RTX 2060 Power Consumption Guide (2023)
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The GeForce RTX 2060 is a really popular graphics card due to how it balances performance and price. It’s not going to give you anywhere near the same performance levels as a 30-series graphics card, or even a 2070 or 2080. But, it’s more than enough to play the very latest games on medium settings without really poor frame rates.
And now that the graphics card market is starting to find some sense of normality again following global chip shortages, the RTX 2060 remains a really solid choice if you want to build a PC on a budget, or if you’re upgrading from an older card.
Of course, you need to understand just how much power an RTX 2060 uses so you’ll know whether you also need to upgrade your power supply. So, let’s take a look.
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How Many Watts Does An RTX 2060 Use?
Graphics cards draw different levels of power depending on whether they’re actively creating graphics, or if they’re ‘idle’. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 draws around 165 watts when you use it for gaming, but only 8 watts when you’re using the PC for other tasks.
It does use more power if you have additional monitors though. Expect it to use around 13 watts for a multi-monitor setup, which isn’t a huge amount more but is still worth considering. Also, your graphics card will be used to play videos, though again the power draw is relatively minimal – approximately 15 watts.
It’s only when you use it to create graphics live, when you’re either gaming or creating any animations, that it ramps up to full power, with a maximum of around 165 watts.
That maximum is the consistent max though – that’s the top power level that it will reach on a regular basis.
Graphics cards will occasionally spike past their maximum. It doesn’t happen for long – less than a second – but it’s worth bearing in mind when choosing your PSU. The RTX 2060 has been recorded as spiking at 180 watts.
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Suggested read: RTX 2060 Super Power Consumption Guide
How Many Watts Does An RTX 2060 Use Per Hour?
An RTX 2060 graphics card will use 165 watt-hours per hour, which equates to 0.165 kilowatt-hours per hour. Considering how the average weekly gaming time for PC gamers worldwide is 8.5 hours, that means you’ll be using around 1.4 kilowatt-hours per week.
That’s only when you’re gaming though, and it’s likely that you’ll also use your PC at other times for other tasks. Bear that in mind, because even though the graphics card will draw a lot fewer watts when you aren’t gaming, it is still using up power.
Not as much as the rest of your PC though – and that’s another point to remember.
These stats are only for the graphics card, your other components will draw power too.
The graphics card is usually the highest power draw, although some processors do get up to around 200 watt-hours per hour. It depends on which components you’re using in your build, but an average PC with an RTX 2060 graphics card would likely draw around 400 to 450 watt-hours per hour.
Read more: How Many Watts Does A Gaming PC Use?
Inside one of my PCs with an RTX 2060 graphics card
What Power Supply Do I Need For An RTX 2060?
The minimum recommended power supply for an RTX 2060 graphics card is 500 watts, though it’s better to get one that can provide more power to be safe. A 600-watt graphics card should be sufficient for a powerful PC with an RTX 2060.
If you use a 500-watt power supply, it might be just enough for your PC’s components. But you should always calculate how much power your PC will draw and add on an extra 20%, to account for any spikes in the power.
So, if your PC draws 420 watts, then you’ll need more than 500 to account for that extra power.
If you cut it too fine, you might notice your PC having some problems, like switching off randomly. Over time you could even damage your PC.
Also, it’s best to buy a power supply that is higher rated for efficiency. The best power supplies are rated 80+, which means they’re at least 80% efficient no matter what you’re using your PC for. Every power supply uses more power than the actual PC needs, but the higher the percentage, the less wasted energy.
Read more: Power Supply Ratings Explained
You won’t see the percentages advertised but instead, they’ll be rated 80+ Bronze through to 80+ Titanium. The best choice for gamers is 80+ Gold or 80+ Platinum. 80+ Titanium is technically better but also quite expensive.
The Best Power Supply For An RTX 2060
The best power supply for an RTX 2060 would be one with at least a 600 watts rating, which would leave ample room for any power spikes even if you’re using a top-end processor alongside it.
