Early this month, NVIDIA released two new graphics cards, the GeForce RTX 2070 Super and 2060 Super. Today we are going to take a look and review a custom RTX 2060 Super – the MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Super Gaming X graphics card. This is MSI’s best RTX 2060 Super variant available. They also have the Armor OC and Ventus OC; but among the three variants, the Gaming X is the better one when it comes to aesthetics and cooler design. It’s also going to be priced a tad higher compared to the reference RTX 2060 Super. NVIDIA claims that the RTX 2060 Super is faster than the GTX 1080 and “and is also up to 22% faster (15% average) than the GeForce RTX 2060 GPU that was launched earlier this year at 2560×1440”. So, let’s check out if the new RTX 2060 Super is indeed that much faster compared to its predecessors. Continue reading our MSI RTX 2060 Super Gaming X review below and find out more about this new graphics card.
MSI GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER Gaming X Graphics Card Review
Basically NVIDIA released two new graphics cards to combat AMD’s new RX 5700 XT and 5700 graphics cards. They released the SUPER cards a few days before AMD could officially release theirs. So, what’s new with these SUPER cards? Generally speaking, there’s nothing new except for slight change in specs, improved and faster performance from their predecessors.
Also, the RTX 2060 Super is $50 priced higher than the RTX 2060, while the RTX 2070 Super is priced starting at $499 and it replaces the now discontinued RTX 2070. The RTX 2060 Super is based on the TU106 GPU, and comes with the same features that are available on the existing RTX 2060 like ray tracing and AI-enhanced graphics. The core count has been increased in the RTX 2060 SUPER, memory bus has been expanded, and now has 8GB of GDDR6 memory.
According to NVIDIA, the GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers higher performance than the GeForce GTX 1080, and is also up to 22% faster (15% average) than the GeForce RTX 2060 GPU that was launched earlier this year at 2560×1440. The GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is just 1% slower than the stock GeForce RTX 2070 on average overall at 1440p.
Unfortunately, we don’t have an RTX 2070 or RTX 2070 Super, or even AMD’s RX 5700 (XT) to compare the RTX 2060 Super with. Hopefully, we might acquire them soon so that we can better compare these new mid-tier graphics cards.
UPDATE: Check out our MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC review here.
Going back to the RTX 2060 Super, the graphics card that we have here is the MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Super Gaming X. It’s the company’s best RTX 2060 Super card they can offer. It features a slightly higher boost clock speed vs. the Founders Edition or reference model. It also comes with a better and gaming-centric cooler design and aesthetics.
Check out its full specifications below and after that we’ll take a closer look on the graphics card itself.
MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Super Gaming X Specifications
GPU | MSI RTX 2060 Super Gaming X | GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER | GeForce RTX 2060 | GeForce GTX 1060 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Streaming Multiprocessors | 34 | 34 | 30 | 10 |
CUDA Cores | 2176 | 2176 | 1920 | 1280 |
Tensor Cores | 272 | 272 | 240 | N/A |
RT Cores | 34 | 34 | 30 | N/A |
Texture Units | 136 | 136 | 120 | 80 |
ROP Units | 64 | 64 | 48 | 48 |
Rays Cast | 6 Giga Rays/second | 6 Giga Rays/second | 5 Giga Rays | 0.44 Giga Rays/second |
Base Clock | 1470 MHz | 1470 MHz | 1365 MHz | 1506 MHz |
Boost Clock | 1695 MHz | 1650 MHz | 1680 MHz | 1708 MHz |
Memory Clock | 7000 MHz | 7000 MHz | 7000 MHz | 4000 MHz |
Memory Data Rate | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 8 Gbps |
Memory Size / Type | 8GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR5 |
Memory Interface | 256-bit | 256-bit | 192-bit | 192-bit |
Total Memory Bandwidth | 448 GB/s | 448 GB/s | 336.1 GB/sec | 192 GB/sec |
Texture Rate (Bilinear) | 224.4 GigaTexels/second | 224.4 GigaTexels/second | 201.6 Gigatexels/sec | 120.5 Gigatexels/sec |
Fab. Process / Architecture | 12 nm FFN / TU106 | 12 nm FFN / TU106 | 12 nm FFN / TU106 | 16nm / GP106 |
Transistor Count | 10.8 Billion | 10.8 Billion | 10.8 Billion | 4.4B |
Power Connectors | 8-pin | 8-pin | 8-pin | 6-pin |
Recommended Power Supply | 550 Watts | 550 Watts | 550 Watts | 400 W |
Total Graphics Power (TGP) | 175 Watts | 175 Watts | 160 Watts | 120 Watts |
MSRP (at launch) | $399 | $349 | $249 Ref / $299 FE |
MSI RTX 2060 Super Gaming X Packaging and Closer Look
The box of the MSI RTX 2060 Super Gaming X looks very similar with its other graphics card that features the same cooler design. One thing that is really new here is the word “SUPER”, after the RTX 2060. Nevertheless, MSI’s packaging is very nice, aesthetically pleasing and the box itself is sturdy.
Above you can see the front and back view of the MSI RTX 2060 Super Gaming X. The cooler shroud is made out of plastic and it does have RGB lighting. While the back plate is metal with an aluminum brushed texture. This graphics card features MSI’s Twin Frozr 7 thermal design, with Torx 3.0 fans and Zero Frozr feature – meaning the fans stop when the card is in idle or light load.
The MSI RTX 2060 Super Gaming X draws its power from an 8-pin PCIE power connector and requires at least a 550W power supply. On its output area, the RTX 2060 Super Gaming X has one HDMI 2.0b port and three DisplayPort 1.4.
As you can see from its sides, the graphics card features a decent amount of aluminum heat sink. It’s necessary to keep the GPU cool even when the fans are not running. Below the Gaming X is the RTX 2060 Founders Edition for comparison.
Let’s proceed to the next page for the test setup, noise and temperature of this graphics card.
MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Super Gaming X latest pricing and availability:
For US: available on Amazon.com here or Newegg.com here
For UK: available on Amazon UK here
Biased fake bad test. Furmark is worst to test temp/noise. in gaming 2060s gamingX is 63c and under 1300rpm.
“biased fake bad test”? which one? biased no, all gpu temp tests regardless of manufacturer are tested using furmark. fake? we tested it and it’s the result we got. it’s not fake. you do know that temps are dependent on other factors as well. if your 2060s gaming x got 63c under full load then that’s great. we didn’t say this is a bad card with bad cooler. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