Introduction
Late in 2019 or earlier this year. I wanted to explore some of the later-released RTX 2060 options in the market. Sadly, only EVGA and GALAX were the only ones pumping post-RTX SUPER models. That said, NVIDIA and the market’s attention has definitely moved on but the RTX 2060 managed to linger a little long versus the other models displaced by SUPER cards. This was planned after all but still, as the RTX 2060 SUPER did not replace the RTX 2060 but rather pushed it down a price notch, with a $50 reduction. The card remained the same and ultimately still the same card unless OC’d to its limits. That being said, we have already done a review for the GALAX RTX 2060 EXOC last year but since we’ve lost our older database, I’ve decided to went ahead and provide a supplementary review as part of this review series for GALAX RTX 20 series cards. You can see the other reviews here:
- GALAX RTX 2070 SUPER Work The Frames (WTF) Edition
- GALAX RTX 2060 SUPER Gamer 1-Click OC Edition
- GALAX RTX 2060 SUPER 1-Click OC Edition
- GALAX RTX 2060 EX White 1-Click OC Edition
About the GALAX RTX 2060 EX 1-Click OC
As with many GALAX products, this product also features 1-Click OC compatibility through their Xtreme Tuner software. Before that though, out of the box the GALAX RTX 2060 EX is clocked in at 1710Mhz boost and the 1-Click OC boost is rated at 1725Mhz. Not too far from the 1680Mhz reference but user can manually boost this up thru manual OC. Cooling the EX is the same pair of 90mm fans. Of course the biggest difference here is color. GALAX offers the RTX 2060 EX in a black, released last year, and a newer white version.
This card is predominantly a cosmetic palette swap so expect the same performance from both black or white models.
Test Setup and Methodology
Processor: Intel Core i9 10900K
Motherboard: ASUS ProArt Z490 Creator 10G
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3600 16GB
Storage: Patriot VPN100 1TB M.2 NVme
PSU: Seasonic Platinum 1050w
Cooling: Corsair H150i
Monitor: ROG PG27UQ 4K 144hz HDR1000
VGA: Listed
Note: This review was originally published September 8th, 2020. It has since been updated with our charts including the RTX 3080.
For a full-hardware workout, visit https://benchmarks.ul.com for our system warm-up and stress test of choice.
For benchmarking methodology please see our game benchmark method guide.
We’re working with CapFrameX to deliver this review to you.
Since this is a GPU review, we benchmarked the area of the games that put heavy load on the GPU.
All our test runs are repeatable, click the links below for area and details. Read our benchmarking methodology.
- DOTA2 – Kiev Major Grand Finals Game 5: OG vs Virtus.Pro (54:05 – 55:05)
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: FPS Benchmark Workshop Map
- The Witcher 3 – Woesong Bridge
- Grand Theft Auto V – Palomino Highlands
- Rainbow Six: Siege – Benchmark Mode
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider – Kuwaq Yaqu
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019 – Fog of War
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne – Wildspire Waste
- F1 2020: Benchmark Mode (Australia)
See our Youtube playlist for benchmark sequences.
Note: Some proprietary technologies of NVIDIA like PCSS, HBAO+, and HairWorks work on AMD GPU’s BUT to maintain uniformity amongst GPUs, these have been turned OFF.
You can click on any of the benchmark charts enlarge. You can also move forward and backwards to quickly navigate through our charts via gallery view. For this test, only the out-of-box normal mode will be tested.
Power Draw, Clock Speed and Temperature
We’ll switch things up and open with the power and temperature behavior of the graphics card first. We use Final Fantasy XV Benchmark to simulate a gaming workload but for those looking extreme loads, we do put our cards through Kombustor on first installation for stress testing to check for stability. For our reviews though, we use Final Fantasy XV to simulate a true gaming scenario. Power draw is captured inline via PCAT or Powenetics so no other components affects readings. Readings are taken from the average 15 min idle readings for both load and idle. Ambient temperature is kept at 28*C.
Test Setup and Methodology
Processor: Intel Core i9 10900K
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3600 32GB
Storage: Patriot Viper VPN4100 1TB Gen4 M.2
PSU: Seasonic Platinum 1050w
Cooling: Corsair H150i Pro 360mm AIO
Monitor: ROG PG27UQ 4K 144hz HDR1000
VGA: Listed
For a full-hardware workout, visit https://benchmarks.ul.com for our system warm-up and stress test of choice.
