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[Spyxos]

Memory mods on graphics cards are nothing new these days. Modders and technicians have been doing this for years, and memory replacements are among the most common jobs performed on faulty video cards. However, by replacing the memory and grounding some resistors on the PCB, it is actually possible to trick the card into supporting a different memory altogether. In this case, with twice the capacity.

The only downside of using this mod is a necessity to change GPU settings in the NVIDIA Control Panel. As it turns out, GPUs that are modded this way they tend to show errors (flickering or black screens) unless they are set to high-performance 3D mode. However, once this is done and the graphics card can support this type of memory, there should be no major drawbacks.

Since here are no changes to the GPU itself, it still carries the same PCI ID, meaning that all drivers should work and update with no issues as well. The upgrade requires special hardware and no doubt extensive knowledge. Especially when custom GPUs are considered like in this case (the mod is on MSI card).

Paulo decided to test the card with the Resident Evil 4 remake at very high settings, which struggled with 8GB VRAM limit before. This is no longer the case and the memory allocation now can go beyond 8GB (as shown even up to 11GB). Furthermore, the framerate, especially for 1% and 0.1% lows, has increased substantially.

Of course, this type of comparison is far from one would consider a proper review, but this quick comparison clearly shows that RTX 3070 would be more than capable for such high graphics settings, had it been equipped with 16GB VRAM originally.

https://videocardz.com/newz/modded-geforce-rtx-3070-with-16gb-memory-gets-major-1-low-fps-boost

 

[LostDonkey]

Deal with memory company's, gimp cards memory causing trash performance.

Sell new card with adequate memory, Win.

 

[Wonko_C]

What does 1% low mean? It looks like such a number shouldn't make much difference.

How much fps on average does the 16GB mod get vs the original? That would be an easier number to understand.

 

[Fabieter]

Me getting a 3080 desktop with 8gb of vram on top of a gaming laptop with a 3070ti with 8gb vram surely burned me the hard way. There is no way I will ever go with nvidia again even if its my fault falling for their shit :/.

 

[GHG]

And there are still some people in denial with regards to the current VRAM situation plaguing 8GB cards.

 

[Guilty_AI]

What does 1% low mean? It looks like such a number shouldn't make much difference.

Technically its the fps during the 1% worst of times.

But what it actually is indicative of is framepacing and stutters. Ideally they should be close to the average, lower values mean the game stutters more frequently and can't get stable framerates.

 

[SportsFan581]

What does 1% low mean? It looks like such a number shouldn't make much difference.

How much fps on average does the 16GB mod get vs the original? That would be an easier number to understand.

1% lows are almost more important than the average in terms of how the game is going to feel while you are playing it. It is normal for there to be a drop from the average to the 1% lows but it shouldn't be that large, if you are falling from 60 or 70 fps down to 8 or 9fps, that's a garbage tier experience for the player.

 

[Akuji]

What does 1% low mean? It looks like such a number shouldn't make much difference.

How much fps on average does the 16GB mod get vs the original? That would be an easier number to understand.

its actually the most important number. As someone said before its the worst percentile of framerate. How many fps do you have there? If you have 600fps average but 50fps 1% low that means that the fps goes up to 600 then something happens that makes the fps plummet. Big fps diffrences are noticable. While u can say 144fps are very smooth. A Game that runs 400fps with 1% lows of 150fps has higher fps all the time but you still feel stutter because of the diffrences in frametime. So you gotta look at average fps and low % fps. The narrower those number the smoother the expirience.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Has anyone here done something like this, adding VRAM to their GPU? I've got an RTX 3080 10GB, and if I can improve performance cheaply and somewhat dummy-proofedly, that'd be tight. I'm guessing this is not necessarily cheap or dummy-proof.

 

[Black_Stride]

Considering Nvidia had RTX3080'20G in the wings and RTX 3070Ti'16G all but ready im not surprised more people are doing this mod now.

Two years ago we saw it was possible:


And Nvidia didnt allow AIBs to sell these Protos to the public........so they sold them to Miners.

 

[SportsFan581]

Has anyone here done something like this, adding VRAM to their GPU? I've got an RTX 3080 10GB, and if I can improve performance cheaply and somewhat dummy-proofedly, that'd be tight. I'm guessing this is not necessarily cheap or dummy-proof.

Seems kind of involved for the average gamer, someone with the know-how could probably get a good side hustle going with it though.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Considering Nvidia had RTX3080'20G in the wings and RTX 3070Ti'16G all but ready im not surprised more people are doing this mod now.

Two years ago we saw it was possible:


And Nvidia didnt allow AIBs to sell these Protos to the public........so they sold them to Miners.

Any idea how much something like this costs to do?

