What you need to know
- NVIDIA partners have re-released the RTX 2060 GPU, but it now has 12GB of VRAM.
- Reports indicate that the graphics card has better mining performance than the RTX 3060 but is worse for gaming.
- While a retail listing shows the RTX 2060 12GB, pricing details have not been shared at this time.
NVIDIA's partners just pulled the lid off the return of the RTX 2060 GPU. That's not a typo intended to mention a card from the RTX 30-Series. Zotac, Asus, and the whole gang are reinjecting the RTX 2060 into 2021, though it has some bumped-up specs compared to the original. The new version of the RTX 2060 has 12GB of VRAM, which is double that of the original RTX 2060 and more than that of the RTX 2060 Super (8GB).
Unfortunately for gamers, the launch of the RTX 2060 12GB may be better news for those on the hunt for the best mining GPU than those hoping to play the best PC games. The new graphics card has a better hash rate than the RTX 3060, according to pcmarket's review.
The RTX 3060 hash rate limitations mean it's not as efficient for crypto mining. The RTX 2060 12GB has no such limit in place. As a result, the RTX 2060 12GB can mine better than the RTX 3060. Testing by pcmarket saw the RTX 2060 12GB running at up to 31.65MH/s. The RTX 3060 runs at 22.17MH/s but needs more power. It's worth noting that these results are from one set of tests and that they will need to be compared against upcoming reviews from other outlets.
While the new RTX 2060 has more VRAM than the original, it is still based on NVIDIA's Turing architecture. As expected, benchmarks for the RTX 2060 12GB indicate that it is worse for gaming than the RTX 3060.
ZOTAC has a listing for the RTX 2060 12GB, but the company does not state a price for the graphics card. There's a good chance that its retail price will be more affordable than most cards from the RTX 30-Series. Ultimately, the retail price may prove unimportant for general consumers, as the card could sell out too quickly for anyone to even have a solid shot at scoring it.
