Scammers are now selling RTX 4090 graphics cards without GPUs

[DuckDodgers]

 

Remember all those 4090 cards being frantically separated from their GPU chips in China? Well, someone found a business opportunity for all the leftover PCBs and coolers.

 

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The scammers went to great lengths to trick the buyer, presenting original photos of the card with illuminated light effects. Ironically, this feature was the only aspect of the GPU that functioned properly, as the fans remained silent.

 

Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the issue extended beyond non-functioning fans—the card lacked a GPU altogether. Essentially, the buyer received a product without a functioning processor, consisting only of a PCB and a cooler. It looks like some memory modules were left, but others were stuck to thermal pads, probably not a good sign either.

 

Like usual, just beware of too good offers from shady dealers.

 

Source: https://videocardz.com/newz/scammers-are-now-selling-rtx-4090-graphics-cards-without-gpus

[FancyPants101]

Are the chips being pulled for a certain something?

[TetraSky]

7 minutes ago, FancyPants101 said:

Are the chips being pulled for a certain something?

US sanctions. /Edited : Political talk is not allowed.

 

I'm genuinely not surprised scammers are trying to sell these as genuine GPUs... without the GPU.

 

[TempestCatto]

I'm sorry but that's low key funny. Though I kinda want one as a display piece. "Naked" tech is really cool and makes me miss the days of transparent/translucent covers.

[Levent]

At least send a bare pcb with no components on it, so that it can be used as a decoration. 

[StDragon]

On 1/9/2024 at 6:36 PM, FancyPants101 said:

Are the chips being pulled for a certain something?

Harvesting. Can only imagine who the buyer is. 

[da na]

16 minutes ago, StDragon said:

Harvesting. Can only imagine who the buyer is. 

joint venture between John Cryptocurrency and Robert AI 

[da na]

I'm so confused.

They have the 4090s.

Why take the chips off of a working card to......... put on another card? 

.......just put a blower cooler on it...

[thechinchinsong]

4 minutes ago, da na said:

I'm so confused.

They have the 4090s.

Why take the chips off of a working card to......... put on another card? 

.......just put a blower cooler on it...

I think the point is to have it be easily installable in server form factors. There's nothing wrong with the stock coolers, they're just too big for putting them in the normal server farms and AI training box sizes.

[da na]

3 minutes ago, thechinchinsong said:

I think the point is to have it be easily installable in server form factors. There's nothing wrong with the stock coolers, they're just too big for putting them in the normal server farms and AI training box sizes.

Yes, but I don't get why they have to take the chip off the board.

Just take off the stock cooler and replace it with a blower

I'm sure at some point making a couple different blower designs for various boards would be easier and cheaper than making an entire other GPU, minus the, well... GPU

[StDragon]

At the moment, the largest GDDR6X module available is 16Gb (2GB) with a bit width of x32. The 4090 has a 384-bit interface. So 12 chips of 2GB = 24GB VRAM.

In theory, the memory chips could be swapped out for higher capacity ones once available doubling from 24GB to 48GB. But that's assuming the memory controller could handle  it, and the firmware (VBIOS) hacked to address it all. And then there's the sticking issue of driver supporting or actively gimping the card for regulatory reasons.

[FancyPants101]

27 minutes ago, StDragon said:

At the moment, the largest GDDR6X module available is 16Gb (2GB) with a bit width of x32. The 4090 has a 384-bit interface. So 12 chips of 2GB = 24GB VRAM.

In theory, the memory chips could be swapped out for higher capacity ones once available doubling from 24GB to 48GB. But that's assuming the memory controller could handle  it, and the firmware (VBIOS) hacked to address it all. And then there's the sticking issue of driver supporting or actively gimping the card for regulatory reasons.

I want a system with 4 48 gb ram sticks(hopefully 10-12kmhz), a 48gb video card. And other stuff number themed. Not sure how smart, but when it become cheap enough... I'm hoping for double the ram of the 4090.

[thechinchinsong]

1 hour ago, da na said:

Yes, but I don't get why they have to take the chip off the board.

Just take off the stock cooler and replace it with a blower

I'm sure at some point making a couple different blower designs for various boards would be easier and cheaper than making an entire other GPU, minus the, well... GPU

Perhaps the original boards aren't an easy size to work with so they take the actual GPU die off and put it in custom board that better fits their needs? That's a good question though, I'm just speculating. Seems like a lot of effort.

[Mark Kaine]

On 1/10/2024 at 2:26 AM, TempestCatto said:

but that's low key funny

low key??  

 

 

hahaha 

 

 

guys this is nothing new, they sold gpu "boxes" for thousand a piece during the "drought" a few years ago...

[cooky560]

This isn't anything new, I remember the 3080 / 3090 boxes and in some cases, photographs, that were being sold at MSRP 

[Levent]

1 hour ago, cooky560 said:

This isn't anything new, I remember the 3080 / 3090 boxes and in some cases, photographs, that were being sold at MSRP 

Selling boxes of something is VASTLY different than selling a graphics card with GPU removed.

