Chinese Vendors are Offering NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080M and RTX 4090M as Desktop GPUs

[AleksandarK]

According to the recent listing on Goofish, discovered by VideoCardz, Chinese companies have begun selling mobile versions of NVIDIA's latest RTX 40-series GPUs as desktop graphics cards. Initially designed for gaming laptops, the GeForce RTX 4080M and RTX 4090M are now being marketed in China as more affordable alternatives to their official desktop counterparts. This development is no surprise to industry observers who recall similar adaptations with the RTX 20 and 30 series. These companies are leveraging the lower cost of mobile GPUs, combined with budget cooling solutions and simpler PCB designs, to offer more affordable desktop GPU options. The mobile GPUs, which are capped at a power consumption of 175 Watts, are being repurposed without official sanction, with NVIDIA seemingly disregarding this practice. Despite the lack of official endorsement, these modified GPUs are finding their way into the market, providing gamers a cost-effective alternative to the more expensive desktop versions.

While not officially supported by NVIDIA, these cards utilize the mobile GPU dies paired with custom cooling solutions and PCBs to work in desktop PCs. According to reports, the RTX 4080M desktop variant offers 7424 CUDA cores and 12 GB GDDR6 memory, representing a 24% reduction in cores and 4 GB less memory versus the desktop RTX 4080. The desktop RTX 4090M is even more cut-down, with 9728 cores and 16 GB memory—a 40% drop in cores and 8 GB less memory than the flagship RTX 4090 desktop card. Pricing falls between $420 and $560 for the RTX 4080M and exceeds that of even the desktop RTX 4090 for the 4090M variant. Performance and longevity still need to be determined for these unofficial cards. While they present a cheaper RTX 40-series option for Chinese gamers, the reduced specifications come with tradeoffs. Still, their availability indicates the ongoing demand for next-gen GPUs and the lengths some vendors go to to meet that demand.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Rexter]

This is quite interesting, and I hope someone can get hold of a few samples and do some tests. It would be nice to see how they hold up compared to the current market, especially mid-range GPU's, and how much they lack compared to their non-mobile counterparts.
To be honest I dont know why NVIDIA and AMD havent done this already, slap the mobile chips on regular PCB's, adequate cooling and call it a mid range card.

 

[Jonny5isalivetm5]

Can anybody find where to buy these ? I guess if the price is right it is tempting to risk ordering from China

 

[Assimilator]

with NVIDIA seemingly disregarding this practice

How is NVIDIA supposed to stop it?

 

[Nostras]

The 4080M is surprisingly decent value if you particularly value efficiency considering you're getting between a 4070 Super's and 4070Ti's worth of shading units.
The one in the image seems to run at max 115W which is very restrictive and pits it against a 4060Ti.
At 175W you're going to get performance somewhere inbetween a 4070 and a 4070 Super based on known 4080M 175W benchmarks and firestrike ultra ratings.

https://static.tweaktown.com/content/1/0/10637_17_nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-super-founders-edition-review.png

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i9-13900HK-performance-debut-Alienware-x16-R1-laptop-review.725961.0.html#9905938-3

Although it's not very clear if the 4080 Mobile is throttling or not. Based on temperature readings I'd argue "not much really".

Interesting development for sure.

 

[Emanulele]

How is NVIDIA supposed to stop it?

They would know where those GPU dies are where sold to and can stop selling to whoever bought them. They'll eventually find another channel to procure the dies, but it will definitely slow them down. That said, this is probably small quantity stuff and it doesn't bother Nvidia much.

 

[Darthgrey]

They would know where those GPU dies are where sold to and can stop selling to whoever bought them. They'll eventually find another channel to procure the dies, but it will definitely slow them down. That said, this is probably small quantity stuff and it doesn't bother Nvidia much.

I assume those GPU's comes from broken and QS laptops, it's a country with over 1 billion people living there and it should be plenty e-waste including thousands of broken laptops with 4080M and 4090M.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

I could just see this creating confusion with consumers considering how the mobile version have so many fewer cores than the desktop version.

 

[Denver]

They would know where those GPU dies are where sold to and can stop selling to whoever bought them. They'll eventually find another channel to procure the dies, but it will definitely slow them down. That said, this is probably small quantity stuff and it doesn't bother Nvidia much.

It is likely that these are chips recovered from defective laptops (electronic waste), but also that Nvidia itself sold them in high volume and at a generous discount to boost sales numbers, I believe that AMD also does this, that's why there are so many cheap Chinese mini PCs.

 

[lemonadesoda]

If they make 4080M low profile then colour me interested

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

I don't mind them being fugly, weird, Chinese, or TDP-gimped as long as they outperform "normal" GPUs of the same price. What bothers me is are these GPUs faring well with WHQL drivers, or an end user needs to install patched drivers for these things to work. Any info on that?

 

[Sithaer]

I don't mind them being fugly, weird, Chinese, or TDP-gimped as long as they outperform "normal" GPUs of the same price. What bothers me is are these GPUs faring well with WHQL drivers, or an end user needs to install patched drivers for these things to work. Any info on that?

Theres a RTX 3060M 12GB from Aliexpress and that one did need the Frankendriver so if this is anything like that then most likely:

Theres also a RX 6600M on the AMD side but that one worked with the official driver from what I know.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Theres a RTX 3060M 12GB from Aliexpress and that one did need the Frankendriver so if this is anything like that then most likely:

Theres also a RX 6600M on the AMD side but that one worked with the official driver from what I know.

