GeForce RTX 2060 review (founder) (Page 34)

GeForce RTX 2060 review (founder)

Graphics cards 1048 Page 34 of 34 Published 2019-01-07 15:00 by Hilbert Hagedoorn

Conclusion

Final words and verdict

So where do we position the card performance wise? Well, I spilled the beans a bit already but the GeForce RTX 2060 series positions will sit best in the FullHD and (W)QHD resolution monitor ranges. And yes, that latter one is the new mainstream these days. At 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 or something close you'll see very very decent game performance, it, however, will not be a card suitable in the ultra HD range. At Full HD the RT and tensor cores will be sufficient enough, at WQHD that will become more challenging (but that depends on the game title). How the new technologies and the actual engine will behave (is it powerful enough) is something only the future will tell. Performance wise you are looking at the GTX 1070 (Ti) / 1080 on raw shader perf, added benefits are of course the RT and Tensor cores. If you stick to the aforementioned resolutions your games will run at proper framerates with the very best image quality. The 6 GB graphics memory is sufficient here. In terms of multi-GPU setups, NVIDIA does not allow SLI for the RTX 2060 and 2070 series.

Aesthetics

The 'small' looks work out well, RTX Founders edition cards are very nice looking cards. We like this metal and black design. It has a very nice looking back-plate, however that one will trap heat. The dual fan design I am fine with as well. Taste differs, of course, luckily there are a dozen AIB partners that will have multiple designs available as well. Interesting is that the power connector is plugged in from the rear side, that can be an issue in small chassis, however, the card is small as well. The benefit here is clean looks for your PC build.

Cooling & Noise Levels

The card tops out at roughly only 66 Degrees C while gaming. So that's not bad at all, especially considering the acoustics as this puppy remains at silent acoustic levels. We've heard no noticeable coil whine. But I do want to note that any graphics card at a high-enough FPS will make some coil-whine.

Overclocking

We've been able to push another 9% of extra perf out of the card. Both traditional overclocking, as well as the OC Scanner, functions bring us to that number. The combination of memory, power and voltage settings will bring you a proper overclock. Once you've applied it, you get a few percent more performance. Nice to see is that we have been able to pass 16 Gbps on the memory, and that does help.

Concluding

NVIDIA has seen a pretty rough launch with the GeForce RTX series. It's not that the new technology isn't embraced or isn't liked, it's mostly due to the current lack of game support and the simple fact that the price level is out of reach for most people. We do think that the GeForce RTX 2060 is what the market needs. The GeForce RTX 2060 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 (349 USD) you get that good shader engine performance at 1070 Ti / 1080 performance levels and also the option to check out, try & see what the RayTracing hype is all about. The GPU that resides inside the RTX 2060, really is the RTX 2070 that is cut down. The 6GB of graphics memory seen over 8GB really isn't a hindrance either as long as you stick to that (Wide) Quad HD domain. Looking at it towards a competition point of view, the card positions itself in-between the two Vega cards, with it's the closest opponent being the Radeon Vega 64. The Raytracing and AI feature like DLSS is, of course, interesting but remain are a proof of concept and a bit of a gimmick until more games support it properly. Realistically the GeForce RTX 2060 is the safest bet at its 349,- asking price. Alongside the GeForce RTX 2070, this GeForce RTX 2060 is making a good impression. Let's hope the availability is good, and pricing indeed stabilizes at the advertised values.