NVIDIA RTX 2060 12GB hardly available at launch
No one really believed NVIDIA would be launching a new card based on Turing architecture two years since it was first introduced, yet it actually happened.
NVIDIA RTX 2060 12GB is pretty much RTX 2060 SUPER with reduced memory bandwidth. It also costs a bit less, the card is to be seen with a 600-700 EUR price tag in Europe, which is just about 10 to 20% more expensive than RTX 2060 6GB. Unfortunately, we really don’t know what the official MSRP of this SKU is, because NVIDIA never communicated any, a really convenient way of launching a GPU one must say.
The 12GB version of Turing TU106 GPU was expected to be a cure for GPU shortages, a cheap alternative to overpriced Ampere RTX 3060 models. Such claims couldn’t be further from the truth. As soon as we learned that there is no Founders Edition of this card, the dream of finding these cards at lower prices have evaporated. The RTX 2060 12GB launches exclusively through NVIDIA partners, which means overcharging by AIBs, distributors, and finally retailers, not to mention artificially inflated prices due to scalpers.
The situation around RTX 2060 12GB might get *a bit* better though. According to PC Gamer the availability of GeForce RTX 2060 12GB is to improve in by the end of December:
Partner card availability to ramp starting the end of December through January.
— PC Gamer quoting NVIDIA Spokesperson
What this likely means is that the stock of TU106-300 GPUs might have shipped just recently and it will take another 2 to 3 weeks before AIBs are ready to sell the actual cards. Will this really help with the GPU shortages? Likely not, at least not on a grand scale.
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX x60 Series | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VideoCardz.com | RTX 2060 SUPER | RTX 2060 12GB | RTX 2060 6GB | RTX 3060 Ti | RTX 3060 |
| Picture |  |  | |  | |
| Architecture | NVIDIA Turing | NVIDIA Turing | NVIDIA Turing | NVIDIA Ampere | NVIDIA Ampere |
| Board | PG150 | PG161 | PG160 | PG190/PG142 | PG190 |
| GPU | 12nm TU106-410 | 12nm TU106-300 | 12nm TU106-200 | 8nm GA104-200 | 8nm GA106-300 |
| Boost Clock | 1650 MHz | 1650 MHz | 1680 MHz | 1665 MHz | 1777 MHz |
| CUDA : RT : Tensor | 2176 : 64 : 136 | 2176 : 64 : 136 | 1920 : 48 : 120 | 4864 : 38 : 152 | 3584 : 28 : 112 |
| Memory | 8GB GDDR6 | 12GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 | 12GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Clock | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 15 Gbps |
| Memory Bus | 256-bit | 192-bit | 192-bit | 256-bit | 192-bit |
| Bandwidth | 448 GB/s | 336 GB/s | 336 GB/s | 448 GB/s | 360 GB/s |
| TGP/TBP | 175W | 185W | 160W | 200W | 170W |
| MSRP | 399 USD | 🤷♂️ | 349 -> 299 USD | 399 USD | 329 USD |
| Release Date | July 9th, 2019 | December 7th, 2021 | January 14, 2019 | December 2nd, 2020 | February 25th, 2021 |
Source: PC Gamer