82 PCWorld MARCH 2020REVIEWS EVGA GEFORCE RTX 2060 KO
5600 XT, and it’s also worth considering. We
prefer the premium metallic look of the
Founders Edition, and Nvidia’s card runs a bit
quieter under load, but the 2060 FE lacks the
EVGA KO’s crucial idle fan stop feature, which
creates a silent desktop browsing experience.
They’re both solid options, though it remains
to be seen how many Founders Edition cards
Nvidia makes available at this price. That
luxurious shroud ain’t cheap. EVGA’s card has
seen high demand too, however.
EVGA cut some corners to achieve this
awesome price. The KO sports a plastic shroud
reused from a lower-end GTX 1660 design
(albeit augmented by a fetching metal
backplate), and its fans get a little loud to
maintain chilly temperatures. The port
selection is basic. Overclockers will want to
look elsewhere, as you can’t increase the card’spower limit, and the minuscule performance
boost provided by the pricier EVGA RTX 2060
KO Ultra (go.pcworld.com/koul) isn’t worth
the extra $20. At $320, it’s probably worth
looking instead for a quieter, fuller-featured RTX
2060 model on sale for a few dollars more.
Don’t let that dissuade you though. This is
a great, no-frills graphics card for people who
just want to put their graphics card in their
system and play. The $300 EVGA GeForce
RTX 2060 KO (go.pcworld.com/gfko)
delivers everything you need for a kick-ass
gaming experience, even ray tracing, and it
made some reasonable sacrifices to hit a truly
compelling price point—no confusing BIOS
upgrades required. It’s highly, highly
recommended. You can find more feature-
packed GeForce RTX 2060 models, but
they’ll cost you a whole lot more.EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 KO
UltraPROS- Great 1440p and 1080p gaming performance.
- RTX hardware for ray tracing and DLSS.
- Metal backplate, idle fan stop features.
CONS - Basic, no-frills design.
- A little louder than rival GPUs.
- Overclock offers little real-world performance for
$20 premium.
BOTTOM LINE
The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 KO is a solid low-cost
RTX 2060 option, but isn’t as successful as its
non-Ultra sibling because its slight overclock isn’t
worth a $20 premium.
$319
EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 KO
PROS- Great 1440p and 1080p gaming performance.
- Outstanding price vs. other RTX 2060 models.
- RTX hardware for ray tracing and DLSS.
- Metal backplate, idle fan stop features.
CONS - Ray tracing and DLSS picking up steam, but not
widely available in games yet. - Basic, no-frills design.
- A little louder than rival GPUs.
BOTTOM LINE
The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 KO makes some smart
compromises to bring real-time ray tracing under
$300, drastically undercutting its rivals.
$300