• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Fake NVIDIA Card GPU identification problem

gpetersz

New Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
5 (0.00/day)
Hello Guys,

I also was fool enough to buy a fake chinese VGA scam through eBay. I know, if something looks too good to be true, it is too good.
I did it in a wrong order. 1.) I saw the card (it was said: GTX 1050 2G..., it was 47 GBP) 2.) I bought it 3.) 3 days later, when I received the e-mail about that my package is sent, I did some research...

I found lots of videos (youtube) and descriptions (this page and forum for example), where it was described.
1.) I knew instantly, that I was scammed. No D-Sub connector on GTX 1050s...
2.) The videos said (and demonstrated), that I should remove the fan, check the GPU serial GFXXX-XXX etc.
3.) I instantly ordered an USB EPROM burner with clip, and cooler paste.
4.) And I've been waiting for my card

1.
Today, it arrived. I removed the fan, and found the image, I attached here (image 1: gpu_unknown.jpg).

Nothing about the GPU serials that were in the videos... :-/ no, nothing.
Just the first attached image. Maybe it was removed artificially? Google didn't help me with these numbers...

2.
There are some texts, written manually(!) on the frame around the GPU, starting with GF116-chinese letter-chinese-letter 192/128 blahblah (second attached image: gpu_2.jpg).
GF116 could mean GTS 450, GTX550, GT640 OEM, and some mobile versions of these cards... unfortunatelly, no more data is written by the guy who wrote to the frame by hand.

3. - non question
I was able to identify the DRAMs though. There are 4 of them, sk hynix h5gc2h24bfr-t2c : I found it, it is a 256 MB GDDR5 ram, there are 4 of these, so not 2Gb but it means 1Gb.
I might say... it is a usual scamm...

So, my question is in 1.) and 2.). How could I identify the GPU? (it is GF116- something... :p)

Thank you in advance!
KR,
Peter
 

Attachments

  • gpu_2.jpg
    gpu_2.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 1,309
  • gpu_unknown.jpg
    gpu_unknown.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 1,596

W1zzard

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 14, 2004
Messages
26,936 (3.72/day)
Processor Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory 48 GB
Video Card(s) RTX 4080
Storage 2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s) 30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software Windows 10 64-bit

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
40,435 (6.62/day)
Location
Republic of Texas (True Patriot)
System Name PCGOD
Processor AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory 16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s) NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s) Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software Windows 7 Pro 64
Take pictures of the memory too let's get a big board shot, not just the core
 

gpetersz

New Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
5 (0.00/day)
I was able to flash a new BIOS to the card.
It is the first ever I've done anything like this.

I was able to read the original bios (which lied itself to a 2 Gb GTX 1050), saved it.

1.)
Then I tried flashing an ASUS GTX 550 Ti image.
It burnt. Then I tried to verify and it said: "chip with the contents are in disagreement "
I re-read the burnt image, it seemed as garbage (no readable part, not even where the burnt rom file had some info)

2.)
I tried a Gigabyte one.
Same: "chip with the contents are in disagreement "

3.)
Then I tried a Gainward one.
Success: verify ran, and said it is okay.

4.)
I rebuilt the card (that flop heatsink and fans), put into my PC, and it gave image (not bricked).
I installed NVidia drivers, and it said it is a GTX 550 Ti

5.)
I downloaded GPU-Z, checked it. More or less seemed OK, but it said the card has only 768 Mbytes of memory...
Can one of the modules be defective?

6.)
I tried Team Fortress 2, and it hung within a minute. It also hung my Win10.

7.)
I rebooted, and now, here I am, using the PC with the card, but well... it is only a browser... :p
I guess any heavy 3D (TF2 is not that heavy...) would hang the card again.

Any ideas?

a.) Should I try to burn an other rom? (with a lower GPU and memory speed? Other roms seemed to have lower specs between 900 and 1000 Mhz for GPU)
b.) What could be that 768 Mbytes...?

Thank you for any help for a newbie.
KR,
Peter
 

Attachments

  • gpu-z.PNG
    gpu-z.PNG
    38.2 KB · Views: 1,978

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!
Supporter
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
Messages
9,211 (2.53/day)
Location
Washington, USA
System Name Veral
Processor 5950x
Motherboard MSI MEG x570 Ace
Cooling Corsair H150i Elite
Memory 4x16GB G.Skill TridentZ
Video Card(s) Powercolor 7900XTX Red Devil
Storage Crucial P5 Plus 1TB, Samsung 980 1TB, Teamgroup MP34 4TB
Display(s) Acer Nitro XZ342CK Pbmiiphx + 2x AOC 2425W
Case Fractal Design Meshify Lite 2
Audio Device(s) Blue Yeti + SteelSeries Arctis 5 / Samsung HW-T550
Power Supply Corsair HX850
Mouse Corsair Nightsword
Keyboard Corsair K55
VR HMD HP Reverb G2
Software Windows 11 Professional
Benchmark Scores PEBCAK
I would've returned it as soon as you could see it was a scam to be honest. 550Ti and a 1050 are pretty far apart.
 