Aim for one that’s at least 80+ Gold rated for efficiency too.
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This EVGA power supply is a really solid choice of PSU if you’re upgrading to an RTX 2060. It’s got enough power to easily cope with the demands of the graphics card in a mid- to high-end system.
It’s also from a reputable brand, comes with a 5-year warranty, and it’s pretty cheap too considering all of that. The only downside is that it’s not modular, so you will have to find the space to hide away any cables you aren’t using in your tower.
What RTX 2060 Power Cable Do I Need?
The power cable needed for an RTX 2060 graphics card depends on the particular model. Some only require a single 8-pin PCIe cable, while others may need two 8-pins, or an 8-pin and a 6-pin.
It’s important you wire up all of the connectors to your graphics card to provide enough power for it to work properly. If you don’t have enough connectors then you may need to disconnect other PCI-powered devices or change to a newer power supply.
RTX 2060 FAQs
Is 400W enough for RTX 2060?
A 400-watt power supply isn’t enough for an RTX 2060 graphics card. The graphics card alone will easily use up 165 watts when gaming. Your power supply should be at least 20% bigger than the total power draw of all the components in your PC.
Is 450W enough for RTX 2060?
A 450-watt power supply is unlikely to be enough for an RTX 2060 graphics card. The recommended minimum is 500-watts, but most gamers like to go for a 600W power supply to be sure that it work without any issues.
Is 500W enough for RTX 2060
A 500-watt power supply is the recommended minimum for an RTX 2060 graphics card, but even this will be pushing things if you have a decent processor and a gaming motherboard. It’s best to get one with extra capacity, ideally 600 watts or better.
Can An RTX 2060 Be Used For Crypto Mining?
You can use an RTX 2060 graphics card for mining Ethereum but it’s not usually enough if you plan to mine Bitcoin.
Crypto mining is best done on a dedicated machine with multiple graphics cards – otherwise, you may spend more powering your PC than you earn.
Related Posts:
- RTX 2060 Super Power Consumption Guide
- GTX 1650 Power Consumption Guide
- RTX 3060 Ti Power Consumption Guide
- RTX 3060 Power Consumption Guide
- Ryzen 5 3600 Power Consumption Guide
How Many Watts Does an RTX 2060 Use?
The RTX 2060 graphics card is a great choice for anyone who is just getting into gaming and computers because of its price and its performance output.
Geforce RTX 2060 Super Review
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Geforce RTX 2060 Super Review
Although this card isn’t as efficient as the new 30 series cards it will still be able to play new games at a reasonable performance level.
You also should know how much power this card needs in order to work, and what power supply you should purchase to go with your system.
That’s why I have made a power consumption guide on the RTX 2060 GPU.
How Many Watts Does an RTX 2060 Use?
The RTX 2060 has a TGP or Total Graphics Power of 165-180 Watts, which is the typical wattage it produces. When gaming you should also hit around 175 Watts. However, when idle the GPU should only produce around 8 Watts of power.
The wattage that this card uses can change depending on how powerful your gaming setup is, as well as the types of games and tasks you are doing.
For example, if you use more than one monitor expect your graphics card to have a higher idle power consumption.
Typically, with an extra monitor the idle power consumption will be under double what you would see with just one monitor.
In this instance, the Geforce RTX 2060 graphics card will produce around 13 Watts of power when idle in a dual monitor setup.
When looking at a GPU’s power consumption, you want to look at the TGP (Total Graphics Power) because this shows the maximum power draw you will usually get when using your GPU for intensive tasks such as gaming.
You might also hear the phrase “TDP” which can be used interchangeably with TGP. The difference is essential in that TDP is the total power consumption of a component, and TGP is the total power consumption of a GPU specifically.
However, it is not actually the true maximum of the graphics card. The true maximum of the RTX 2060 is around 180 Watts. This is very high but only occurs in extreme cases.
A GPU like this will only reach these high levels of power consumption under heavy overclocking, or when you hit a very powerful performance spike.
