I trusted random person on this subreddit and bought 3080 20gb made of chinesium
Posted by SwimmerJazzlike@reddit | LocalLLaMA | View on Reddit | 125 comments
I don't know how long it will last, but it works, and I want 2 more now.
Electronic-Bid-7601@reddit
price?
SwimmerJazzlike@reddit (OP)
$650 with taxes and delivery
caetydid@reddit
phew...thats what I paid for my rtx 3090 one year ago
saltyourhash@reddit
I saw a 3090 fte for $1200 locally.
Borkato@reddit
I bought one a few days ago for $1500
PeanutButterApricotS@reddit
I know not everyone has a microcenter near them, but shit I got a 32gb new cpu for 1299 a few months ago (April) doesn’t seem like much of a deal when you consider reliability
grabber4321@reddit
its still high - this is what the 3090s used to cost.
Total for me was 920+ CAD and without the import.
Did you pay import taxes?
SwimmerJazzlike@reddit (OP)
Everything that has vram is overpriced right now 😞 I only paid local state tax.
Electronic-Bid-7601@reddit
ty
Aizen_keikaku@reddit
I heard these modded cards couldn’t do Resizable bar. True for you as well?
Glittering-Call8746@reddit
So only one will work with vllm and not two no ? That's pretty much no go for multi gpu then.. just llama.cpp
a_beautiful_rhind@reddit
It will work but no P2P. Much slower. The 48gb 4090s were like this.
Glittering-Call8746@reddit
How about 32g 4080 ?
a_beautiful_rhind@reddit
Good question. The hurdles are rebar support and then the requested bar being the correct size.
On 4090 the bar is too small, on 3080 people said no rebar at all. 4080 might have the 4090 problem?
Glittering-Call8746@reddit
4090 24g has the rebar issue ?
FullstackSensei@reddit
Any idea if the PCB has any semblance to the 3080 reference or any other retail 3080? There's very little info on those. Would be very interesting to get high-res PCB pics to see if any waterblocks for other 3080 fit.
grabber4321@reddit
custom pcb
FullstackSensei@reddit
I heard this before, but can't find high rest PCB pics to confirm. The form factor looks very similar to reference. Would make sense to recycle that with minimal modifications to keep costs down and not have to test for stability.
Randomblock1@reddit
GamersNexus did a video where they interviewed a Chinese shop making VRAM molded GPUs. It is a custom PCB. https://youtu.be/TcRGBeOENLg
FullstackSensei@reddit
Custom doesn't mean designed from scratch. You can grab any existing design for anything, change a few things and it will very much be custom even if 100% of the big/important components are in the same place.
I stopped watching Steve a long time ago. Most, if not all, his videos have negative themes and his rhetoric is basically be angry at everything. I'd much rather buy a 20GB 3080 and a regular reference 3080 to figure this out than watch any of his videos.
a_beautiful_rhind@reddit
Can't really blame him on that one these days.
FullstackSensei@reddit
I absolutely can. It's absolutely his choice.
I get the general culture in the US is polarized, but this is no excuse to drag something like tech reviews and reporting into that. He's the Fox news or CNN US of tech.
Fostering anger and animosity won't change anything. If anything, it destabilizes society and mistrust. For what? A few freaking views? Well, he isn't getting any views from me.
a_beautiful_rhind@reddit
For me this goes beyond any US culture wars. The internet and tech are getting wrecked.
More people should be getting mad about it to push back. As of now they don't seem to care. They already gave up their privacy and now someone is coming to collect the rest.
FullstackSensei@reddit
Europe is very much pushing back on privacy and consumer rights.
As for the internet and tech being wrecked, it's what we (collectively) get for having turned the political systems in the west into the least attractive career path for young and bright people. Some countries drank more laissez-faire cool-aid than others, but all generally participated.
I genuinely get the frustration, but also understand the lack of push back. As a voter, your principal tool is the ballot, and who exactly do you vote for to fix this, along with inflation, stagnant wages, absurd property prices, funding for education and healthcare (even in countries that provide those for free)?
Still, I don't think that's justification for the way Steve choses his tone. You can criticize and complain without inciting anger and further frustration. We've already have enough of that in our lives.
a_beautiful_rhind@reddit
I don't see how. Sure you have GDPR but much more ID checks and less anonymity. Plus harsher speech laws.
For all the EU victories over apple app store policies, you still have to dox yourself to them to run ANY program on portable devices.
