Nvidia quietly launches the RTX 2060 12GB: an expensive, hard-to-find card that miners...

[midian182]

What just happened? Following Nvidia’s confirmation via a driver changelog last week that a 12GB version of the RTX 2060 was on its way, the ‘new’ card has now launched—not that you’re likely to have noticed as they don’t appear to be available in the US yet, and Nvidia hasn’t mentioned the release.

We’d long heard rumors that Nvidia was set to relaunch the Turing-era 12nm RTX 2060 with the VRAM upgraded from 6GB of GDDR6 to 12GB, and it was all but confirmed in the company’s Game Ready Driver changelog last week. The predicted December 7 launch date proved accurate, but Nvidia didn’t make any noise about the launch. It even encouraged board partners not to send review samples to the press.

We don’t even have an MSRP for the RTX 2060 12GB. It was expected to be around the same $349 mark as the original version. MSRPs mean nothing these days, of course, but the new card is selling for about 600 - 700 euros, which is roughly the same $670 - $800 price we can expect to pay for the RTX 2060 6GB right now.

Not that finding an RTX 2060 12GB is easy, if at all possible, for those in the US. Most appear on AIB partners’ Chinese websites, and some are on European retail sites—Nvidia isn't making Founders Editions. I found one on a UK site, but it isn’t listed as available to buy.

As previously predicted, the RTX 2060 12GB comes with a TU106-300 GPU featuring 2176 CUDA cores. It uses 16Gb (2GB) GDDR6 modules clocked at 14Gbps and has a 1650MHz boost clock.

Perhaps the reason for the muted release is that the RTX 2060 12GB appears to be targeted at miners, an area that Nvidia has long tried to distance its gaming cards from. These aren’t Lite Hash Rate models like the updated RTX 3000 series, and PCMarket HK, which managed to get hold of a card, writes that its mining potential exceeds that of the RTX 3060 and Radeon RX 6600 XT.

Nvidia recently said it believes graphics card prices and availability will improve in the second half of next year when supply and demand even out. It's a nice thought, but don't hold your breath.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/92544-nvidia-quietly-launches-rtx-2060-12gb-800-hard.html

 

[Dimitriid]

I bet those gddr6 chips could have been used for some other, less mining capable products. Not sure it matters too much since there's just not enough GPU dies out there anyway but it still shows Nvidia's priorities: Miners first, gamers well, F em: they're dullards who will go right back to buy whatever we tell them to in 2 or 3 years.

 

[Squid Surprise]

I bet those gddr6 chips could have been used for some other, less mining capable products. Not sure it matters too much since there's just not enough GPU dies out there anyway but it still shows Nvidia's priorities: Miners first, gamers well, F em: they're dullards who will go right back to buy whatever we tell them to in 2 or 3 years.

They care about one thing - PROFIT. They obviously had a surplus of GDDR6 RAM and only old 2060 boards to put them in - as all the new stuff is selling like hotcakes...

They may have made a big deal about caring about miners... but they don't... they simply want to make sure that every card they manufacture gets sold - ideally for as much money as they can get away with.

 

[Skjorn]

I bet those gddr6 chips could have been used for some other, less mining capable products. Not sure it matters too much since there's just not enough GPU dies out there anyway but it still shows Nvidia's priorities: Miners first, gamers well, F em: they're dullards who will go right back to buy whatever we tell them to in 2 or 3 years.

If you knew ANYTHING about mining... this card is very unattractive as a miner. AMDs 6600 gets the same hash at a much lower power draw. Why the 12GB 2060 keeps getting painted as a miners card I don't know. The bus width is atrocious. I think it's just tech news trying to spread more miner hate. With the current LHR unlocks the 3060 is better.
Nvidia priority is themselves. It's not gamers or miners. If it was gamers then even the FE would be LHR. If it was the miners then no card would be LHR. The only place I can get a FE is bestbuy and not my local microcenter. I don't really think you actually know why you hate them. I think you just want to sensationally hate them.

 

[Irata]

If you knew ANYTHING about mining... this card is very unattractive as a miner. AMDs 6600 gets the same hash at a much lower power draw. Why the 12GB 2060 keeps getting painted as a miners card I don't know. The bus width is atrocious. I think it's just tech news trying to spread more miner hate. With the current LHR unlocks the 3060 is better.

So let‘s look at this article - it shows
6600XT: 28.75 Mh/s @ 107W
2600 ME: 31.65 MH/s @ 83.44 W

How is the 6600 better than the 2600 ME ?

I do agree that Ampere is even better if you can unlock it which I am sure professional mining operations already can.

It‘s amazing that - in spite of the fact that nVidia‘s mining performance has greatly increased gen on gen while Radeon‘s did quite the opposite - there are still people who believe that RDNA2 are good for mining.