 

[winjer]

Now people instead of upgrading their 3070's, can mod them to have 16GB, as they should have.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Seems kind of involved for the average gamer, someone with the know-how could probably get a good side hustle going with it though.

Ok, yeah, that's a little more involved and intricate than the PC assembly I've done. Cool video. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Skifi28]

Me getting a 3080 desktop with 8gb of vram on top of a gaming laptop with a 3070ti with 8gb vram surely burned me the hard way. There is no way I will ever go with nvidia again even if its my fault falling for their shit :/.

It really wasn't your fault.

 

[Black_Stride]

Any idea how much something like this costs to do?

Each 2GB module is about 15 - 20 dollars.
You need 8 of them.

You remove the eight 1GB ones on your RTX3060Ti/70/70Ti, you place on the new 2GB ones.
Change the strap setting to 00110 (means 16GB because Nvidia knew they were gonna release a 16GB version eventually(to miners)).
Lock the memory clocks an force high power mode so the clocks never slow down below a certain threshold (for stability)
And you now have a 16GB RTX 3060Ti/70/70Ti

 

[Grildon Tundy]

It really wasn't your fault.

 

[Spukc]

i just download vram
This is pointless

 

[Guilty_AI]

Each 2GB module is about 15 - 20 dollars.
You need 8 of them.

You remove the eight 1GB ones on your RTX3060Ti/70/70Ti, you place on the new 2GB ones.
Change the strap setting to 00110 (means 16GB because Nvidia knew they were gonna release a 16GB version eventually(to miners)).
Lock the memory clocks an force high power mode so the clocks never slow down below a certain threshold (for stability)
And you now have a 16GB RTX 3060Ti/70/70Ti

I estimate somewhere in the $200-$300 then, given the profit margin of the modder who'd hypothetically work on this.

 

[SlimySnake]

What does 1% low mean? It looks like such a number shouldn't make much difference.

How much fps on average does the 16GB mod get vs the original? That would be an easier number to understand.

Stutters when it runs out of vram. Play TLOU on PC and see just how often it stutters randomly.

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

What does 1% low mean? It looks like such a number shouldn't make much difference.

How much fps on average does the 16GB mod get vs the original? That would be an easier number to understand.

1%low is what the lowest framerate is. So, on a bell curve of performance, the 1% low is what it hits when things are at their lowest. It is a pretty important metric, because it is basically the number of framerate slowdowns. Its much harder to notice a 60 to 70 fps change than a 60-15 fps change - for example, when you walk into a big city in an open world game or some asset and effect heavy area.

 

[Roxkis_ii]

Interesting, I wish I trusted my soldering skills enough to try this.

 

[Elog]

Stutters when it runs out of vram. Play TLOU on PC and see just how often it stutters randomly.

Exactly - this means that you dramatically reduce the number of frames where the GPU needs to fetch information from RAM.

 

[SlimySnake]

TLOU and Hogwarts wouldve been better tests. Both suffer from insane stuttering issues.

 

[winjer]

Each 2GB module is about 15 - 20 dollars.
You need 8 of them.

You remove the eight 1GB ones on your RTX3060Ti/70/70Ti, you place on the new 2GB ones.
Change the strap setting to 00110 (means 16GB because Nvidia knew they were gonna release a 16GB version eventually(to miners)).
Lock the memory clocks an force high power mode so the clocks never slow down below a certain threshold (for stability)
And you now have a 16GB RTX 3060Ti/70/70Ti

That's prices for the mining boom era. Today, they are much lower.

 

[Gp1]

Meet the Brazilians.
In Brazil there is a popular saying like this "Agora a Nasa vem" (something like Now the Nasa will come/hire this guy) when someone develop a "gambiarra" (when someone do a Macgiver on something)

This is definitely one of these cases.

 

[Black_Stride]

That's prices for the mining boom era. Today, they are much lower.

Buildzoid is quoting crate prices and direct from supplier prices, like if you are buying 10,000 of them or something.

I was quoting the price if you were literally buying 8 for your personal GPU.

If you are doing it for a couple of GPUs yeah you could get them for as low as 3 dollars each.

P.S 1 Tray of the 2GB modules is 112pcs......if you can offload them then it wont cost you much per unit.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Capable GPUs don’t make Nvidia money.

Don’t worry, Jensen knows full well how capable a 3070/3070ti/4070/4070ti would be with 16GB of VRAM.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Meet the Brazilians.
In Brazil there is a popular saying like this "Agora a Nasa vem" (something like Now the Nasa will come/hire this guy) when someone develop a "gambiarra" (when someone do a Macgiver on something)

This is definitely one of these cases.

This is way too well made to be gambiarra.