This spike will force the RTX 2060 to produce a lot more power over the couple of seconds that the spike happens.
RTX 2060 Power Consumption Compared to Other GPUs
The GPUs power consumption is compared using TGP. It is essential to know and compare your graphics cards to other similar models because it will help you get a grasp on the amount of power your system is going to use.
Here is a comparison of a few graphics cards that are around the performance range of the RTX 2060.
| GPU | TGP |
| RTX 3060 | 170 Watts |
| RTX 2060 | 160/185 Watts |
| RTX 2060 Super | 175 Watts |
As you can see from this table, the RTX 2060 has a very low power consumption. This is expected because this graphics card, is targeted toward more budget builds.
If you want to compare more graphics cards on their power consumption and TGP I have provided a database where you can look at dozens of different GPUs and their power consumption, that way you don’t have to do the research yourself.
Check out the Database.
I have also provided the average power consumption when gaming, as well as the average power consumption when idle, that way you can get a better understanding.
What Power Supply Do I Need to Use For an RTX 2060?
I would recommend that you try to get a power supply unit that is 600 watts.
If you go on Nvidia’s page you can see that they say that 2060 would be able to run on a 500-550-watt power supply, however, that is the bare minimum.
When purchasing a power supply for your computer you want to keep in mind that every piece of hardware in your system also has a certain level of power consumption, not just your graphics card.
Although not as powerful as a graphics card, all of these little components add up and can exceed the wattage of your PSU very quickly.
That’s why you want to be safe and grab a PSU that has around a 20% increase in extra wattage than you planned for your system.
By doing this you will not only know for sure that your PSU will be able to support powering your whole system but it will also be safe from any power spikes that happen when you are gaming.
If you also want to save on your electricity bill, then you should purchase a power supply that is at least 80 plus Bronze certified, with the best rating being 80 plus Gold certified.
You should read: “How Do Power Supply Ratings Work?”
RTX 2060 FAQ
Is The RTX 2060 Outdated?
Although Nvidia has come out with the next generation 30 series and 40 series cards. The RTX 2060 will still be able to perform at an adequate level when gaming and is still able to play the latest games with decent performance. So, I would say it’s still not an outdated card if you look at it from a performance level.
Is The RTX 2060 Better Than The RTX 3050?
The RTX 2060 has a processing power that is around 32% better than the RTX 3050, so even though it is a last-generation card, it still has the potential to output better performance than lower-end new-generation GPUs.
Is 450W Enough For The RTX 2060?
If you really budget your power in your computer system, then you might be able to use a 450-watt power supply to support your system.
However, Nvidia recommends that you use a 500-watt PSU as the bare minimum.
Is 600W Enough For The RTX 2060?
600 watts is more than enough for a computer system that uses the RTX 2060 and is actually the wattage I recommend.
The reason for this is that it gives you the flexibility to upgrade later on as well as experiment with overclocking because overclocking will increase your component’s power consumption.
Even if you don’t overclock it will give you some room for any unexpected power spikes.
How Much Power Does The RTX 2060 Use?
The RTX 2060 has a TGP of 185/160W meaning it will use this much wattage every hour.
Meet the GeForce RTX 2060: Turing for every gamer
GeForce RTX is the world’s fastest graphics card, delivering performance that lets gamers enjoy superb gaming experiences at incredible levels of detail. On January 15, GeForce RTX 2060 video cards worth $ 349 will go on sale (in Russia — January 22). They will support innovative ray tracing and artificial intelligence technologies, as well as provide performance that was previously only available in premium GPUs.
The RTX 2060 will outperform the GTX 1070 in terms of power, as well as outperform its predecessor GTX 1060 by an average of 60%: at the maximum game graphics settings, the video card will provide a stable 60+ FPS at 1920×1080 and high performance at 2560×1440.
