RTX 2060 Review: Is This Older Nvidia Card Still Worth Buying?

This RTX 2060 review comes down to one question: does a card launched in January 2019 still make sense for 1080p gaming today? For the right buyer, yes. The RTX 2060 still runs modern games at 60 fps or better on high settings, it supports DLSS, and it sells used at prices that are hard to ignore. It also has a 6GB memory ceiling that will annoy you in some newer titles. I’ll cover both sides.

Quick Verdict

Best for: 1080p gaming, budget builds, and streamers who want a solid hardware encoder
Worth paying: roughly $120–$180 used (a rule of thumb, since prices move around by region and month)
Skip if: you want 1440p at high settings, or you care about ray tracing

My pick: a used RTX 2060 at the low end of that range beats most new entry-level cards. Above $200, I’d look elsewhere.

RTX 2060 Specs at a Glance

Here are the numbers that matter for the standard 6GB card:

GPU: Turing TU106
CUDA cores: 1,920
Memory: 6GB GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus
Memory bandwidth: about 336 GB/s
Boost clock: around 1,680 MHz (partner cards vary)
Ray tracing cores: 30 RT cores, plus 240 Tensor cores
Power draw: 160W rated, with a single 8-pin connector on most models
Launch price: $349

There’s also an RTX 2060 12GB, released in late 2021. It has more cores (2,176) and double the memory. I’ll get to it below.

What I Like About the RTX 2060

Strong 1080p Performance

This is where the card earns its keep.

At 1080p, most games land in a comfortable range. These are ballpark figures, not lab measurements, and they shift with your CPU, the game, and the settings:

Esports titles (Valorant, CS2, Fortnite at medium): often 144 fps and up
Popular AAA games at high settings: usually 60–90 fps
Demanding recent releases at medium: often 50–70 fps

That’s enough for a 60 Hz or 144 Hz monitor. Raw speed puts it near a GTX 1080 in many games, which was a flagship a few years before the 2060 arrived.

DLSS Makes It Last Longer

DLSS is the reason I’d still recommend this card.

It renders the game at a lower resolution and uses the Tensor cores to scale the image back up. In supported games, DLSS Quality mode often gives a 25–40% frame rate boost (again, a rule of thumb) with an image that looks close to native. On a card this age, that’s the difference between 48 fps and 62 fps.

Some points worth knowing:

DLSS 2 and later versions of the upscaler work on the RTX 2060
You get the newer image quality improvements through driver and game updates
AMD’s FSR and Intel’s XeSS also run on it, so you aren’t locked out of games that skip DLSS

One catch is frame generation. DLSS 3 frame generation needs an RTX 40-series card or newer. The 2060 can’t use it.

A Good Encoder for Streaming and Recording

The Turing NVENC encoder is excellent for the price. I’d rate it as one of the best reasons to pick this card over an older GTX 10-series model or a similarly priced AMD card from the same era.

You can record gameplay with a small performance hit, often in the low single digits
Streaming at 1080p60 to Twitch or YouTube looks clean at 6,000 kbps
OBS Studio supports it without any fuss

If you’re a beginner who wants to start streaming without a second PC, this works.

Reasonable Power and Heat

At 160W, the 2060 doesn’t ask much of your system.

A decent 450–550W power supply is usually enough (check the card maker’s recommendation for your model)
Most cases handle the heat fine, even small ones
Many partner cards are dual-fan designs under 10 inches long, which suits compact builds

I like cards that don’t turn a build into a project. This is one.

Low Prices on the Used Market

New stock is mostly gone, so most buyers will go used. That’s where the value sits.

What to look for: a card from a known brand (ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, EVGA, Zotac) with clean photos and a return window
What to avoid: listings with stock images only, or sellers who won’t show it running
Expect to pay: around $120–$180, though this varies

An ex-mining card isn’t automatically bad. Fans and thermal paste are the usual weak points, and both are cheap to fix.

What I Don’t Like

The 6GB Memory Limit

This is the main weakness.

Newer games are hungry for VRAM. At 1080p with high or ultra textures, some titles will go past 6GB, and when that happens you get stutters or forced texture downgrades. You can usually fix it by lowering texture quality one step, but it’s annoying on a card that otherwise has the power to run those settings.

