First Look: All the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Cards You Can Buy

Leading Asus’ pack of seven GeForce RTX 2060 graphics cards is the company’s ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2060 OC Gaming Edition (pictured here), which is followed closely by the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2060 Advanced Edition (not shown). These two cards, as well as a third card with a somewhat shorter name ("ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming"), are identical to the naked eye. All of these are beefy 2.5-slot graphics cards that have large triple-fan coolers. Under each card's cooler is a large aluminum heatsink that will also aid in cooling the card’s VRAM, voltage regulation modules (VRMs), and other power-related circuitry. The enclosure is covered in RGB LEDs controlled using Asus’ Aura Sync technology.

At this time, we can’t say for sure how much these cards will differ from each other, as Asus didn’t disclose clock speeds. These will almost certainly come factory-overclocked above Nvidia’s RTX 2060 Founders Edition. Asus also gave these cards a six-pin power connector in addition to the standard eight-pin connector, which will allow plenty of room in its power budget for overclocking. Given their names, size, and features, however, we can tell that these are designed to be the fastest RTX 2060 graphics cards that Asus will offer at launch. (Based on past cards, the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming will likely be slightly behind the other two.)

Sliding down the product stack a bit further, Asus also announced three graphics cards that use a dual-fan thermal solution. These three are the Asus Dual GeForce RTX 2060 OC Edition, the Asus Dual GeForce RTX 2060 Advanced Edition, and the Asus Dual GeForce RTX 2060. These cards have a 2.5-slot design that supports a large aluminum heatsink; Asus claims that this results in a 50 percent increase in surface area. Asus also includes an aluminum backplate that reinforces the PCB and prevents the card from being damaged under the weight of its own thermal hardware.

A single eight-pin PCI Express power connector provides additional power to these cards, which should be more than sufficient, though it also means that these cards won’t have quite as much overclocking headroom as their triple-fan counterparts. The clock speed for these cards is also unknown.

The final RTX 2060 that Asus announced during CES is the Asus Turbo GeForce RTX 2060, which uses a blower-style cooler to vent hot air from the graphics card out the back of the case. The 80mm fan that drives the airflow uses dual ball bearings and is designed for a long lifespan. Asus’ Turbo GeForce RTX 2060 is a true dual-slot card and doesn’t extend into adjacent PCI Express slots like Asus’ dual- and triple-fan RTX 2060 cards. This model also doesn’t come equipped with a metal backplate, but it does have a small RGB strip on the side.

Again, here we see a single eight-pin PCI Express power connector, which fully meets the requirements of powering the RTX 2060 and should have some room left over for overclocking. We know that this card’s base clock is aligned with Nvidia’s Founders Edition at 1,365MHz, but Asus didn’t disclose the boost frequency for the Turbo card, either.

Colorful is better known in Asia for its motherboards and graphics cards, but the company has been working to grow its business in other parts of the world, including the U.S. If its goal was to stand out with its iGame GeForce RTX 2060 Ultra OC, then it certainly succeeded. This card doesn’t come with the most powerful thermal solution, nor the highest factory overclock, but it has the highest power limit of all the RTX 2060 graphics cards currently in the works. Two eight-pin PCI Express power connectors work with the PCI Express slot to make for a whopping 375 watts of power available to the card, 75 watts above any competing solution and more than double the Founders Editions TDP.

Details are slim on the card's other aspects, and we don’t know the quality or number of power phases this card has at its disposal, but if it is well equipped then it may have the highest overclocking potential of all the RTX 2060 graphics cards so far, at least on paper. The card has a long triple-fan cooler that should be suitable for normal operations. If you plan to overclock this one to its limits, however, you may need to upgrade the card with a liquid cooling heatsink.

Out of the box, this card will operate at the reference clock speeds set by Nvidia, but it supports a one-key OC feature that will push the boost clock up a bit, to a modest 1,755MHz. Beyond that, it is up to you.

