NVIDIA ponders GeForce RTX 2060 re-release with 12 GB VRAM to paper over RTX 30 scarcity

In January, Overclocking alleged that NVIDIA would re-release the GeForce RTX 2060 and GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER. Reputedly, NVIDIA considered bringing the pair back to fill the void of mid-range GPU options that the RTX 30 series could not fulfil. 

The RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti arrived in their place, albeit with limited availability. NVIDIA and its partners are still unable to sell either card at MSRP though, which is also true of AMD and its mid-range options.

According to VideoCardz, NVIDIA has returned to the idea of bringing the RTX 2060 back to market; RTX 2060 SUPER not included this time. Citing unnamed sources, VideoCardz asserts that the RTX 2060 will arrive with 12 GB of GDDR6 VRAM instead of the 6 GB that the original RTX 2060 offers. VideoCardz has offered no explanation for this.

The 12 GB variant will also feature a PG161 board and a TU106-300-KX GPU. However, the 1,920 cores, 48 RT cores, 120 Tensor cores and 192-bit memory bus of the original RTX 2060 will remain. Ultimately, another 6 GB of VRAM seems a waste for a 192-bit graphics card.

Additionally, VideoCardz claims that the 12 GB refresh will launch in December 2021 or January 2022. The latter date is also when NVIDIA is expected to announce an Ampere Refresh, reportedly at CES 2022. We can only imagine that NVIDIA would re-release the RTX 2060 because of ongoing Ampere shortages, which may persist until the end of 2022. 

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