RTX 2060 Power Consumption: How Many Watts Does an RTX 2060 Use?
Last updated on February 25th, 2023 at 12:51 pm
The RTX 2060 graphics card is a great choice for anyone who is just getting into gaming and computers because of its price and its performance output.
Although this card isn’t as efficient as the new 30 series cards it will still be able to play new games at a reasonable performance level.
You also should know how much power this card needs in order to work, and what power supply you should purchase to go with your system.
That’s why I have made a power consumption guide on the RTX 2060 GPU.
How Many Watts Does an RTX 2060 Use?
The RTX 2060 has a TGP or Total Graphics Power of 165-180 Watts, which is the typical wattage it produces. When gaming you should also hit around 175 Watts. However, when idle the GPU should only produce around 8 Watts of power.
The wattage that this card uses can change depending on how powerful your gaming setup is, as well as the types of games and tasks you are doing.
For example, if you use more than one monitor expect your graphics card to have a higher idle power consumption.
Typically, with an extra monitor the idle power consumption will be under double what you would see with just one monitor.
In this instance, the Geforce RTX 2060 graphics card will produce around 13 Watts of power when idle in a dual monitor setup.
When looking at a GPU’s power consumption, you want to look at the TGP (Total Graphics Power) because this shows the maximum power draw you will usually get when using your GPU for intensive tasks such as gaming.
You might also hear the phrase “TDP” which can be used interchangeably with TGP. The difference is essential in that TDP is the total power consumption of a component, and TGP is the total power consumption of a GPU specifically.
However, it is not actually the true maximum of the graphics card. The true maximum of the RTX 2060 is around 180 Watts. This is very high but only occurs in extreme cases.
A GPU like this will only reach these high levels of power consumption under heavy overclocking, or when you hit a very powerful performance spike.
This spike will force the RTX 2060 to produce a lot more power over the couple of seconds that the spike happens.
RTX 2060 Power Consumption Compared to Other GPUs
The GPUs power consumption is compared using TGP. It is essential to know and compare your graphics cards to other similar models because it will help you get a grasp on the amount of power your system is going to use.
Here is a comparison of a few graphics cards that are around the performance range of the RTX 2060.
| GPU | TGP |
| RTX 3060 | 170 Watts |
| RTX 2060 | 160/185 Watts |
| RTX 2060 Super | 175 Watts |
As you can see from this table, the RTX 2060 has a very low power consumption. This is expected because this graphics card, is targeted toward more budget builds.
If you want to compare more graphics cards on their power consumption and TGP I have provided a database where you can look at dozens of different GPUs and their power consumption, that way you don’t have to do the research yourself.
Check out the Database.
I have also provided the average power consumption when gaming, as well as the average power consumption when idle, that way you can get a better understanding.
What Power Supply Do I Need to Use For an RTX 2060?
I would recommend that you try to get a power supply unit that is 600 watts. If you go on Nvidia’s page you can see that they say that 2060 would be able to run on a 500-550-watt power supply, however, that is the bare minimum.
When purchasing a power supply for your computer you want to keep in mind that every piece of hardware in your system also has a certain level of power consumption, not just your graphics card.
Although not as powerful as a graphics card, all of these little components add up and can exceed the wattage of your PSU very quickly.
That’s why you want to be safe and grab a PSU that has around a 20% increase in extra wattage than you planned for your system.
By doing this you will not only know for sure that your PSU will be able to support powering your whole system but it will also be safe from any power spikes that happen when you are gaming.
If you also want to save on your electricity bill, then you should purchase a power supply that is at least 80 plus Bronze certified, with the best rating being 80 plus Gold certified.
You should read: “How Do Power Supply Ratings Work?”
RTX 2060 FAQ
Is The RTX 2060 Outdated?
Although Nvidia has come out with the next generation 30 series and 40 series cards. The RTX 2060 will still be able to perform at an adequate level when gaming and is still able to play the latest games with decent performance. So, I would say it’s still not an outdated card if you look at it from a performance level.
Is The RTX 2060 Better Than The RTX 3050?
The RTX 2060 has a processing power that is around 32% better than the RTX 3050, so even though it is a last-generation card, it still has the potential to output better performance than lower-end new-generation GPUs.
Is 450W Enough For The RTX 2060?
If you really budget your power in your computer system, then you might be able to use a 450-watt power supply to support your system.
However, Nvidia recommends that you use a 500-watt PSU as the bare minimum.
Is 600W Enough For The RTX 2060?
600 watts is more than enough for a computer system that uses the RTX 2060 and is actually the wattage I recommend.
The reason for this is that it gives you the flexibility to upgrade later on as well as experiment with overclocking because overclocking will increase your component’s power consumption.
Even if you don’t overclock it will give you some room for any unexpected power spikes.
How Much Power Does The RTX 2060 Use?
The RTX 2060 has a TGP of 185/160W meaning it will use this much wattage every hour.
