Nvidia Reveals The GeForce RTX 2060 12GB GPU's Specifications

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

The GeForce RTX 2060, which used to be one of the best graphics cards, rides again. Two years after the graphics card's, Nvidia decided to fire up the Turing stove once more to release the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB, which brings some significant upgrades to the table.

The GeForce RTX 2060 12GB still leverages the same TU106 silicon that's fabricated on TSMC's 12nm FinFET manufacturing process. While the original had 30 enabled SMs out of the 36, the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB comes with four additional SMs, same as the GeForce RTX 2060 Super and just two shy of the GeForce RTX 2070. This means that the revamped graphics card has 2,176 CUDA cores, 272 Tensor cores, and 34 RT cores at its disposal. In other words, the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB comes with 13.3% more CUDA cores than the regular 6GB model.

The GeForce RTX 2060 12GB comes with a 1,470 MHz base clock and 1,650 MHz boost clock, identical to the GeForce RTX 2060 Super. This new version has a 7.7% higher base clock than the GeForce RTX 2060, but the latter's boost clock is slightly faster (1.8%). Nonetheless, the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB does offer higher FP32 performance. The regular version is rated for 6.5 TFLOPs, and this 12GB variant offers 7.2 TFLOPs, a 10.8% uplift.

GeForce RTX 2060 12GB Specifications

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 GeForce RTX 2060 SuperGeForce RTX 2060 12GBGeForce RTX 2060
ArchitectureTU106TU106TU106
Process TechnologyTSMC 12FFNTSMC 12FFNTSMC 12FFN
Transistors (Billion)10.810.810.8
Die size (mm^2)445445445
SMs / CUs343430
GPU Cores2,1762,1761,920
Tensor Cores272272240
RT Cores343430
Base Clock (MHz)1,4701,4701,365
Boost Clock (MHz)1,6501,6501,680
VRAM Speed (Gbps)141414
VRAM (GB)8126
VRAM Bus Width256192192
ROPs646448
TMUs136136120
TFLOPS FP32 (Boost)7.27.26.5
TFLOPS FP16 (Tensor)575752
RT TFLOPS??25.2
Bandwidth (GBps)448336336
TDP (Watts)175185160
Launch DateJul 19?Jan 19
Launch Price$399?$349

As the model name implies, the biggest upgrade on the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB resides in its memory system. Nvidia has doubled the GDDR6 memory from 6GB to 12GB. The generous amount of memory won't magically enable the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB to deliver an exceptional 60 FPS gaming experience, but it will help in modern titles that are pushing the memory envelope beyond 8GB even at 1080p.

Nvidia just upgraded the capacity of the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB, though. The memory still runs at 14 Gbps across a 192-bit memory interface. Therefore, the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB provides the same level of memory bandwidth as the 6GB version, which is 336 GBps. This is where the GeForce RTX 2060 Super wins, as its wider 256-bit memory bus allows it to offer 448 GBps.

The CUDA core and memory bump didn't come free, though. Obviously, the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB comes with a higher TDP rating. The Turing-powered graphics card is rated for 185W, 15.6% higher than the GeForce RTX 2060 and interestingly 5.7% higher than the GeForce RTX 2060 Super. Nevertheless, the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB still only uses a single 8-pin PCIe connector.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 12GB (Image credit: Nvidia)

One of the smaller but visible changes is the design of the display layouts. Apparently, Nvidia has dumped the USB Type-C port on the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB. It's not a port that most users will miss, and Nvidia's partners have often disposed of the USB Type-C port in their custom offerings. Sadly, Nvidia didn't make any changes to the other ports. The DisplayPort outputs and HDMI port are still 1.4a and 2.0b, respectively. It's a shame but not surprising since it's using old silicon, which is another reason the GeForce RTX 3060 would still be a better pick (if you could find one).

Now that Nvidia has finally released the specifications for the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB, we no longer have to rely on hearsay or speculation. Nvidia didn't disclose the pricing for this new Turing graphics card. Not like it's important since MSRP means little these days, but it would have been nice to see the premium that Nvidia has slapped on the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB.

For what it's worth, the GeForce RTX 2060 debuted at $349 whereas the GeForce RTX 2060 Super and GeForce 2070 came in at $399 and $499, respectively. Certain models of the RTX 2060 later dropped to $299, before Covid hit and the GPU shortages messed up all the pricing. In theory, the GeForce RTX 2060 12GB should slot in between the 2060 and 2060 Super, and certainly its MSRP ought to be less than the RTX 3060's $329 price point. In the real world, however, GPU prices on the RTX 2060 6GB are around $570, so the 12GB model will likely land north of that mark.

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.

