Former cryptomining GPUs are now being repurposed to make GeForce RTX 3080 20GB and RX 580 16GB cards

Never-released GeForce RTX 3080 20GB and Radeon RX 580 16GB now available in China

Chinese companies are making new cards from used hardware. 

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Recently, we have discussed the topic of RTX 4090 GPUs that are currently being disassembled and reassembled as AI-accelerators for the emerging AI market. This has been happening in China for a while, but people have only noticed it recently because there aren’t many of these GPUs due to U.S. sanctions. It is regrettable that such companies continue to operate, and they use perfectly working gaming GPUs and make entirely new blower-style cards for a different market. However, sometimes these cards have a different origin.

Most of the blower-style cards on the Chinese market are old cryptomining GPUs that are no longer profitable to use. Companies like Jieshuo are buying them in masses and giving them a second chance. As long as gamers know that these cards are old and have been used for cryptomining, and they are cheaper than similar GPUs on the second-hand market, then there’s nothing to complain about. Sadly, that is not always the case.

One of GPUs that has recently emerged is GeForce RTX 3080 20GB, which never released by NVIDIA, although there were many rumors about such a SKU being planned. The model was mentioned in internal board partner roadmaps, but it never made it to the marketplace. The reason why Chinese companies pick up RTX 3080 instead of 3090 already equipped with 24GB memory is simple, the RTX 3080 is much cheaper to procure.

RTX 3080 with 20GB memory, Source: Various

Furthermore, it can be easily modded to 20GB memory through some known physical and software mods. Modders have already shown how to achieve this months ago, and we have already seen such cards on the Chinese market for around $600 a year ago. These cards were strictly marketed for cryptomining and their pricing was not shocking at the time. However, with new US sanctions in place, access to high memory RTX GPUs is causing another price surge, so this particular model is sold for around $900 now.

The RTX 3080 is not the only card being on the target, Radeon RX 580, which originally launched with 8GB memory, can also be found with twice the capacity. These cards are not even new, but repurposed used models with upgraded memory. The company is not even hiding this fact on the official page where these cards are sold.

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RX 580 16GB, Source: AliExpress

The sudden increase in the number of these two cards can only be attributed to the same source, which is old cryptomining farms. These cards are cleaned, sometimes taken apart, and then put back together again. They look like new, but they may have old GPUs and memory chips that could stop working at any time. However, these companies now give a two-year guarantee if something goes wrong, but it’s difficult to make claims.

One should expect more of such strange models now appearing, as Chinese companies are exploring new ideas all the time. The mobile RTX GPUs making its way to the desktop market should no longer surprise anyone either.

Regarding the unusual memory setups in current and official SKUs, as mentioned previously, as long as gamers are aware that these are former cryptomining cards available at a lower cost, there is little room for debate. However, the practice of disassembling brand-new cards for their components by companies is a matter that ought to be promptly addressed by NVIDIA and board partners that supply these GPUs.

Source: I_Leak_VN