Fine today: most games at 1080p with medium-to-high textures
Getting tight: recent big releases with ultra textures
Likely worse in future: the gap will grow as games target newer consoles and cards

Ray Tracing Is Mostly a Checkbox

Nvidia sold the RTX 20-series on ray tracing. On the 2060, I wouldn’t bother.

Turn it on in a demanding game and your frame rate can drop by 30–50% (rule of thumb; it depends on the game). Even with DLSS helping, you’re often stuck near 30–45 fps. Lighter implementations, like some older ray-traced shadows, are playable. Heavier ones aren’t.

My advice: leave ray tracing off and use the headroom for higher textures or a better frame rate. That’s the trade I’d make every time on this card.

Not a 1440p Card

It can run 1440p. It won’t run it well at high settings in newer games.

Older and esports games: fine at 1440p, often 80+ fps
Newer AAA games: expect medium settings plus DLSS to stay near 60 fps
Bandwidth and VRAM: the 192-bit bus and 6GB start to show strain at higher resolutions

If your monitor is 1440p, look at a stronger card.

Missing Newer Features

You won’t get everything a current card offers:

No DLSS 3 frame generation
No AV1 encoding or decoding in hardware
HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4, so no HDMI 2.1 for 4K at 120 Hz

For a 1080p gamer, none of this is a dealbreaker. For someone planning a big-screen TV setup, it might be.

RTX 2060 vs. Nearby Options

RTX 2060 vs. GTX 1660 Super

The 2060 is the better pick. It’s faster (often 15–25% in my experience, though it varies by game), and it has DLSS and better video encoding. If the used price gap is under about $30–$40, pay it.

RTX 2060 vs. RTX 2060 Super

The Super has 8GB of memory and more cores, and I’d pick it if the price difference is small. The extra 2GB of VRAM matters more than the extra cores. If it costs $50 or more over a standard 2060, I’d stay with the standard card.

RTX 2060 12GB

The 12GB model fixes the memory problem on paper. In practice, the GPU itself is the limit before you can use all 12GB. It’s a nicer card for texture-heavy games, but I wouldn’t pay a big premium for it. At a modest price bump, it’s a safer pick than the 6GB card.

RTX 2060 vs. Newer Budget Cards

New cards in the same price tier often match or beat the 2060, and they carry warranties and newer features. If you want a new card with a full warranty, buy that. If you want the cheapest decent 1080p card, buy the used 2060.

Who Should Buy the RTX 2060?

I’d recommend it if you:

Play at 1080p on a 60–144 Hz monitor
Want a budget gaming PC under $600 total
Stream or record and want a good encoder
Are upgrading from a GTX 960, 970, or 1050 Ti

I’d skip it if you:

Want ultra settings in new releases
Own a 1440p or 4K monitor
Want ray tracing to be a real feature
Need a long-term card for the next five years

Tips for Getting the Most Out of It

Update your drivers. Nvidia’s driver releases still support Turing, and game-ready updates help.
Use DLSS Quality in any game that offers it, before you drop other settings.
Lower texture quality one step if you see stutters in newer games.
Repaste an old card. Fresh thermal paste can cut temperatures by around 5–10°C on a used card (a rule of thumb, not a guarantee).
Check your power supply. A quality 500W unit is a safer starting point than a no-name 550W one.

Final Thoughts

The RTX 2060 is an older card, and it shows in places. The 6GB limit and weak ray tracing are real flaws. But at 1080p, with DLSS on and a fair used price, it’s still a solid way to play modern games.

I’d buy one at around $150 and enjoy it. I wouldn’t pay $250 for it.

FAQ

Is the RTX 2060 still good in 2025?

For 1080p gaming, yes. For 1440p or ultra settings, no.

Can the RTX 2060 run ray tracing?

It can, but performance drops sharply. I’d leave it off in most games.

How much power supply does the RTX 2060 need?

Nvidia’s recommendation for the original card is a 500W power supply. A good-quality 450–550W unit will typically work, but check your card’s listing.

Is the RTX 2060 good for streaming?

Yes. Its NVENC encoder is one of its best features for streaming and recording.

Should I buy the RTX 2060 or the RTX 2060 Super?

If the Super costs less than about $40 more, buy the Super. The extra VRAM helps.