Whoever jumps through the hoops to actually get on the ballot looks to be cut from the same cloth, at least in the US.
FullstackSensei@reddit
> I don't see how. Sure you have GDPR but much more ID checks and less anonymity.
There's always talk about ID checks, and the old farts who don't understand how the digital world works keep pushing for it, but doubt any will actually pass. Keep in mind each and every EU country's parliament must ratify whatever comes out of Brussels for it to become law. There's no shortage of past examples were things weren't passed.
So, at least as of now, the average European has a ton more anonymity than the average American.
> Plus harsher speech laws.
US media really likes to have a field day. But having lived in over half a dozen countries across the continent, I can tell you the only places where this is true is in countries trying to emulate the US (ex: Orban's Hungary). Everywhere else, you're far more likely to get in trouble in the US than Europe for saying the same thing or demonstrating in the street.
> For all the EU victories over apple app store policies, you still have to dox yourself to them to run ANY program on portable devices.
WTF?!!! where? Can you give concrete example?
> Whoever jumps through the hoops to actually get on the ballot looks to be cut from the same cloth, at least in the US.
It's much more diverse in Europe. Ironically, because the US designed the democratic systems of most countries post WW2. No single party or ideology can get a majority, or at least it's very very hard. The main issue, at last as I see it, is that it's becoming less and less attractive as a career path. Using myself as an example. I make quite a bit more (1.25-2x) than a parliament member in most, if not all European countries.
When your middle manager at a large corporation, which isn't exactly a position that requires a lot of intellect nor skill (no disrespect, but it's not rocket science), nor does it, on average, carry any consequential responsibility, pays more than being a member of parliament, guess where anyone with an ounce of talent will chose to go.
If you're going to demand the best results, you need to get the best people on the job.
grabber4321@reddit
why would they dump the original fan cage though? If its just a replacement of VRAM chips, just put the fans back on and let it rip.
FullstackSensei@reddit
Have you looked at the 3080 reference? The PCB is too short and the power connectors are up top, making a blower fan harder to mount. You could ostensibly keep the same design, stretch the PCB a few centimeters and only route power traces all the way back, to make room for a blower fan.
SignalWinds@reddit
I mean at this point better bet than normal cards. I looked at microcenter last week for a 96gb RTX 6000 and it was 9,800, I looked today and it's 10,999.
Crazy
grabber4321@reddit
Any troubles with drivers? Whats the sound like? Any speed issues?
SwimmerJazzlike@reddit (OP)
No drivers or speed issues on ubuntu. Sounds like a jet engine 😄
kivaougu@reddit
Did you try to undervolt at all?
grabber4321@reddit
can you undervolt? I thought you can only limit the Wattage.
kivaougu@reddit
LACT should be able to lock clocks and set an offset. Resulting effectively in an undervolt. Should also support mem oc but Im not sure how well Ampere handles it.
grabber4321@reddit
Will LACT work on server linux distribution?
kivaougu@reddit
Yes, the daemon should run just fine. I believe there is a CLI for config or just edit the config file. The service needs to be enabled with systemctl.
Just be careful not to set anything too unstable as it applies on boot. If you crash something you will have to add the "lact-reset" linux kernel boot arg to recover.
namaku_@reddit
This is the kind of comment that ends up saving a lot of people a lot of misery.
Pakobbix@reddit
nvcurve is another recommendation. Has an optional webui to set the clock of your headless servers or use the cli.
https://github.com/ekojsalim/nvcurve
MotokoAGI@reddit
why will you undervolt them? They are already low on power. Mine idles at 5-6watts.
BringOutYaThrowaway@reddit
I'd try 595 next then.
onetwomiku@reddit
if you on linux - install cooler control and make custom temp curves to your liking. I am using chinesium cards too - saved me a lot of trouble. Also, you can set plimit through nvidia-smi - helps a lot.
JohnBooty@reddit
Are the fans full blast 100% of the time? Or are they temp-controlled?
runsleeprepeat@reddit
Temp controlled
Much-Researcher6135@reddit
/r/notopbutok
runsleeprepeat@reddit
As long as I have the infamous Chinese 20gb RTX3080 gpus, my experience is okay to be shared isn't it?
Much-Researcher6135@reddit
I'll allow it
JohnBooty@reddit
So they're quiet or totally off at idle when no inference is happening?
