The NVIDIA 10 series has kept gamers happy with high-speed graphical processing and incredible rendering and gaming performances for a long time. However, it’s time to move on, to technology, even more, superior to the GTX 10 series graphic cards by NVIDIA – the RTX 20 series, more specifically the RTX 2060 and 2070.
You might be wondering, which one of the RTX 2060 and RTX 2070 is a better GPU? Well, that’s precisely what I’m here to tell you.
In this article, I’m going to talk about the NVIDIA RTX technology, the RTX 2060 and RTX 2070 specs, features, pros and cons, and everything in between and provide you an expert opinion on which of the GPUs is a better bang for the buck. So, make sure you read this article till the very end if you want to make a final buying decision.
NVIDIA RTX Technology
The NVIDIA RTX technology is used to enable real-time ray tracing in film and video production, videogames, and complex graphical architectures to create better visual effects and deliver more immersion for the players.
Ray tracing means tracing the path of light on an object within its vision and how it reacts and interacts with the physical surface of that object to create mesmerizing visual effects.
With the help of the RTX technology and DirectX and Vulkan ray tracing APIs, NVIDIA has made revolutionary strides in the visual effects industry. And to utilize and showcase their RTX technology, they’ve created the Turing architecture GPUs RTX 2060 and RTX 2070 along with the massive beastly RTX 2080 TI.
RTX 2060 GPU
The RTX 2060 is a mid-ranged GPU option created by NVIDIA using the Turing GPU architecture that allows the use of their RTX technology for incorporating real-time ray tracing and AI features into games and programs.
This GPU comes at a decent price if you’re going for the founder’s edition which is super-gorgeous looking. It is incredibly powerful and has the ability to run most of the epic AAA game titles of today at MAX settings at 1080P with 60FPS and even 1440P to some extent.
Specs
When it comes to specs, the RTX 2060 is one of the best mid-ranged RTX GPUs in the Turing architecture lineup. Let’s take a look at some of the best features of the RTX 2060.
· NVIDIA CUDA Cores – When it comes to CUDA cores or parallel processors, the RTX 2060 has 1920 of them.
· Base and Boost Clock – The base clock of this GPU is 1365MHz while the Boost Clock can reach 1680 with the help of overclocking.
· RTX-OPS and Giga rays – There are 37T RTX-OPS and 5 Giga rays in the RTX 2060.
· Memory – The RTX 2060 comes with 6GBs of high-quality, incredibly fast GDDR6 GPU memory.
· Speed – When it comes to speed, the RTX 2060 has 14Gbps which means it can process 14 Gigabits per second which is an incredibly high count for gaming and rendering processes.
· Memory Bus Width – The memory bus width of the RTX 2060 is 192-bit while the Bandwidth is 336GB/s.
· Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0 – The Turing architecture of the RTX 2060 allows it to perform real-time ray tracing and also allows it to utilize AI technology like DLSS 2.0 which allows for better graphics and visuals with less power and memory consumption.
· NVIDIA GeForce Experience – This software is responsible for not only controlling the update and security of your GPU, making sure all drivers are up-to-date, but also calibrating video game settings to perfectly match your specs to provide a great playing experience as well as screen capturing and other capabilities.
· NVIDIA G-sync – The NVIDIA G-sync is an upgraded version of the Visual sync or V-sync technology that is adopted by the RTX 2060 to make the experience of the gameplay better.
· Connectors – The RTX 2060 comes with a DisplayPort, 1 HDMI port, a USB type-c port, and 1 DVI-DL port available for connections along with a max of 4 monitor displays to be connected.
Pros and Cons of the RTX 2060
The RTX 2060 is a mid-ranged beast without a doubt. But before you choose to buy it, make sure you’re aware of all the pros and cons it comes with. Here are the advantages and demerits of the RTX 2060 you should be aware of, before you get it:
Pros
· Decent Price – The price of the RTX 2060 in comparison to some of the other RTX 20 series cards and even the 10 series cards is much better in terms of value than the others.
· Stunning Design – The founder’s edition and the custom designs of the RTX 2060 are all incredibly looking and would surely make your PC look even better.
· Better Performance than 10 series contenders – The performance of the RTX 2060 is better than the GTX 1070 and its TI version which is known to be pretty powerful.
· Great Overclocking features – The overclocking options available on the RTX 2060 are super easy to control and are very thorough for high-quality overclocking.
Cons
· Very power hungry – This card requires a lot more power than its predecessor cards from the GTX 10 series.
· Ray-tracing heats things up – When you enable ray-tracing since this is one of the entry-level ray tracing cards, it heats up quite a lot at times which isn’t the greatest thing.
RTX 2070 GPU
The RTX 2070 GPU is a higher-end GPU by NVIDIA based on their incredible Turing GPU architecture that doesn’t only use real-time ray tracing and DLSS, but also other incredible technologies to provide a stunning visual experience to gamers.
This GPU is more powerful than the NVIDIA RTX 2060 and it is popular for providing high-quality 60FPS performance in AAA games at 1440P and is considered great even for some titles at 4K. It is a great GPU with a lot better in it than the 10 series cards by NVIDIA.
