Nvidia's RTX 5090 is the latest GPU involved in a new scam, in which criminals are removing the GPU core and VRAM memory from RTX 5090s for their own purposes. Northwestrepair on YouTube received a Zotac RTX 5090 from a customer with no GPU core or GDDR7 memory chips attached to the PCB.
The card's original owner was apparently trying to find one of Nvidia's best graphics cards for a steep discount, paying just $2,000 for their RTX 5090. Technically, $2,000 is the RTX 5090's MSRP, but in today's market, RTX 5090s regularly go for almost $3,000 with some models priced as high as $4,000 thanks to high demand. Any RTX 5090 priced at MSRP (or lower) is well below the card's real value in today's market, which explains how the owner got scammed.
Northwestrepair received the Zotac RTX 5090 in good condition, except for one of the rear mounting screws which was completely stripped. The owner of the card allegedly tried to tear down the card himself but failed to do so and stripped some of the screws in the process.
After drilling out the screw, the repair technician was able to remove the Zotac triple-fan cooler, and confirm that the RTX 5090 completely lacked a GPU core and any VRAM modules. What was left was a perfectly healthy PCB, with all other components intact, including the power delivery system, 16-pin power connector, and display outputs. The only good news in this story is that the technician was able to get a free RTX 5090 donor card out of the whole ordeal.
This is the first major RTX 5090 scam we have seen involving modifications to the GPU itself. There have been RTX 5090 scams in the past, but those scams involved replacing the graphics card itself with other products, such as macaroni and rice or backpacks.
If history is anything to go by, these sorts of scams will only become more prevalent as time goes on. Nvidia's previous-generation RTX 4090 has been at the whim of all types of scams, including scams where customers received RTX 4090s without GPU dies or VRAM (too) and modified RTX 4090s that come with previous-gen RTX 3090/RTX 3080 Ti dies.
The best way to protect yourself is to watch out for RTX 5090 listings with suspiciously good deals and only buy graphics cards from reputable sources.
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