NVIDIA has warned about the rise of new fakes of not just re-engraved chips, but fully-hollow fakes of graphics cards. The risk of buying a 'dead' fake hardware for high-end gaming GPUs has increased as there are more and more cases of non-working hardware that looks like the real thing but is in fact empty of semiconductor components. Criminals have taken the business to the next level.
Counterfeiters build empty fiberglass shells to mimic high-end graphics cards
No longer it's about re-engraving chips, they go as far as fabricating entirely fake products with inert material. You won't be able to spot the fakes simply by visual inspection. It means the end consumer has to use more advanced techniques to avoid wasting money on the frauds.
Fraud is targeting the top tier GPUs with AD102 and GA102 architectures, which are the most popular base for high-end gaming graphics cards. Some of the fake GPUs are based on the old Ampere architecture GA102 chips. Other are fully fabricated from scratch, entirely empty.
The empty units are made of printed fiberglass and metal frames to simulate the size and weight of real PCB. Empty cards are made to look and weigh as authentic GPU units, so that they could evade basic checks.
The first technique involves grinding down the inscriptions from original chips of GA102. Then the chips are re-engraved to look like flagship Ada Lovelace AD102 chips. The second technique is more advanced.
It involves fully fabricating fake GPUs. The fake GPUs are empty – no copper traces, no semiconductor dies. If you look at such a unit with a strong light, you will see green light going through the fiberglass substrate. The real PCBs would not allow light transmission, hence, such glowing would signify you are dealing with a fake GPU.
Beware of traps when buying high-end graphics cards in second hand market. You should be extra careful. The warning suggests that you must use detailed testing methods right on the spot, not just photos or descriptions of the seller.
You need to check if the PCB allows light transmission. You need to check if there are any components in the unit. Such warnings are key for end consumers that buy second hand hardware, which is at the highest risk of scams.
I used to buy used cards at the flea market. I will never do that again.
fiberglass glowing green is such a cheap trick but honestly effective if you dont know better