For benchmarking methodology please see our game benchmark method guide.
Test results are gathered and produced on CapFrameX.
Since this is a GPU review, we benchmarked the area of the games that put heavy load on the GPU.
All our test runs are repeatable, click the links below for area and details. Read our benchmarking methodology.
- DOTA2 – Kiev Major Grand Finals Game 5: OG vs Virtus.Pro (54:05 – 55:05)
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: FPS Benchmark Workshop Map
- The Witcher 3 – Woesong Bridge
- Grand Theft Auto V – Palomino Highlands
- Rainbow Six: Siege – Benchmark Mode
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider – Kuwaq Yaqu
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019 – Fog of War
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne – Wildspire Waste
- F1 2020 – Benchmark Mode
See our Youtube playlist for benchmark sequences.
Note: Some proprietary technologies of NVIDIA like PCSS, HBAO+, and HairWorks work on AMD GPU’s BUT to maintain uniformity amongst GPUs, these have been turned OFF. The AMD equivalent of these features are disabled as well.
You can click on any of the benchmark charts enlarge. You can also move forward and backwards to quickly navigate through our charts via gallery view. For this test, only the out-of-box normal mode will be tested.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, popularly known as CSGO, competes for Steam’s most popular game. It has found a resurgence in its popularity and has recently peaked in 2020 in the number of players that play the game. Based on Valve’s Source Engine, the game received major asset overhauls during the years since its inception nearly 10 years ago. Still, it’s a light game and can be played on fairly lighter systems but the competitive scene for CSGO has seen average players demand high FPS from their systems thus gaining favorable standing with GPU vendors just from the demand for higher FPS alone. CSGO is a game that can easily go past 500FPS on enthusiast systems on maximum settings. We’re including CSGO as requested by our community.
API: DirectX9 (default)
Maximum In-Game Settings
Texture Streaming Disabled
Vsync OFF
DOTA 2
Note: JUNE 2020 – DOTA2 has recently implemented a transition from DirectX9 to DirectX11 and new install of the game will prompt users to switch from DX9 to DX11. With that said, we are testing DOTA2 in DX11 from now on.
In contention for the most popular game on Steam and the biggest competition in eSports: DOTA 2 is powered by the Source 2 engine. The game is fairly light on low to medium settings but maxed out, with heavy action on screen especially during clashes, can really stress most systems. This is a game where frame times matter as responsiveness is very important in high-stakes competition. We’re looking at consistently low frametimes in this game for the best experience
Our test uses actual game replay, using the segment from game 5 of the Kiev Major 2017 Grand Finals between OG and VP. The clash during the 54:05 to 55:05 of the game is a nice example of how much a system will get punished during intense team fights in DOTA2.
You can watch the replay of the actual game used in the benchmark here in Youtube or download the replay file here for your DOTA2 client: Game 3149572447. (save it to your DOTA2 replays folder)
API: DirectX11 (default)
Best-Looking slider setting (Ultra)
FPS_MAX 240
Vsync OFF
Rainbow Six: Siege
Nearly 4 years later and Rainbow Six: Siege has become a phenomenon after a lukewarm beginning. The massive shift in focus of the game sees it stepping into eSports territory and the excellent mix of gameplay mechanics, good design and a dedicated dev team has put R6: Siege in a position it couldn’t even picture during launch. Rainbow Six: Siege focuses heavily on tactical and creative gameplay and its vertical levels and highly destructible maps encourage players to be quick on their feet so the action is always going. Powered by Ubisoft’s own AnvilNext 2.0 engine which powers some of Ubi’s recent visual masterpieces, R6:Siege also feature excellent graphics and can get very taxing at high detail settings. The game also features an Ultra HD texture pack download for those that want higher resolution textures but will of course demand more from the system.
