Nvidia’s revamped version of the RTX 2060 with 12GB of VRAM was officially – albeit quietly – launched earlier this month, albeit with no cards yet out, or any indication of pricing, although now we have the latter, at least from one graphics card maker.
Asus has two RTX 2060 12GB models, the Dual RTX 2060 12G Evo and O12G Evo, which it has revealed, as spotted by German tech site ComputerBase, complete with European pricing pitched at €494 and €499 (which Asus calls an RRP or recommended price).
As Tom’s Hardware, which flagged this, points out, that translates to a US price of $470 (around £355, AU$660) after taking off German VAT, although we can’t use a direct currency conversion as anything other than a very vague indication of pricing in other regions.
What’s more instructive is simply to compare that €499 asking price to existing German pricing, and it’s a fair hike on the €399 that Asus Dual models commanded when the original RTX 2060 (6GB) cards were released; 25% pricier to be precise.
To be fair to the 2060 12GB, though, it doesn’t just double up the VRAM, but also ramps up the CUDA core count to the level of the 2060 Super (2,176 cores) – though it doesn’t have as fast memory as the old Super (which had a 256-bit bus, not 192-bit as with the new 12GB card). In Germany, the RTX 2060 Super launched with a recommended price of €419 from Nvidia.
So, this is a good chunk more than that, still, and the real problem is that recommended prices are so inflated by retailers these days, due to the supply and demand equation being so badly off balance, that any RRP is a serious underestimation of the actual amount you’ll pay in the end.
As ComputerBase points out, in the German market the RTX 3060 costs at least €690, and in fact the base 2060 (6GB), which is still around here and there, is still on sale starting at €599. Which would make this 12GB version look like a bargain – except it obviously won’t be sold at the Asus RRP given the overall GPU pricing picture at retail outlets right now.
Analysis: Something of a disappointing start for the resurrected RTX 2060
In short, prepare yourselves for a seriously expensive RTX 2060 12GB when it does hit the shelves, which should be later in December (hopefully). But is that any surprise? No, not really. Looking at how all this is shaping up, it’s no wonder Nvidia itself didn’t want to pin a recommended price on the new offering.
Of course, any extra options on the GPU table are welcome, because even if this card is a resurrection from Nvidia’s last-gen, it’ll still be nice and solid for 1080p gaming. The problem is, initial quantities of the GPU seem to be, well, non-existent at kick-off, which is disappointing, and that makes us worry how many units we’ll see full-stop.
And with whatever stock is unleashed on the world being ripe targets for scalpers, and also miners (these cards don’t have hash rate limiting, of course, which the RTX 3060 does), then pessimism around how much help the new 2060 12GB might be for gamers sets firmly in.
Still, we can’t argue that it’s better to have this alternative than not. Hopefully, we will see some actual boards on sale soon enough; just brace your wallet for those asking prices.
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