Predator G3-710 GPU upgrade

BlanchyZ1000SX

I have a G3-710 which I use a primarily as a workstation for photo-editing (PS+LR Classic), running a i7-7700, 16gb ram (upgraded from 8 when new)and a GTX1060GPU.
It has started to have some issues running slow or being erratic running PS+LR and editing with Topaz Labs plugins. Where possible I have set the GPU as the prefered processor.
With the age of the G3 now is it worthwhile to upgrade from the GTX1060 to a RTX3060 or even a RTX3060ti, and if so what ones would be a clean swap with minimal issues?
For workflow I am running 3x4k 60hz monitors. Only doing hi res photos in RAW to JPG format, I rarely if ever do any video.

Easwar

Hi @BlanchyZ1000SX,

Both CPU and GPU are soldered to the motherboard, therefore they can't be changed. ven98 said: Both CPU and GPU are soldered to the motherboard, therefore they can't be changed.

Easwar

Hi @BlanchyZ1000SX,

Both CPU and GPU are soldered to the motherboard, therefore they can't be changed. ven98 said: Both CPU and GPU are soldered to the motherboard, therefore they can't be changed.

StevenGen

BlanchyZ1000SX said:

I have a G3-710 which I use a primarily as a workstation for photo-editing (PS+LR Classic), running a i7-7700, 16gb ram (upgraded from 8 when new)and a GTX1060GPU.
It has started to have some issues running slow or being erratic running PS+LR and editing with Topaz Labs plugins. Where possible I have set the GPU as the prefered processor.
With the age of the G3 now is it worthwhile to upgrade from the GTX1060 to a RTX3060 or even a RTX3060ti, and if so what ones would be a clean swap with minimal issues?
For workflow I am running 3x4k 60hz monitors. Only doing hi res photos in RAW to JPG format, I rarely if ever do any video.

The first thing to check is if your Predator G3-710 comes with either a 300W or a 750W PSU, your OEM GTX 1060 requires a 300W PSU. Both the RTX-3060 and the RTX 3060ti need a PSU of 550W and the only way that you can upgrade is if your Predator G3-710 has the OEM 750W PSU and not the 500W as that won’t work and you will need to upgrade. Also you will need toupgrade the BIOS to the last vR02-B2. As far as “is it worthwhile to upgrade” well it depends if its worth your while for you to upgrade as the RTX range is not like “the cheapest upgrade out there” as the cost could be best spent on a new system as it would be more advantageous foryou to upgrade to a newer system of the latest spec desktop? All these variables is your decision to make?

Also, the TC-710 is not Win-11 compatible as your desktop has the Intel Skylake B150 chipset with the 7th Gen Kaby Lake-S CPU, hence and if you want to make this desktop compatible with Win-11 you need to change the motherboard and CPU to accommodate at least the min Intel 8th Gen CPU so its quite involved and all this is up to you.

billsey

One point I'd make is that your bottleneck is more likely to be the system memory than the GPU. 16GB is pretty minimal for an editing system like that. Your max for system memory is 64GB using four 16GB DIMMs, I'd bump to at least 32GB, 48GB or 64GB for your uses. Get into a GPU upgrade only after that. Especially with the current pricing on GPUs, the chip shortage has artificially kept them high over the last year or two, with the 20xx series still nearly as high as the 30xx.

BlanchyZ1000SX

Thanks for the answers everyone, it gives me some things to look at. Ill look at the PSU first as I thought that may be the issue with power. RAM as well may be time to upgrade.

billsey

Let us know what you decide and how well it works out.