Never Fast Enough: GeForce RTX 2060 vs 6 Years of Ray Tracing

The video critically evaluates the GeForce RTX 2060’s ray tracing capabilities after nearly six years, highlighting its struggles to maintain playable frame rates in modern games due to limited VRAM and aging architecture. Ultimately, it concludes that Nvidia’s initial marketing claims were exaggerated, emphasizing the need for future GPUs to improve ray tracing performance at mid-range and entry-level price points.

The video revisits the GeForce RTX 2060, Nvidia’s entry-level graphics card from the 2019 RTX launch, focusing on its ray tracing capabilities after nearly six years in the market. Initially marketed as a mid-range GPU for 1440p gaming at 60 FPS, the RTX 2060 was positioned as a viable alternative to the GTX 10 series, boasting features like ray tracing and DLSS. However, as time has passed, the video aims to assess whether the RTX 2060 has lived up to its promises, especially in the context of modern gaming demands and the evolving landscape of ray tracing technology.

The review highlights the RTX 2060’s struggles with 1440p gaming, noting that it has effectively become an entry-level 1080p GPU due to its 6 GB of VRAM, which is insufficient for many contemporary titles. The video tests various games to evaluate the performance of the RTX 2060 with ray tracing enabled, revealing that even at lower settings, the card struggles to maintain playable frame rates. The results indicate that the RTX 2060 fails to deliver a satisfactory gaming experience at its originally intended resolution, with many modern titles causing VRAM-related issues.

Throughout the testing, the video showcases specific games and their performance metrics. For instance, titles like “Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart” and “Doom Eternal” demonstrate significant performance drops when ray tracing is enabled, often falling below playable frame rates. Conversely, some games, such as “Guardians of the Galaxy,” manage to maintain decent performance with ray tracing, but this is often at the cost of visual quality and requires significant compromises in settings. Overall, the findings illustrate that while ray tracing can be enabled in some instances, the experience is frequently marred by low frame rates and visual compromises.

The video concludes that Nvidia’s marketing of the RTX 2060 as a ray tracing-capable GPU was exaggerated. With the card’s aging architecture and limited VRAM, it cannot effectively handle ray tracing in modern games, which has led to disappointment among gamers who expected a robust experience based on the initial promises. The reviewer emphasizes the need for future GPU generations to significantly improve ray tracing performance, advocating for a baseline that would allow mid-range and entry-level GPUs to handle ray tracing more effectively without substantial compromises.

In summary, the video serves as a critical evaluation of the RTX 2060’s ray tracing capabilities, revealing that it has not aged well and struggles to meet the demands of contemporary gaming. As the industry moves forward, the reviewer calls for advancements in GPU technology that would allow for a more viable ray tracing experience at lower price points, ensuring that gamers can enjoy high-quality visuals without sacrificing performance. The exploration of the RTX 2060’s limitations sets the stage for discussions about upcoming GPU generations and their potential to fulfill the promises of ray tracing in gaming.