● Covered by 1 source · 1 reportLow impact1 neutral
Modder Creates Working Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti 16GB by Swapping VRAM and GPU
Key points
- Modder fmklab created a 16GB RTX 3070 Ti using an RTX 3070 PCB.
- The modification involved swapping the GPU and GDDR6 memory chips.
- Memory straps on the PCB were reconfigured to recognize 16GB VRAM.
- The custom card showed lower benchmark scores than stock 3070 Ti due to GDDR6.
Recreating an Unreleased GPU
Brazilian YouTuber fmklab, also known as Fabian, successfully built a working Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti graphics card equipped with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM. Nvidia had previously listed a 16GB version of the RTX 3070 Ti but ultimately released the card with 8GB of GDDR6X VRAM. Fabian's creation brings this unreleased configuration to life through a series of hardware modifications.
Hardware Modifications and Challenges
Fabian used an RTX 3070 PCB as the base, replacing its original GPU with an RTX 3070 Ti chip. The RTX 3070 uses GDDR6 memory, which is different from the GDDR6X found in the retail RTX 3070 Ti. To achieve 16GB of VRAM, Fabian swapped the existing 8Gb Samsung GDDR6 chips with 16Gb HC16 chips. After the physical swap, the card initially only recognized 8GB of VRAM, requiring a reconfiguration of the PCB's memory straps using the Nvidia BIOS Reader tool.
Performance Verification
After reconfiguring the memory straps, tools like MATS and GPU-Z confirmed the full 16GB VRAM capacity. To test its practical performance, Fabian ran a local Large Language Model (LLM) which utilized nearly the entire 16GB. Call of Duty: Warzone also consumed over 13GB of VRAM without instability. However, a Unigine Superposition benchmark showed a score of 5,367 points, which is lower than typical RTX 3070 Ti scores. This performance difference is attributed to the decreased memory bandwidth of GDDR6 compared to the GDDR6X used in the stock RTX 3070 Ti.
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Primary sources
GitHub fmuniztriana/nvidia-bios-readerReporting from
A Brazilian YouTuber successfully created a functional Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti graphics card with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM, a configuration that Nvidia had previously considered but did not release. This modification involved combining an RTX 3070 PCB with a 3070 Ti GPU and custom GDDR6 memory chips, demonstrating the feasibility of such a card.