Could the GeForce RTX 2060 be about to make a comeback?
Retailer stock levels for graphics cards in all price bands continue to be an issue worldwide despite ramping production of the latest hardware. Whether it be low supply of GPU, GDDR6 memory or other individual components, or the very real effect high cryptocurrency prices have on demand for the fastest and most efficient processing hardware, consumers are having great difficulty getting hands on these crucial devices for gaming. To alleviate the issue a little, particularly at the mainstream level, it appears that NVIDIA are intending to re-release the RTX 2060 and 2060 SUPER into the European market.
French enthusiast site Overclocking.com are reporting that manufacturers have received new RTX 2060 and 2060 SUPER GPU stock from NVIDIA for a temporary revival of the now two year old SKU. These cards are expected to enter the retail chain as soon as mid-February, despite the scheduled launch of the RTX 3060 next month and existence (although only theoretical at some retailers) of the RTX 3060 Ti.
Overclocking's source adds another important caveat: retail price. The alleged street price of these two returning SKUs will be a little over €300 and €400 (inc. V.A.T) respectively, something that doesn't sound all too appealing considering the RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti should be on sale from €335 and €399.
The RTX 3060 is due in February
It's been speculated that these cards may be reserved for OEMs and System Integrators who will be unable to fill many orders without some sort of GPU to equip their systems with. However, with GPUs out of stock everywhere (including entry-level GTX 16-series models), demand is likely to be high enough to justify even those seemingly inflated prices.
Overclocking have also considered what this could mean for the RTX 3060 launch next month, concluding that it now seems likely that the upcoming SKU will be either late, priced well above the €335 MSRP, or both.
NVIDIA's RTX 20-series were the first generation of consumer graphics cards to support real-time hybrid ray tracing, and also boast support for increasingly important parts of their ecosystem such as DLSS. While they may be lacklustre compared to the newly launched Ampere GPUs, they should still effect a meaningful upgrade over older midrange and below cards from the GTX 900-series and AMD Radeon 200-series.
It's not currently known whether these cards will make it to markets outside the EU. The US seems almost a given, but with post-Brexit shenanigans just starting to kick into gear UK retailers may continue to be squeezed into the Spring.
SOURCE: Overclocking.com
