When you are building a compact PC system, it naturally limits your component choice, especially higher performance components that like plenty of 'breathing room' for their associated cooling solutions. If you fancy building an SFF PC with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060, Asus now has a pair of new graphics cards which might appeal; the Asus Dual GeForce RTX 2060 Mini edition, and Mini OC editions. Asus says these SKUs have been "specifically designed for the new Intel NUC 9 Extreme Kit and Intel NUC 9 Pro Kit."
As compact versions of a well known GPU, let us look closely at their defining characteristic first - the physical size of these graphics cards. Both of them measure 19.7 x 12.1 x 3.9cm (or 7.8 x 4.8 x 1.5-inches). Asus describes them as 2-slot designs, and these 1x 8-pin powered GPUs feature twin-fan coolers.
On the topic of physical characteristics, on the bracket these cards feature a trio of ports; a DVI-D connector, a DP 1.4 connector, and an HDMI 2.0b (with HDCP 2.2) port. The cooler is a new design for sub-20cm 2-slot cards said to be compact without sacrificing thermal performance. Key to the cooler's functionality are; twin axial fans designed by the ROG team, 0dB technology (when the GPU is cooler than 55 degrees Celsius), a redsigned shroud, new heatsink and heatpipe layout, and IPX5 dust resistance to maintain cooling performance.
As mentioned in the intro, Asus has one 'standard' Dual GeForce RTX 2060 Mini edition and an OC version in its roster. The GPU clock speeds can be compared below:
|
|
Nvidia RTX 2060 reference |
Dual RTX 2060 Mini |
Dual RTX 2060 Mini OC |
|
Base |
1,365MHz |
1,365MHz |
1,365MHz |
|
Boost |
1,680MHz |
1,680MHz |
1,725MHz |
|
OC mode |
NA |
1,710MHz |
1,755MHz |
Lastly, both these new mini graphics cards offer a lighting strip across the top of the shroud. Since Asus doesn't mention this is RGB or configurable in any way we must assume it’s a fixed colour LED.
For reference, you can check out the HEXUS review of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition, and the Palit GeForce RTX 2060 GamingPro OC. If shopping for full sized GPUs you can get samples with boost clocks as high as 1,830MHz out of the box. If it must be a compact RTX 2060 design, other brands like Gigabyte and Zotac offer Mini ITX friendly RTX 2060 GPUs too.
