New RTX 2060 could be imminent – but DIY GPU has already beaten Nvidia

Nvidia is supposedly planning to resurrect the RTX 2060 GPU with double the VRAM, but a modder has already made such a graphics card, taking the DIY route to cram the same amount of extra video memory on-board.

This is another effort from Russian hardware modder VIK-on who has previously boosted the VRAM on various graphics cards, including sticking 22GB on Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Ti and doubling up the RTX 3070 to 16GB.

As VideoCardz reports, this time around the modder has put 12GB on an Asus RTX 2060, with the GPU successfully identified by tools like GPU-Z with that memory configuration validated. The DIY card apparently works ‘just fine’ but there is an issue around it sending the host PC into the occasional black screen crash (a bug seen with previous similar VRAM mod efforts, and one which can be worked around).

This project is interesting because as mentioned at the outset, the rumor mill insists that Nvidia is about to unleash its own rereleased RTX 2060 with 12GB of VRAM instead of the 6GB loadout on the original Turing GPU. The idea being that this will help the card remain relevant for those looking for a decent 1080p option (and being frustrated by ongoing stock issues around contemporary GPUs).

Nvidia should be able to supplement Ampere products with this resurrected RTX 2060 when it theoretically emerges on December 7, but as ever, treat this prospect with caution – though VideoCardz claims that purported launch date is still on track, and that Overclocking.com recently confirmed it with their sources.

Analysis: Does this tell us anything about what to expect from Nvidia’s RTX 2060?

We’ll know soon enough if Nvidia’s RTX 2060 with 12GB of VRAM is real, given that the launch date is (just) inside a fortnight now. The new version of the GPU isn’t expected to make any other changes save for this RAM boost.

When VIK-on doubled the VRAM on the RTX 3070, it was shown to run Watch Dogs: Legion noticeably more smoothly, but this time out, the beefed-up RTX 2060 wasn’t put through any gaming paces. The modder did, however, test the 2060 with 12GB in crypto-mining and the Unigine Superposition benchmark, finding roughly similar performance to the vanilla 6GB model.

Having the VRAM doubled to 12GB may not make any difference in some games, either, but those titles which do push memory requirements harder should obviously benefit from more headroom when graphics settings are cranked up more. Apparently we may see more testing on this DIY 2060 model in the near future, so it’ll be worth keeping an eye out for that, and any findings on gaming performance that might be aired.