The GPU shortage has prompted Nvidia to bring back a graphics card from nearly three years ago, the RTX 2060.
Following weeks of rumors, an Nvidia spokesperson today confirmed that the RTX 2060 will make a return on Dec. 7. But this time, the company is upgrading the product’s specs with 12GB of GDDR6 video memory, up from a mere 6GB.
“The RTX 2060 12GB helps alleviate supply constraints by giving us more flexibility to source memory,” the spokesperson said. Specifically, Nvidia is using higher-density video RAM components, which are more readily available right now, and pairing them with the RTX 2060.
The solution certainly isn’t ideal. But the latest generation of PC graphics cards are still hard to come by across all the major retailers due to consumer demand, plus scalpers and cryptocurrency miners buying whatever they can get their hands on.
In some bad news, Nvidia is hinting that the pricing for the RTX 2060 won’t be cheap. The spokesperson remained mum on exact pricing, but noted: “It is a premium version of the RTX 2060 6GB and we expect the price to reflect that.”
For perspective, the RTX 2060 originally launched for $349 before it was discounted to $299 a year later. The product was then succeeded by the RTX 3060, which debuted this February, starting at $329. But since then, pricing for the card has inflated to $400 to $529 at the major retailers. Meanwhile, scalpers have been trying to resell the RTX 3060 for over $900 on eBay.
Nvidia plans on launching the revived RTX 2060 through third-party GPU vendors on Dec. 7. But the company will not offer a Founders edition model like it did when the RTX 2060 launched in early 2019.
The big remaining questions are availability and performance. We expect the card will perform closer to an RTX 3060, which also has 12GB of GDDR6 RAM. However, the RTX 3060 contains 3,584 CUDA cores built with the Ampere architecture compared to 2,176 CUDA cores in the revived RTX 2060, which uses the older Turing architecture.
So the RTX 3060 should remain the better option — if you can find one at normal pricing. The reality is that GPU supplies have become an enticing target for scalpers and even third-party merchants to sell at inflated prices, given the demand from cryptocurrency miners. So don’t be surprised if the RTX 2060 does little to solve the ongoing shortage.