Specs
In terms of specs and features, the RTX 2070 has a lot to offer. Let’s take a look at some of the major incredible features that the RTX 2070 comes with the wonderful founder’s edition.
· NVIDIA CUDA Cores – If we talk about the number of CUDA cores and parallel processors in the RTX 2070, there are 2304 CUDA cores in this GPU.
· Base and Boost Clock – In the RTX 2070, the base clock is around 1410MHz whereas if you overclock the GPU yourself, you’ll be able to achieve a boost clock of 1710MHz which is pretty great.
· RTX-OPS and Giga rays – There are around 42T RTX-OPS and 6 Giga rays in the RTX 2070 which is amazing as well.
· Memory – In terms of memory, the RTX 2070 comes with 8GBs of superb quality GDDR6 memory.
· Speed – If we’re talking about the memory speed of the RTX 2070, you’ve got 14Gbps which equates to 14 Gigabits processed per second by the graphics card.
· Memory Bus Width – The memory bus width of the RTX 2070 is 256-bit and it comes with a bandwidth of 448GB/s.
· Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0 – The Turing architecture of the RTX 2070 also comes with the capability it to perform real-time ray tracing and also allows it to utilize AI visual enhancement tool DLSS 2.0 which allows for better graphics and visuals with less performance requirements.
· NVIDIA GeForce Experience – You can use NVIDIA GeForce Experience to not only keep your drivers updated, but also record gameplay and see info and framerates on your screen with the RTX 2070 graphics card which is a great option.
· NVIDIA G-sync – With the help of NVIDIA G-sync, you can avoid screen tearing and other problems with framerates because it is completely usable with the RTX 2070 graphics card.
· Connectors – The RTX 2070 also comes with similar connectors like the RTX 2060 including a DisplayPort, 1 HDMI port, a USB type-c port, and 1 DVI-DL port available for connections along with a max of 4 monitor displays to be connected.
· Power Consumption – This Graphics card requires 185W of power which is significantly low for the amount of performance it has to offer.
Pros and Cons of the RTX 2070
We know that the RTX 2070 is one of the best Turing architecture GPUs in the market, but what pros and cons does it come with? Let’s take a look at the pros and demerits the RTX 2070 has to offer before we make a final buying decision.
Pros
· Epic Design – The founder’s edition graphic card design of the RTX 2070 is one of the best looking graphic cards in a long time from a proprietary point of view.
· Faster than 10 series counterpart – If we compare the performance of the RTX 2070 with cards like the GTX 1080, we’re going to see a massive performance increase in the Turing GPU.
· Good for 1440P gaming – This graphic card is incredible for high-quality 1440P gaming and even suitable for some entry-level 4K gaming in AAA titles.
· Low energy consumption – Even though there’s a significant boost in the performance of the card, the power consumption isn’t that much in comparison to other cards.
Cons
· Expensive – If we take a look at the price difference between this card and the preceding cards, the price difference is something definitely worth taking a look at.
· No SLI option – SLI is the technology of utilizing the power of multiple GPUs in a single rig. The RTX 2070 doesn’t come with the capability of being used in SLI unfortunately.
RTX 2060 vs. RTX 2070: A Thorough Comparison
After checking out both the RTX 2060 and 2070 individually, I believe it’s time for a direct comparison. Let’s take a look at the cards when we pit them against each other in a series of determining factors to find out which one’s the better card.
Performance
When we compare the performance of the RTX 2070 and the RTX 2060 in terms of gaming FPS and graphics processing, the RTX 2070 shows a 17% and a 19% overall advantage over the lighter card.
In games like CSGO, Overwatch, GTA V, and others, we see around a 20-25FPS difference in the favor of the RTX 2070 because of the extra CUDA cores, added memory bandwidth, and speed, but the RTX 2060 still offers a great bang for the buck.
Winner: RTX 2070
Power Consumption
Taking a look at the power consumption of both the cards, we can say that the RTX 2060 requires less power in comparison to the RTX 2070, costing only 160W of energy.
However, that doesn’t mean that the RTX 2070 is power-hungry or anything like that. In fact, the performance to power consumption ratio of the RTX 2070 is great but still without a doubt, since we’re talking about lesser power consumption, I’ll give this one to the RTX 2060.
Winner: RTX 2060
Price
Price is a huge factor upon which the sales of the GPUs depend. When it comes to price, there’s a significant difference between the founder’s edition and the custom versions of the RTX 2060 and 2070 in favor of the RTX 2060.
The RTX 2060 is more affordable as a higher-mid-ranged GPU in today’s market in terms of price if we compare it to the more powerful 2070 card that was released in Q4 of 2018.
Winner: RTX 2060
Which RTX GPU should you choose?
In my opinion, if you’ve got a smaller budget that cannot be exceeded any time soon, you’re going to get the best bang for your buck if you get your hands on the incredible RTX 2060.
However, if you can wait around a bit and save up more money, then a better power consumption and performance ratio is waiting for you in the shape of a classy RTX 2070.
Conclusion
Both the RTX 2070 and 2060 are wonderful Turing architecture GPUs released by NVIDIA. No matter which one of the GPUs you choose, you’re going to have an incredible time playing your favorite titles and a lot more to come!