EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC Review: Compact And Overclocked

Shortly after NVIDIA initially launched the first wave of high-end Turing-based GeForce RTX cards, EVGA announced a dizzying array of new graphics cards featuring the new GPU. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that EVGA did the same when NVIDIA expanded the GeForce RTX family with the more main-stream, GeForce RTX 2060. EVGA already has three RTX 2060s in its line-up, two short-board, single-fan offerings, and a larger, dual-fan model with a GPU that’s clocked significantly higher than NVIDIA’s reference specifications. We’ve got the card in the middle of the stack to show you here today, the EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC. This card has a somewhat uncommon form factor, in that is employs a short PCB and will likely fit into many mini-ITX cases, but with a thick, triple-slot wide cooler. The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC has a couple of other tricks up its sleeve that help keep the card running cool and quiet, and – of course – there’s the distinctive EVGA styling as well.
We’ve got a quick table comparing the EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC’s main speeds and feeds with a few other members of the GeForce RTX family below, and then we’ll dig in, inspect the card, and see how see performs. Take a look...

EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC Specifications & Features

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At its heart, the EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC is just like NVIDIA’s own RTX 2060 – it’s based on the same GPU, uses the same memory, and supports all of the same graphics-related features. For more in-depth coverage on what makes the GeForce RTX 2060 tick, we suggest checking out our launch article from a couple of weeks back. We explain how NVIDIA scaled down the TU106 GPU (which is also used on the RTX 2070), to create the 2060 and the other ways the card differs from its burlier big brothers.
EVGA differentiates its GeForce RTX 2060 XC from NVIDIA’s design in a few ways. For one, the EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC has a shorter PCB. Whereas NVIDIA’s design sports a 9.5” board, the XC is only about 7.5” long. The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC, however, is much thicker. That means the EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC will consume 3 slots in a system, but it also means that cooling performance isn’t hampered by a small heatsink. The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC has a deep, dense heatsink, with a single, centrally-mounted cooling fan. And that fan is outfitted with a new blade design, and hydro-dynamic bearings that not only reduce noise and increase the fan’s lifespan, but also improve cooling performance as well.
EVGA also clocks the GeForce RTX 2060 XC higher than NVIDIA’s reference design. The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC arrives with a 1755MHz GPU boost clock, which is a marginal uptick from NVIDIA’s 1680MHz. The 6GB of GDDR6 memory on-board is clocked the same as NVIDIA’s design, however.
The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC sports the same webbed fan shroud and angular design as most of EVGA’s recently-released graphics cards, though the XC does not have any RGB lighting to speak of. The outputs on the card are also somewhat different than other GeForce RTX cards. The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC is rocking one full-sized DisplayPort, an HDMI port, and a DVI port – and all three can be used simultaneously. The USB Link connector and second DisplayPort available on NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 2060 are not present here.

The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC may not have all of the same trimmings as NVIDIA’s reference design, but its beefy cooler and higher boost clock should translate into better overall performance. So, let’s get to the testing and find out...