Nvidia Might Resurrect the RTX 2060 With 12GB of VRAM

By Zhiye Liu
last updated

A new version of an old graphics card may be coming

GeForce RTX 2060
GeForce RTX 2060 (Image credit: Nvidia)

The GeForce RTX 2060 may be a bit outdated, but it's still one of the best graphics cards on the market, if you're open to buying a last-gen GPU. Nvidia seems to share the same opinion as a new rumor (via VideoCardz (opens in new tab)) suggests that the chipmaker isn't ready to pull the plug on the Turing-powered graphics card just yet.

According to VideoCardz's sources, Nvidia will revamp the GeForce RTX 2060 by endowing it with twice the memory as the original. The chipmaker has reportedly given its board partners a heads-up that the new GeForce RTX 2060 12GB may be ready by the end of 2021, and it's plausible that the new variant could debut in January 2022.

The GeForce RTX 2060 12GB allegedly utilizes the PG161 board, which coincidentally is the same board that's inside the Geforce GTX 1660 Ti. The revised mid-range Turing graphics card will continue to utilize the TU106 silicon and retain the majority of GeForce RTX 2060's specifications. The only compelling upgrade is the memory capacity that'll be upgraded from 6GB up to 12GB of GDDR6.

Earlier this year, Nvidia resuscitated the GeForce RTX 2060 and GeForce GTX 1050 Ti as stopgap solutions for the graphics card shortage. You can say what you want about the GeForce RTX 2060, but the Turing-based graphics card continues to be the second most popular graphics card on Steam. So, it doesn't surprise us one bit that Nvidia would want to keep the fire going.

From a performance perspective, a 12GB RTX 2060 should also be better than a 4GB or 8GB RTX 3050 or 3050 Ti. We haven't seen the bottom of the Ampere line on desktops yet, and frankly we're not particularly interested in a 4GB desktop RTX 30-series card unless the price is very compelling — like under $200 compelling. With a wider memory interface and more memory, a resurrected 2060 would be a reasonable option. Then again, our GPU price index shows the RTX 2060 currently selling at over $500.

The rumored GeForce RTX 2060 overhaul certainly isn't good news for gamers that want to pick up a GeForce RTX 30-series (Ampere) graphics card. Odds are that the global semiconductor shortage will persist into 2022, which would explain why Nvidia would want to relaunch the GeForce RTX 2060 as a second option for consumers. Chip production should improve very soon as ABF substrate manufacturers are building new plants to increase production. Unfortunately, most of them won't be operational until 2022 so the shortage will still be an issue.

Zhiye Liu
Zhiye Liu
RAM Reviewer and News Editor

Zhiye Liu is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

42 Comments Comment from the forums
  • thisisaname
    I was going to say why but I guess they would re-release this one as it worse than all the 30X0 cards, it help Nvidia and no one else.

    Odds are that the global semiconductor shortage will persist into 2022,

    Read your own site https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/recent-chip-price-hikes-to-have-drastic-effect-on-prices-of-everything
    TSMC Price Hikes to Result in Higher Retail Pricing For Pretty Much EverythingBy Anton Shilov about 6 hours ago
    Chip shortage should last until mid-2023
    Reply
  • mdd1963
    waste of good RAM....
    Reply
  • waltc3
    Rumor makes little sense--except in one sense. If nVidia does something like this it narrows the RTX 3k shortages down to yield problems--not materials shortages...as RTX-2k requires the same materials RTX-3k--the differences being the GPU designs that have to be fabbed. Same thing is true for AMD, imo, because the material shortages seem solved for AMD's Zen3 CPUs through the AMD Store--they've got it all and at MSRP, too, where it's been for several weeks now. But RX-6k GPUs through the AMD store are as rare as hen's teeth, atm. BTW, I never considered the 2060 worth buying--but that's just me...;)
    Reply
  • ohio_buckeye
    So the point of adding extra ram to a 2060 that probably can’t utilize that amount does what exactly? Allows them to charge more for old products? I could see 8gb or maybe 12gb on a 2060 super. But on a 2060?? Unless they want to sell these cards to miners. And we wonder why there aren’t cards available.

    Glad I’ve got an rx 6600xt to hold with.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    waltc3 said:
    Rumor makes little sense--except in one sense. If nVidia does something like this it narrows the RTX 3k shortages down to yield problems--not materials shortages...as RTX-2k requires the same materials RTX-3k--the differences being the GPU designs that have to be fabbed. Same thing is true for AMD, imo, because the material shortages seem solved for AMD's Zen3 CPUs through the AMD Store--they've got it all and at MSRP, too, where it's been for several weeks now. But RX-6k GPUs through the AMD store are as rare as hen's teeth, atm. BTW, I never considered the 2060 worth buying--but that's just me...;)
    It's not a shortage of materials strangling GPU production, it's fab capacity. The 2060 is produced by TSMC on their older 12nm process. The 3000 series is produced by Samsung on their 8nm process. Reintroducing a 2060 would have absolutely zero impact on 3000 series production. CPU availability is improving because there was a finite increase in demand when covid hit that is subsiding. There are some seasonal back to school shortages in the low end right now, but that will clean itself up soon enough. If CPU's could mine profitably, you wouldn't be able to find one of those anywhere near list price just like GPU's. As long as GPU's can mine profitably, you are going to have an extremely tough, though not impossible, time buying one near MSRP.
    Reply
  • ohio_buckeye
    So perhaps it comes down to they maybe had a bunch of rtx 2060 chips/boards that never sold and maybe this is an attempt to sell them by rehashing them. Which if that’s the case you can’t blame them.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    It would be nice if they re-released the 1650 Super with a bump to 6GB VRAM (same TU116 die as the 1660s) while they are at it if they have no plan to release a desktop counterpart to the mobile 3050.
    Reply
  • Tigerhawk30
    So then, what about all those 1080s that I was reading a few years back that Nvidia took back from retailers...? I guess that depends on what they ended up doing with them, but those could go like gangbusters in today's market if they're collecting dust in a back room somewhere...

    Not that I'm any sort of an analyst or anything, but just a wondering id10t...lol
    Reply
  • JWNoctis
    Strange this seemed to be drawing more ridicule than when someone re-released GT 730, just a couple months back.

    At least this one's still got enough oomph to outperform a hypothetical RTX 3050.

    They don't really need more memory to charge more either, considering that the original RTX 2060 is still selling for 2x original MSRP at a glance - Which is not actually saying much about anything except sellers hoping to make a sale at that price, though.
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    Waiting for intel graphics... I will support intel $$$$
    Reply