NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 for laptops is a fast mid-range gaming graphics card for laptops. It is based on the desktop RTX 2060 chip but at reduced GPU clock rates (-30%) and reduces power consumption (80 - 90 Watt TGP versus 160 Watt for the desktop version).

In 2020 Nvidia also released a refreshed version with the same name. It is based on the TU106B chip and offers new voltage regulators and controllers. Furthermore, the maximum TGP was increased to 115 Watt and therefore the GPU can clock higher (1005 - 1560 MHz). The memory speed however was decreased to 11 Gbps leading to a slightly better overall performance compared to the old version.

NVIDIA manufacturers the Turing TU106 chip on a 12 nm FinFET process and includes features like Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and Real-Time Ray Tracing (RTRT), which should combine to create more realistic lighting effects than older GPUs based on the company's Pascal architecture (if the games supports it). The RTX 2060 is also DisplayPort 1.4 ready, while there is also support for HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) and H.265 video en/decoding (PlayReady 3.0).

The gaming performance of the mobile RTX 2060 is similar to an old Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) and clearly behind the desktop RTX 2060. The mobile GTX 1660 Ti is only a few percent behind in our gaming benhcmarks, but offers no raytracing features built in the GPU. For demanding games of 2019, the RTX 2060 is most suited for full HD (1080p) and high / ultra settings. However, there is not much headroom to activate the taxing raytracing features in most games.

The power consumption is rated at 80 - 90 Watt TGP by Nvidia and therefore similar to the Max-Q variants of the RTX 2070 and RTX 2080. In our real world laptop-tests the power draw of the whole systems running The Witcher 3 shows that the RTX 2060 slots in slightly below the Max-Q Variants and slightly above the GTX 1660 Ti mobile (as expected).

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 for desktops (also known as RTX 2060S) is a fast mid range graphics card in the GeForce Turing line-up. Compared to the older GeForce RTX 2060 (that still remains in the line-up), the Super version adds 256 shaders and a wider memory bus with more memory (now 8 GB GDDR6). It is still based on the same TU106 chip (now fully utilized) and currently has no mobile counterpart (opposed to the mobile RTX 2060). The mobile RTX 2060 refresh only got slightly revised clock speeds but no new name.

Features

NVIDIA manufacturers the TU106 chip on a 12 nm FinFET process and includes features like Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and Real-Time Ray Tracing (RTRT), which should combine to create more realistic lighting effects than older GPUs based on the company's Pascal architecture (if the games supports it). The RTX 2060 is also DisplayPort 1.4 ready, while there is also support for HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) and H.265 video en/decoding (PlayReady 3.0).

Performance

The average RTX 2060S performs slightly better than the old GeForce GTX 1080 and shows a clear improvement over the older RTX 2060. Therefore, the 2060 Super is positioned in the mid range and well suited for most games of 2018 in 1080p and 1440p. Compared to AMD, the RTX 2060 Super is positioned to run against the AMD RX 5700.

Power Requirements

NVIDIA specifies that the RTX 2060 Super should consume a maximum of 175 W and therefore 15 Watt more than the RTX 2060. In our tests the power consumption of the RTX 2060S was slightly lower than the old GTX 1080.