Nvidia's Turing architecture isn't throwing in the towel just yet, according to a new report from French hardware site Overclocking.com. According to the site's unnamed sources, Nvidia is currently prepping its OEMs to re-release the RTX 2060 and RTX 2060 Super lines of GPUs. This comes about a month ahead of the regular GeForce RTX 3060 release (the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is already out), and points to either new budget GPU options or serious Ampere stock problems going forward.
"Manufacturers have received a stock of GPUs from Nvidia in order to re-manufacture RTX 2060 cards," Overclocking.com writes (via Google Translate). "The GPUs delivered by Nvidia would make it possible to produce the 2060 and 2060S."
In our review for the RTX 3060 Ti, we said that it beats the RTX 2080 Super while coming in at a much more approachable $399 price point. But that still leaves the $200 graphics card space uncontested, with the base RTX 3060 set to release for $329. We'd love to see a new RTX 2060 release for about $250, but with Ampere supply and demand still out of sync, we're hard-pressed to see that happening.
For instance, Nvidia's own CFO Collette Kress admitted at last week's 19th Annual J.P. Morgan Tech/Auto Forum Conference that "[RTX 30-series] supply does remain tight at this time" and will continue to not hit demand until at least May.
Which means that, rather than being new budget GPU options, the RTX 2060 and 2060 Super re-releases might simply be meant to hold the line until new Ampere stock comes in. In this case, we can't give a definitive comment on pricing. But given that the RTX 2060 originally launched for $350 and the 2060 Super for $399, it would be very awkward for Nvidia to sell them again at those prices alongside the RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti models. We might not see a $250 2060 yet, but with aftermarket prices currently hitting $285, it's possible we'll see these new cards target similar prices instead.
Another possibility is that these new OEM RTX 2060 shipments aren't meant for gamers but rather crypto miners. It's unlikely, given how much more efficient the RTX 30-series is for mining — AMD was the more popular choice among miners during Turing's lifespan — but late 2020 EEC registrations from MSI do point to potential RTX 2060 and RTX 2060 Super mining-focused cards.
At this point, a Turing re-release is still just a rumor, and we don't yet know if other Turing cards will join their siblings or if this will be restricted to just RTX 2060 models. But as exciting as it is to see old tech continue to prove useful, it also raises concerns about Ampere to see it continuing to receive support after being made obsolete.
