Russian modder and repair specialist VIK-on is known for modifying an RTX 2070 and RTX 3070 to 16GB of VRAM. This time he worked his magic at doubling the VRAM capacity of an RTX 2060. His timing is impeccable, as Nvidia is rumored to release a real RTX 2060 12GB SKU very soon. With the 12GB mod, VIK-on has provided us with a tiny sneak peek into what the RTX 2060 12GB's extra memory could offer.
VIK-on chose to mod an Asus RTX 2060 Turbo that was repaired with a new phase on its power delivery system. For memory, he decided on Samsung K4ZAF325BM-HC14 ICs, which are 2GB in capacity. The standard card already features 1GB ICs, so it's just a matter of replacing the 1GB ICs with the Samsung 2GB ICs.
Remember that memory IC swaps like this won't work with every memory chip on the market. This is because each GPU only has a select number of supported memory chips it can use, and those specifications are rarely ever shown to the public. That explains why memory conversions like this are very rare.
After re-assembling the card, VIK-on ran both Superposition and an Ethereum miner to see if there were any performance benefits over the 6GB model, of which there were none. Both the Superposition test and mining tests revealed the same performance as the 6GB model.
However, the additional 6GB of memory is just a capacity upgrade and shouldn't increase performance when GPU memory stays below the 6GB mark. But for applications that take advantage of more than 6GB of VRAM, you should see a performance benefit.
Even for gaming, the extra 6GB of VRAM could come in handy depending on what games you play. We already see 2021 AAA titles, such as Battlefield 2042, bringing the current 6GB 2060 to its knees if you crank up the graphics settings too high. So a boost in VRAM capacity would solve the issue.
This could be the very reason why Nvidia is rumored to be re-releasing the RTX 2060 with a new 12GB model, but it's just a guess on our end. For more details on this GPU, check out our coverage here. We believe the card could be coming in January of 2022 and serve as an alternative replacement for the RTX 3050/3050 Ti in the entry-level GPU market, thanks to TSMC's relatively unused 12nm process making the RTX 2060 cards relatively cheap to build.