Thank you for your answers, by the way
runsleeprepeat@reddit
Mine go off at idle, yes. With a 200w cap, they run at 60% fan speed max
MotokoAGI@reddit
They have the regular GPU styled ones. Buy those next time.
grabber4321@reddit
this is the one I got, but apparently the look of it can change from batch to batch.
MotokoAGI@reddit
No, they have the data center style with one fan (alibaba). Make sure to request this type. They tried to sell those to me and I refused, then I ended up paying about $20 extra for these ones.
grabber4321@reddit
thats the one i requested, it is $20 higher price. i asked him a billion questions too.
From what I understand - the stickers / look of the tri-fan can change from batch to batch, so it wont be that specific orange color on some.
MaruluVR@reddit
Biggest issue is there is no bios with rebar support meaning multi gpu (especially tensor parallelism) will see a big performance hit. Other then that they are great.
a_beautiful_rhind@reddit
Dang, these too?
LilPsychoPanda@reddit
Drivers shouldn’t be an issue.
grabber4321@reddit
I was wondering why these are 3080s, not 3080 tis. I thought only 3080 ti got the 20GB VRAM, I assume they got reflashed?
FullstackSensei@reddit
3080Ti is a 3090 with half the memory. So, still 384-bit memory interface, which translates to 12, 24 or 48GB. You can't make a 20GB 3080ti, because you can't divide that by 12.The 3080 has 320-bit memory interface. That's 10 1GB chips for 10gb or 20GB using 2GB chips (or clamshell 20 1GB chips).
Massive-Question-550@reddit
does that mean there are 48 gb 3090's due to the number of memory module spots on the board or do they just switch the core for a 4090 instead and sell it for even more?
FullstackSensei@reddit
RTX A6000 is basically a 48GB 3090. Haven't seen any modified 3090 probably because by then they'd cost the same as the A6000.
It's not memory spots on the board. You can make however many you want. It's about how many chips the chip's memory interface supports.
3080 costs about 1/3rd the 3090, which is what makes this commercially viable.
Massive-Question-550@reddit
have you seen the price of an a6000 48gb vs a 3090? because it's a lot more than double.
FullstackSensei@reddit
I see them sell under 3k regularly. Of course there are listings for much more, but you should look at how much they're selling for.
A modified 48GB would easily cost 3k in components and labor alone.
ItsFrehMrketBreh@reddit
What are you planning to use thia for?
gentoorax@reddit
Where did you buy it from?
Banished_Privateer@reddit
What are the options to modify 4090 and are there any reliable people doing this?
fallingdowndizzyvr@reddit
Do you already have a 4090 that you want to have modified? Are you in the US? If you are in the US, there's that person who does this that post from time to time.
If you are in China though, any electronics center can do it for you. There are cubicles full of people just sitting there waiting.
If you already don't have a 4090, you can buy a 48GB 4090/4090D from C2 in HK.
michaelsoft__binbows@reddit
What a wonderful state of affairs.
A few years ago there was a lot of uncertainty about not having VBIOSes to go along to provide the support. Is that a thing of the past? when can we get 64GB 5090s?
fallingdowndizzyvr@reddit
For a 48GB 4090? It's right here.
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/278392/278392
michaelsoft__binbows@reddit
You know what would cook is a 3080 with 40GB...
anitamaxwynnn69@reddit
This person explains it pretty cleanly. He has explained all caveats/problems he faced along the way. Heads up - you'll need a proper setup to do this though.
Few_Size_4798@reddit
The 48GB version is popular on Taobao, but if you don't know a technician in your country who can re-solder it in case of a malfunction, it's not a reliable option
daMortarMerrier@reddit
Your whole title gives me anxiety.
ShengrenR@reddit
What could go wrong!? Just load up llama.ccp and you're golden!
mrprgr@reddit
If ".ccp" was intentional that's hilarious
ShengrenR@reddit
;)
ImagineBeingPoorLmao@reddit
For what price? Is it cheaper than a used 3090? With no price specified, this post is pointless.
androidbrick@reddit
Good question. I bought my watercooled 3090 for 550 USD a couple of months ago (including Corsair XD3, etc.). And another one for 450 for my brother (Palit) 6 months ago.
_Asphadel@reddit
Where are you from?
androidbrick@reddit
Turkiye.
