Nvidia has reduced the price of its GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card to $299. The price cut comes a few days before the release (21st January) of AMD’s Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card. Considering that Nvidia has reduced the price on its founder’s edition model, we may see discounts on AIB models of GeForce RTX 2060 as well. The launch price of Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Founder Edition was $350 (USD).
Nvidia’s Price Cut In Anticipation Of AMD’s Radeon RX 5600 XT?
Nvidia’s price cut seems to be in anticipation of AMD’s Radeon RX 5600 XT. It is nothing new as both the companies have been playing the game of cat and mouse for some time. GeForce RTX 2060 is the lowest model in Nvidia’s Turing lineup that supports raytracing. AMD’s Radeon RX 5700 non-XT model was also introduced at the same price ($350), but it out-performed RTX 2060. Nvidia had then released the GeForce RTX 2060 Super at $399 in response to AMD’s 5700 series of Navi-based graphics cards.
Nvidia had also revamped its GeForce GTX lineup with 1650 Super and 1660 Super graphics card variants before AMD’s Radeon RX 5500 XT hit the market. The Super variants of the GTX series made AMD’s RX 5500 XT an unimpressive offering due to its higher cost and RX590-level performance.
AMD, in its launch presentation at CES 2020, had shown its Radeon RX 5600 XT beating Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Super and 1660 Ti graphics cards. While Nvidia has not announced any new card for rivaling RX 5600 XT, it has decided to lower the price of its current offering for giving it some competition.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 and AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT
AMD’s RX 5600 XT will launch at $279 with no reference edition available. Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Founder Edition will cost $299. AIB models of Nvidia’s RTX 2060 may cost even less. EVGA has recently launched its GeForce RTX 2060 KO graphics card for $299 at CES. It may be available for $279 for a limited period. AMD’s RX 5600 XT and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060 will have 6GB of video memory each.
The Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics card should be slightly better or, in the worst case, equal to Radeon RX 5600 XT performance-wise, considering AMD’s CES presentation. Although, we can only confirm it once the review embargo has lifted. AMD’s RX 5600 XT will have to pack a punch for outclassing Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060. It needs to be a more attractive offering on both price and performance front. Considering that the card has the same number of stream processors as the Radeon RX 5700 non-XT variant, it could beat its competition easily.
Whatever be the case, the end-consumer will be the major beneficiary of this competition. And it is about time as well. We will finally have competition in the graphics card market after years of Nvidia’s dominance and AMD’s lackluster performance over the past few years.
