Old cryptomining GPUs are now being repurposed to create GeForce RTX 3080 20GB and RX 580 16GB cards.

Unreleased GeForce RTX 3080 20GB and Radeon RX 580 16GB are now available in China

Chinese companies are making new cards from used hardware.

Recently we covered the topic of RTX 4090 GPUs which are currently being taken apart 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 US sanctions. It is unfortunate that such companies continue to operate, use fully functional gaming GPUs and make completely new blower-type cards for a different market. However, these cards sometimes have a different origin.

Most of the blower cards on the Chinese market are old cryptomining GPUs that are no longer profitable to use. Companies like Jieshuo buy them in bulk and give them a second chance. As long as gamers know that these cards are old and have been used for cryptomining, and that they are cheaper than similar GPUs on the used market, there is nothing to complain about. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

One of the recently emerged GPUs is the GeForce RTX 3080 20GB, which was never released by NVIDIA, although there have been many rumors about planning such an SKU. The model was mentioned in internal board partner roadmaps, but it never made it to market. The reason why Chinese companies choose the RTX 3080 instead of the 3090 already equipped with 24 GB of memory is simple: the RTX 3080 is much cheaper to buy.

RTX 3080 with 20 GB of memory, Source: Miscellaneous

Additionally, it can be easily modified up to 20 GB of memory via some known physical and software mods. Modders already showed how to achieve this a few months ago, and we already saw such cards on the Chinese market for around $600 a year ago. These cards were strictly marketed for cryptomining and their price was not shocking at the time. However, with the new US sanctions in place, access to high-memory RTX GPUs is causing prices to rise again, so this particular model is now selling for around $900.

The RTX 3080 isn’t the only card being targeted, the Radeon RX 580, which initially launched with 8GB of memory, can also be found with twice the capacity. These cards aren’t even new, but repurposed used models with improved memory. The company does not even hide this fact on the official page where these cards are sold.

RX 580 16 GB, source: AliExpress

The sudden increase in the number of these two cards can only be attributed to the same source, namely old cryptomining farms. These cards are cleaned, sometimes dismantled, then reassembled. They look 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 warranty in case something goes wrong, but it is difficult to make claims.

It is to be expected that more such strange models will appear, as Chinese companies are constantly exploring new ideas. Mobile RTX GPUs hitting the desktop market shouldn’t surprise anyone anymore either.

Regarding unusual memory configurations in current and official SKUs, as previously mentioned, as long as players are aware that these are older cryptomining cards available cheaply, there is little room for debate. However, the practice of companies stripping new cards for their components is a problem that should be quickly addressed by NVIDIA and the board partners that supply these GPUs.

Source: I_Leak_VN