Nvidia's New RTX 2060 12GB Declares War On Miners: Report

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The Turing refresh is almost here

According to a post from the ECC, Gigabyte has listed four new product names relating to the highly rumored GeForce RTX 2060 12GB GPU. Additionally, ZDNet has revealed that the RTX 2060 12GB will be a cheap way for Nvidia to produce new graphics cards that won't be targeted by miners, which we desperately need in this time of GPU shortages. This GPU is rumored to be a refresh of the current 2060 which is still one of the best graphics cards on the market, but has twice the memory capacity.

We've covered our full thoughts on the new RTX 2060 12GB here. To summarize, we believe the RTX 2060 12GB will come out sometime in January 2022 to combat the GPU shortage. With the current RTX 2060 6GB still being one of the most popular graphics cards on the Steam survey charts, it's not surprising that Nvidia wants to continue pumping out RTX 2060s. Especially if they are faster than a future 4GB or 8GB RTX 3050 desktop GPU, which we believe might be the case.

But the best news comes from ZDNet. According to its report, Nvidia will use TSMC's 12nm chips, which are in relatively low demand compared to its 7nm and 5nm products, for the 2060. Additionally, the Ethereum mining hash rate for the RTX 2060 is a third lower than an RTX 3060, at just 33.06 MH/s. That means the card shouldn't be too attractive to miners. (Don't hold your breath, though, as even the RX 6600 XT and its 32 MH/s has been used by miners.)

All this means it makes a lot of sense for Nvidia to introduce an RTX 2060 12GB GPU, as it should be easy to produce and miners will have less incentive to buy the card with its relatively low hash rate. (Note that there is not a hashrate limiter — 33 MH/s is simply what you can expect from the RTX 2060, with 6GB or 12GB.)

As for Gigabyte's RTX 2060 12GB SKUs in particular, the names included in the ECC listing are as follows: GV-N2060OC-12GD, GV-N2060D6-12GD, GV-N2060WF2OC-12GD, GV-N2060WF2-12GD. However, keep in mind, not every model name that comes through the ECC actually gets used in a retail product. So take these names with a grain of salt until Gigabyte officially announces its own RTX 2060 12GB products.

Gigabyte's model names are identical to its current 6GB models, with the exception of the 6 being replaced by 12 in the model number to denote 12GB of video memory. The N2060D6 and N2060OC models refer to Nvidia's cheapest cards, which feature a very compact dual-fan cooler design. The N2060WF2 cards, on the other hand, are Nvidia's mid-range cards with a slightly bigger WindForce dual-slot cooler. The OC in some of the model names denotes a factory overclocked SKU.

According to the listing, it appears Gigabyte is only going to refresh the RTX 2060 12GB with its entry-level and mid-range graphics card designs from the original 2060 6GB. However, there is the potential to see a triple-fan Gaming-branded card in the future after the RTX 2060 12GB officially launches.

With more and more evidence pointing toward an RTX 2060 12GB launch, it looks like Nvidia is almost certain to release this SKU sometime in 2022, or perhaps even by December 2021. If it can be manufactured and sold in good numbers and at a reasonable price, it'll be an excellent mid-range GPU for gamers that haven't been able to acquire a graphics card due to the ongoing shortages.

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Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

25 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Howardohyea
    I don't know whether to laugh or curse or be grateful for Nvidia. On one hand this is a very needed GPU to fill the needs of a lot of people, but Turing? And will the 12GB of VRAM actually benefit games (assuming the bandwidth stays the same, they could raise it easily though)
    Reply
  • King_V
    Is the hash rate REALLY low enough to deter miners, though?

    I mean, check out the prices for used RX 570 and 580 cards, and the Vega cards. They're worse than during the original cryptocraze. Those don't have higher hash rates than a 2060, do they?
    Reply
  • Integr8d
    King_V said:
    Is the hash rate REALLY low enough to deter miners, though?

    I mean, check out the prices for used RX 570 and 580 cards, and the Vega cards. They're worse than during the original cryptocraze. Those don't have higher hash rates than a 2060, do they?
    It’s not low enough. I just placed an order for the first 10,000 units... Maybe nVidia should re-release the GeForce 3 Ti 500. Gamers could rock the DX8 classics like BF2 and Ghost Recon.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    LOL War on miners. That was a sensationalistic but silly headline. Nvidia is here to make money on whoever will buy these cards they don't care if its miners or not.
    Reply
  • robbro9
    Nicehash shows the current 2060 makes ~$2.33/day. So with current rates, until mining is not as profitable, this will be a ~$550 to $600 card, unless you can get one direct from retail, which seems unlikely with the usual suspects rushing to get them.

    I've gone integrated graphics (5600G), and even for my gaming its not half bad. Turn a few settings down and i have a cheaper, low power decent gaming system that is quieter to boot.
    Maybe once these come out, Intel releases their cards and ethereum changes over the market will finally be saturated again and we can pick up some discounts... Or the next gen RDNA 2 APU's with DDR 5 could come out and make low/entry level graphics entirely a thing of the past....
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    That means the card shouldn't be too attractive to miners.

    nor gamers.

    the 2060 was a bad card for the cost.
    couldnt do RTX On w/o being near unplayable in AAA games.

    and again why the so much memory? its a waste.
    Reply
  • LolaGT
    This card has a gaming value street price of $250 maybe. But it will sell at retail for twice that or more.
    Miners are going to snap these up as they are as hungry for cards as anyone else is and as far as nvidia or other card manufacturers care, money is as good from whoever is standing in line to pay.
    Reply
  • marmot14
    I fully agree with JamesSneed and other posters above. Nvidia don't care how their cards are used, but what they do want to do is sell as many GPUs as possible. Using TSMC's 12nm process allows them to churn these out alongside the 30-series cards.

    I've seen an MSRP listed for the 2060 12GB of $300/£300. The RTX 3060 Ti LHR cards are flying off the shelves here in the UK for £600 (MSRP £369). They can do around 45 MH/s for ETH. So 2060 12GB cards at £300 will instantly sell out, and using the relative price of the 3060 Ti as a guide, I suspect the 2060 12GB will end up at around £450 for a good deal. Scalped price will be £500+
    Reply
  • robbro9
    Yea, actually if these lack a new LHR on them, that will make them relatively MORE attractive to miners than 30 series RTX. Well, looks like they will be roughly equivalent to 3060 with LHR mining wise... that is IF the memory speeds/bandwidth are not boosted in any way on the new 12gb models...
    Reply
  • marmot14
    Even if Nvidia put LHR on them the large 12GB memory means you can more easily dual mine two cryptos at once (being able to easily fit two DAGs into memory) and thereby 100% bypassing LHR. This is not war on miners, not even close.
    Reply