A representative for custom laptop maker Schenker recently indicated that, without an official announcement, NVIDIA just low-key updated its RTX 2070 and RTX 2060 notebook GPUs with a new memory setup. The reveal is so quiet that the only way of telling which part is which is by their product codes. The refreshed GeForce RTX 2060 is codenamed N18E-G1-B, while the refreshed GeForce RTX 2070 is codenamed N18E-G1R.
This might sound like something drastic was done (such as cranking up the GDDR6 clocks or kitting out the GeForce RTX 2060 with a 256-bit wide bus and extra 2 gigs of RAM). However, the change is far more subtle. NVIDIA simply replaced RAM modules running at 1.35v with modules that run at 1.25v. This reduces the VRAM’s power consumption and heat generation. (thenines.com)
Since most laptops equipped with the GeForce RTX 2060 and GeForce RTX 2070 don’t exactly have the best thermal solutions (and because they operate under tight power limits), even this slight tweak resulted in, what Schenker describes as a “significant” improvement to GPU performance. That’s because the lower VRAM power consumption allows the mobile GeForce RTX 2070 and RTX 2060 to consistently hit higher boost clocks, closer to their desktop counterparts.
This low-key refresh is particularly interesting since it comes right around the same time that Nvidia announced its new SUPER lineup of mobile GPUs.