Sadly tech sites help spread this fud which makes the articles on the 2060 ME quite interesting.

 

[Shadowboxer]

They care about one thing - PROFIT. They obviously had a surplus of GDDR6 RAM and only old 2060 boards to put them in - as all the new stuff is selling like hotcakes...

They may have made a big deal about caring about miners... but they don't... they simply want to make sure that every card they manufacture gets sold - ideally for as much money as they can get away with.

All of these companies only care about profit. They are emphatically not charities. It’s not something we should criticise them for. Nobody needs gaming hardware, it is a complete and absolute luxury. AMD is exactly the same, just look at how they massively raised their prices for the 5000 series (and I paid them). Intel also the same, they would still be charging £300 for a quad core if their competitor hadn’t finally got their act together.

There’s absolutely nothing unethical or immoral about Nvidia releasing a card for miners to buy. There’s also nothing wrong with catering to miners. They have done far more than anyone to counter them anyway with the LHR cards they sold out Which has mildly helped with supply and they absolutely didn’t have to do that. If anything we should expect these companies to improve their products for mining, it’s miners who are paying them and using them after all.

 

[Dimitriid]

So let‘s look at this article - it shows
6600XT: 28.75 Mh/s @ 107W
2600 ME: 31.65 MH/s @ 83.44 W

How is the 6600 better than the 2600 ME ?

I do agree that Ampere is even better if you can unlock it which I am sure professional mining operations already can.

It‘s amazing that - in spite of the fact that nVidia‘s mining performance has greatly increased gen on gen while Radeon‘s did quite the opposite - there are still people who believe that RDNA2 are good for mining.

Sadly tech sites help spread this fud which makes the articles on the 2060 ME quite interesting.

A small re: I don't disagree with any of the numbers. But I can already see that, depending heavily on how much power costs for you, then you can still profit from the 6600xt.

As in I am sure the biggest miners will quickly capture products like this 2060 for sure it's far more desirable don't get me wrong. But if you already have the money and set up to mine, having to settle down to "just" 6600xts since a bigger miner already bought up all of the 2060 MEs is better than going "Whoops, no cards let's just pack it up and make nothing with our warehouse bills and preparation money we put into this"

That's just never going to happen: if there's at least some money to be made then some people further down the chain will go ahead and try to make it even if the ROI is a lot worst due to pricing and efficiency it beats not mining for a mining operation.

So it's possible that you're entirely correct in your assertion that RDNA 2 cards are a worst product at mining and still scarce due to mining because of this.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

So, Nvidia took the 192 bus off a RTX 2060, slapped on 12GB of RAM and tossed in a 2060S GPU.

This release is just basically a 2060 Super with 12GB of VRAM. A card that runs about 5-10% behind a 3060 or on par with a RX 6600 and it's supposed to have a possible MSRP of $349?

This is supposed to be Nividia's response to the 6600, sell 2.5 year old tech?
I guess if it works, then all the power to them.

 

[wiyosaya]

Translation:

nVidia to gamers: "We hate miners so much that our latest drivers will inhibit mining performance and bring prices back down to prices you can afford."

nVidia to miners: "Have we got the card for you in our new super-duper rtx2060. Who give a flying F about gamers. Gamers are losers!"

 

[Squid Surprise]

This is supposed to be Nividia's response to the 6600, sell 2.5 year old tech?
I guess if it works, then all the power to them.

No... it's simply a "we have some inventory left over... let's repackage it and sell it for a huge profit..."

 

[mattferg]

Given that mining is influenced heavily by ROI, that this card uses slower GDDR6 which has a massive impact on mining performance, and that anything more than 6GB of VRAM can mine Eth, OH and throw in that NBMiner has unlocked 76% of the hashrate of a 3060, no, miners don’t want these cards.

 

[Nobina]

Nvidia priority is themselves. It's not gamers or miners. If it was gamers then even the FE would be LHR. If it was the miners then no card would be LHR.

Are you saying Nvidia the company that exists because of gamers doesn't care about gamers in these dire times? I feel betrayed!

LHR was such a dead giveaway. If you don't want miners to mine on it, make it so they can't mine at all, what's the point of limiting it and then releasing a driver that bypasses their own limits they put up?

If people had some sense they would avoid Nvidia in the future knowing what they've done. Same goes for AMD that did literally nothing.

 

[Fastturtle]

All Corporations are Souless Money Grubbing *****s and that's what this is all about. Nvidia doesn't care about us, they only care about the bottom line and the CEO only cares about their bonus for the quarter and their golden parachute when the run the company into the ground maximizing profits and dividends for investors instead of looking long term.