Top of the line for EVGA in the RTX 2060 market segment will be the GeForce RTX 2060 XC Ultra and GeForce RTX 2060 XC Ultra Black. Don’t let EVGA fool you, though: The Black edition of the card isn’t any darker than its non-Black counterpart. These cards are physically identical, with the Black model featuring a substantially lower boost clock. EVGA was more forthcoming here than some of its competitors in the early going: The XC Ultra will have a boost clock of 1,830MHz, which gives it roughly a 9 percent edge over Nvidia’s Founders Edition. The XC Ultra Black is set to match the Founders Edition, at 1,680MHz.

Both of these graphics cards will benefit from an eight-phase power design that will help keep them stable while overclocking. They may not have quite as much overclocking headroom as Asus’ competing triple-fan GeForce RTX 2060 graphics cards, though, as EVGA used just a single eight-pin PCI Express power connector that caps the card’s power at a maximum of 225 watts. However, as the RTX 2060 has a TDP of 160 watts, this should be plenty of power for most overclockers to play with.

EVGA equipped these cards with its venerable dual-fan cooler. EVGA opted to make the thermal solution longer instead of wider. The cooler extends past the edge of the PCB, but the entire card fits neatly into a conventional two-slot design. Neither of these graphics cards features an aluminum backplate.

The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC uses a single-fan thermal solution that makes the card significantly thicker than the XC Ultra. This super-chunky card is 2.75 slots thick, and it fills a full three slots on the case's rear. A dense aluminum heatsink is responsible for the increase in girth, which should help keep the heat at bay.

This card matches Nvidia’s recommendation and includes six power phases to maintain stable power for the graphics card. The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC comes with a mild factory overclock to its boost frequency, which sits at 1,755MHz and represents an increase of roughly 4.5 percent over the Founders Edition. Similar to the XC Ultra cards, the Black version is identical to its non-Black counterpart, apart from clocks. EVGA clocks its GeForce RTX 2060 XC Black at just 1,680MHz.

EVGA’s GeForce RTX 2060 SC also uses a single-fan cooler and looks almost exactly the same as the company’s RTX 2060 XC. The only notable difference: the letters "SC" (not "XC") on the corner of the card’s enclosure. The only notable difference in specs between EVGA’s RTX 2060 XC and RTX 2060 SC lies in their clock speeds. The RTX 2060 SC has a slightly lower boost clock (1,710MHz), a mere 30MHz above Nvidia’s Founders Edition.

No, it’s not the same card again...it just looks the same. At the bottom of EVGA’s RTX 2060 lineup is a simple "EVGA GeForce RTX 2060." It comes clocked identically to Nvidia’s Founders Edition, which makes it essentially the same as EVGA’s GeForce RTX 2060 XC Black. It was not entirely clear the difference between these two cards at this writing.

Of all the RTX 2060 graphics cards announced at the outset, Gigabyte’s Aorus GeForce RTX 2060 Xtreme looks to be the most power-packed. A key feature of this card is its bulky cooler that extends past the typical dual slots to fill part of a third PCI Express slot. The densely packed cooler has a solid-copper baseplate that makes direct contact to the graphics core and GDDR6 memory chips. A series of copper heatpipes connects to the baseplate and is intertwined with two large aluminum heatsinks. Above the heatsinks sit three 100mm fans.

This card’s power-regulation circuitry consists of eight power phases devoted to the GPU core and two more dedicated to the VRAM. The MOFSETs are also actively cooled. This is the beefiest power design we have seen so far on an RTX 2060, and it should prove beneficial for overclocking. Gigabyte also placed a six-pin PCI Express power connector on this card, in addition to the standard eight-pin connector, which should provide more than enough power to push this graphics card to its limit.

Gigabyte also equipped this card with a metal backplate to strengthen and cool the card, and the card is covered in RGB LEDs. In addition to lights on the card front and side, a prominent Aorus RGB LED is located on the backplate. This is one of the more visually striking features of the card.

The boost frequency is set at 1,845MHz, giving it roughly a 10 percent advantage over Nvidia’s Founders Edition. The VRAM is also clocked slightly higher, at 14,140MHz.

