Fake GeForce RTX 4090s with RTX 3090 chips have started popping up in China — craftsmen are even changing the GPU markings

In China, scammers have started selling GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards, passing them off as more modern GeForce RTX 4090. Moreover, the unscrupulous seller did not just send one graphics card instead of another – he took the board from the RTX 4090 and soldered the GA102 graphics processor from the RTX 3090 onto it, changing its marking to AD102.

The counterfeit card was sold on a Chinese secondary trading platform under the guise of an RTX 4090. The seller “honestly” indicated that the video card was inoperative, so he asked for only about $530 for it. Most likely, the buyer expected to repair the video card. However, disassembling the purchase showed that it was not a real GeForce RTX 4090.

The real Palit GameRock RTX 4090. Image source: TechPowerUp

Fake Palit GameRock RTX 4090. Image source: Bilibili

It should be noted that even after disassembling the card, it will be difficult for an ordinary person to detect signs of counterfeiting. However, an expert or a service center specialist will be able to immediately understand what the matter is. The accelerator uses a printed circuit board from a real GeForce RTX 4090, but a GPU from an RTX 3090 is installed on it. The fraudster carefully polished the GA102 crystal (RTX 3090) and replaced the engraving of the graphics processor with AD102 (RTX 4090), and the new engraving was done very carefully. However, traces of modification were found around the crystal of the graphics processor. The wrong number and location of capacitors caught the eye – their scheme did not correspond to the real AD102 chip. Another sign of substitution was the missing marking on the GDDR6X memory chips.

This type of GPU replacement is not difficult for someone who understands the process and has the necessary equipment to remove and install chips. In addition, the GA102 and AD102 GPUs have the same pinout.