A Chinese company offers GeForce RTX 5090 with 96 GB of memory for $3888
- Suqiao is selling the RTX 5090 with 96 GB of memory instead of 32 GB
- Price $3888 is 35% lower than the official price in the USA
- The modification requires a firmware redo and a non-standard board
- The product specifications contain questionable data
Shenzhen-based manufacturer Suqiao Intelligent Technology has launched sales of a non-standard version of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, featuring a significantly increased video memory capacity. Instead of the standard 32 GB, the modified card is equipped with 96 GB of video memory — three times more. Sales listings have been posted on the Alibaba marketplace with a price tag of $3888, which is about 35% cheaper than the retail price of the original RTX 5090 in the American market.
Suqiao is not a pioneer in the modification of graphics cards. The company has over ten years of experience in the production and modification of accelerators, motherboards, and server components. In recent years, various custom versions of popular graphics accelerators have emerged in China, including the RTX 5080 with 32 GB of memory, the RTX 4090 with 48 GB, and the RTX 3090 with a similar capacity. Initially, such projects attracted mainly enthusiasts and hobbyists, but the explosive growth in demand for data processing capabilities for artificial intelligence has pushed manufacturers to seek non-standard solutions by expanding the memory of existing and even morally outdated accelerators.
Technical implementation and reliability issues
Technically, expanding the memory to 96 GB seems feasible. The GeForce RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell graphics card, which uses the same GB202 GPU as the RTX 5090, contains exactly 96 GB of GDDR7 video memory. To achieve such a volume on a custom board, Suqiao likely placed memory chips on both sides of the printed circuit board, as the total number of contact pads is limited to 32 positions. The professional accelerator RTX 6000 uses 32 GDDR7 chips of 3 GB each, totaling 96 GB of memory.
At the same time, the product description on Alibaba mentions GDDR6X video memory with a parameter of 14 Gbps, which raises serious doubts. The chip manufacturer Micron produced GDDR6X chips exclusively in 2 GB capacity, and the speed characteristics of 14 Gbps do not correspond to any of the standards for this type of memory — for GDDR6X, the range is from 19 to 24 Gbps, and for GDDR6 — from 12 Gbps. It is physically impossible to assemble 96 GB of memory from 2-gigabyte GDDR6X chips, even placed on both sides of the board. This circumstance casts doubt on the honesty of the technical specifications listed in the advertisement.
Software and component source
For the operation of a graphics card with modified memory capacity, a modified firmware and software hacks at the operating system and driver level are required. Notably, the emergence of the RTX 4090 with 48 GB of memory was made possible by enthusiasts modifying the firmware from Nvidia. According to available information, the firmware for the RTX 5090 was leaked online a few months ago, which likely allowed Suqiao to begin developing an extended version.
Regarding the source of the GB202 graphics processors, two scenarios can be assumed: either Suqiao acquires them through specialized channels, or extracts them from standard RTX 5090 graphics cards. The justification for choosing one method or the other depends on production economics and component availability.
The emergence of such modified accelerators reflects the real market demand for artificial intelligence for large amounts of video memory, which allows for processing more complex models and larger datasets. However, buyers should consider the risks associated with warranty, driver compatibility, and component reliability when purchasing such custom solutions.
Source: 3DNews
