How would you forge a GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, one of the best graphics cards around, that costs at least $1,500 without access to Nvidia’s AD102 processors and Micron’s GDDR6X memory? Easily, apparently, according to NorthWest Repair, a renowned repair shop.
Frankenstein graphics cards with mobile graphics processors and/or refurbished memory are nothing new. They are sold on various websites that make no secret that these boards use GPUs not obtained from official distributors and may require specialized drivers. But some shops go beyond that: they forge graphics cards using re-marked GPUs and faulty memory. It also happens to the ultra-premium models, like the GeForce RTX 4090.
It just happens that Nvidia’s AD102 is pin-to-pin compatible with the company’s previous-generation GA102 GPU, which is found inside the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. By this time, plenty of such silicon is around (their condition is up for discussion, given that some might have been used for mining a few years ago). Since both AD102 and GA102 chips are marked appropriately, to disguise the former as the latter, one needs to remove the original marking by polishing the chip (a dangerous process) and then laser print a new mark, given the fact that we are dealing with a GPU made on very advanced nodes, such remarking can damage the chip.
Here, we are not even talking about the pressure that coolers are designed to apply to this chip, which will not be achieved, and the cooling performance will be subpar at best. Meanwhile, at this point, the only way to distinguish between a real AD102 and a remarked GA102 is the placement of a resistor on the chip’s substrate.
As many GA102 chips are lying around, many printed circuit boards (well, failed graphics cards) can house both GA102 and AD102 GPUs, so finding a PCB is not a problem.
Then you need to find the memory, which is not a problem. GDDR6X uses the same packaging as other types of GDDR (the GDDR7 changes that, though), and plenty of GDDR SGRAMs are now lying around at repair shops. There is a problem, though: some chips are refurbished (reballed), and some do not work (not a problem, you are forging a graphics card, after all), and all have different markings. Well, with some acid, polishing, and ‘printing,’ the correct marking will be there in no time. After all, people have made counterfeit memory chips for decades, so the process is there.
Time to attach (I am specifically not using the term ‘solder’) everything to a PCB, which will not be a problem as it is hardly supposed to work, which is why the repairman discovered that different solder material was used. Once the chips are attached to the PCB, it is time to apply a cooling system, in case of this video, this is an Asus TUF cooler even with protection films, but one can use everything in their possession as after all, these cards are not designed to work.
As the video said, “Stay safe; don’t buy RTX 4090 from Chinese guys.”
