builts and their prices that had the parts I liked.

whether you end up building your pc or buying a pre-built pc -  this is a greatway to understand what's a good deal in parts and builds to get the most powerful pc in your budget -  further ....it will help you gain insight on how to future proof your pc best you can ....so you get x parts that last for 10 years tech wise - ie mother board cpu, ram, powersupply  -   then you upgrade only certain parts for additional 5 years -  ie gpu / adding more ram as it gets cheaper....etc.

This practice and knowledge aquired from it,  will help you make confident decisions on whatsa good bargain.

• My Spotify  My Twitter  My Virtual Art Gallery
  
• My NFT    My Marketplace My Blog
  
• Music Sync Licensing

☯🐉

"To define Tao is to defile it" - Lao Tzu

things to note in my above suggestion -

more wattage in power supply means being able to add more drives, peripherals and video cards to computer ( or you can go external server for additional drives )
faster cpu means faster encoding / decoding - video files - encrypted files / compressed files, and some render engines are cpu only -
more ram means being able to open more programs simultaneously  ( speed in ram isn't as relevant because the difference is so small,  you'd have to high end everything else first before you feel a difference -  nanoseconds ...so you can save money and get more "relevant" power by going more ram less speed. )
faster gpu means better iclone performance
larger case means better ventilation - which in turns better air circulation for overclocking ( overclocking matters for future proofing ) and space for internal drives. -
for higher end performance -  cpu coolers become significant.  since faster is hotter.

also -  make sure to do some research on whats called "Barebones" builds / packages -  these builds have the bare minimum for computer builds - these are better than pre-builts that build up the prices of their systems with things you don't need or ever will use -  like why pay for a year of microsoft office and tons of games, if you don't need or use it ?  - plus those "Extras" pre-built -  often skimp out on critical parts you need for high performance ie- weak cpu but strong gpu, and replace them with fluffware to amp up the price and make it look like a lot ( of nothing useful )-  so "Barebones" is the way to go if you take a pre-built path.

edit - also on motherboards,  military grade parts are preferred for future proofing -  they are able to take more heat when overclocking -  the main reason motherboards get fried is when a cpu is heavily overclocked and burns as hot as the sun,  it burns the intell chips out on non military grade motherboards.    
Msi is a good brand for military grade motherboards,  there are others but most overclocking competitions are done on msi boards. ( fun topic to look up btw ) 

I did my current system this way -  it's 8 years old -  cpu overclocks to 4ghz on 4 cores -  and I can push my current gpu to around 2ghz ( but i let the system auto overclock it to around 1.6ghz next upgrade is for more ram,  next major upgrade cycle ( new pc ) is in 5 years when windows 10 is discontinued and I need a new windows 11 compatible cpu. - but then I'll do same thing again and build a 15 year future proof system based on same principle.

• My Spotify  My Twitter  My Virtual Art Gallery
  
• My NFT    My Marketplace My Blog
  
• Music Sync Licensing

☯🐉

"To define Tao is to defile it" - Lao Tzu

Thanks planetstardragon, that is a lot of information.  I try to research as much as possible but some of the terms or features and their meanings are not really understood.  Like with the video card.  All the specs they give are probably important and have meaning that to me is unknown.  So I look at the bars to see which has the highest rating.  As well, there are 2 cards, bothave the same Nvidia architecture 3060, both at the same price range (give or take a few), one is a Ti with 8 gig of VRAM and performs better than the same card without the Ti with 12 gig VRAM.  One would think that more memory meant better performance. 

I do have an MSI motherboard and found a 3060Ti from MSI for around 720.00, approx 200 cheaper than amazon LOL.  I may give it a try, I am sure it will out perform my current Radeon, however looking at that 1st link that was provided above, I do see that some of the Radeon out perform Nvidia.  I would rather do an upgrad with more ram but the Ti with 12 gig Vram is much more than I can budget at the moment. But any improvement will be very welcome.



Graphic Design, PHP Programming, More - Applebite Media
(www.applebitemedia.com)