Gigabyte equipped its GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro with a somewhat less bulky triple-fan cooler than the one on its Aorus GeForce RTX 2060 Xtreme. This thermal loadout uses three smaller 80mm fans over four composite copper heat pipes and a large aluminum heatsink. This model also doesn’t come with a solid copper baseplate. Instead, the copper heatpipes make direct contact to the GPU core. A metal plate helps to cool the VRAM and MOSFETs. Gigabyte mounts a metal backplate on this card, but it’s noticeably less decorative. RGB LEDs adorn the side.

This card doesn’t benefit from an extra power connector, and as such has a hard power limit of 225 watts. (That should still leave decent headroom for overclocking, though.) Gigabyte went above and beyond in the power department by utilizing a 6+2 power-phase design, and this card should overclock reasonably well. The GPU core comes factory overclocked to 1,830MHz.

On the surface, Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC looks identical to the OC Pro model, but some notable changes are under the enclosure. Instead of four copper heatpipes, this model has just two. These two cards are otherwise identical and even come with the same factory overclock, but the OC Pro model will likely overclock somewhat better and remain somewhat cooler thanks to the additional heatpipe hardware.

Sliding further down Gigabyte’s RTX 2060 line, we see a couple of dual-fan cards, starting with the GeForce RTX 2060 Windforce OC. This graphics card has two copper heatpipes that make direct contact to the GPU core and pass through an aluminum heatsink that is actively cooled by two 100mm fans. No RGB LEDs here, but you do get a metal baseplate. Gigabyte equipped this card with the standard 4+2 power phases, which means it doesn’t have any major benefits over Nvidia’s Founders Edition on that front. It does come factory overclocked to 1,770MHz, though.

This card is similar to the Windforce OC, in that it also uses a thermal solution with two fans and two copper heatpipes. The fans are slightly smaller on this card, at 90mm, but this card maintains the metal backplate. Gigabyte also clocked this card slightly lower (1,755MHz).

The last RTX 2060 announced at CES by Gigabyte is the company’s GeForce RTX 2060 Mini ITX OC. This snub-nosed graphics card uses a short dual-slot single-fan thermal solution. The cooler has three copper heatpipes that make direct contact to the GPU core and pass through an aluminum heatsink. The lone 90mm fan is tasked with keeping the card from overheating.

This card also comes overclocked, but the meager 15MHz boost over Nvidia’s Founders Edition will have a negligible impact on performance. This card's all about the space-saving aspect; it's just 6.7 inches long.

Heading things off for MSI is the company’s GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming Z. It has MSI’s familiar Twin Frozr 7 cooler in an industrial gray that differs from the company’s usual red-and-black color scheme. RGB LEDs add a touch of color, and the cooler overall looks quite attractive. The cooler uses MSI’s 90mm Torx 3.0 fans to keep the card cool.

An aluminum backplate helps reinforce the PCB and cool the components. MSI factory overclocks this card to 1,830MHz.

MSI’s GeForce RTX 2060 Ventus OC uses a thermal solution with four 6mm-thick copper heatpipes. The card uses MSI’s less-capable Torx 2.0 fans to keep the card cool, and it has a metal backing plate. This card doesn’t feature RGB LEDs, though, so if you are a fan of PC light shows, you will want to check out a different card. MSI clocks this card at 1,710MHz.

MSI also introduced a compact RTX 2060 graphics card, the Aero ITX OC. The card has a single fan over two copper heatpipes. The card is fairly compact, with a length of just 6.9 inches. MSI also clocked this card in, like the Ventus above, at 1,710MHz.

Zotac deployed its so-called "IceStorm 2.0" thermal solution to cool its GeForce RTX 2060 Amp. This cooler has two fans over copper heatpipes, but unfortunately we didn’t get a closer look under this card's enclosure to find out more details. The card does fit into a standard two-slot width, though, and it has an aluminum metal backplate to reinforce the card and keep it cool. Unlike most of its competitors, the LEDs used by Zotac on its RTX 2060 flagship are just white ones, not addressable RGB LEDs. This model comes factory overclocked to 1,800MHz.

The GeForce RTX 2060 Twin Fan is almost identical in every way to the company’s Amp card mentioned above. This card isn’t factory overclocked, however, and instead comes clocked identically to Nvidia’s Founders Edition at 1,680MHz. As these cards are the same, consider the images above as representative of both products.