Nvidia rtx 2060 super (1)

Despite still struggling with wide-spread support for their ray-tracing cards, Nvidia is still sitting unopposed at the top of the pile with the most powerful cards on the market. The likes of the RTX 2080 Ti still remains there, as Nvidia’s flagship RTX-enabled GPU. But further down the chain things are changing. Nvidia has introduced their new Super line for each other RTX card, replacing the previous Ti moniker to indicate faster cards built off of the same technology. In each instance, they simply replace the regular versions of the cards they’re improving on. And none sees a greater boost than the RTX 2060.

The RTX 2060 Super is a leap above what was offered from the slowest RTX card on the market. It’s had its memory bumped up to 8GB which should make it a little more futureproof, along with an additional 256 CUDA Cores and a reasonable boost to 1470MHz from 1365MHz. Nvidia claims that this puts the 2060 Super on the heels of the original RTX 2070, and around 15% ahead of the original 2060. The mileage on that claim varies (in both directions) depending on which games and tests you’re looking at, but there are no questions that it’s a substantial upgrade to the RTX 2060 that is certainly a better choice if you’re looking forward.

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Nvidia also says that this new 2060 Super features around 6 Gigarays of ray-tracing performance, over the 5 Gigarays from the previous 2060. There’s ambiguity around what this actually means in real-world performance, but the short of it means that you should expect better ray-tracing performance in the few games that support it. With dedicated hardware for ray-tracing specifically, having more of it means you’ll see fewer framerate drops with the feature turned on.

Along with the spec jumps, you can enjoy three DisplayPorts and a single HDMI port on the back, along with a single USB-C VirtualLink for future VR headsets. That gives you ample room for multi-display setups and high refresh rate monitors, no matter what your configuration.

The Super cards use the same dual-fan cooling solution as the original Founder’s Edition range of RTX cards, albeit with a new incredibly chrome (and incredibly fingerprint attracting) faceplate for the new logo. The chamber inside sucks in air from your case and blows it out the back, remaining silent under reasonably heavy loads. The Founder’s Edition design is still one of the sleekest and most attractive on the market, if not always being the most performant when it comes to raw cooling performance.

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Performance is really what the Super is all about, despite Nvidia still struggling to garner as much support as they presumably expected for ray-tracing support. Right now, only one of the games on our testing line-up even supports RTX, but looking forward there’s a lot more on the horizon. Games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Watch Dogs Legion and Control will support ray-tracing, but it’s important to note that if you go out right now and the purchase one of these new Super cards, support for its exclusive features is still lacking.

Looking at just how much better the 2060 Super is, it’s clear that Nvidia’s claims of it being the better buy between it and the original 2060 are unsurprisingly accurate. The extra memory and boosted clocks do wonders to raise framerates on games running across the spectrum of resolution, and especially so if you’re seeking some 4K support. Although you should be aware by now that even with this increase, the 2060 Super is still on the lower end of the RTX range, and is thus tuned delicately for gaming within the 1440p range and below rather than blisteringly fast 4K support.

With that said, here’s how the RTX 2060 Super performed across some games old and new, including new additions to our testing in Metro: Exodus and F1 2019.

Looking at synthetic tests, the RTX 2060 Super continues to impress. Across 3D Mark’s FireStrike Ultra and Extreme tests, along with its ray-tracing focused Port Royal stress test, the RTX 2060 Super shows that it’s definitely more adept at handling tougher loads thanks especially to its additional memory.

With an RRP starting at R7,000.00, the Super version of the RTX 2060 certainly is a head above local pricing of the original, which can start below even R6,000.00.  But unlike the simple clock and CUDA core boosts of the rest of the range, the memory increase here is what is worth the higher asking price. A full 8GB of memory makes the RTX 2060 Super make more forward-looking in terms of support than its original model. You can see the results of that already in tests above running at higher framerates, where the additional buffer copes with the higher resolutions textures far more admirably.

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If you are looking to dip your toe into ray-tracing technology, there are now even more options from Nvidia to get you started despite the smaller than expected pool of games that support it. But the RTX 2060 Super is much more than just the introduction to ray-tracing. It’s a powerful card in its own right, and at a great price for the performance, it promises there’s a lot to love about the new entry-point to the RTX line.

Last Updated: August 5, 2019

Nvidia RTX 2060 Super Founder's Edition
The RTX 2060 Super is a great upgrade over the original RTX 2060, with the additional memory and boosted clock speeds make it a strong new entry-level ray-tracing GPU. It still costs a pretty penny, but if you’re looking for a card that respects your future equally, the RTX 2060 Super is it.
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29 Comments

  1. “Although you should be aware by now that even with this increase, the 2060 Super is still on the lower end of the RTX range, and is thus tuned delicately for gaming within the 1440p range and below rather than blisteringly fast 4K support.”

