Nvidia Geforce RTX 2060 and RTX 2060 Super return to store shelves

The autumn of 2020 was packed with graphics cards from both Nvidia and AMD, but the availability has been anything but good. After initially blaming this on demand alone, both companies have slowly begun to admit that the reason is a lack of components. Now Nvidia is taking a step back in time in an attempt to meet market demand.

French Overclocking.com reports that Geforce RTX 2060 and RTX 2060 Super are returning to the market. This is according to three of Nvidia’s partner manufacturers with whom the site spoke. The fact that these are three different players should not be seen as a coincidence and releasing an old graphics card would probably not happen without Nvidia’s consent.

Why Nvidia would release two older graphics cards has several possible explanations. The first and perhaps most obvious is that the company has large stocks of graphics circuits TU106 and TU104, which are used in Geforce RTX 2060 and RTX 2060 Super respectively. Another has to do with the company’s suppliers TSMC and Samsung.

For the Geforce RTX 3000 series “Ampere”, Nvidia turned to Samsung for manufacturing on the company’s 8-nanometer technology. Nvidia has also said that Samsung is a part of the reason for the lack of new graphics cards. It has previously also been reported that Samsung yield, the proportion of operating circuits, is remarkably low on its 8-nanometer technology.

Unlike the new series, the Geforce RTX 2000 “Turing” is based on TSMC’s 12-nanometer technology, which is a further development of the company’s 16 nanometers. The technology is also not TSMC’s latest and the pressure on it is therefore not as high as for the newer 7 and 5 nanometers, with which demand also far exceeds supply.

The decision to reintroduce the Geforce RTX 2060 and RTX 2060 Super would be a way for Nvidia to ease the pressure on the RTX 3000 series until Samsung can supply enough circuits. Even more important is that the company could again offer graphics cards in the best-selling middle class, where demand from computer builders (OEMs) is also high.

New graphics cards are in short supply for late summer

Anyone who wants the latest on the graphics card side can continue to hang on to the lock and be prepared to order as soon as retailers get some in stock. Reports that the shortage will continue into the second half of the year are piling up and neither Nvidia nor AMD have dismissed them. On the contrary, they both say that the situation will continue for an unspecified number of months.

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