The RTX 2060 is the most budget friendly ray tracing capable hardware from Nvidia. This stays true up to this day even with the impending release of the RTX 3060.
With that said, what we have here for review is the GALAX RTX 2060 EX. This is a pretty graphics card clad in a snow white shroud featuring 6GB of 192-bit GDDR6 memory paired up with the TU106 running at 1725MHz when the 1-Click OC feature is turned on.
The GALAX RTX 2060 EX White retails for about 20,995 Pesos which puts it at the middle range of the spectrum as far as the base RTX 2060 model pricing goes.
Technical Specifications
| GPU | |
| Model | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 |
| Cores | 1920 Cuda, 30 RT |
| Core Clock | 1725 MHz (OC) |
| Architecture | Turing |
| Manufacturing Process | 12nm (FinFET) |
| TDP | 160W |
| Memory | |
| Memory Speed | 14Gbps |
| Memory Bus Width | 192-bit |
| Memory Capacity | 6GB |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 |
| Connectivity | |
| Display | 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DVI-D |
| Power | PCIe |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 233mm |
| Width | 119mm |
| Height | 40mm |
| Weight | — |
Packaging and Accessories
GALAX went classic with the RTX 2060 EX White’s packaging. Below are the items that you should expect inside:
- GALAX RTX 2060 EX White 6GB (1-Click OC)
- Setup guide
- Dual molex to single 8-pin PSU power adapter
Pretty normal bundle for a graphics card I must say. To think that GALAX still included a molex adapter means that there should be enough consumers with PSUs without an 8-pin connector; or maybe they just want to get rid of the adapters. Could also be both.
Design, Layout and Build Quality
If you like white and with a dash of edginess, then the RTX 2060 EX White will suit your taste. This standard sized card will also suit majority of builds out there due to its well… size. Cooling on the other hand is a courtesy of dual 90mm 0dB capable fans; blowing air directly to the dense aluminum heatsink array with three heat-pipes. Of course, the VRM and VRAM are actively cooled as well.
The back also received the snow white treatment in the form of a back plate. Back then, GALAX’s white graphics cards also comes with a white PCB but I’m not complaining with what we have now. This will protect the card better while still maintaining the card’s theme at the same time. Of course, the RTX 2060 EX White also comes with a reinforced cooler with two extra screws in place just like their GTX 1650.
TDP is about 160W so the 8-pin power really is required. This should give the card a theoretical 225W of total power if we include the PCIe slot into the equation. Actual PCB length is actually just under 8.5 inches / 220mm with the shroud extending it. Could be shorter had GALAX positioned the fans closer to each other.
Connectivity wise, the GALAX RTX 2060 comes with a single DisplayPort, a single HDMI port and a DVI-D port. There’s enough space for cooling with those three ports alone so GALAX never wasted that opportunity to add a huge venting area.
Test Setup and Methodology
System performance is evaluated by industry standard benchmark tools and applications. The system is tested with the following software configurations:
- UEFI configuration – Default
- Windows Power Plan – Balanced
- Windows Game Mode – Disabled
- Windows Game Bar – Disabled
- Windows Security – Disabled
Outlined below is the default test system specifications as well as the software and applications used for the review:
| Default Test System Specifications | |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
| Motherboard | ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming |
| Cooler | AMD Wraith Stealth V2 |
| Memory | ADATA Premier 2666MHz 16GB |
| GPU | ASUS ROG Strix RX 570 4GB |
| Storage | Plextor M9PE NVME 512GB |
| Case | Mechanical Library JXK-K3 |
| PSU | Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 650W |
| Display | LG UF680T |
| OS | Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit |
Compute Performance:
- AIDA64 Extreme Edition: GPGPU Benchmark, Single-Precision
- LuxMark v3.1: LuxBall HDR, OpenCL
Gaming Performance:
- CS:GO: DirectX 9, Maximum Settings, 8x MSAA
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege: Vulkan, Ultra Preset, TXAA, 16x AF
- League of Legends: DirectX 9, Very High Preset
- DOTA 2: DirectX 11, Best Looking Preset, AA
- Assetto Corsa: DirectX 11, Maximum Settings, 4x AA, FXAA, 16x AF
- F1 2020: DirectX 12, Ultra High Preset, TAA, 16x AF
- Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers: DirectX 11, Maximum Preset, FXAA, x16 AF
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider: DX12, Highest Preset, TAA, 8x AF
- Total War: Warhammer II: DX11, Ultra Preset, FXAA
- Civilization VI: DX12, Ultra Preset, 8x MSAA
Temperature, Power and Noise:
- OCCT v5.0: 3D and VRAM Test
Temperature, Power and Noise
Graphics card thermal figures are taken during a 15 minute idle and a 15 minute load via OCCT’s 3D stress test. The ambient temperature is checked at 27 °C (±1 °C).
Now total system power consumption are also noted during the stress test. The measurements are then taken by a watt-meter.
Graphics card noise levels are also measured via the OCCT 3D stress test. The ambient sound level or noise floor is about 34 dBA (±1 dBA). Measurements are then taken via a sound level meter situated exactly 12 inches away from the card.
The GALAX RTX 2060 EX White is of to a good start – pretty much in-line with the performance figures we got from the last GALAX RTX 2060 we’ve tested with the exception of the lower idle noise due to its 0 dB feature.
Synthetic Performance
The Aida64 Extreme Edition GPGPU Benchmark is designed to measure GPGPU computing performance via different workloads. Our choice here is the Single-Precision benchmark to check out the floating-point performance of the card.
