User Receives MSI RTX 5090 With GPU And VRAM Chips Torn Off PCB; Another Incident Of Fake GPUs Being Supplied To Amazon

It would appear that the GPU was shipped to one of these Chinese labs, where the GPU and VRAM chips from the RTX 5090s are removed. Redditor Orders MSI RTX 5090 Ventus 3X From Amazon but Finds No Tamper Seal; Further Investigation Revealed Ripped GPU Chip and VRAM From the PCB

 Fake GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs are flooding the market once more. Since we have witnessed and reported fraud of this kind on multiple occasions, it shouldn't come as a surprise that this one resembles something we have recently reported. The GeForce RTX 5090 is highly sought after, particularly in the AI market in China. The GPU can only enter the country through smuggling because the country has an official ban on it.

Since his GPU did not include the components, which are typically extracted from the PCB in China, this Redditor appears to have been the victim of such fraud. Reddit user u/Nice-Screen-4193 says that he bought a brand new GPU from Amazon FR, "sold and shipped by Amazon", not just by any third-party seller.  However, he became skeptical when he saw no tamper seal on one of the screws at the back.  This indicates an earlier opening of the GPU.

The user still tried to give it a go before investigating further and reported a non-operational state of the GPU.  Additionally, he asserts that the PCIe gold finger appeared worn and worn. He was able to peek under the heatsink with a flashlight and discovered no memory chips beneath the thermal pads. Therefore, following the disassembly, it was confirmed that not only were the memory chips missing, but also the GPU substrate in its entirety. The PCB's soldering points were all that remained.

This is a typical scam that may be connected to the Chinese labs that transform thousands of RTX 5090s. In order to install a new custom PCB in the AI servers, they take out the GPU die and the VRAM chips. It would appear that the empty GPU was cleverly returned to the supply chain and found its way to the Reddit user. This demonstrates how prevalent it is and makes it appear that even GPUs, which are sold and shipped by Amazon, are vulnerable to such fraud.

The GeForce RTX 5090 reportedly doesn't have any problems in being smuggled to China, and while it's one thing to see RTX 5090 being converted into AI GPUs, it's even a more serious problem to see fake RTX 5090s getting back into the supply chain.