RTX 2080 Ti returns with 22 GB of memory. Eight-year-old card bought by AI enthusiasts

Almost eight years have passed since the launch of the RTX 2000 series, but Nvidia’s then-flagship refuses to retire. An offer has appeared on eBay from a Hong Kong seller, who is selling RTX 2080 Ti with 22 GB of GDDR6 memory – double the original 11 GB. The price is around 500 dollars, which is roughly over 10 thousand CZK.

Soldering instead of magic

No software trick is behind the doubled memory. The TU102-300 chip, on which the card is based, can work with larger memory configurations – modifiers therefore desolder the original modules, replace them with new ones, and then reconfigure several so-called strap resistors directly on the printed circuit board. These determine how the BIOS reads the memory layout, so the system recognizes the newly installed capacity without problems. In the same way, an RTX 3070 with 8 GB is turned into a sixteen-gigabyte variant.

Industrial production, not a garage DIYer

That this is not a one-off stunt is evidenced by the photos from the listing – next to a Gigabyte card, a whole box of already finished modified pieces is visible, and a screenshot from GPU-Z confirming 22,528 MB of usable memory in a functional computer. Repair shops that perform these modifications on a large scale describe the process as routine: remove original chips, install new modules, stress test the card, and test.

Is it worth it? Depends on what you compare it to

The target group is clearly enthusiasts running artificial intelligence locally, for whom memory volume is crucial, not raw performance. And here the numbers make sense: an RTX Titan with 24 GB costs almost 800 dollars on eBay, while the popular RTX 3090 with faster GDDR6X memory costs over 20 thousand. The catch, however, is that the buyer cannot choose the manufacturer – the seller only guarantees the Turbo version with a radial cooler and openly admits that the brand depends on what they currently have in stock. Add to that the fact that it’s eight-year-old hardware after intervention on the board, meaning no manufacturer’s warranty and uncertain lifespan.

Would you risk buying a modified card for 22 GB of memory, or is it asking for trouble?

Source: Notebookcheck, eBay