The Chinese GPU industry is reportedly selling modded GeForce RTX 5080s, which feature twice the memory compared to the GPUs' initial specifications.
NVIDIA's RTX 5080 Is Now Being Sold in China With 2x Higher VRAM Capacity, Making It Ideal For AI
Given how desperate China's AI industry is to access compute power, one of the ways local AI setups have managed to fulfill their needs is by utilizing modified consumer GPUs, notably from NVIDIA. Since AI workloads require higher memory capacity onboard, Chinese modders have managed to adjust GPU configurations, and we have seen a similar trend with NVIDIA's RTX GeForce 4090. And now, according to @unikoshardware, NVIDIA's RTX 5080 GPUs are being sold with 32 GB GDDR7 memory onboard, in a workstation-oriented design. By the looks of it, such SKUs are highly popular among local buyers.
Mounting the GeForce RTX 5080 with 32 GB of memory requires the integration of 3 GB GDDR7 memory modules, which we were expecting to see with the RTX 5080 SUPER, but Chinese modders are apparently one step ahead. The source mentions that the cards are being sold in a "turbo" style, which refers to the blower-fan designs seen with the modded RTX 4090s, as well. This allows for much more effective heat dissipation within these GPUs, which is a "must" considering how beefed-up modded units are with VRAM onboard.
Such GPUs are widely used across local AI workloads, as Chinese customers have access to NVIDIA's consumer GPUs. By stripping them down and loading additional memory onboard, these GPUs are tailored for mid-end training/inference environments. As the modding community gains significant traction in China, Uniko's Hardware anticipates that such models could experience massive shortages once the domestic AI industry adopts GPUs with upgraded VRAM capacities.
The more interesting aspect to observe here is how durable these modded configurations actually prove to be, given that power ratings are adjusted to be higher than factory-standard cards, which introduces a risk of its own. However, for the Chinese AI industry, it's probably more important to acquire computing capabilities than anything else, so durability might not be a concern for them.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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