  • Endymio
    ... but it will help in modern titles that are pushing the memory envelope beyond 8GB even at 1080p.
    I'm not the hardcore gamer some of you are: are there indeed games consuming more memory than this at 1080p resolutions? Obviously memory requirements for textures and models don't scale linearly with resolution, but it would imply the game at 4K would require 16GB, or even more.
    Reply
  • wirefire
    Unless this can be built using a different fab / schedule or they have a crapload of old 20XX GPUs sitting around to make these cards I don't get the point. They really don't need a "new" product, they need production. They are getting ready to announce the 40XX GPU when you still can't reasonably buy a 30XX GPU.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    Endymio said:
    I'm not the hardcore gamer some of you are: are there indeed games consuming more memory than this at 1080p resolutions?
    Even if games don't need 8GB for themselves, stuff opened in the background consumes VRAM too so extra VRAM can be useful for those too: if I let Chrome and Firefox use GPU acceleration, they can consume over 1GB of VRAM each. With no GPU hogs open, I believe I've seen Firefox gobble up to 1.7GB of my GTX1050's 2GB. Now I'm forcing Chrome and Firefox to use GT730 IGP instead to conserve VRAM so I don't get massive artifacting in game due to low VRAM.

    wirefire said:
    Unless this can be built using a different fab / schedule or they have a crapload of old 20XX GPUs sitting around to make these cards I don't get the point. They really don't need a "new" product, they need production. They are getting ready to announce the 40XX GPU when you still can't reasonably buy a 30XX GPU.
    And production is exactly why the RTX2060 is getting resurrected: the RTX2060 is made on TSMC's 12nm, so it doesn't compete with the RTX30xx on Samsung 8nm and everything else on TSMC 7nm. It also has the "benefit" of being less power-efficient, which should help make it somewhat less desirable for mining.
    Reply
  • zoridon
    They will be using a 12nm Fab process which will not take away from their RTX 3000 or future RTX 4000 series production. This will allow them to sell even more product since the demand will not go away any time soon even if they sell mountains of these cards. I expect most future triple A games to target the RTX 2060 performance at 1080p High detail at 60 frames per second without ray tracing. Hardcore gamers with money and miners will still buy all the high end RTX 3000 and 4000 series cards almost as fast as they can make them unless cryptocurrency crashes. However; as long as the world governments keep printing money without any restraint then crypto currency will continue to gain momentum since it, unlike our current system, can't be printed out of thin air and must be authenticated in the blockchain.
    Reply
  • korekan
    will the msrp be $300? and everywhere on earth?
    and sold at the market @$250?
    Reply
  • renz496
    korekan said:
    will the msrp be $300? and everywhere on earth?
    and sold at the market @$250?

    nvidia own MSRP most likely around $350 to $400. i think nvidia rep said this is more like a premium version of the original GTX2060 so base price will reflect that. some people might say such pricing might not make sense since 3060 MSRP starts at $330 but when nvidia reintroduce 2060 6GB and 2060 super 8GB earlier this year both card retain their turing era pricing ($300 and $400 respectively) instead of being adjusted by nvidia to fit with 30 series pricing.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    korekan said:
    will the msrp be $300? and everywhere on earth?
    and sold at the market @$250?
    The 12GB of VRAM alone costs ~$150 and TSMC jacked up its 12nm wafer prices by 20%. I expect the MSRPs to be $70-100 higher than the original RTX2060's mainly to cover increased costs and street prices will be whatever miners are willing to pay for 'em as usual.

    It doesn't make sense to lower MSRPs when everything that is currently coming out of fabs ends up on the scalper market at 1.5-2X the price.
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    12gb on 2060 is stupid.

    should of just put the 12gb on the 2070. way more sense.
    Reply
  • _dawn_chorus_
    Endymio said:
    I'm not the hardcore gamer some of you are: are there indeed games consuming more memory than this at 1080p resolutions? Obviously memory requirements for textures and models don't scale linearly with resolution, but it would imply the game at 4K would require 16GB, or even more.
    Lol no.. I don't know what the author is on about. Would love to see some examples of that claim. A lot of games will allocate quite a lot but actually require? At 1080p? Not that I'm aware of.
    Reply
  • btmedic04
    hotaru251 said:
    12gb on 2060 is stupid.

    should of just put the 12gb on the 2070. way more sense.

    12gb of vram on a 2070 makes zero sense. nvidia would have to cut the memory bus down to 192 bit from 256 bit in order to put 12gb on it. im pretty sure the silicon doesnt have a 320 bit bus that gets pared down to 256 bit and even if it did, that card would begin to encroach on 3060 ti performance
    Reply
  • hannibal
    Well Nvidia did say that this is premium 2060 with premium price... So here we go again...
    sigh
    Reply