Joined
Jan 20, 2017
Messages
328 (0.13/day)
System Name Burning a hole through my wallet
Processor 3700X
Motherboard Maximus 8 Hero
Cooling Custom loop (EK Extreme 360 Rad, Supremacy evo w/AM4 bracket)
Memory 2x16 Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB @3200MHz
Video Card(s) EVGA 2080s hybrid
Storage 960 Evo, 660p, P1, BX500, 2XWD Black, Ironwolf Proo
Display(s) Predator 27" 4k 144hz HDR
Case NZXT h700i
Power Supply EVGA G3 850
Mouse Logitech G502 hero
Keyboard Drop ALT W/holypanda switches
Software Win 10 Pro 64, Ubuntu 20.04, Manjaro (latest)
I would've returned it as soon as you could see it was a scam to be honest. 550Ti and a 1050 are pretty far apart.
Seller may have packed up shop, I'd dispute it with eBay, get your money back and keep the card. As for the 768M of vram, it looks like you may have gotten a bios for a different card (don't know if there's a 768MB 550ti) and I'd suggest looking around for a serial number that identifies the card back to a manufacturer and model. If we could get a picture of the cooler we may be able to figure out the brand.
 

gpetersz

New Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
5 (0.00/day)
I would've returned it as soon as you could see it was a scam to be honest. 550Ti and a 1050 are pretty far apart.

Returning it would cost around the price of the card, it is not an option.
I filed a claim through PayPal, they opened an issue, and "investigating it". They say it'll take 3 business days.

As for the 768M of vram, it looks like you may have gotten a bios for a different card (don't know if there's a 768MB 550ti) and I'd suggest looking around for a serial number that identifies the card back to a manufacturer and model. If we could get a picture of the cooler we may be able to figure out the brand.

The cooler is a cheap, generic one, unfortunatelly, I guess they changed the original. I removed it, checked the face of the GPU, but seemingly the seller (probably using some chemical stuff) removed the GPU ID. :-/
As for the board, there isn't any relevant (at least for me) or identifiable text on it... :-/

I really fear, if one of the memories is defective, as far as I know there is no GTX 550 Ti with 768 Mbytes, and there is 4 x 256 Mbytes sk hynix h5gc2h24bfr-t2c chip... :-/

I am unexperienced... can a VGA run the Windows Desktop with a defective memory? (if it is not used... GPU-Z says 191 Mbytes used, so probably the defective memory is not used...)
I could solder it out, get a chip somehow... but well... I could easily screw up the whole board, I haven't done anything like this before.

I found GTX 460 with 768 Mbytes: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/139243/nvidia-gtx460-768-100603

I guess flashing a GF104 GPU bios to a GF116 card is not the best idea...

:)
 
Joined
Jan 20, 2017
Messages
328 (0.13/day)
System Name Burning a hole through my wallet
Processor 3700X
Motherboard Maximus 8 Hero
Cooling Custom loop (EK Extreme 360 Rad, Supremacy evo w/AM4 bracket)
Memory 2x16 Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB @3200MHz
Video Card(s) EVGA 2080s hybrid
Storage 960 Evo, 660p, P1, BX500, 2XWD Black, Ironwolf Proo
Display(s) Predator 27" 4k 144hz HDR
Case NZXT h700i
Power Supply EVGA G3 850
Mouse Logitech G502 hero
Keyboard Drop ALT W/holypanda switches
Software Win 10 Pro 64, Ubuntu 20.04, Manjaro (latest)
Returning it would cost around the price of the card, it is not an option.
I filed a claim through PayPal, they opened an issue, and "investigating it". They say it'll take 3 business days.



The cooler is a cheap, generic one, unfortunatelly, I guess they changed the original. I removed it, checked the face of the GPU, but seemingly the seller (probably using some chemical stuff) removed the GPU ID. :-/
As for the board, there isn't any relevant (at least for me) or identifiable text on it... :-/

I really fear, if one of the memories is defective, as far as I know there is no GTX 550 Ti with 768 Mbytes, and there is 4 x 256 Mbytes sk hynix h5gc2h24bfr-t2c chip... :-/

I am unexperienced... can a VGA run the Windows Desktop with a defective memory? (if it is not used... GPU-Z says 191 Mbytes used, so probably the defective memory is not used...)
I could solder it out, get a chip somehow... but well... I could easily screw up the whole board, I haven't done anything like this before.

I found GTX 460 with 768 Mbytes: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/139243/nvidia-gtx460-768-100603

I guess flashing a GF104 GPU bios to a GF116 card is not the best idea...

