Introduction
Back in January when Nvidia finally launched the RTX 2060 for Rs 30k here, the threat of AMD’s Navi really hung large over Nvidia. The RTX 2060 was a fine card, 400 dollars worth of GTX 1070Ti ish performance. As soon as AMD announced the Navi based 5700 and 5700 XT, Nvidia fired back with the super series of cards.
Here in India, the RTX 2060 Super is very competitively priced. While the base 5700’s go for around 30k and the aftermarket ones reaching 35k, this GALAX AIB card sits pretty at Rs.32,399. It has RGB, Silent fans, factory OC and a decent power delivery system for users who want to OC as well. Also, the card has dual bios. So let’s find out how the card performs
The 2060 Super is based on the Turing architecture. In fact, both the 2060 Super and 2070 are making use of TU106, with a very similar amount of hardware active on both. This review covers the Galax RTX 2060 Super EX. The Card features 8GB of GDDR6 memory (14 Gbps) and is based on a TU106-410 GPU. It has 2176 shaders activated compared to 1920 on the normal RTX 2060 and 2304 on the Vanilla 2070. 2060 Super also has 34 RT (vs 36 on 2070) cores, as well as 272 Tensor (AI) cores (vs 288). It has a 1650 MHz reference boost clock for the founder version. The RTX 2060 Super is shaping up to be a great 1080 60+ performer.
Product Overview
System Specs and Testing Methodology
The RTX 2060 Super EX is housed in my Personal PC featuring the following parts:
- AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Overclocked to 3.95 GHz
- Asus Strix B350 F Gaming Motherboard updated to the AGESA 1.0.0.3ABBA Update
- 16 GB of Corsair LPX Memory @ 2666 MHz
- Cooler Mast V750 750 Watt Gold PSU
- Kingston A400 240 GB SSD
- WD Blue 7200 RPM Hard Disk
- Cooler Master Hyper 212X cooling the CPU
- GALAX RTX 2060 Super EX
- ASUS Strix GTX 970
- Nvidia Driver 436.30 Driver
To have a comparison point I have added the results of the games running on my Old GTX 970 ( which back in 2014 I bought for a similar price of 31,299). However, I can only provide minimum and average FPS data for the older card, due to my error of not recording the 1% and .1% for that card. Rest assured the RTX 2060 Super has all the data.
Also, the numbers for both the cards are an average of 3 runs.
3D Mark Firestrike
3DMark is a computer benchmarking tool created and developed by UL, (formerly Futuremark), to determine the performance of a computer’s 3D graphic rendering and CPU workload processing capabilities. Running 3DMark produces a 3DMark score, with higher numbers indicating better performance. The 3DMark measurement unit is intended to give a normalized mean for comparing different PC hardware configurations (mostly graphics processing units and central processing units), which proponents such as gamers and overclocking enthusiasts assert is indicative of end-user performance capabilities. Many versions of 3DMark have been released since 1998. Scores cannot be compared across versions as each test is based on a specific version of the DirectX API.
The RTX card is over 10,000 points faster than the Maxwell 970, quite a strong start for the newer card
Grand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto V is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released in September 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in November 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in April 2015 for Microsoft Windows. It is the first main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series since 2008’s Grand Theft Auto IV. Set within the fictional state of San Andreas, based in Southern California, the single-player story follows three criminals and their efforts to commit heists while under pressure from a government agency. The open-world design lets players freely roam San Andreas’ open countryside and the fictional city of Los Santos, based in Los Angeles. GTA V runs on the RAGE engine developed by Rockstar Games.
Settings
The newer card just demolishes the 970 but the framerates would have been even higher had we paired the Super with a 3rd Gen Ryzen or i7 from Intel. Ryzen 2nd Gen’s poor IPC and lack of Ryzen support in this game really hurts the card from presenting over 144 fps in this fairly old title
Counter-Strike Global Offensive
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Hidden Path Entertainment and Valve Corporation. It is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series and was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 on August 21, 2012, while the Linux version was released in 2014. CS still runs on the Source 1 Engine made famous by Half-Life and Portal.
Settings
CS GO really loves the new RTX card however this benchmark of a replay of a 5 v 5 match I played may not 100% translate into gameplay cause CS Go’s replay is known to be buggy
Far Cry: New Dawn
Far Cry New Dawn is an action-adventure first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game is a spin-off of the Far Cry series and a narrative sequel to Far Cry 5. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 15, 2019, and received generally mixed reviews from critics. Far Cry New Dawn still runs on the Dunia Engine and is heavily Single thread Dependent for its performance, the Ryzen 2600 did not max out the card in most sections of the inbuilt benchmark
Settings
These results are pretty much CPU limited and the 2060 super can do 120 fps with a 9th Gen i9. Ryzen 3rd Gen would improve the experience but not by much
Gears 5
Gears 5 is a third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. It is the sixth instalment of the Gears of War series and is the second Gears of War game not to be developed by Epic Games. The ultimate edition was released on September 6, 2019. The standard edition of the game was released worldwide on September 10, 2019. Gears 5 runs on Unreal Engine 4 and is superbly optimized. It is also the first DX 12 game for this Benchmark Series
Settings
The newest game tested for this review and really shows the advancements Nvidia has not only made to its CUDA cores but also how well the company has gotten at optimizing DX 12 for its hardware. Review Sites like Techpowerup show the 2060 Super beating the 5700, while the 970 is trailing the RX 570.
PUBG
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is an online multiplayer battle royale game developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole. The game is based on previous mods that were created by Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene for other games, inspired by the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, and expanded into a standalone game under Greene’s creative direction. In the game, up to one hundred players parachute onto an island and scavenge for weapons and equipment to kill others while avoiding getting killed themselves. The available safe area of the game’s map decreases in size over time, directing surviving players into tighter areas to force encounters. The last player or team standing wins the round. PUBG runs on Unreal Engine 4.
Settings
PUBG’s Ryzen support has come a long way since release and even tho it’s still not perfect, it’s getting there. Also, the RTX card just chews through the game without any issue.
HITMAN 2
Hitman 2 is a stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the seventh entry in the Hitman video game series and is the sequel to the 2016 game Hitman. The game was released on 13 November 2018 and was met with generally positive reviews, with critics considering it to be an improvement over its predecessor. Glacier 2 powers HITMAN 2.
Settings
2060 Super can push over 100 FPS in this title but this game does not use the Ryzen CPU well at all. Still, we do see a pretty big gain for the newer card, which in reality would be even better if the game actually used the Ryzen CPUs properly
Conclusion
So after looking at the benchmarks and numbers, it’s pretty clear at least here in India where AMD’s prices are very uncompetitive, RTX 2060 Super is a pretty good buy. Anybody with a 6th Gen i5 or first-gen Ryzen 5 or above will have a decent gaming experience with this card. New PC builders should look to pair this card with the new Ryzen 5 3600 or 3500X, both of which are 7nm 6 core CPUs from AMD. This pricing of this card is what 2070 should have been at launch, instead of the insane 50k asking price. Also, people with 770s and 970s should find this card as a pretty good upgrade.
