VERDICT: It’s not quite mainstream
at this price, but the RTX 2060 provides
great performance to go with its forward
looking features.^9F
inally we have a somewhat affordable RTX card! RTX generation
Founders Edition cards are a big step forward compared to their
blower cooler equipped ancestors. The card is surrounded by an
aluminium shroud including a solid backplate that looks great, helps with
cooling, and adds rigidity to the card.
The RTX 2060 Founders Edition has an excellent array of display outputs,
with two DP 1.4 connectors, a single HDMI 2.0b, USB Type-C and a DVI-DL
port. The more premium MSI can’t match that.
The Founders Edition doesn’t have the cooling surface area of the MSI, so
it can’t match its boost clocks or the essentially silent noise levels. That’s to
be expected though given its lower spec. The FE isn’t noisy though, far
from it.
What really matters is not future looking ray tracing support, but how
it performs in the here and now. This is where the RTX 2060 impresses. It
destroys the GTX 1070 and draws very close to the GTX 1080. This alone
makes it a recommendation given its impressive price/performance. Finally
Pascal can be considered obsolete, at least in this price range and higher.
The RTX 2060 Founders Edition can’t really be considered a GTX 1060
replacement at this price, but that’s ok given that it’s actually closer to the
1080 in performance. The RTX 2060 is the first RTX series graphics card that
we unequivocally recommend. It offers good bang for buck, performs better
than previous generation cards at this price point and is relatively
future proof.
CHRIS SZEWCZYKM
SI’s RTX 2060 Gaming Z is the first custom RTX card we’ve
had in our labs, and like MSI’s Gaming cards usually are, it’s an
improvement over the Founders Edition in almost every way.
The MSI Gaming Z is solidly built yet remains quite compact compared
to the very large Trio Gaming cards. There’s a solid machined backplate
and no high end GPU in 2019 would be complete without an attractive
dose of RGB lighting. The MSI features three DP 1.4 ports along with a
single HDMI 2.0b port though curiously no Type-C port. The card requires
just the solitary eight pin power connector. Particularly impressive is the
boost clock of the MSI which increases to 1830MHz, a nice bump over the
1680MHz of the Founders Edition card.
MSI’s Twin Frozr coolers are highly regarded with a good combination of
cooling performance and low noise levels and the 2060 Gaming Z cooler
is no exception. The Gaming Z was able to hold boost clocks well above
1900MHz whilst remaining effectively silent.
The 2060 Gaming Z is another highly recommended card from MSI. Its
great looks, build quality, and performance that brings it within striking
distance of a GTX 1080 whilst maintaining low noise levels makes it an
easy recommendation. The price is a good $80 more than a Founders
Edition or even a card like MSI’s own 2060 Ventus, so whether the
premium is justified may even come down to whether you want to show it
off in a windowed case.
CHRIS SZEWCZYKNvidia GeForce RTX
2060 Founders Edition
The RTX card the market needs.MSI GeForce RTX 2060
Gaming Z 6G
Faster, cooler, quieter and better looking.PRICE$679
au.msi.comGRAPHICS CARD GRAPHICS CARDPRICE $599
http://www.nvidia.com.auWTECH REVIEW