:)
You should be able to file a claim with eBay I think as well, without having to do anything. Generic VGA drivers tend to work on desktop at least so you probably have just a display adapter at this point. As for the 460/550ti, I'm suprised that it would have worked at all. If you use nvflash in windows, you may be able to send a proper bios onto it as well.
 

gpetersz

New Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
5 (0.00/day)
You should be able to file a claim with eBay I think as well, without having to do anything. Generic VGA drivers tend to work on desktop at least so you probably have just a display adapter at this point. As for the 460/550ti, I'm suprised that it would have worked at all. If you use nvflash in windows, you may be able to send a proper bios onto it as well.

Reclaim: I did that.

It is not a generic VGA driver, it was the proper Nvidia driver, I've downloaded Geforce Game Ready, and it identified the card, and installed the proper driver (GTX 550 Ti).

I think I also identified the problem meantime. There is no GTX 550 Ti with 768 Mbytes of memory (we have GTX 460, but that's not GF116 GPU).
So probably 1 of the 4 hynix memories are off. Not working: defective.

That could simply cause the hung during TF2 game test. Probably the game wanted to load something onto the defective memory.

Now, I am after a method where I can "downgrade" the bios and such, make the card not to use that memory... :p

I am not a pro: this card is already here to do something with it... The claim is not decided yet, but I am ready to loose that 47 GBP anyway, it was my fault, but it is a great occasion to learn something new.
 
Joined
Jan 20, 2017
Messages
328 (0.13/day)
System Name Burning a hole through my wallet
Processor 3700X
Motherboard Maximus 8 Hero
Cooling Custom loop (EK Extreme 360 Rad, Supremacy evo w/AM4 bracket)
Memory 2x16 Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB @3200MHz
Video Card(s) EVGA 2080s hybrid
Storage 960 Evo, 660p, P1, BX500, 2XWD Black, Ironwolf Proo
Display(s) Predator 27" 4k 144hz HDR
Case NZXT h700i
Power Supply EVGA G3 850
Mouse Logitech G502 hero
Keyboard Drop ALT W/holypanda switches
Software Win 10 Pro 64, Ubuntu 20.04, Manjaro (latest)
Reclaim: I did that.

It is not a generic VGA driver, it was the proper Nvidia driver, I've downloaded Geforce Game Ready, and it identified the card, and installed the proper driver (GTX 550 Ti).

I think I also identified the problem meantime. There is no GTX 550 Ti with 768 Mbytes of memory (we have GTX 460, but that's not GF116 GPU).
So probably 1 of the 4 hynix memories are off. Not working: defective.

That could simply cause the hung during TF2 game test. Probably the game wanted to load something onto the defective memory.

Now, I am after a method where I can "downgrade" the bios and such, make the card not to use that memory... :p

I am not a pro: this card is already here to do something with it... The claim is not decided yet, but I am ready to loose that 47 GBP anyway, it was my fault, but it is a great occasion to learn something new.
Unfortunately, you really aren't going to be able to edit the bios to edit out a whole chip of ram unless you are fairly familiar with the card’s architecture, and even then it would take some time to do, this is not as simple as modifying a couple of values for voltage and clock. That said, for the price you paid, unless you really want a project. I’d leave it at that, personally I would not attempt such things on a gpu thats even semi working (and probably even then nothing lower than a 980/980ti)
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
20,692 (5.96/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor i7 8700k 4.6Ghz @ 1.24V
Motherboard AsRock Fatal1ty K6 Z370
Cooling beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200/C16
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 830 256GB + Crucial BX100 250GB + Toshiba 1TB HDD
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse XTRFY M42
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W10 x64
Dude. A 550ti for 47 pounds?

Put it in a frame and on a shelf. Collectors item, decent value, perhaps 20 years down the line you can get a decent ROI. No problems IMO :)
 
Joined
Jun 15, 2016
Messages
1,042 (0.37/day)
Location
Pristina
System Name My PC
Processor 4670K@4.4GHz
Motherboard Gryphon Z87
Cooling CM 212
Memory 2x8GB+2x4GB @2400GHz
Video Card(s) XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS Black Edition 1425MHz OC+, 8GB
Storage Intel 530 SSD 480GB + Intel 510 SSD 120GB + 2x500GB hdd raid 1
Display(s) HP envy 32 1440p
Case CM Mastercase 5
Audio Device(s) Sbz ZXR
Power Supply Antec 620W
Mouse G502
Keyboard G910
Software Win 10 pro
Greed, greed always wins.. :p
 
Joined
Jun 26, 2017
Messages
90 (0.04/day)
Location
Germany
Processor Core i5-6500
Motherboard MSI Z170A Krait Gaming
Memory 2x8GB Kingston HyperX Fury Black
Video Card(s) Radeon HD7970
Display(s) 2x BenQ E2200HD
Case Xigmatek Utgard
Power Supply OCZ Fatal1ty 550W
Mouse Mad Catz M.M.O.TE
Keyboard Coolermaster Quickfire TK MX Blue
Software Windows 10 64bit
I downloaded GPU-Z, checked it. More or less seemed OK, but it said the card has only 768 Mbytes of memory...
Can one of the modules be defective?

On that Screenshot the Bus Width is also off. It should be at 192bit
 
Top