NVIDIA confirms GeForce RTX 2060 and GTX 1050 Ti are back in production

This month there have been news reports about not only the previous-gen NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 but also the over four years old GeForce GTX 1050 Ti being back in production. PC World got in touch with NVIDIA and received confirmation that these SKUs have been "revived".

“There have been a lot of rumors recently about Nvidia releasing more GPUs to AIBs from older generations—the [GeForce] RTX 2060 and GTX 1050 Ti were specifically mentioned,” I asked an Nvidia spokesperson via email. “Can you comment on whether there’s any truth to that?”

“The products referenced below were never EOLed [end-of-lifed—ed]. So ‘reviving’ seems like the wrong terminology to use here,” Nvidia told me, referencing the use of the word “reviving” in my subject line. “More of an ebb and flow really. We’re just meeting market demand which remains extremely high as you noted.”

Both models are back in production due to the global chip shortage. The GeForce RTX 2060 is made using TSMC's 12nm node and the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a lower-end model with GDDR5 memory. There are rumors that at least some of the shortages are caused by a lack of GDDR6 supply -- so bringing a GDDR5 model back in the market could allow NVIDIA to boost its output.

Whether these cards are interesting for the DIY market is questionable. The selling prices of these old models are simply outrageous. The GeForce GTX 1050 Ti launched for $140 in 2016 and today the cheapest version you can find on Newegg costs $190. A lot of variants costs over $400 -- who buys this stuff?! The same is true for the GeForce RTX 2060, the small number of cards listed on Newegg cost at least $800. Really bad deals.