It looks like NVIDIA themselves have officially confirmed the existence of the GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB graphics card that is launching next week. The graphics card was confirmed through NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060 product page where the GPU maker lists both 6 GB & 12 GB variants of the card.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB Graphics Card Gets Official, Specs Confirmed By GPU Maker
The RTX 2060 was released back in 2019 and the 12 GB variant will be launching two years later. The card did receive a SUPER variant and a few other variants specific to certain markets but it looks like the 12 GB variant is going to be available globally. NVIDIA is re-releasing this card in a bid to combat the current component shortages and offers an intermediate solution to gamers in the mainstream segment as their entire Ampere lineup currently starts at $329 US (plus the inflation).
Specifications wise, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB will carry the TU106 GPU fabricated on the 12nm process node with 2176 CUDA cores, 136 Tensor Cores, and 64 RT cores. The GPU is clocked at 1470 MHz base and 1650 MHz boost. Due to being based on the Turing GPU, the new card won't be as feature-rich as the Ampere cards that have more RT/Tensor cores, PCIe Gen 4.0 support, a brand new NVENC encoder, or even a Resizable Bar.
The same GPU was featured on the RTX 2060 SUPER however the main difference is the memory. The card will retain a 192-bit bus versus the full 256-bit bus featured on the SUPER variant. This will allow the card to hit 12 GB GDDR6 memory capacity running at 14 Gbps pin speeds for a total bandwidth of 336 GB/s. It will also come with a similar TDP of 185W, the same as the RTX 2060 SUPER variant. Interestingly, the card will be available in Founders Edition flavors too alongside custom models from NVIDIA AIB partners.
But in terms of pricing, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB graphics cards are said to end up at around $300 US. This isn't MSRP but the actual retail price. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 Non-XT is currently at an MSRP of $329 US but real prices end up close to $400-$500 US. The RTX 3060 12 GB has an MSRP of $ 329 US but also ends up over $500 US. So for $150-$200 US lower, the GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB might make sense, especially if it ends up offering performance in between the RX 5600 XT and RX 5700.
Talking to the Verge, an NVIDIA representative told to expect a slightly more premium pricing for the premium variant of the RTX 2060 graphics card:
“It is a premium version of the RTX 2060 6GB and we expect the price to reflect that.”
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB graphics card is also currently supported by the latest 497.09 WHQL drivers which include a range of features and bug fixes. More details here.
A possibility is that the new GeForce RTX 2060 will be positioned against what is likely to be an even more entry-level RDNA 2 lineup from AMD, mainly their Navi 24 GPUs but that's all speculation for now. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB is expected to hit the street on 7th December, the same day as its launch. The card will serve as an intermediate solution for the entry-level segment until NVIDIA launches its GeForce RTX 3050 series.
| Graphics Card Name | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 12 GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPU Architecture | Turing GPU (TU106) | Turing GPU (TU106) | Turing GPU (TU106) |
| Process | 12nm FNN | 12nm FNN | 12nm FNN |
| Die Size | 445mm2 | 445mm2 | 445mm2 |
| Transistors | 10.6 Billion | 10.6 Billion | 10.6 Billion |
| CUDA Cores | 1920 Cores | 2176 Cores | 2176 Cores |
| TMUs/ROPs | 120/48 | 136/64 | 136/64 |
| GigaRays | 5 Giga Rays/s | 6 Giga Rays/s | 6 Giga Rays/s |
| Cache | 4 MB L2 Cache | 4 MB L2 Cache | 4 MB L2 Cache |
| Base Clock | 1365 MHz | 1470 MHz | 1470 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1680 MHz | 1650 MHz | 1650 MHz |
| Compute | 6.5 TFLOPs | 7.5 TFLOPs | 7.5 TFLOPs |
| Memory | 6 GB GDDR6 | 12 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Speed | 14.00 Gbps | 14.00 Gbps | 14.00 Gbps |
| Memory Interface | 192-bit | 256-bit | 192-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 336 GB/s | 448 GB/s | 336 GB/s |
| Power Connectors | 8 Pin | 8 Pin | 8 Pin |
| TDP | 160W | 185W | 185W |
| Starting Price | $349 US | $299 US? | $499 US |
| Price (Founders Edition) | $349 US | $299 US? | $599 US |
| Launch | January 2019 | December 2021 | July 2019 |
