The RTX 2060 will remain in circulation, the cheapest ones sold for ~$350, a variety of sites confirm.
The RTX 2070 will be replaced by the 2060 Super. And would show roughly the same performance.
The good thing now is that one can finally fold at 2070-like performance for $100 less than before ($400).
My estimation is, that the 2070 did 1.1-1.2M PPD, the 2060 super will do between 1.08-1.14M PPD.
However, I think the 2060 Super won't be a great deal vs the original 2060; just because it's performance benefits are minimal, at presumably the same power draw; but they cost $50 more.
For that reason, the old 2060 is still my favorite; especially if you can get them cheap on the second hand market, while the new Supers won't be out on the second hand market anytime soon.
The 2080 will be replaced by the 2070 Super.
The 2080 folds at 1,4M PPD, I'd estimate that the 2070 Super will fold at around 1,20-1,25M PPD.
That's a little slower, but the price is also a lot lower.
The cheapest 2080 cards currently go for $700.
The 2070 Super cards will go for $500.
It's a small performance penalty, at $200 discount.
I don't think the RTX 2070 cards were very popular for folding.
The new RTX 2070 Super cards have a higher boost clock speed, which hopefully gets it more than just the 10% rated speed improvement, for folding.
But for the sake of information available on other sites, I will keep the 10% margin.
Still, even in this configuration, see below to see which one is more efficient and better to buy for folding. 2070 Super or 2080 Super?
As far as power consumption, it appears that in most cases there won't be a significant difference between the newer and older models they replace.
The 2060 Super and 2070 Super cards were clocked at about the same TDP as the older 2070 and 2080 cards they're replacing.
Not that it matters much, these cards run best at 128-136 Watts anyway. (178 Watts for the 2080 Ti).
For a budget oriented folder, I'd still recommend the old RTX 2060 as most economical.
The newer 2060 Super probably will pay itself off in 1.5 years of folding at $399 vs the older 2060. That's much longer than most people would dedicate themselves to actually folding.
Still, if you're in the market for a new RTX card, and will dedicate yourself for at least a year or two, keep an eye out for the RTX 2060 Super cards!
Or, wait for a great discount deal on a new or second hand RTX 2060, as prices for this card will probably come down (especially on the second hand market).
As far as buying second hand:
As long as older, second hand GPUs are working properly, they should serve you well for at least 3-5 years of 24/7 folding (that's an average of the FAN life running at about 80% fan speed).
The RTX cards are fairly new, so second hand models shouldn't have seen a lot of abuse yet.
If everything works within the first 30 days of purchase of a second hand model, chances are they will for the next 3 to 5 years, with careful use.
The first thing to go, is usually the fans.
Replacement fans go on amazon for anything between $8-$25, so it's not like the card will be unusable after a fan breaks.
As long as you replace the thermal compound at least once every other year, the card should function for much beyond 5 years.
At $700, the old 2080 won't be interesting anymore for folding; as the 2080 Super is more efficient at the same price; and the 2070 Super gets you 86% of the performance, for 71.5% of the price.
The main benefits of the 2080 is SLI support, which FAH won't use anyway.
Still, there's a good chance people will upgrade from 2080s to 2080 Supers, and second hand prices might get you a good deal on an old 2080.
The 2080 Super, estimated to come out in a few months from now, and if it follows the same 10% speed increase ratio as the others, will have an estimated PPD range of around 1.55M PPD, and falls between the 2080 (1.4M PPD) and 2080 Ti (2-2.2M PPD) in performance, but at the same price as the old 2080.
These types of cards are good if you are space (PCI slot) and/or power limited, and if you want to have high PPDs quicker, without shelling out $1k+ for a 2080 Ti.
There are rumors that probably towards the end of this year, or perhaps beginning 2020, the 2080 Tis will also get a 'super' version; but it's still a while away.
If they will follow the same 10% better performance line the other RTX Super cards do, they will be a better buy than the 2080 Ti, but not for economical minded people.
More for people who want to fold fast, at almost whatever cost; without shelling out $5 grand for a Titan RTX card.
2060 VS 2080 Super
If power or space is no issue, between the 2060 (my personal choice) and the 2080 Super (most economical GPU between the old 2080 and 2080 Ti)
2x 2080 Super cards would cost $1400, and run most optimal in Linux at 3.1M PPD @ 272Watts.
3x old RTX 2060 cards would cost $1050, and run most optimal in Linux at 3.1M PPD @ 384 Watts.
That means ~$112 of difference in electric bill per year between 2 setups; or, it'd still take just over 3 years to get even.
Any less than 3 years of 24/7 folding, and the 2060 still is the champion.
The benefit for a 2080 will be if you have an extra PCIE slot available for upgrading, you can plug in another 2080. While 3x 2060s probably will take up all full size motherboard PCIE slots and aren't expandable beyond PCIE 1x.
2060 VS 2070 Super
6 x 2060 = $2100, ~6M PPD @ 768W
5 x 2070 Super = $2500 ~6M PPD, @ 680W
= 88 Watt difference (=~$88 of electricity saving / yr).
= 4,5 Years of folding for the 2070 Supers to catch up to the cost of the 2060s.
Which, surprisingly, is worse than the 2080 Supers!