Also as point of note, im not sure if it was mentioned on that specific video but in other videos he has talked about buying products from china that needed frankendrivers or maybe specific software to get them to run either on a CD or USB drive that actually had malware on it. Either it would install the malware if you have the windows autorun option on or when you clicked any of the executables.

Its not just random frankenGPUs ive been hearing this about either. They've tried it with dash cams, web cams - basically any kind of tech that plugs into usb that requires special drivers from them is a way for them to install a keylogger or trojan horse on your PC.

I dont always watch TechYes videos but I do watch his stuff every now and again.

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

We should not call these "vendors", just scammers.

 

[Calenhad]

According to reports, the RTX 4080M desktop variant offers 7424 CUDA cores and 12 GB GDDR6 memory, representing a 24% reduction in cores and 4 GB less memory versus the desktop RTX 4080. The desktop RTX 4090M is even more cut-down, with 9728 cores and 16 GB memory—a 40% drop in cores and 8 GB less memory than the flagship RTX 4090 desktop card.

The reason for this is that the 4080M is basically a 4070ti and the 4090M is a 4080. Clockspeed and TDP are the main changes. And the obvious name cheating.

 

[Nekajo]

They would know where those GPU dies are where sold to and can stop selling to whoever bought them. They'll eventually find another channel to procure the dies, but it will definitely slow them down. That said, this is probably small quantity stuff and it doesn't bother Nvidia much.

Why would they care, they still sell them

As a buyer tho, I'd be more worried

 

[DersüßeWaifu]

I am pretty sure NVIDIA won't stop it. 'Cause the CEO now is celebrating the annual party in NVIDIA China.

 

[A&P211]

I assume those GPU's comes from broken and QS laptops, it's a country with over 1 billion people living there and it should be plenty e-waste including thousands of broken laptops with 4080M and 4090M.

The 4080m and 4090m are still very new, I dont think there are thousands and thousands of them in the e-waste factories.

The reason for this is that the 4080M is basically a 4070ti and the 4090M is a 4080. Clockspeed and TDP are the main changes. And the obvious name cheating.

The memory specs are also very different.

 

[Wirko]

also that Nvidia itself sold them in high volume and at a generous discount to boost sales numbers, I believe that AMD also does this, that's why there are so many cheap Chinese mini PCs.

Those are laptops without screen anyway, with mobile CPUs, SODIMM memory and 19V power bricks. Do Nvidia and AMD not officially support mobile GPUs in mini PCs?

 

[SSGBryan]

I could just see this creating confusion with consumers considering how the mobile version have so many fewer cores than the desktop version.

Having shopped for (and purchased) some of the more shall we say, exotic GPUs on Aliexpress, I'd have to disagree with you.

They are clearly marked with an M designator on the advertisements. Most of them have GPU-Z screen shots attached that show how many cores, and even that they are Nvidia laptop GPUs. Several YT Tech folks have done reviews on them. As long as you are using the Frankendrivers (Yes, that is what they are called by the developer), you are getting within a few points of their desktop counterparts. As far as cores/TMUs/Rops - some have a few less than their desktop variant, but some have more.

What I have seen on Aliexpress is:

RTX A2000 8gb ($157 USD, free shipping)

RTX 2060M 12gb ($155 USD, free shipping)
RTX 2070M 8gb ($189 USD, free shipping)
RTX 2080M 8gb ($220 USD, free shipping)
RTX 2080ti 22gb ($482 USD, free shipping)

RTX 3060M 12gb ($235 USD, free shipping - more TMU & ROP than the desktop variant)
RTX 3070M 8gb ($284 USD, free shipping)
RTX 3070TiM 8gb ($315 USD, free shipping - same specs as the desktop variant)

I am ordering a couple of these next month to play around with. I have been pleased with the RX 5700xt ($137USD, free shipping) and RTX 2060 Super ($167 USD, free shipping). Both of these are by Soyo (Monarch Dragon line of GPUs). I am definately ordering the RTX 2060m;

I have a Kinology RX 580 16gb ($87USD, free shipping) going into an old HPZ 210 tower, (media server). I want to see if the 16 gb helps with Stable Diffusion; we already know that the 16 gb doesn't help with gaming.

 

[kapone32]

Theres a RTX 3060M 12GB from Aliexpress and that one did need the Frankendriver so if this is anything like that then most likely:

Theres also a RX 6600M on the AMD side but that one worked with the official driver from what I know.

That is because AMD drivers are universal.

I am pretty sure NVIDIA won't stop it. 'Cause the CEO now is celebrating the annual party in NVIDIA China.

View attachment 330899

Taiwan is no way China

 

[LabRat 891]

If nVidia hardware had an indie devteam making custom drivers (like RdN.ID does for AMD) these would be extremely attractive.
W/o good driver support though, they're too risky IMO.

Personally, mobile-derived dGPUs are especially interesting; I wish nVidia and AMD both would occasionally offer mobileGPU-on-PCIe cards (for SFF, enc/decode, etc)

 

[SSGBryan]

You can get an RX 6600M from Aliexpress; Soyo (Monarch Dragon line) has one for $161 & free shipping.

I have both a RX 5700xt & their RTX 2060 Super from that line - I was quite pleased with both. They are well built and run just fine.

Aliexpress also has a lot of waifu themed GPUs, if your computer needs them.

 

[Jonny5isalivetm5]

Anyone able to locate a 4080m or 4090m for sale ?

 

[SSGBryan]

Neither have shown up on Aliexpress.

I have seen a $4,999 MSI Suprim x24g graphics card.

(+$109 USD shipping).