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Sidestepping GPU ban, Chinese factories dismantle and transform Nvidia RTX 4090 gaming cards into AI accelerators (www.tomshardware.com)

submitted 11 months ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] riskable@programming.dev 82 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

This article is misleading: The cards are already "AI accelerators" they just come in monstrous sizes and coolers that aren't suitable for cramming more than one into a computer (server) case.

What the Chinese chop shops are doing is removing the components and resoldering them on to smaller PCBs and putting on smaller (but more powerful and jet-engine loud) exhaust-style coolers.

Basically it's just old fashioned harvesting and re-using of PCB components. A common thing during the shortages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[–] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Btw, about the

smaller (but more powerful and jet-engine loud) exhaust-style coolers.

Why not make double-sided racks with fans twice the size, higher cooling efficiency?

[–] Player2@sopuli.xyz 16 points 11 months ago

Not sure exactly what you're asking, but usually servers are built in a way that several units can be stacked on top of each other in a rack, which makes it important that air comes in from the front and exits from the back. The smaller coolers then allow you to cram more GPUs next to each other since the higher heat density won't matter due to the airflow speed inside the case.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 46 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Reminds me of when Iraq supposedly imported thousands of PS2s to make a supercomputer.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/12/20/iraq-scores-hordes-of-ps2s-at-us-gamers-expense

[–] teft@startrek.website 27 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Maybe this is why it was so easy to get a PS2 in iraq. That's crazy, 20 years later and mystery solved for me.

[–] Never_Sm1le@lemdro.id 11 points 11 months ago

There's also the one with ps3, which is more suitable because ps3's cpu is a supercomputer one

[–] flying_monkies@kbin.social 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Would explain why the Air Force used PS3s, can't be behind the tech curve!

[–] WHYAREWEALLCAPS@kbin.social 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It made sense. There were also university CS departments doing the same thing. The Cell processor in the PS3 was pretty damn powerful for the price at the time.

[–] sir_reginald@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

and iirc, it had Linux support, so it was perfect because Sony was selling the hardware at a loss to sell more units and consequently sell more games.

when people started buying ps3s to install Linux, Sony made a firmware update to block this.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 9 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

One user from the Tieba Baidu forums recently visited a fascinating Chinese factory dedicated to the graphics card recycling business.

The workers diligently disassembled the custom GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards, extracted the AD102 silicon and GDDR6X memory modules, and repurposed them onto a "special reference" PCB with a blower-style cooler.

These factories aim to reduce the custom GeForce RTX 4090's footprint with a more compact blower style to turn them into "AI accelerators."

The typical blower only takes up two PCI slots, allowing you to stick four or more GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards into a rack or clusters in the case of the more prominent players, like the big AI farms.

One set of leaked photographs show a few pallets with a boatload of GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards from vendors like Gainward and Palit.

The GeForce RTX 4090's soaring pricing should be a temporary phenomenon as Nvidia had reportedly rushed as many units as the chipmaker could to its Chinese customers before the sanctions took effect.

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