Nvidia Partners Stealth Launch RTX 2060 12GB Cards

Zotac RTX 2060 12GB Twin Fan
(Image credit: PCMarket)

Nvidia's partners have begun listing RTX 2060 12GB cards online (shout out to @momomo_us). The cards currently listed online consist of models from Galax and Gainward, Gigabyte, and Zotac — and we expect cards from other Asus, EVGA, MSI, and more to show up soon as well. Here's the quick rundown of what we've seen so far.

Galax

Galax has three RTX 2060 12GB models on its Chinese website right now: The RTX 2060 RTX 2060 Snapdragon MAX Pro, RTX 2060 General MAX, and RTX 2060 General MAX OC. (Note that those are Google translations of the Chinese market names, though the cards may also only be sold in Asia.) As far as we can tell, the "MAX" line denotes 2060 SKUs with 12GB of VRAM.

Despite the lengthy name, the Snapdragon MAX Pro is Galax's lower-end 2060 12GB SKU, with a dual-fan configuration and dual-slot width. The card comes in a matte black finish accented by silver and blue accents. Based on the photos, the card does not appear to have RGB or LED lighting of any sort. On the English site, there's a single RTX 2060 12GB Plus, which appears to correspond to the "Snapdragon" but with slightly different coloring and potentially with RGB fans.

The card comes with a relatively simple rear I/O consisting of individual DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort connections. Auxiliary power will be provided by a single 8-pin connector at the top, allowing the card to hit its maximum rated power limit of 184W.

The RTX 2060 "General" MAX is Galax's 2060 12GB flagship card. It features a much larger triple-fan cooler design, and is slightly more than a dual-slot thickness. The card shares the same color scheme as the "Snapdragon," but with a lot more matte-black coloring in the middle of the shroud.

The General MAX comes in both vanilla and factory overclocked models. Like the "Snapdragon," the vanilla SKU operates at Nvidia's default 1650MHz boost specification, while the factory OC version increases that boost frequency to 1695MHz.

Gainward

Gainward RTX 2060 12GB Wind Chaser

(Image credit: Gainward)

Gainward is also a sub-brand of parent company Palit, just like Galax. It currently only released specifications for a single RTX 2060 12GB SKU called the "RTX 2060 Chasing Wind 12GB" (according to Google translate). This card looks like the same core design as the "Snapdragon" Galax card, but with a modified shroud design that's a bit more... let's call it "eye catching."

The shroud is matte black but with red accents and some protrusions near the back of the card — perhaps they're supposed to be dragon scales, or maybe fan blades to echo the chasing wind name? The card has a slight factory OC relative to Nvidia's official specs, but it's only increased by 15MHz to 1665MHz — hardly worth the trouble.

Zotac

Zotac RTX 2060 12GB Twin Fan

(Image credit: PCMarket)

Zotac offers a single RTX 2060 12GB Gaming Twin Fan model. Whether more models are forthcoming will depend heavily on whether Nvidia has enough TU106 GPUs to make it worth the effort. Given the relatively  quiet nature of this launch, we wouldn't count on much.

The Zotac RTX 2060 12GB Gaming Twin Fan remains very similar to its 6GB version, featuring a very compact twin-fan cooler design consisting of dual 90mm fans and a dual-heatpipe heatsink configuration. The card measures 209.6mm x 119.3mm x 41mm. Aesthetics also remain the same with the card covered in a matte-grey finish, accented by white Zotac logos and black 90mm fans.

The Twin Fan comes with four display outputs in total: three DisplayPort 1.4 connections, and one HDMI 2.0b port. Most people will likely prefer this to the Palit-derived DVI/HDMI/DP configurations above. Like all the other RTX 2060 12GB cards, supplementary power comes in the form of a single 8-pin connection at the top-rear of the card.

Gigabyte

Finally, Gigabyte has released two SKUs so far, the RTX 2060 Windforce OC 12G and the RTX 2060 D6 12G. Both are dual-fan designs, so currently there's no flagship 2060 12GB card from the company with triple-fan cooling. Again, such a card may or may not come to market depending on supply.

The RTX 2060 D6 represents Gigabyte's entry-level option. The card is painted in a matte-black finish with a couple of angled grey accents. The card measures 224mm x 121mm x 41mm. The D6 does not come with a factory overclock, sticking with Nvidia's default 1650MHz boost clock from the reference 2060 12GB specification. Like the Zotac card, the D6 has the best rear I/O display outputs consisting of three DisplayPort 1.4s and one HDMI 2.0b.

The RTX 2060 Windforce OC is more of a midrange offering, featuring larger 100mm fans instead of the 90mm fans on the D6, though it's still a dual-fan design. The card also comes with a modest factory overclock of 1680MHz.

There's not a lot of visual difference between the D6 and Windforce. The Windforce comes with the exact same matte-black aesthetic and grey accents. The only thing different about the card is its slightly larger size, measuring in at 265 mm x 121mm x 40mm. Display outputs also are the same as the D6, including three DisplayPort 1.4s and a single HDMI 2.0b connection.

These are the only AIB partners that have released details of their RTX 2060 12GB SKUs so far, but we suspect this is just the beginning and the rest of Nvidia's partners will post details some time during the week.

Aaron Klotz
Freelance News Writer

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

  • Jim90
    Nice to see Nvidia focusing their Ampere line, almost exclusively, on yet more 3080/90 wallet-bustin' variants, while offering plebs the bones of a 3 years old, previous series, though, lol, it's gonna be 'interesting' once 2060 shop pricing is realized.

    Nvidia: because we care! (extra lube supplied on demand) :)
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    "Smoke & Mirrors" Editions.

    Regards.
    Reply