What’s more, the RTX 2060 supports the same AI and ray tracing technologies as the RTX 2080 Ti, 2080, and 2070 graphics cards. This allows RTX 2060 owners to play Battlefield_TM _V at 60 FPS with stunning real-time ray tracing effects.
NEW TURING ARCHITECTURE ACCELERATES MODERN GAMES
“Ten million gamers around the world now have access to next-generation gaming technology,” NVIDIA Founder and CEO Jensen Huang at the launch of the RTX 2060 graphics card at CES 2019. “PC gamers are visually demanding, and the RTX 2060 graphics card sets a new standard: best value, exceptional performance, and real-time ray tracing that blurs the line between movies and games. This is a great moment for gamers and the gaming industry.»
GEFORCE RTX 2060: NEXT GENERATION GAMING FOR TEN MILLION GAMERS teraflops for deep learning, 30 RT cores with 5 ray tracing performance GHz / s, 6 GB of GDDR6 video memory with an effective frequency of 14 GB / s, and also has a clock speed of 1.
68 GHz. In addition, users can significantly increase performance through manual overclocking (up to 2GHz in the lab) or use NVIDIA OC Scanner technology in EVGA Precision XOC and MSI Afterburner overclocking applications to achieve stable overclocking.
Like other NVIDIA graphics cards and laptops based on them, the GeForce RTX 2060 has a vast ecosystem of technologies designed to enhance the gaming experience. NVIDIA Ansel Photo Mode allows you to take screenshots in hundreds of games; NVIDIA Highlights technology allows you to capture the best gameplay moments in Fortnite , PUBG , Ring of Elysium and many other games; the GeForce Experience app allows you to get optimal game settings in game updates, driver updates, game moments recording with ShadowPlay and other functions in just one click; and Freestyle technology allows you to customize the look of almost any game.
The GeForce GeForce RTX 2060 graphics cards will be available on January 15 on systems from Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo, as well as other leading system builders worldwide.
Various configurations, including standard clocked and factory overclocked models, will also be available starting January 15 from leading embedded graphics vendors: ASUS, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, MSI, Palit, PNY and Zotac. Availability of specific models may vary by region.
The NVIDIA-designed and built RTX 2060 Founders Edition graphics card with standard clock speeds will be available for pre-order today exclusively on our website.
And then on January 29th, the GeForce 2060, 2070 and 2080 based laptops will hit the shelves with great performance in a compact form factor.
Also, when buying GeForce RTX 2060 graphics cards, laptops and PCs based on them, you can also receive the game Battlefield V 9 as a gift0008 or Anthem TM during the Time to Play special offer. The list of models covered by the offer is indicated on the promotion page. The GeForce RTX 2060 is the EA-recommended graphics card for the Anthem multiplayer action game and delivers great graphics performance.
Learn more about the special offer here.
GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card [in 13 benchmarks]
Description
NVIDIA started GeForce RTX 2060 sales on January 6, 2019 at a suggested price of $349. This is a desktop graphics card based on the Turing architecture and 12 nm manufacturing process, primarily aimed at gamers. It has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory at 14 GHz, and coupled with a 192-bit interface, this creates a bandwidth of 336.0 GB / s.
In terms of compatibility, this is a two-slot PCIe 3.0 x16 card. The length of the reference version is 229 mm. An additional 1x 8-pin power cable is required for connection, and the power consumption is 175W.
It provides good performance in tests and games at the level of
36.00%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 055
Information about the type (desktop or laptop) and architecture of the GeForce RTX 2060, as well as when sales started and cost at that time.
| Rank in performance | 99 | |
| Rank in popularity | 90 007 18 | |
| Value for money | 50.80 | |
| Architecture | Turing (2018-2021) | |
| GPU | Turing TU106 | |
| Type | desktop | |
| 0089 | January 6, 2019 (4 years ago) | |
| Release price | 349 $ | |
| Price now | $269 (0.8x) | of 168889 (A100 PCIe 80 GB) |
Value for money
Performance to price ratio. The higher the better.
Features
GeForce RTX 2060’s general performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core clock, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed.