 

[SlimySnake]

That's prices for the mining boom era. Today, they are much lower.

They dont even need a full 16GB. Just giving the 3070 a 10-12 GB allocation would significantly improved its performance. Maxed out Hogwarts on the 10 GB 3080 maxes out at 14 fps whereas the 12GB 3080 gets you 27 FPS. Just 2GB extra doubled the fps.

Thats 2x more performance for an extra $6-8 on a $500 card Fuck nvidia.

 

[winjer]

Buildzoid is quoting crate prices and direct from supplier prices, like if you are buying 10,000 of them or something.

I was quoting the price if you were literally buying 8 for your personal GPU.

If you are doing it for a couple of GPUs yeah you could get them for as low as 3 dollars each.

P.S 1 Tray of the 2GB modules is 112pcs......if you can offload them then it wont cost you much per unit.

No one is going to buy that memory and all the equipment required to remove the old chips and install the new ones.
The equipment alone would cost more than the GPU is worth.
Anyone interested in doing this stuff will go to a store that specializes on this stuff. And these have access to prices like Buildzoid showed.

 

[Black_Stride]

No one is going to buy that memory and all the equipment required to remove the old chips and install the new ones.
The equipment alone would cost more than the GPU is worth.
Anyone interested in doing this stuff will go to a store that specializes on this stuff. And these have access to prices like Buildzoid showed.

A Heat gun, Flux/Gel and Soldering kit dont cost more than an RTX 3070.

 

[winjer]

A Heat gun, Flux/Gel and Soldering kit dont cost more than an RTX 3070.

You might also want a good multimeter to check things are well connected before plugin in the card. A microscope also helps doing this type of work and to verify.

 

[Guilty_AI]

No one is going to buy that memory and all the equipment required to remove the old chips and install the new ones.
The equipment alone would cost more than the GPU is worth.
Anyone interested in doing this stuff will go to a store that specializes on this stuff. And these have access to prices like Buildzoid showed.

If they have access to these prices, then maybe my initial estimation could drop to around $100-150 for the work, i don't know. Would probably depend on avaliability and reliability.

 

[Black_Stride]

You might also want a good multimeter to check things are well connected before plugin in the card. A microscope also helps doing this type of work and to verify.

Microscope?


But anyway.
You wouldnt really need a multimeter even(read as at all), cuz the only thing you are doing is removing one set of modules for another (hopefully) compliant set.
Its simple BGA desoldering and resoldering man, not rocket science.

Do you need a multimeter and microscope when you change your CPU?

 

[Three]

Microscope?


But anyway.
You wouldnt really need a multimeter even(read as at all), cuz the only thing you are doing is removing one set of modules for another (hopefully) compliant set.
Its simple BGA desoldering and resoldering man, not rocket science.

Do you need a multimeter and microscope when you change your CPU?

You don't need to check connections on a CPU. It's been designed for easy installation with pins. BGA desoldering and soldering is a little different when you want to verify you've done things correctly.

 

[winjer]

Microscope?


But anyway.
You wouldnt really need a multimeter even(read as at all), cuz the only thing you are doing is removing one set of modules for another (hopefully) compliant set.
Its simple BGA desoldering and resoldering man, not rocket science.

Do you need a multimeter and microscope when you change your CPU?

This is not the same as changing a CPU...

 

[Black_Stride]

You don't need to check connections on a CPU. It's been designed for easy installation with pins. BGA desoldering and soldering is a little different when you want to verify you've done things correctly.

So you need a micrscope to look at what exactly.
And the multimeter.....to test what?

 

[Three]

So you need a micrscope to look at what exactly.
And the multimeter.....to test what?

He meant a magnifier, like this. It's good for placement and contact cleaning. The multimeter won't give you much information. You need an xray machine. I was just talking about the ridiculousness of comparing BGA resoldering to the ease of placing a pinned CPU in a socket.

 

[Black_Stride]

He meant a magnifier. It's good for placement and contact cleaning. The multimeter won't give you much information. You need an xray machine. I was just talking about the ridiculousness of comparing BGA resoldering to the ease of placing a pinned CPU in a socket.

Oh a magnifier.
Yeah for sure I get that.

Flux/Gel soldering BGA isnt expensive or particularly hard....sure i was being hyperbolic saying its the same as replacing a CPU......but its BGA placement sans a bracket(that the CPU would have).

Flux/Gel, make sure its placed correctly with your "magnifier" within the white lines printed on the PCB heat and hope.

Thats pretty much the whole process

 

[RagnarokIV]

Microscope?


But anyway.
You wouldnt really need a multimeter even(read as at all), cuz the only thing you are doing is removing one set of modules for another (hopefully) compliant set.
Its simple BGA desoldering and resoldering man, not rocket science.