API: DirectX 11
Ultra Settings
Anti Aliasing: TAA
Ultra HD Texture pack not installed
Ambient Occlusion: SSBC
Vsync OFF
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
CD Projekt Red’s latest installment in the Witcher saga features one of the most graphically intense offering the company has to date. As Geralt of Rivia, slay monsters, beasts and men as you unravel the mysteries of your past. Vast worlds and lush sceneries make this game a visual feast and promises to make any system crawl at its highest settings. This game has found great resurgence in its playerbase thanks to the release of Netflix’ Witcher series.
API: DirectX 11
Frame Rate: Unlimited
Nvidia HairWorks: Off
Ultra Settings
Motion Blur: Off
Blur: Off
Anti-aliasing: On
Bloom: On
Sharpening: High
Ambient Occlusion: SSAO
Depth of Field: On
Chromatic Aberration: Off
Vignetting: On
Light Shafts: On
VSync OFF
Grand Theft Auto V
The fifth and most successful installment to date in the highly controversial Grand Theft Auto series brings a graphical overhaul to the PC version of GTA V which many have lauded as a superior approach in porting a console game to PC. Featuring large areas and detailing, GTA V is a highly challenging application in terms of scene complexity.
Our benchmark uses a run from Palomina Highlands running through a lush area to a remote road all the way to a neighborhood in our car to simulate multiple scene changes.
API: DirectX 11
FXAA Off
MSAA 4x
TXAA Off
Very High settings
Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
Motion Blur disabled
Advanced Graphics enabled
Vsync OFF
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
API: DirectX 12
Graphics Settings Preset: Highest
Texture Quality: Ultra
Texture Filtering: 8x Anisotropic
Anti-Aliasing: TAA
DLSS: OFF
Raytraced Shadow: OFF
Vsync OFF
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019)
Call of Duty Modern Warfare is a reboot of the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare storyline, set in a different world where you, along with Captain Price have to stop the world from going to war. Call of Duty Modern Warfare reignites the franchise by introducing full crossplay support where Xbox and PS4 players can play together with PC players. On PC, the game features a new engine pushing photorealism for COD far beyond what their older engine is capable of. The new engine also introduces raytracing and the AI is designed to perceive light as well. With a revitalized multiplayer arena, the game will require fast frame rates.
API: DirectX 12
Render Resolution: 100%
Texture Resolution: High
Texture Filter Anisotropic: High
Particle Quality: High
Tessellation: All
Shadow Map Resolution: Extra
Particle Lighting: Ultra
DirectX Raytracing: OFF
Ambient Occlusion: Both
Anti-Aliasing: Filmic SMAA T2X
World Motion Blur: Off
Vsync: OFF
Shaders Installed before benchmarks*
Conclusion
At this late in the game, its definitely quite hard to peg down the value of an RTX 2060. The GTX 1660 SUPER proves to be the dominant mid-range option and pushing the pricing down only makes it come closer to the GTX 1660 SUPER. While I’m still working on getting GTX 1660 SUPER cards to add to our test, our older reviews does confirm that in most esports titles, the GTX 1660 SUPER fares a bit better but in more general uses, the RTX 2060 can definite be more useful especially in DLSS games.
That being said, it was quite sad that due to the pandemic we’ve received this card very late and while we’re not sure yet, NVIDIA is expected to announce their new RTX 30 series cards later this year. This could spell the inevitable fate of this card especially for its price range. As of writing, we’re seeing this card surprisingly at around PHP20,000 which is awkwardly near its RTX 2060 SUPER brothers which, in general, should have a relative advantage of 10% over the RTX 2060. Looking at it from a performance standpoint, it is definitely the cheaper RTX entry point versus the RTX 2060 SUPER and of course, will automatically trump the GTX 16-series cards in RTX applications. That said, this is a tough recommendation from a price perspective. In a perfect world, if this card was around Php15,000 or less, it would easily be a quick recommendation especially with the white shroud.
White builds are becoming more common and graphics cards that are natively white are quite rare and modding them may be easy to do with the proper knowhow but for the average consumer, there’s a limited plug-and-play solution out there. The GALAX RTX 2060 SUPER EX WHITE 1-Click OC solves that problems for mainstream gamers and offers an overall decent card. If you’re after a white card, I’d suggest saving up for the RTX 2070 SUPER EX White from GALAX.
GALAX backs the RTX 2060 SUPER Gamer 1-Click OC with a 3-year warranty.