    R7000… and people still think the Xbone can do true native 4K xD

    Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      August 5, 2019 at 12:24

      There are a BUNCH of games that run at a native 4K on the X1X. Not all of them run at a constant 4K, so you have resolution scaling, and some of them do use checker boarding as with the PS4 Pro. You’ll also struggle to find many 4k/60 games. Still, the number of actual native 2160p games on the X1X is impressive.

      Reply

      • G8crasha

        August 6, 2019 at 10:03

        The above card would do 4k/60 on the edge, but you would have to drop some other graphical settings to accommodate this.

        Reply

    • Alessandro Barbosa

      August 5, 2019 at 12:24

      It can, and it does in many cases…but with effects quality compromises and mostly strict 30FPS locks. Not ideal native 4K, but certainly still there

      Reply

    • Fox1

      August 5, 2019 at 13:59

      LOL.

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief Umbra

      August 5, 2019 at 12:16

      xD

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief Umbra

      August 5, 2019 at 12:16

      [insert 4k girl-smashing-bowl.gif]

      Reply

    • G8crasha

      August 6, 2019 at 10:03

      The above card would do 4k, if you dropped a couple of quality settings. But if you have a PC, one of the benefits of the platform is the amount of tweaking you can do with graphics, and true PC gamers know the feeling when they have to drop a few settings to get smooth gameplay, so we all try avoid doing so.

      Reply

  2. Llama In The Rift

    August 5, 2019 at 12:06

    And if you don’t care for the ray-tracing and need more FPS you could always opt for the competion like the AMD RX 5700 which costs cheaper and will provide more Frames (Plus PCIe 4.0) in most cases…depending on the title…you know…the exact same old AMD way we know.

    Reply

    • HvR

      August 5, 2019 at 13:21

      My last 2 AMD cards didn’t last more than a year after the warrenty expired; died due to heat exhaustion.

      So my I like sticking to Nvidia these days.

      Reply

      • Llama In The Rift

        August 5, 2019 at 13:31

        Last Nvidia card i had was the GTX960 i think….jumped to the RX480 4GB and then to a RX580 8GB….never had any issues and using the RX580 for about 2 years and get the same thermals to this day since purchase but yeah…AMD hardware do get HOT as i have noticed with the 580

        Reply

  3. Admiral Chief Umbra

    August 5, 2019 at 12:06

    Hmmmmm. Getting one of these, or paying wedding photographer…

    Reply

    • HairyEwok

      August 5, 2019 at 12:24

      Hey if you get one you could take the photo’s yourself and then ask the Nvidia AI Tensor cores built in it to make all the photo’s pretty.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief Umbra

        August 5, 2019 at 12:24

        Hahahaha

        I still need my balls post-wedding

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          August 5, 2019 at 12:24

          RTX can help with that, it can totally ray trace you a new pair, shadows and all.

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief Umbra

            August 5, 2019 at 12:41

            I need what is INSIDE more than how it LOOKS

          • HairyEwok

            August 5, 2019 at 13:01

            Ahhh ok, well Intel can help with that. Since you know, Intel inside.

          • Admiral Chief Umbra

            August 5, 2019 at 13:01

            [cancels payment]

          • HairyEwok

            August 5, 2019 at 13:01

            Ahhh ok, well Intel can help with that. Since you know, Intel inside.

    • HvR

      August 5, 2019 at 13:11

      You are already paying the priest/reverend/dominee; R350 selfie stick and you are sorted
      https://cdn.evoke.ie/2016/10/05110957/Wedding-Selfie-feat-.jpg

      Reply

      • Dresden

        August 5, 2019 at 16:59

        That priest looks like he’s banishing the Balrog of Morgoth.

        Reply

    • Admiral Chief Umbra

      August 5, 2019 at 12:16

      [weighs options, sighs heavily, makes payment to photographer]

      Reply

      • Magu マグ

        August 5, 2019 at 12:41

        F.

        Reply

      • Magu マグ

        August 5, 2019 at 12:41

        F.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief Umbra

          August 5, 2019 at 12:49

          Thanks dude

          Reply

  4. Raptor Rants

    August 5, 2019 at 15:45

  5. G8crasha

    August 6, 2019 at 10:03

    Throw ray tracing into the mix with this card, and the hit you’ll get in FPS will be quite noticeable, so, personally, I don’t find value in this card over the AMD, because ray tracing is the only thing going for it that AMD is lacking. In terms of raw price/performance, AMD is still the benchmark. I would steer clear of the Radeon RX 5700 for now though (which is priced lower), and rather opt for the 5700 XT, simply because the cooling is less than ideal in the 5700, in comparison to its XT sibling. Or, you can wait for OEM to release their own versions which may have better cooling setups.

    For me though, I expect my cards to last at least 3 years, so if I was to purchase a card now, I would look more at the 2070 Super rather than the 2060 Super. I don’t expect to max out future games with a 2070 Super, but at least it should still have enough grunt to play most games with a few drops in certain quality settings. If I was doing 4k, I would not look at anything less than the 2080, and even then, it only just manages with everything maxed.

    Reply

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