Do you need a multimeter and microscope when you change your CPU?

I need a multimeter and microscope when I change my pants.

 

[ReBurn]

A Heat gun, Flux/Gel and Soldering kit dont cost more than an RTX 3070.

You don't use a heat gun and soldering iron to replace BGA chips. If you did that you'd probably lose capacitors and resistors and damage other components beyond repair just trying to get the chips off the board. You need a rework station with the ability to focus hot air and you'd probably need stencils to ensure that you align everything correctly.

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[Black_Stride]

You don't use a heat gun and soldering iron to replace BGA chips. If you did that you'd probably lose capacitors and resistors and damage other components beyond repair just trying to get the chips off the board. You need a rework station with the ability to focus hot air and you'd probably need stencils to ensure that you align everything correctly.

Obviously not a random heatgun cuz you need to be relatively sure of temperatures.
And the nozzle simply needs to be able to focus heat over the memory modules.
And no you wouldnt need stencils.

Why are you guys trying to make this job so much harder?

Heat those fuckers, peel them off.
Place new fuckers on, flux/gel place them heat them again.

 

[ReBurn]

Obviously not a random heatgun cuz you need to be relatively sure of temperatures.
And the nozzle simply needs to be able to focus heat over the memory modules.
And no you wouldnt need stencils.

Why are you guys trying to make this job so much harder?

Heat those fuckers, peel them off.
Place new fuckers on, flux/gel place them heat them again.

I don't think we're trying to make it seem harder. We're trying to make it seem realistic. You're greatly underplaying the effort required to replace ball grid array chips on a board that has hundreds or thousands of other miniature, heat sensitive components soldered to the same board. Especially boards as densely populated as a GPU.

Even with a more controllable heat source the risk of damaging the chips themselves and many unrelated components is extremely high. It is not something a novice can do in the afternoon at the dining table with a soldering iron and some flux.

 

[Skifi28]

As cool as these mods are, I think it's far more realistic to sell your card and buy a new one with the specs you want. You need specialized knowledge and you risk damaging your hardware beyond repair on top of paying a significant amount for the new memory chips.

 

[GHG]

Obviously not a random heatgun cuz you need to be relatively sure of temperatures.
And the nozzle simply needs to be able to focus heat over the memory modules.
And no you wouldnt need stencils.

Why are you guys trying to make this job so much harder?

Heat those fuckers, peel them off.
Place new fuckers on, flux/gel place them heat them again.

So now that you've had no choice but to concede the fact that the poor advice you've been giving out regarding VRAM was indeed poor advice, you're now looking to provide poor advice on this experimental VRAM upgrade?

What gives?

It's a complex job that should not even be attempted by most people.

 

[Black_Stride]

So now that you've had no choice but to concede the fact that the poor advice you've been giving out regarding VRAM was indeed poor advice, you're now looking to provide poor advice on this experimental VRAM upgrade?

What gives?

It's a complex job that should not even be attempted by most people.

The what?

This thread is very specifically about this mod.

If I enter a thread about XSX storage and I advise XSX people to get cold storage SSDs instead of the official one then enter a PS5 M.2 thread and advise getting SN850X.....one point doesnt moot the other as they are separate points in separate discussions.

If you'd like to continue discussing VRAM limitations in the VRAM limitations thread ill gladly continue discussing with you there.
Just tag me and we can keep going.
Ive still been going on about it in other threads as of like yesterday.




As of this thread, someone asked how much it might cost and how hard it might be.
Ive explained it.....now if it seems outside the realm of someones expertise then thats that....im not gonna force a novice to take apart a GPU(already a challenge for some), heat off the memory modules(which would require ~350°C), order 8x2GB module and attach those ones....its obviously not a job for a novice....but its not a job thats much further than most "I know how to solder" jobs.

 

[GHG]

The what?

This thread is very specifically about this mod.
If you'd like to continue discussing VRAM limitations in the VRAM limitations thread ill gladly continue discussing with you there.
Just tag me and we can keep going.

It's fine, I needn't ressurect old threads just to embarrass you.

The silver lining is the fact that there will now be a new bunch of people who will learn from this and they won't forget the experience. It's a shame it needs to happen to a bunch of PC builders/buyers every time there's a console generation transition.

We should strive to make sure our fellow PC gamers get the best hardware possible with their money (and the hardware that gives them the best opportunity for longivity), not use phrases like "overkill" while trying to downplay the implications that new console hardware has on the PC gaming space moving forwards. Just my two cents.

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

8gb is probably good until ps6, maaaybe even ps7 is you're really good at avoiding bad ports.