Modified Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series video cards with double the amount of memory have been discovered in China, available for rent from the cloud provider AutoDL. The provider offers them at an attractive price, but only for users from China.
Image source: NVIDIA
As the name suggests, the GeForce RTX 4090D 48GB and GeForce RTX 4080 Super 32GB have twice the memory capacity of the standard versions. Video memory is especially important when working with AI. At the same time, the basic characteristics of video cards probably remained unchanged, although a slight increase in their TDP is possible.
Image source: @bdsqlsz/X
Modifications to Nvidia GeForce video cards to increase memory capacity are nothing new. However, this may be the first case of such a modification of Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series video cards (Ada Lovelace). At the same time, the procedure itself seems at first glance not difficult with some skills, since it consists of simply replacing standard GDDR6X memory modules with chips of larger capacity.
The regular GeForce RTX 4090D has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory, which is made up of 12 GDDR6X memory chips with a capacity of 2 GB, while the GeForce RTX 4080 is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6X in the form of eight chips of the same capacity. To double the memory, you need to replace the 2 GB GDDR6X with 4 GB modules. However, the problem is that 4GB GDDR6X/GDDR6 memory modules do not yet exist.
Therefore, the GeForce RTX 4090D 48GB and GeForce RTX 4080 Super 32GB likely use a custom PCB to accommodate GDDR6X on both sides. This approach is similar to what Nvidia uses in its more expensive Titan and RTX pro graphics cards.
It is not yet known who is behind the creation of the modified video cards and how AutoDL managed to obtain them, but they are reported to have been in circulation since the end of June. To rent these video cards you will need to register with the provider and have a Chinese phone number. We also know that the GeForce RTX 4090D 48GB is selling for around $2,500, which is $685 more than the standard GeForce RTX 4090D, which has a suggested retail price of 12,999 yuan ($1,815).