MentalRegular5335@reddit
Selam bro 🤗
YourNightmar31@reddit
He said $650 incl delivery
Bulky-Priority6824@reddit
15c diff aside is 3090 is pretty bad ass
anitamaxwynnn69@reddit
Came here to say this, if you try hard enough you can find 3090s in the 800-900$ used range. If you can spend just a bit more, that's a better bet with better bandwidth and slightly more vram. Also better resale value imo.
michaelsoft__binbows@reddit
going down from 24 to 20 is brutal if trying to run 3.6 27B
It fits well but it does basically barely fit on 5090 and 24GB is tough. 20 is really just not enough. Maybe can be kinda sorta comfortable (under 100k context though) with llamacpp.
Drenlin@reddit
... weren't most 3080s already made in China, though?
SnooPaintings8639@reddit
Is it the cheapest cuda vram per gb?
iamthewhatt@reddit
Not for long
oldschooldaw@reddit
What is on the horizon?
iamthewhatt@reddit
Scalpers
fragment_me@reddit
Glad you listed to me, the internet stranger. I too want to buy more.
SendMeGapePics@reddit
That's crazy. I literally picked up mine today
Ran benchmarks and stresstest and everything looks great.
Got the same score as 3080ti 20gb on 3dmark. Max cpu temp of 65C
SendMeGapePics@reddit
25 t/s for qwen 3.6 27b MTP with 32k kv cache
grabber4321@reddit
OP why did you have to blab about this, i wanted to probably buy another one. LUL
Vatican@reddit
Any idea if these are suitable for gaming?
grabber4321@reddit
its 100-200 away from 5070ti with a warranty. Get 5070 ti.
Glittering-Call8746@reddit
Where u getting 5070ti for 750usd
grabber4321@reddit
you are not counting the import tax.
SKX007J1@reddit
It's a 3080 with the 1GB RAM chips swapped for 2GB ones; it will game like a 3080 with more VRAM.
_Asphadel@reddit
Could I get a link to where you got it?
rockseller@reddit
Are you using llama.cpp or vllm? Why is one GPU not utilized apart from the vram?
cosmicr@reddit
That's a pretty cool idle temp.
MaruluVR@reddit
I bought one last winter, biggest issue is there is no bios with rebar support meaning multi gpu (especially tensor parallelism) will see a big performance hit. Other then that they are great.
jazir55@reddit
Working with a third party provider to intentionally optimize their stack to serve the model themselves. That's actually a huge indicator that it's open source, otherwise how exactly would they be able to run the model on their own hardware?
e270889o@reddit
Cheaper than a new 7900xt?
J0kooo@reddit
lets see how its running in a year lol
MotokoAGI@reddit
I have had mine for a few months works great. Some folks have had their's for a year.
JohnBooty@reddit
Honest question, what would you see as the potential failure points?
I realize buying a modded board like this is inherently risky, but I'm trying to think what the actual failure points might be.
I mean, unless the soldering fails or something lol
grabber4321@reddit
anything resoldered = failure point. If its a different PCB, even more problems.
Also 3080s probably were used in bitcoin mining - so you're getting a beat up 3080.
BitXorBit@reddit
Keep fire extinguisher around 😂
jamu85@reddit
How is the combination 3090 and 3080 working. Thinking about the same because 3080 is half of the price for me here in SEA. I want to run qwen3.6 27b with q8. Currently I run it with a 3090 and 4060ti but only have 16t/s output which is too slow. How much token do you get when using it in 2 gpu mode?
grabber4321@reddit
its probably a better idea to have 2 cards working as agent and sub-agent working in parallel.
Distinct-Target7503@reddit
how much did you pay for it?
runsleeprepeat@reddit
I have a few of them as well. Best token per watt is around 190-200w cap.
They aren't that loud
Inevitable-Name-1701@reddit
These cheap people are the reason for the renaissance of slow cards, mini models, and unimaginable quants.
redmctrashface@reddit
Will probably stop working in few months
grabber4321@reddit
I just got the 3 fan version. Waiting for delivery.
ImportancePitiful795@reddit
Do you have link for that one please?
Terminator857@reddit
Link?
Long-Shine-3701@reddit
Nice.
luckyvb@reddit
I'm in!
kiwibonga@reddit
Chinese yum?
son_et_lumiere@reddit
yum cha?
108er@reddit
care to share the link where you bought it from?
SurpriseOk6927@reddit
ngl the fact it even works is kinda impressive. chinesium cards are a gamble but when they pay off you save like 60%. curious how it holds up under sustained load tho. those memory chips get toasty
STNKMyyy@reddit
Where my friend?
SeyAssociation38@reddit
AliExpress