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.
