Modder mounts 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a Geforce RTX 3070

The Russian hardware enthusiast VIK-on has previously appeared on SweClockers with modifications to graphics cards. The last time we reported on his prank was in January, when he provided a Geforce RTX 2070 with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory purchased from the Aliexpress marketplace. The result then was not a performance success, but the card was at least correctly identified.

In any case, the experiment seems to have given VIK-on a bleeding tooth, as Videocardz now reports that he instead put his teeth in a Geforce RTX 3070 from Palit. The recipe is the same as last time – a card with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory in the basic version, which gets it exchanged for memory capsules with dual capacity for a total of 16 GB.

The actual replacement of the BGA-connected memories could be done without much hassle, but a physical upgrade alone is not enough for the card to identify the new amount of memory. The usual way to go would have been via modifications to the card’s BIOS, but here VIK-on encountered patrol – Nvidia does not even allow partner manufacturers to modify the BIOS code on recent graphics cards.

The solution was instead to be a hardware-based one, where a series of resistors identify the card strapconfiguration. Card five strapbits then talk about the card’s memory configuration for the BIOS – for example, 00000 corresponds to 8 GB of memory from Samsung, while 00001 is 8 GB with the sender Micron. After diligent experimentation, VIK-on landed in that the configuration 00110 supported all 16 GB of memory, see around 5:00 in the Youtube clip at the top of the article.

With the card running in Windows and identified as an RTX 3070 with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, VIK-on experienced already seen from the experiment with RTX 2070. The card worked, but was unstable and underperforming – until the clock frequencies were locked using EVGA Precision software, after which the graphics card decided to perform slightly better than an RTX 3070 Founders Edition.

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