They indirectly speak about the performance of GeForce RTX 2060, but for an accurate assessment you need to consider the results of benchmarks and gaming tests.
| Number of stream processors | 1920 | of 20480 (Data Center GPU Max NEXT) |
| Core Clock | 1320MHz 900 08 | of 2610 (Radeon RX 6500 XT) |
| Boost frequency | 1620 MHz | of 3599 (Radeon RX 7990 XTX) |
| Number of transistors | 10 .800M | out of 14400 (GeForce GTX 1080 SLI Mobile)) |
| Process | 12nm | of 4 (GeForce RTX 4080) |
| 175 W | of 2400 (Data Center GPU Max Subsystem) | |
| Texturing speed | 201.6 | of 969..png.05ca449a5f10fe2a36dd74b812c0d8d8.png) 9 (h200 SXM5 96 GB) |
Compatibility and dimensions
Information on GeForce RTX 2060 compatibility with other computer components. Useful for example when choosing the configuration of a future computer or to upgrade an existing one. For desktop video cards, these are the interface and connection bus (compatibility with the motherboard), the physical dimensions of the video card (compatibility with the motherboard and case), additional power connectors (compatibility with the power supply).
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | |
| Length | 900 07 229 mm | |
| Thickness | 2 slots | |
| Additional connectors power supply | 1x 8-pin |
RAM
The parameters of the memory installed on GeForce RTX 2060 — type, size, bus, frequency and bandwidth.
For video cards built into the processor that do not have their own memory, a shared part of the RAM is used.
| Memory type | GDDR6 | |
| Maximum memory | 9000 7 6 GB | of 128 (Radeon Instinct MI250X) |
| Memory bus width | 192 bit | of 8192 (Radeon Instinct MI250X) |
| Memory frequency | 14000MHz | out of 22400 (GeForce RTX 4080) |
| Memory bandwidth | 336.0 Gb/s | of 3276 (Aldebaran) |
| Shared memory | — |
Video outputs
Types and number of video connectors present on GeForce RTX 2060. As a rule, this section is relevant only for desktop reference video cards, since for laptop ones the availability of certain video outputs depends on the laptop model.
| Video connectors | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C | |
| + | ||
| G-SYNC support | + |
Technology
Technology solutions and APIs supported by GeForce RTX 2060 are listed here. You will need this information if your video card is required to support specific technologies.
| VR Ready | + |
API Support
APIs supported by GeForce RTX 2060, including their versions.
| DirectX | 12 | |||||||
| Shader model | 900 07 6.5 | |||||||
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 9009OpenCL | 1.2 | |||||
| Vulkan | 1. 2 2.131 |
|||||||
| CUDA | 188
Benchmark testsThese are the results of GeForce RTX 2060 rendering performance tests in non-gaming benchmarks. The overall score is set from 0 to 100, where 100 corresponds to the fastest video card at the moment. Overall benchmark performanceThis is our overall performance rating. We regularly improve our algorithms, but if you find any inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in the comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.
