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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 TU104

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 TU104: Review and Analysis in 2025

A Professional Look at the "Dark Horse" Among Graphics Cards

Introduction

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 TU104 is an unusual model in the RTX 2000 lineup. Released as an alternative to the standard RTX 2060, it utilizes the TU104 chip, which was previously used in more powerful GPUs like the RTX 2070 Super. In 2025, this card remains an interesting option for budget builds, combining affordability with support for modern technologies. Let’s explore who it is suitable for and what compromises may need to be accepted.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Turing Architecture: The Foundation of Power

The RTX 2060 TU104 is based on the Turing architecture (12 nm), which debuted in 2018. Unlike the base RTX 2060 with the TU106 chip, this version uses the TU104—a larger die with 2176 CUDA cores (compared to 1920 in TU106). This provides a performance boost of 10-15% in synthetic benchmarks.

RTX Technologies and DLSS: A Look into the Future

The card supports ray tracing (RTX) and DLSS 2.0. The RT cores handle lighting calculations, while the tensor cores accelerate the neural network algorithms of DLSS, increasing FPS in games with ray tracing enabled. However, in 2025, DLSS 2.0 feels modest compared to DLSS 3.5 in the RTX 4000 series, but it remains a useful tool.

FidelityFX and Compatibility

NVIDIA partially supports AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) in games, compensating for the lack of DLSS 3.0. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, FSR 2.2 can boost FPS by 20-30% in Quality mode at 1440p.

2. Memory: Fast, but Limited

GDDR6: Speed and Limitations

The card is equipped with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit bus and a bandwidth of 336 GB/s (14 Gbps). This is sufficient for gaming at 1080p and 1440p, but in 4K or in projects with heavy textures (e.g., Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024), there may be slowdowns due to a lack of VRAM.

Comparison with Modern Standards

In 2025, 8 GB is the minimum comfortable amount for new games. The RTX 2060 TU104 lags behind budget options like the RTX 3050 (8 GB) and Radeon RX 7600 (8 GB) in scenarios with heavy video memory use.

3. Gaming Performance

1080p: The Ideal Format

- Apex Legends: 110–130 FPS (high settings).

- Elden Ring: 50–60 FPS (max settings, no ray tracing).

- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare V: 90–100 FPS (DLSS Quality).

1440p: A Compromise with Settings

With DLSS/FSR, the card can handle 1440p in most projects:

- Horizon Forbidden West: 45–55 FPS (medium settings + FSR Balanced).

- Starfield: 40–50 FPS (high settings + DLSS Performance).

Ray Tracing: Beauty at the Cost of FPS

Activating RTX reduces performance by 30-40%. In Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, RT Medium + DLSS Performance), it yields 35-45 FPS. Without DLSS, gameplay becomes nearly impossible.

4. Professional Tasks

Video Editing and 3D Rendering

Thanks to its CUDA cores, the card is suitable for programs like Adobe Premiere Pro and Blender. In the Blender Benchmark test (BMW27), the render time is 4.5 minutes (compared to 3.2 minutes for the RTX 3060).

Scientific Calculations

Support for OpenCL and CUDA makes the GPU useful for machine learning on small models. However, 6 GB of memory limits tasks: training neural networks with datasets larger than 3 GB can already be problematic.

5. Power Consumption and Heat Generation

TDP and PSU Recommendations

The card has a TDP of 175 watts. A 500-watt PSU with an 8-pin connector is required for stable operation (recommended models include Corsair CX550M and be quiet! System Power 10).

Cooling and Cases

Reference models use a dual-fan system. Temperatures under load range from 70-75°C. Good ventilation is crucial for the case: at least 2 intake and 1 exhaust fan are recommended.

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

- Pros: 8 GB GDDR6, performs better in 1080p without RT.

- Cons: Weak ray tracing support, no equivalent to DLSS.

- Price: $220 (new models, 2025).

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB

- Pros: DLSS 3.0, lower power consumption (130 watts).

- Cons: 15% weaker in raw performance.

- Price: $240.

Intel Arc A750

- Pros: 8 GB GDDR6, good performance in DX12.

- Cons: Driver issues with older games.

- Price: $200.

Summary: The RTX 2060 TU104 only outperforms competitors when actively utilizing DLSS/RTX.

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply and Compatibility

- Minimum PSU: 500 watts (80+ Bronze).

- Compatibility: PCIe 3.0 x16 (works on PCIe 4.0 without loss).

Drivers and Optimization

Update drivers through GeForce Experience. In games released in 2024-2025, there may be "drops" due to the outdated architecture—use FSR 2.2 or DLSS.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Support for DLSS and ray tracing.

- Affordable price ($180–200 for new models).

- Good performance at 1080p.

Cons:

- Only 6 GB of VRAM.

- No support for DLSS 3.5.

- High power consumption for its class.

9. Final Conclusion: Who Is the RTX 2060 TU104 Suitable For?

This graphics card is suitable for:

1. Gamers with 1080p monitors looking to enable RTX in older games.

2. Budget builds where the price should be under $200.

3. Enthusiasts using CUDA for editing or 3D modeling.

In 2025, the RTX 2060 TU104 is not a performance king, but it is a reliable option for those seeking a balance between cost and capabilities. However, if your budget allows an extra $50-70, it would be wise to consider the RTX 3050 or RX 7600.

Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

January 2020

Model Name

GeForce RTX 2060 TU104

Generation

GeForce 20

Base Clock

1365MHz

Boost Clock

1680MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 3.0 x16

Transistors

13,600 million

RT Cores

Tensor Cores

Tensor Cores are specialized processing units designed specifically for deep learning, providing higher training and inference performance compared to FP32 training. They enable rapid computations in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and personalized recommendations. The two most notable applications of Tensor Cores are DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and AI Denoiser for noise reduction.

240

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

120

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

12 nm

Architecture

Turing

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

6GB

Memory Type

GDDR6

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

192bit

Memory Clock

1750MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

336.0 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

80.64 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

201.6 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

12.90 TFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

201.6 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

6.58 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

1920

L1 Cache

64 KB (per SM)

L2 Cache

3MB

TDP

160W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

OpenCL Version

3.0

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 Ultimate (12_2)

CUDA

7.5

Power Connectors

1x 8-pin

Shader Model

6.6

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Suggested PSU

450W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

6.58 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon RX 6600S

7.311 +11.1%

GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB

6.909 +5%

GeForce RTX 2060 TU104

6.58

RTX A500 Mobile

6.422 -2.4%

Radeon Pro 5700

6.097 -7.3%