NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super with Max-Q design is the power saving variant of the mobile GeForce RTX 2080 Super with reduced clock speeds, performance and of course power consumption. It is intended for thin gaming laptops and based on the same TU104 chip with 3,072 shaders, 8 GB GDDR6 memory and a 256 Bit memory bus.

Currently it looks like there are three variants with a TGP of 80, 85 and 90 Watt. The clock speed ranges from 735 - 975 MHz for the base clock speed and 1080 - 1230 for the boost.

With the refresh, Nvidia also reworked the Max-Q technologies for more efficiency. Low Voltage GDDR6 (lower clocked but more headroom for the GPU) and improved regulator efficiency should improve the performance per Watt. Two new optional features can also be implemented by the OEM. Max-Q Dynamic Boost is able to shift power from the CPU to the GPU on a per frame basis to increase overall performance. Furthermore, the laptop manufacturer can also implement Advanced Optimus with a dynamic display switch (hardware) to enable Optimus, G-SYNC and high refresh rate displays (up to 4K 120 Hz).

Features

NVIDIA manufacturers the TU104 chip on a 12 nm FinFET process and includes features like Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and Real-Time Ray Tracing (RTRT), which should combine to create more realistic lighting effects than older GPUs based on the company's Pascal architecture (if the games supports it). The RTX 2080 Super Max-Q is also DisplayPort 1.4 ready, while there is also support for HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) and H.265 video en/decoding (PlayReady 3.0).

Performance

Due to the lower clock rates, the Max-Q variant is clearly slower than the mobile RTX 2080 Super. In our benchmarks with the first devices, the performance is very similar to the old RTX 2080 Max-Q and only on a level with the non Max-Q RTX 2070. Therefore, the performance is ideal for 1440p gaming at max details for demanding games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Control or Borderlands 3. Less demanding games like F1 2019 can be played in 4k with maximum settings. Detailed gaming benchmarks can be found at the end of this page.

The power consumption of the card is between 80 - 90 Watt TGP and therefore significantly lower than the RTX 2080 Super Mobile (150 - 200 Watt).

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 for desktops (also known as RTX 2060S) is a fast mid range graphics card in the GeForce Turing line-up. Compared to the older GeForce RTX 2060 (that still remains in the line-up), the Super version adds 256 shaders and a wider memory bus with more memory (now 8 GB GDDR6). It is still based on the same TU106 chip (now fully utilized) and currently has no mobile counterpart (opposed to the mobile RTX 2060). The mobile RTX 2060 refresh only got slightly revised clock speeds but no new name.

Features

NVIDIA manufacturers the TU106 chip on a 12 nm FinFET process and includes features like Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and Real-Time Ray Tracing (RTRT), which should combine to create more realistic lighting effects than older GPUs based on the company's Pascal architecture (if the games supports it). The RTX 2060 is also DisplayPort 1.4 ready, while there is also support for HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) and H.265 video en/decoding (PlayReady 3.0).

Performance

The average RTX 2060S performs slightly better than the old GeForce GTX 1080 and shows a clear improvement over the older RTX 2060. Therefore, the 2060 Super is positioned in the mid range and well suited for most games of 2018 in 1080p and 1440p. Compared to AMD, the RTX 2060 Super is positioned to run against the AMD RX 5700.

Power Requirements

NVIDIA specifies that the RTX 2060 Super should consume a maximum of 175 W and therefore 15 Watt more than the RTX 2060. In our tests the power consumption of the RTX 2060S was slightly lower than the old GTX 1080.