GALAX GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER EX review (Page 24)

GALAX GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER EX review

Graphics cards 1049 Page 24 of 24 Published 2019-07-24 17:01 by Hilbert Hagedoorn

Conclusion

Final words and verdict

It's good to have had a GALAX product in our hands, it's been a while. With the EX GALAX offers a solid card. These 8 GB cards offer really proper performance up-to 2560x1440, it has a set boost frequency of 695 MHz, right out of the box. And that gives it a small advantage over the reference card from NVIDIA while still having room left to be tweaked. As you probably know the looks already, it is also a nice looking card (although that is subjective). The build quality is fine for component usage, it shows a very clean PCB and the card has been reinforced with front and backplates. These cards serve you best at FullHD and (W)QHD resolution monitor ranges. And yes, that latter one is what we consider to be the new mainstream these days. At 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 or something close you'll see proper rendering game performance. At Full HD the RT and tensor cores will be pretty sufficient as well, at WQHD that will become more challenging (but that depends on the game title). The new bump to 8GB /256-bit memory is terrific here. And then another 256 shader processors bumped to 2176, combined with the new clock frequencies, will make sure that the end result seen from the regular 2060 is a significant performance boost. Most of my observations are based on the shader engine performance. You obviously pay more for the RT and Tensor cores. But at 399 USD (and likely a tenner or two more for this EX model) we do feel it is getting to be a more fair sum of money for what you get.

Aesthetics

The GALAX is dressed a little less than the competition as you can see the radiator fins really well. That, however, has a cooing advantage as warm air does not get trapped that much, and that shows in our tests as 61 Degrees C really is commendable. The fans have RGB lighting effects, these are funky to see. That LED inclusion that has been done subtly and can be configured in any manner you prefer with their software, the choice is yours. While I always will remain skeptical about backplates (they potentially can trap heat and thus warm up the PCB) GALAX does have vents there. The flip-side is that they can look better and can protect your PCB and components from damage and, well, they can look nice as they can have a certain aesthetic appeal. I have to admit, this is looking very nice but looks are always personal, of course. So in the end, on looks, you certainly get that premium feel of detailed aesthetics and quality.

Cooling & Noise Levels

The card tops out at roughly only 61 Degrees C while gaming. So that's pretty good. The acoustics I'd rate as normal but not silent as there is quite a bit of audible airflow coming from the fans when the card is stressed. We've heard no noticeable coil whine. But I do want to note that any graphics card at a high-enough FPS can make some coil-whine.

Overclocking

Anything and everything is regulated by NVIDIA these days. Speaking, in general, you can expect another 10% of extra perf out of both cards when you bump up the graphics memory and GPU a bit. That it is, however, paired with an increased board power limiter and, as such, that will cost a bit more energy. Both traditional overclocking, as well as the OC Scanner functions, bring us close to that value. In retrospect though, you have to remember, that the 'older' RTX models could also be tweaked to 15~16 Gbps on that GDDR6 memory.

Concluding

The GALAX (branded as KFA2 in the EU) is spot on when it comes to performance. It's cooled well, ain't noisy and the overall looks are fine as well. The baseline performance with the factory tweak is handsome albeit perhaps a little on the low side. The GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is plenty fast for any day gaming up-to say the Quad HD monitor resolution of 2560x1440. The added benefit is a handful of Tensor cores and the ability to put the RT cores to uses. This way at a relatively safe amount of money you get proper shader engine performance and also the option to check out, try & see what the RayTracing hype is all about. The GPU that resides inside the RTX 2060 SUPER has 256 more shader cores and now 8GB of graphics. I have to admit that I like the new RTX 2060 Super as it has become a more powerful card. It is plenty fast for any gaming up-to, say, the Quad HD monitor resolution of 2560x1440. The added benefit is a handful of Tensor cores and the ability to put the RT cores to use. This way, at a relatively safe amount of money (399 USD), you get that very nice shader performance. Look at RT as an extra, try & see what the RayTracing is all about. The new 8GB of graphics memory is great as that also widens the memory bus. Looking at it from a competition point of view, the card positions itself against the Vega 64 card and the Radeon RX 5700. If you are in the market for a graphics card upgrade and if you can spot this card at a price that seems right for you, surely recommended.