LuxMark is an OpenCL cross-platform benchmark tool. Scene of choice is the LuxBall HDR. It is a benchmark with a total of 217K triangles required to render.
Theoretically, the standard RTX 2060 comes with 6451 GLFOPS of FP32 performance and what we got with AIDA64’s results are even better. OpenCL performance on the other hand are also great with a LuxBall HDR score of 21874. That’s even faster than some AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT scores.
Gaming Performance
CS:GO is Valve’s critically acclaimed FPS game, running on the Source engine utilizing the DirectX 9 API. Demo used is the grand finals match between Astralis and ENCE at IEM Katowice 2019.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is a popular FPS title developed by Ubisoft utilizing the AnvilNext 2.0 engine with DirectX 11 and Vulkan API support. The benchmark tool within the game is used for this run.
League of Legends is one of the genre defining MOBA games in the industry. It utilizes RIOT Game’s in-house engine written in C++ with support for the DirectX 9 API. Demo of choice is a Summoner’s Rift replay via the ROFL-Player.
DOTA 2 is yet another popular MOBA game featuring Valve’s Source 2 engine with support for a number of APIs. Benchmark of choice here is a demo from OG and Liquid’s grand finals match at The International 2019.
Assetto Corsa is a sim-racing game developed by Kunos Simulazioni with extensive support for customization. The game runs on a in-house engine with support for DirectX 11. The built-in benchmarking tool is used for the run.
F1 2020 is the official F1 racing game developed by Codemasters utilizing the Ego Engine 3.0 with support for DirectX 11 and DirectX 12. API of choice is DirectX 12 with the built-in benchmarking tool utilized for the review.
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is an MMORPG created by Square Enix. It uses the tried and tested Crystal Tools game engine with support for DirectX 11. The built-in benchmark tool is used for this run.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the third installment for Eidos-Montréal’s reboot of the original series. The updated Foundation game engine is featured in this game with support for DirectX 11 and DirectX 12. The first few scenes from the built-in benchmark tool is used for this review.
Total War: Warhammer II is the latest installment of the Warhammer series. It is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics game developed by Creative Assembly utilizing the WarScape game engine supporting both DX11 and DX12. The Skaven preset from the built-in benchmark tool is used.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy game developed by Firaxis Games using a custom game engine built from the ground up that supports DX11 and DX12. This game also comes with two benchmark presets aptly named as Graphics and AI.
Gaming performance in general is just great for such a mid range card even considering the silicon’s age. 1080P performance is excellent while 1440P is great even at the highest settings. 2160P is a bit of a mixed bag and of course some titles that are not optimized with multi-core CPUs.
Software, Lighting and Special Features
Apart from the obvious ray tracing, DLSS and support for GeForce Experience, the GALAX RTX 2060 EX White supports the company’s own XTREME TUNER software. This is a prerequisite for the 1-Click OC feature to work.
Manually overclocking the card is fine via the software but the 1-click OC feature is just hard to pass especially if you’re a beginner and do not want to mess anything up. There’s also an option to have the app start-up and apply these settings upon booting so there’s that for peace of mind.
GALAX also added a simple fan speed adjustment should you want to manually adjust it according to temperature. Trust me you’d want to do this if you plan to manually overclock the card. With a noise level that is decent enough not to induce hearing loss, setting this high up the scale is not an issue.
RGB lighting could also be customized via the software. Though nothing’s fancy about this option though – which is alright since the card only got the GALAX logo to customize.
It is also noteworthy to add that there is a smartphone version of the XTREME TUNER. We tried it but I find the desktop app much more useful – even more so since the desktop app is required to communicate with the app.
Final Thoughts
The RTX 2060 suffice to say is not dead. This is a card that has been superseded by the RTX 30 series yet it still is on this day one of the most budget oriented entry into the ray tracing and DLSS.
Performance wise you’d get a fluid 1080P performance even on the most recent titles with steady 1440P gaming performance and a playable 4K UHD experience. Yes, there’s the RTX 2060 Super but in all honesty with the current state of demand and supply for even the simplest cards, this one is a much more enticing card to buy right now.
Build quality and design wise, GALAX made sure that this card comes with a capable cooling solution – enabling the card to run cool and quiet – except at 100% load where it remained quiet but a bit more audible compared to my preference. It’s even reinforced properly by 6 screws instead of the usual fours and there’s a snow white backplate to top it all off.
Priced at just around 20,995 Pesos, the GALAX RTX 2060 EX White 6GB with 1-Click OC is a decently positioned card for the midrange bracket – the MSRP appears to never move at all at launch. Had the pandemic never hit us, it would be one of the most expensive RTX 2060’s out there right now. With this in mind, it is still one of the most affordable ray tracing capable cards you could get your hands on.
GALAX RTX 2060 EX White 6GB
-
Performance - 9/10
9/10
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Build Quality - 9/10
9/10
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Features - 9/10
9/10
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Design - 9/10
9/10
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Value - 8/10
8/10
Summary
Priced at just around 20,995 Pesos, the GALAX RTX 2060 EX White 6GB with 1-Click OC is a decently positioned card for the midrange bracket. Had the pandemic never hit us, it would be one of the most expensive RTX 2060’s out there. With this in mind, it is still one of the most affordable ray tracing capable cards you could get your hands on.
Pros
- Perfect for themed builds
- Excellent build quality
- 1080P and 1440P gaming performance
- 4K UHD capable
- Good price point
- 1-Click OC feature
Cons
- A bit audible at 100% load
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