The sale of fake RTX 4090s with previous-generation GPUs is becoming a new fraudulent scheme. A user on the Bilibili platform has exposed another such fake video card.
At first glance, it appeared to be a completely genuine Palit RTX 4090 video card without any visible signs of modification. However, after disassembly, it turned out that instead of the AD102 graphics chip typical of the RTX 4090, there was an old GA102 inside, which was used in the RTX 3090 Ti, RTX 3090, and RTX 3080 Ti.
This video card came to the reviewer faulty, and to find out why, we had to disassemble it. The easiest way to check for a fake would be to try to install Nvidia drivers, but the card probably wouldn’t start at all. This is another example of how far fraudsters are willing to go to deceive customers.
This fake RTX 4090 was sold for ¥3800 (approximately $530), which is much cheaper than the official recommended price, let alone the real market value. Such a price should have alerted the buyer, but they either didn’t know the cost of the RTX 4090 or simply believed it was a bargain.
Visually, the fraud was almost impossible to recognize. The author of the video notes that the card looked genuine, with no signs of damage or modification.
Even after disassembling the card, the fraud was hard to spot. The GPU itself was manually processed (the factory markings were removed) and then carefully engraved to match the AD102 format. But there were some differences.
The location of the crystal was incorrect – it was closer to one of the capacitors, which does not correspond to the true position of the AD102. The configuration of the MLCC capacitors around the GPU corresponded to the RTX 3090 Ti, RTX 3090, and RTX 3080 Ti. But who among ordinary users knows such features of the arrangement of components on a printed circuit board?
The memory chips had no markings, which also raises suspicions.
It looks like this card was made just to look authentic. It was not supposed to work.
This is the second case of RTX 4090 fraud, where the Ampere series GPU (GA102) is being passed off as the newer AD102. According to experts, it’s quite easy to modify a video card in this way, as GA102 and AD102 have the same pin layout.
However, the fraudsters not only replaced the GPU, but also grinded and changed the chip’s markings. This indicates a high level of sophistication. Most likely, the seller managed to disappear before the buyer realized that he had received a fake.
Source: tomshardware