[Poinkachu]

^^^

What @Levent said.

 

It is definitely harder to notice than just empty box or box filled with crap.

If bought without good enough buyer protection, the buyer is fucked.

[Kisai]

3 hours ago, cooky560 said:

This isn't anything new, I remember the 3080 / 3090 boxes and in some cases, photographs, that were being sold at MSRP 

"For sale RTX 3090"

You are buying a RTX 3090 Box.

 

The problems these kinds of listings, particularly on eBay, have no way of proving if the GPU shipped actually works, and the seller can always go "well it worked when I put it in the box, the buyer is trying to scam me." At least in the "you bought a box (you idiot)", it's pretty clear by looking at the shipping charges, because if there had been an actual GPU in the box, the weight would be around 2kg, where as if it's just the empty box it would be about 10g. To scam someone with an empty box full of garbage, someone would have to go through the trouble of matching the weight so nobody would notice during shipping. But selling the entire GPU minus the chip, likely only affects the weight by a few grams, so all they have to do is re-attach the heatsink and nobody would notice until they tried to put it in the computer.

 

I think the real danger here is someone putting the GPU minus the chip into their computer and the damage to it causing electrical shorts and killing the desktop. At least the empty box can't actually be installed.

 

But again, it's also Buyer-Beware. Any time you see a product not priced at the correct price, it's either counterfeit, broken, or stolen.

[RejZoR]

25 minutes ago, Kisai said:

"For sale RTX 3090"

You are buying a RTX 3090 Box.

 

The problems these kinds of listings, particularly on eBay, have no way of proving if the GPU shipped actually works, and the seller can always go "well it worked when I put it in the box, the buyer is trying to scam me." At least in the "you bought a box (you idiot)", it's pretty clear by looking at the shipping charges, because if there had been an actual GPU in the box, the weight would be around 2kg, where as if it's just the empty box it would be about 10g. To scam someone with an empty box full of garbage, someone would have to go through the trouble of matching the weight so nobody would notice during shipping. But selling the entire GPU minus the chip, likely only affects the weight by a few grams, so all they have to do is re-attach the heatsink and nobody would notice until they tried to put it in the computer.

 

I think the real danger here is someone putting the GPU minus the chip into their computer and the damage to it causing electrical shorts and killing the desktop. At least the empty box can't actually be installed.

 

But again, it's also Buyer-Beware. Any time you see a product not priced at the correct price, it's either counterfeit, broken, or stolen.

Tin foil hat on: "NVIDIA intentionally flooding second hand market with such shit cards" to steer people into buying new graphic cards over buying them second hand, because second hand adds nothing to NVIDIA. Buying new ones does. Tin foil hat off.

[Mark Kaine]

3 hours ago, Levent said:

Selling boxes of something is VASTLY different than selling a graphics card with GPU removed.

nah, nope, nuh... its basically

the same thing, in both cases seller can just say "ah, damn, didn't know, my bad, please understand... ~"

 

in a way,  this is even worse than just selling the box, they can always say, well, you got "something" at least....whereas while with a box, they can still say that,  its just so much more unbelievable. 

but, please explain to me how its "vastly different" then?

 

1 hour ago, Poinkachu said:

^^^

What @Levent said.

 

It is definitely harder to notice than just empty box or box filled with crap.

If bought without good enough buyer protection, the buyer is fucked.

 

yeah, i agree this is worse, but because its even harder to proof its a "scam" at least for the buyer.   Still, in principle its totally the same thing, scam = scam, no?

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

But again, it's also Buyer-Beware. Any time you see a product not priced at the correct price, it's either counterfeit, broken, or stolen.

well, tbf, when i bought my 3070, it only cost about half of what 99% of other sellers asked for, the difference is, that alternate isnt a scalper like most other "retailers" at least here in europe...

 

actually, its still being sold for crazy prices haha

 

 

 

(most other 3070 cost like 400 bucks now lol)

[Levent]

9 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

nah, nope, nuh... its basically

the same thing, in both cases seller can just say "ah, damn, didn't know, my bad, please understand... ~"

 

in a way,  this is even worse than just selling the box, they can always say, well, you got "something" at least....whereas while with a box, they can still say that,  its just so much more unbelievable. 

but, please explain to me how its "vastly different" then?

 

 

yeah, i agree this is worse, but because its even harder to proof its a "scam" at least for the buyer.   Still, in principle its totally the same thing, scam = scam, no?

I dont know what is so hard to understand but then again, this is not the first time with you.

 

Assume you are an first time PC builder. You want a great experience and buy a RTX4090 because someone on a forum recommended you. You go out looking for a used 4090 on ebay or facebook marketplace, you came across this card and buy it. You get the card, it looks complete, however it will never work and a first timer will barely have the heart to take apart a $1000 card themselves. You are pretty fucked at that point.

[Mark Kaine]

yes, hard to understand,  because its the same thing to me... scam is scam...

 

your only chance is that the seller has many complaints about the same thing, otherwise they can just say you took the gpu yourself in both cases.