Look at what Verizon did recently, which was to enable their new data collection methods even when folks have opted out. They don't care and until we see these scum being sued out of existence and piercing of the corporate veil with a few companies being executed (Out of Business Permanently) and all of the assets sold/disbursed to those injured (not the share holders) we wont see any change

 

[hahahanoobs]

If you knew ANYTHING about mining... this card is very unattractive as a miner. AMDs 6600 gets the same hash at a much lower power draw. Why the 12GB 2060 keeps getting painted as a miners card I don't know. The bus width is atrocious. I think it's just tech news trying to spread more miner hate. With the current LHR unlocks the 3060 is better.
Nvidia priority is themselves. It's not gamers or miners. If it was gamers then even the FE would be LHR. If it was the miners then no card would be LHR. The only place I can get a FE is bestbuy and not my local microcenter. I don't really think you actually know why you hate them. I think you just want to sensationally hate them.

lol
You think gamers aren't getting any Nvidia GPUs, or just because no one you know can get one? Like previous decades, gaming GPUs sales accounted for the majority of revenue. They also shipped way more (LHR) GPUs than AMD - using Samsung for GeForce GPUs.

Yet Nvidia gets the hate for some reason. I guess that happens when you really really REALLY want something - or just want something to complain about.

COVID happened.
Scalpers happened.
Miners happened.
Bots happened.
Life isn't always fair

Adapt.

 

[Irata]

A small re: I don't disagree with any of the numbers. But I can already see that, depending heavily on how much power costs for you, then you can still profit from the 6600xt.

As in I am sure the biggest miners will quickly capture products like this 2060 for sure it's far more desirable don't get me wrong. But if you already have the money and set up to mine, having to settle down to "just" 6600xts since a bigger miner already bought up all of the 2060 MEs is better than going "Whoops, no cards let's just pack it up and make nothing with our warehouse bills and preparation money we put into this"

That's just never going to happen: if there's at least some money to be made then some people further down the chain will go ahead and try to make it even if the ROI is a lot worst due to pricing and efficiency it beats not mining for a mining operation.

So it's possible that you're entirely correct in your assertion that RDNA 2 cards are a worst product at mining and still scarce due to mining because of this.

Don‘t disagree. As a miner, I‘d get a 3090 if possible for the highest density.

Yes, miners will certainly snap up RDNA2 cards if Ampere models are unavailable just like they would get a 1060 / 1070 when they couldn‘t get Polaris.

My issue is with tech sites all reporting „Radeon is for miners“ when all they are is a poor second choice when they can‘t get the true mining king.

 

[Ludak021]

If you knew ANYTHING about mining... this card is very unattractive as a miner. AMDs 6600 gets the same hash at a much lower power draw. Why the 12GB 2060 keeps getting painted as a miners card I don't know. The bus width is atrocious. I think it's just tech news trying to spread more miner hate. With the current LHR unlocks the 3060 is better.
Nvidia priority is themselves. It's not gamers or miners. If it was gamers then even the FE would be LHR. If it was the miners then no card would be LHR. The only place I can get a FE is bestbuy and not my local microcenter. I don't really think you actually know why you hate them. I think you just want to sensationally hate them.

and if you knew anything about mining, you'd know that anything that can mine with profit - mines. These are new cards in the market for miners to add to their mines. It doesn't mean that those miners don't already have 6600 or more powerful mining cards (there are plenty) etc. Seeing how you probably (as a miner) can't buy any more 6600 AMD cards, 2060 12GB will do just fine. It doesn't matter that much which is more efficient if they still make money. No one will go out and buy ONE card to mine. LHR cards mine too.

 

[BadThad]

I suspect they are getting the 2000 series chips cheap and/or using up an existing inventory.

 

[tellmewhy]

They problem is that they don’t have fabs and because of that they can’t support the demand.
That boom on demand from mining is a gold valley and they can’t exchange sand chips for gold because they don’t have fabs and they outsourcing the printing of chips.
That’s why AMD’s Jerry Sanders was saying that real tech companies must have fabs.

 

[Avro Arrow]

You know, as a rule, I don't like nVidia as a company and I feel fully justified in this. However, I can't really rag on them for this. They're a business and they're in the business of making money. A miner's money is as good as anyone else's and if there is a demand for something like this, they'd have to be insane to ignore it. This is looking like it will be the new normal and we'll just have to deal with it.

The only thing that a corporation is loyal to under capitalism is wealth and greed. That's the system we have and until we fix or change it, that's how it's always going to be.

 

[Leuten]

Aren't all graphics card both expensive and hard to find?

 

[Skjorn]

So let‘s look at this article - it shows
6600XT: 28.75 Mh/s @ 107W
2600 ME: 31.65 MH/s @ 83.44 W

How is the 6600 better than the 2600 ME ?

I do agree that Ampere is even better if you can unlock it which I am sure professional mining operations already can.

It‘s amazing that - in spite of the fact that nVidia‘s mining performance has greatly increased gen on gen while Radeon‘s did quite the opposite - there are still people who believe that RDNA2 are good for mining.

