Nvidia could combat GPU shortages by again turning to RTX 2060 – but with an upgrade
Rumor has it that new model could double up VRAM to 12GB
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Nvidiacould again be relying on a previous-gen graphics card in the form of theGeForce RTX 2060to help mitigate stock issues – except this time around, Team Green might purportedly give the card a boost by doubling up the VRAM.
As you may recall, this isn’t the first time Nvidia has pulled this trick, and indeed at the beginning of 2021, theGPU maker resurrected RTX 2060graphics cards (onlyjust after they’d been discontinued) to help deal with RTX 3000 stock issues.
We’ve never really seen a let-up in those supply problems, of course, and if this rumor is correct, we won’t be doing in the foreseeable, because the contention on the grapevine is that Nvidia will be making these GPUs again, except with one big change – the loadout of 6GB of VRAM will be doubled to 12GB (GDDR6).
That’s going by sources who spoke toVideoCardzabout a new ‘PG161’ model featuring more RAM but the same TU106-300 GPU. Manufacturing is expected to kick off with a view to realizing these 2060 graphics cards at the end of the year, with a possible on-sale date of January 2022 mentioned.
Analysis: Chip shortage misery seems increasingly desperate
With the availability and pricing of theRTX 3060being so skewed thanks to the ongoing supply issues around this GPU (and otherAmperemodels), it wouldn’t really be a surprise to see Nvidia take this route (which as mentioned, has been an alternative used before) to ensure some more affordable graphics cards are out there.
Doubling up the memory should help ensure these cards are better equipped to run contemporary games – the RTX 2060 still remains a palatable proposition for 1080p gaming at least, even if you can’t expect to crank details and so forth with more demanding titles.
While all this does make some sense, then, as a rumor, we should obviously be very cautious around the prospect (even if it is something Nvidia is considering right now, the company may change its mind – who knows).
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That said, all we’ve been hearing of late is that theglobal chip shortage will keep its grip on the industryinto and throughout 2022, so in that light, it’s not difficult to imagine that continuing stock and pricing problems could well need alleviating in some manner.
Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).
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