RTX 2060 PassmarkThis is a very common benchmark included in the Passmark PerformanceTest package. He gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation by running four separate tests for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the latter is done in 4K resolution if possible), and a few more tests using DirectCompute. Benchmark coverage: 25%
RTX 2060 3DMark Vantage Performance 3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark. Benchmark coverage: 16%
RTX 2060 3DMark 11 Performance GPU3DMark 11 is Futuremark’s legacy DirectX 11 benchmark. He used four tests based on two scenes: one is several submarines exploring a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All tests make extensive use of volumetric lighting and tessellation and, despite being run at 1280×720, are relatively heavy. Support for 3DMark 11 ended in January 2020 and is now being replaced by Time Spy. Benchmark coverage: 16%
RTX 2060 3DMark Fire Strike ScoreBenchmark coverage: 13%
RTX 2060 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. Benchmark coverage: 13%
RTX 2060 3DMark Cloud Gate GPUCloud Gate is a legacy benchmark that uses DirectX 11 feature level 10, used to test home PCs and low-end laptops. It displays several scenes of some strange teleportation device launching spaceships into the unknown at a fixed resolution of 1280×720. As with the Ice Storm benchmark, it was deprecated in January 2020 and 3DMark Night Raid is now recommended instead. Benchmark coverage: 13%
RTX 2060 GeekBench 5 OpenCL Geekbench 5 is a widely used benchmark for graphics cards that combines 11 different test scenarios. All of these scenarios are based on the direct use of the processing power of the GPU, without the use of 3D rendering. Benchmark coverage: 9%
RTX 2060 3DMark Ice Storm GPUIce Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of the 3DMark package. Ice Storm has been used to measure the performance of entry-level laptops and Windows-based tablets. It uses DirectX 11 feature level 9 to render a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet at 1280×720 resolution. Support for Ice Storm ended in January 2020, now the developers recommend using Night Raid instead. Benchmark coverage: 8%
RTX 2060 GeekBench 5 VulkanGeekbench 5 is a widely used benchmark for graphics cards that combines 11 different test scenarios. All of these scenarios are based on the direct use of the processing power of the GPU, without the use of 3D rendering. This option uses the Vulkan API from AMD and the Khronos Group. Benchmark coverage: 5%
RTX 2060 GeekBench 5 CUDA Geekbench 5 is a widely used benchmark for graphics cards that combines 11 different test scenarios. Benchmark coverage: 4%
RTX 2060 SPECviewperf 12 — ShowcaseBenchmark coverage: 2%
RTX 2060 SPECviewperf 12 — MayaThis part of the SPECviewperf 12 workstation benchmark uses the Autodesk Maya 13 engine to render a superhero power plant with over 700,000 polygons in six different modes. Benchmark coverage: 2%
RTX 2060 SPECviewperf 12 — 3ds MaxThis part of the SPECviewperf 12 benchmark emulates 3DS Max by running eleven tests in various use cases, including architectural modeling and animation for computer games. Benchmark coverage: 1%
RTX 2060 GeForce RTX 2060 in games
FPS in popular games on the GeForce RTX 2060, as well as compliance with system requirements. Average FPSHere are the average FPS values for a large selection of popular games at various resolutions:
Popular gamesRelative performance 90 055Overall performance of the GeForce RTX 2060 compared to its closest desktop competitor.
AMD Radeon RX 5700
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 SLI
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
NVIDIA RTX A2000 12GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT AMD competitor
We believe that the nearest equivalent to GeForce RTX 2060 from AMD is Radeon RX 5600 XT, which is slower by 2% on average and lower by 8 positions in our rating. Radeon RX 5600 XT Compare Here are some of AMD’s closest competitors to the GeForce RTX 2060:
AMD Radeon RX 6600
AMD Radeon RX 5700
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
AMD Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Other video cardsHere we recommend several video cards that are more or less similar in performance to the reviewed one. Radeon RX 5600 XT Compare Radeon RX Vega 64 9007 2 Compare GeForce GTX 1070 SLI Compare GeForce GTX 1070 9Radeon RX Vega 56 Compare Radeon RX 900 07 5700 Compare Recommended Processors Based on our statistics these processors are most commonly used with GeForce RTX 2060. |
It loads the graphics card with two scenes, one of which shows a girl running away from some kind of military base located in a sea cave, and the other of a space fleet attacking defenseless planet. Support for 3DMark Vantage was discontinued in April 2017 and it is now recommended to use the Time Spy benchmark instead. 
It features two separate tests showing a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature that appears to be made of lava. Using resolution 1920×1080, Fire Strike shows quite realistic graphics and is quite demanding on hardware. 
This option uses the Khronos Group’s OpenCL API. 
All of these scenarios are based on the direct use of the processing power of the GPU, without the use of 3D rendering. This option uses NVIDIA’s CUDA API. 
Remember that the official requirements of the developers do not always match the data of real tests. 
