Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsPotentially Good With Multiple Caveats
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 24, 2019
EDIT: This review took three days to post and my opinion has changed since I originally wrote this. I have noted my edits below.
Summary: This review is for the EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC Gaming (06G-P4-2063-KR). It’s shorter than the dual fan minis from Zotac. It’s longer than the single fan half-length minis from Gigabyte and MSI. It’s taller than most other cards and uses three case slots. I’m not sure if the larger design is beneficial. EVGA has opted for three outputs with a DVI-D while the other minis have four outputs with three DPs and an HDMI.
EDIT: Noise levels at factory settings are good under moderate and variable loads but mediocre under constant maximum load. This card is much quieter when undervolted but results may not be consistent. The card I received has severe coil whine.
Design and Size (3/5): I respect EVGA for the logic of this card’s design. Most people buy a half-length card for being cheaper and tolerate the lower performance from a single fan cooler. The people who buy a half-length card for its length usually plan to stick the card into a prebuilt with only eight inches of clearance. Why not make a card that has great performance and fits most cases but also doesn’t cost extra? The result is a brick-shaped cooler with copper pipes and a copper plate. However, it’s not readily clear if this design outperforms a normal half-length design.
This design also has quite a few drawbacks. The largest drawback is the three slot design which is a problem for anyone who uses other PCI devices. If your PCI slots are low in the case then the intake fan won’t have any clearance. If you own a case that only has two expansion slots then this card is a non-starter since it uses three slots. If you actually do have a case that can only take a half-length card then this card is also a non-starter.
EDIT: The open air cooler is also side vented. This card will bake itself in slim cases with metal side panels. Make sure that your case has exhaust clearance. This card also does not have a fan idle mode.
Compatibility (N/A): This card should work in most prebuilts. I tested this card in a Dell Optiplex 7010 (Ivy Bridge 2012). It even works with survivable temperatures (85C and 90% fan usage) in cases with almost no ventilation. This is a solid upgrade for prebuilts with an extra 8-pin connector.
EDIT: Make sure the prebuilt case has clearance for the side vented exhaust.
Power and Temperatures (5/5): This card is equal to the multi-fan designs that have been reviewed. It never gets close to thermal throttling.
EDIT: Rating +1. The factory overclock does work. The aggressive clock boost made it really hard to evaluate if the overclock was functional. The card will even boost above the factory overclock in some cases. Heat and noise levels rise badly when it does though.
Noise Levels (2/5*): The fan has a clean hum but does get noisy under load. In relative terms, the noise level is decent for a single fan card. In absolute terms, the noise level does get annoying if you have a quieter case or environment.
I found that 60-70% fan usage was the threshold for “annoying.” When you reach this point depends on your system cooling. In my case, the noise level was fine when the card was under moderate load (50-70%) with periodic load spikes. However, when the card was under constant maximum load, the fan was unable to control heat while also being quiet.
The card I received also had severe coil whine. EVGA does regard severe coil whine as a defect and is willing to replace a card that has it.
EDIT: Rating +3 (only with undervolt). I was able to reduce the overall heat and power usage by reducing voltages and limiting the maximum frequency. I was then able to reduce the fan usage from 70% to 50%. The final result was a card that is both quiet and cold.
The problem is that "undervolting" is tedious to stability test. There's an extra level of technical knowledge required to set up a VF curve in Afterburner or Precision. Results also may not be consistent. Other cards may require more voltage to run stable. The out-of-box noise levels for this card are still bad. I wouldn't advise this card without a decent undervolt.
I'm using a VF curve that mostly limits the card to its factory overclock of 1755 MHz @ 0.8V, down from 0.9V. Memory is 7500 MHz, up from 7000 MHz. The fan curve is 33-50% from 0-75C and 50-70% from 75C-100C.
These are fairly conservative settings. I think there is overhead for an overclock with the undervolt, but I was trying to lower fan usage below the threshold that I found bothersome.
The severity of the coil whine was much greater than I originally thought. When I spoke with EVGA, they said it was a defect and offered upfront to authorize an advanced RMA. They'll send me a new card first and then I'll send this card back. They'll pay for shipping both directions.
This response is excellent. However, I'd rather not play the coil whine lottery. I don't know if the problem is the card or the card series.
Display Outputs (4/5): I’m not sold on DVI-D in 2019, but for people who still need this output, EVGA has the only mini card on the US market with one. I prefer the other minis with four outputs. It also doesn’t have USB-C, but most cards don’t have this output, so EVGA doesn’t lose any points for this.
Aesthetics (3/5): There’s no backplate which is a cheap move for a card of this price. The minis from Zotac and MSI have backplates. The color scheme is black and grey with no lighting. There’s no green aside from the “XC” text on the side.
Final Score (3.5/5*). This loses the most rating for having coil whine and loud fan with the factory settings. Having no backplate is a stingy exclusion. I dislike the output selection. It’s highly dubious to exchange two DisplayPorts for one DVI-D. Adapters aren’t rare or expensive. It’s also ironic that I can’t use this card with the EVGA Nu Audio sound card. This card is too large for both of them to fit.
EDIT: Rating +0.5 or more (only with undervolt). My opinion of this card has improved after undervolting. This card's noise level still kind of sucks out of the box. I'm not entirely sold on design choices and I'm slightly concerned about the coil whine. I'm not sure if I'll accept the RMA offer, and I still might return this pending reviews for the half-length cards from Gigabyte and MSI.