Sadly tech sites help spread this fud which makes the articles on the 2060 ME quite interesting.

Did I say 6600XT? You can get more hash on 55W on a 6600.

A small re: I don't disagree with any of the numbers. But I can already see that, depending heavily on how much power costs for you, then you can still profit from the 6600xt.

As in I am sure the biggest miners will quickly capture products like this 2060 for sure it's far more desirable don't get me wrong. But if you already have the money and set up to mine, having to settle down to "just" 6600xts since a bigger miner already bought up all of the 2060 MEs is better than going "Whoops, no cards let's just pack it up and make nothing with our warehouse bills and preparation money we put into this"

That's just never going to happen: if there's at least some money to be made then some people further down the chain will go ahead and try to make it even if the ROI is a lot worst due to pricing and efficiency it beats not mining for a mining operation.

So it's possible that you're entirely correct in your assertion that RDNA 2 cards are a worst product at mining and still scarce due to mining because of this.

6600 is 31Mhs at 55w. Yall don't know wtf you're talking about. The 12GB 2060 IS NOT FOR MINERS.

Translation:

nVidia to gamers: "We hate miners so much that our latest drivers will inhibit mining performance and bring prices back down to prices you can afford."

nVidia to miners: "Have we got the card for you in our new super-duper rtx2060. Who give a flying F about gamers. Gamers are losers!"

Not for miners. It actually sucks at mining.

lol
You think gamers aren't getting any Nvidia GPUs, or just because no one you know can get one? Like previous decades, gaming GPUs sales accounted for the majority of revenue. They also shipped way more (LHR) GPUs than AMD - using Samsung for GeForce GPUs.

Yet Nvidia gets the hate for some reason. I guess that happens when you really really REALLY want something - or just want something to complain about.

COVID happened.
Scalpers happened.
Miners happened.
Bots happened.
Life isn't always fair

Adapt.

Idk what this means. Want to but one of my mining cards? 4x msrp just for you.

and if you knew anything about mining, you'd know that anything that can mine with profit - mines. These are new cards in the market for miners to add to their mines. It doesn't mean that those miners don't already have 6600 or more powerful mining cards (there are plenty) etc. Seeing how you probably (as a miner) can't buy any more 6600 AMD cards, 2060 12GB will do just fine. It doesn't matter that much which is more efficient if they still make money. No one will go out and buy ONE card to mine. LHR cards mine too.

As a miner. I've restricted myself to FE only. NVidia makes the only FHR cards now.

You know, as a rule, I don't like nVidia as a company and I feel fully justified in this. However, I can't really rag on them for this. They're a business and they're in the business of making money. A miner's money is as good as anyone else's and if there is a demand for something like this, they'd have to be insane to ignore it. This is looking like it will be the new normal and we'll just have to deal with it.

The only thing that a corporation is loyal to under capitalism is wealth and greed. That's the system we have and until we fix or change it, that's how it's always going to be.

It really kinda sucks at mining. Not for miners. It's for gamers.

 

[Irata]

Did I say 6600XT? You can get more hash on 55W on a 6600.

6600 is 31Mhs at 55w. Yall don't know wtf you're talking about. The 12GB 2060 IS NOT FOR MINERS.

So the slower 6600 performs better than the 6600 XT ? Kinda doubt that.

As for the 55W number, that has been debunked since it‘s not for the entire card but GPU (chip) only.

 

[Skjorn]

So the slower 6600 performs better than the 6600 XT ? Kinda doubt that.

As for the 55W number, that has been debunked since it‘s not for the entire card but GPU (chip) only.

6600 is cheaper. I was saying it gets more hash then the 28mhs everyone was saying. Still, 12GB 2060 is not a mining card. It's nothing special. The 6600 still consumes less than the 2060. The 2060 is not a mining card as much as your blame/hate for Nvidia and miners wants to tell you it is. FE are mining cards.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Did I say 6600XT? You can get more hash on 55W on a 6600.

6600 is 31Mhs at 55w. Yall don't know wtf you're talking about. The 12GB 2060 IS NOT FOR MINERS.

Not for miners. It actually sucks at mining.

Idk what this means. Want to but one of my mining cards? 4x msrp just for you.

As a miner. I've restricted myself to FE only. NVidia makes the only FHR cards now.

It really kinda sucks at mining. Not for miners. It's for gamers.

That was unmistakenly obvious.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Aren't all graphics card both expensive and hard to find?

For now. The thing is that TSMC is finally building a new plant to increase their production capacity. That's the real reason for the silicon shortage. There will always be plenty of silicon (the Earth is practically made of it) but there aren't enough fabs of TSMC-level quality to make chips with it.

Honestly, I'm pretty surprised that GlobalFoundries still hasn't been able to catch up considering the current environment.