GIGABYTE RTX 2060 GAMING OC PRO Review

Overclocking and Verdict

Overclocking here is typical of what you may expect. There’s just not much to be had over what’s factory provided. That frequency limit seems to be around the same frequency as it was with the Pascal GPUs. This particular card managed 2035MHz, but would see the clock as low as 1965MHz sometimes. This is still relatively high, but if you recall is roughly around where the previous generation cards would top out as well. With the Turing GPUs the situation is further complicated by increased sensitivity to heat, power consumption and a plethora of other inputs. Memory on the other hand overclocks well at +1,300MHz at the highest. For gaming however, I would recommend +900MHz to about ~ 1000MHz. Cards will differ, but based on this model this was where it was most comfortable for me.

Outside this level of overclocking there’s not much you can do here as you’d expect, at the very least though one can use hard mods and a water block for some more exciting overclocking. More exotic cooling methods are what this site and magazine are about and as such, the graphics card was cooled with dry ice using a liquid nitrogen container. The long and the short of it is that peak frequencies were around 2,310MHz. With this clock frequency, the GIGABYTE RTX 2060 Gaming OC secured a hardware record for 3DMark Time Spy with a score of 9742 points. Easily bested of course, but still a respectable showing for a card that isn’t in any way made for such adventures.

Verdict

There you have it, at roughly $390 (R7,799 – Wootware), what GIGABYTE is offering here is a graphics card well suited to FHD gaming and in some titles 3440×1440. Typically, one would pair this with a high end 144HZ 1080P monitor, but for the ones who do not insist on 60FPS in every title, 2560×1440 is most certainly doable. As the second most affordable RTX GPU, the RTX 2060 still commands a high price, but with that delivers performance that more often than not rivals the GTX 1080 which is plenty capable even today.

Overall this is a no-nonsense card that gives you a competent cooler, a single RGB LED lighting zone, and loads of performance for the target resolutions. Recently NVIDIA announced a triple-threat bundle for RTX GPUs. This model will not feature all three games but you may select a single game from the available titles which are comprised of Anthem, Battlefield V and of course Metro Exodus. This game bundle makes the price a little more attractive. If you were undecided this should help make the decision a little easier (provided you don’t already have the titles). As a gaming graphics card, there’s little to fault. For some, RTX GPUs may still hold too much of a high price, especially considering what one can find on the second-hand market from the GTX 1000 series. For the hobbyist, enthusiast and gamer though, who are looking for the latest GPU technology, the GIGABYTE RTX 2060 GAMING OC PRO is among the better cards. Price wise it’s on the high side, but for that you do get solid build quality, good performance and a 3 year warranty.