Highlights
- Chinese graphic card manufacturers are refurbishing and selling cryptocurrency mining GPUs from Nvidia and AMD by modifying them to include more VRAM.
- The Ethereum cryptocurrency switching to a proof-of-stake model in September 2022 led to miners selling off their graphics cards, which ended up in the hands of PC gamers.
- Chinese company Jieshuo is selling modified GPUs, such as the Nvidia RTX 3080 with 20 GB of VRAM and the AMD Radeon RX 580 with 16 GB of VRAM, as AI accelerators on sites like AliExpress.
According to a social media insider, some Chinese graphics card manufacturers have discovered a way to refurbish and sell cryptocurrency mining GPUs made originally by Nvidia and AMD. This is done by modifying them to include more VRAM and selling them as new to offset the costs, with the GPUs in question being the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 and AMD Radeon RX 580, both of which have long been succeeded by future models such as the RTX 40 series.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, PC gamers who were looking to build or upgrade their rigs were hard-pressed to find a graphics card. This was compounded by heavy usage of cryptocurrency mining rigs, and by scalpers looking to capitalize on the situation by reselling certain models of RTX 20 and Radeon RX 500 and 5000 series graphics cards at a premium. However, starting in September 2022, the Ethereum cryptocurrency switched to a proof-of-stake model that decreased power usage, which forced miners to sell off their graphics cards. While some of these graphics cards ended up in the hands of PC gamers, their strained usage and specs made them a far cry from some of the best graphics cards available.
Nvidia RTX 4000 GPU Deal Gets You 3 Months of Xbox Game Pass and GeForce Now
Nvidia offers a holiday shopping deal that nets PC gamers who purchase a new RTX 4000 series graphics card 3 months of Game Pass and GeForce Now.
However, one social media insider indicated that the market for former mining GPUs has not faded yet. On Twitter, an insider named “I_Leak_VN” posted screenshots of an RTX 3080 that featured modified VRAM kits and a blower-style fan similar to the ones used by Radeon RX 5000 series GPUs. This GPU was reassembled by a Chinese company called Jieshuo with the intent of adding more VRAM, repackaging the cards in new coolers, and reselling them as AI accelerators. Originally, the RTX 3080 was sold with 10 GB and 12 GB of memory, but these Jieshuo models have upped that to 20 GB. In addition, Jieshuo is selling Radeon RX 580 cards with 16 GB of VRAM, which is double the capacity of the original models, so both AMD and Nvidia users will have to be on the lookout for these models.
This move was made because GPUs like the RTX 4090 have become ridiculously expensive in China as a result of the US government’s restrictions on shipments of certain products such as graphics cards to China. While this is unlikely to reach beyond the borders of mainland China easily, the OP said that these GPUs have been spotted on sites such as AliExpress that sell globally.
However, the impact these Jieshou cards will have on the PC gaming market remains to be seen. With technologies such as ray tracing and compatibility with AI-related applications, only time will tell what prospective graphics card buyers will do with the knowledge of these cards.
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ventus 3X Plus LHR 10GB
The MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ventus 3X Plus graphics card is based on the high-performance NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080. It’s one of the most powerful GPUs on the market, although NVIDIA has already released its successor. Providing excellent 4K performance, the card has 10 GBs of GDDR6X memory using a 320-bit memory interface and a boost clock speed of up to 1740 MHz. This graphics card supports ray-tracing, DLSS 2.0, and comes with 3 DisplayPort 1.4a ports and 1 HDMI 2.1 connection.
- Brand
- MSI
- Cooling Method
- Air
- GPU Speed
- 1,740 MHz
- Interface
- PCI Express 4.0
- Memory
- 10GB GDDR6X
- Power
- 320 watts