At CES 2019, NVIDIA held a press conference announcing plenty of exciting news for gamers and enthusiasts alike. Starting with the RTX 2060, this finally confirmed rumor card features a 60% performance increase over its previous-generation GTX 1060. It's designed to max-out Full HD gaming, offering consistent 60+ FPS and delivering excellent performance at 1440p on high settings. Just like the current 20-series cards on the market, the RTX 2060 has the same AI and Ray Tracing technologies for AAA gaming and real-time ray-tracing effects.
For those who are into numbers, the RTX 2060 features 1920 CUDA cores, 240 Tensor Cores that deliver up to 52 teraflops of deep learning horsepower, 30 RT Cores for 5 gigarays a second, 6GB of GDDR6 memory running at 14 Gbps, and a GPU boost clock of 1.68 GHz. Users can also use one-click OC software or manually overclock the card to squeeze out additional performance. NVIDIA stated that it has been able to reach up to 2 GHz in its labs. The GeForce RTX 2060 is slated for release on January 15.
Going hand in hand with the RTX 2060 news, NVIDIA is also preparing RTX laptops, starting January 29, for gaming performance on the go. Available models include the RTX 2060, 2070, and 2080 and feature the same AI and Ray-Tracing capabilities as their desktop counterparts. While most gaming laptops are thought to be big and bulky, Max-Q systems are designed to be super thin without skimping on performance. Now updated with RTX 20-series cards, Max-Q laptops are faster, slimmer, quieter, and cooler with up to twice the battery life, with NVIDIA Optimus technology. In addition, many models will feature a 144 Hz panel with slim bezels and G-Sync technology for fluid and immersive gaming.
Speaking of displays, the BFGDs announced at last year's CES are now officially ready for preorders. Measuring 65", these gaming monitors—or some would say TVs, at that size—feature 4K resolution, 1000-nit peak HDR brightness, 384-zone dynamic backlighting, and DCI-P3 color. They also have a 120 Hz refresh rate and a built-in NVIDIA Shield for in-home streaming, cloud-based gaming, and more. If that's too big for you, many display manufacturers are also releasing new G-Sync HDR monitors around the 27 – 35" area with multiple improvements, such as LG's Nano IPS technology, enhanced color spaces, and 144 Hz + refresh rates.
Another surprise at the NVIDIA press conference was announcing G-Sync compatibility with other variable refresh rate (VRR) monitors. Out of a list of 400 monitors, only 12 were G-Sync Compatible, so you can get a grasp of how stringent testing and requirements must be. Even if your VRR monitor isn't on the list, you can try enabling the option through the NVIDIA Control Panel with no promises on how well it works—or even if it works.
With this new addition, NVIDIA has reevaluated its G-Sync terminology and split it into three tiers: G-Sync Compatible, G-Sync, and G-Sync Ultimate. At its base, G-Sync Compatible offers a validated experience with no flickering, blanking, and artifacts. A step up, standard G-Sync includes the previous experience and is certified with more than 300 tests for image quality. At the highest tier, G-Sync Ultimate includes all the previous mentions and features a 1000-nit brightness rating and an advanced processor.
What are your thoughts on the RTX 2060? Is this the price-for-performance card you've been waiting for? Or do you prefer a RTX Max-Q laptop instead? Now that G-Sync is compatible with VRR monitors, does this affect your pick? Let us know in the Comments section, below.
1 Comment
How wide is the new graphics card? The majority of new Nvidia cards require the space of 3 card slots and so do not fit inside computers using Xeon processors. This is why I stay with Quadro ones.