Modder Turns RTX 3060 8GB Into Its 12GB Sibling

Graphics Card modder and YouTuber Paul Gomes, recently published a video where he converted an RTX 3060 8GB, one of the best GPUs, into its faster and higher capacity RTX 3060 12GB sibling. The mod involved adding two more memory ICs to the PCB and adjusting a few capacitors to enable the necessary memory channels. In the end, the GPU saw a notable performance increase with the 12GB configuration.

Last year, Nvidia quietly released a second iteration of the RTX 3060 to the desktop market known as the RTX 3060 8GB. This model downgraded the memory configuration from 12GB operating on a 192-bit wide bus, to 8GB operating on a 128-bit bus, presumably in an effort to reduce cost. But despite this, current GPU prices for the 8GB version aren't, in general, any cheaper than the 12GB. That's despite the fact that the 8GB is noticeably slower than the 12GB version due to its reduced memory bandwidth.

Aside from the mod adding two more memory ICs to the RTX 3060 8GB's PCB, a few transistors need to be manipulated and the BIOS needs to be replaced so the new modules can be recognized. Gomes first adds two more ICs by preparing two of the four blank slots on the PCB, then installs the ICs by pressurizing the contact points between the chip and PCB, and heating them up.

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Next Gomes melts some of the resistors, controlling the card's memory system, so the GPU can detect the new memory modules. Then he installs a new BIOS on the RTX 3060 that supports the new modules. Presumably, Gomes is utilizing a BIOS from the RTX 3060 12GB version of the card.

Performance was noticeably better with the additional memory ICs, even in situations where the additional 4GB of VRAM was not being utilized. Gomes tested the newly modified GPU in Unigine's Superposition, and The Last of Us Part 1, where performance went up by 22% and 12% respectively. The Last of Us Part 1 in particular, saw VRAM usage jump from 7.6GB on the original 8GB configuration to 10.29GB with the modified 12GB configuration.

Modifying an RTX 3060 8GB with 12GB of VRAM is probably not the best way to get RTX 3060 12GB performance, especially when both cards cost the same (at least in the United States). But the mod is definitely cool to see and shows how customizable Nvidia's GPUs really are if you have the right equipment and the right GPU model (with different BIOSes featuring more than one supported memory configuration) to play with.