Fake or Rare Nvidia Graphics Card?

[Lazar]

How's everybody doing? I'm new to this forum (even thought i joined a few years ago)

So, i have some low end budget/ancient pc that i've built from parts that i had laying around my house (AMD Phenom X3 8450 oc to 2.6ghz , Biostar motherboard, 4gb ddr2 800mhz ram, 500gb hdd, techsolo 730w psu) and i needed some cheap gpu that could play hd videos, could be hooked up to tv and occasionally play some light games on lower settings...
And i started browsing local forums and found a used GT730 for cheap(like 30$ which is pretty cheap for my country as we have huge tech taxes)...
Without too much thought i went to the seller and bought it(after testing it in his pc with crysis 3)

I came home, installed the gpu and drivers and gpuz and then i noticed something?

This is the "reference" model Nvidia GT730 4GB GDDR5 128 bit that officialy doesn't exist?There is no this model on nvidia site?There is only one image of this card on the whole google?Its dual slot( dual slot gt 730 really?) with big cooler with nvidia logo, blue pcb and its made in china?

(heres a gpuz pic of mine, i've overeclocked it a little, but look at the gpu and cuda cores?)


and now have a look at lets say Zotac verision

They are not similar at all?

The card can actually play crysis 2 at 900p on high-utra setting 30-40fps
Far Cry 3 medium settings 30fps locked, snipper ghost warrior 2 maxed out 40fps so its actually not that bad...

But when i try any newer game lets say like a dirt rally with settings on medium or high, drivers( 3 different i've tried so far) start to crash, texutures missing, all kinds of colors and blocks on the screen? But the gpu and the whole pc passes every stress test possible?temps never go over 60c


And after reading all kinds of horror stories with fake(re flashed bios) gpu-s that have flooded the ebay recently i dont know what to think?
it looks like this(the only pic of it on the internet) but has nvidia logo on cooler



I've disassembled the card and it indeed says that its gf108 and samsung memory?

Cards specs looks like a gt630 or gt440 with double the memory?
What the actuall f?

 

[Rainwater]

A gt730 is a real Gpu. But IMO those little gt's are more like a Video card than a Graphics card. I had a gt610 2gb Video I actually just gave away but I used it for a video card forever. I didn't play games nor did I try. I used to to watch moves and such. It'd not going to handle new titles. If gpu-z recognizes it as a gt 730 then it is a gt 730. You can't expect much out of it tho seriously. It's not designed to play intensive games.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Welcome back to the forum then.

Based upon the information you've given, this appears to me to be a GT 630 or GT 440 that's apparently been flashed with a different card's BIOS, dirty trick that is. I agree with your assessment that this isn't a legitimate GT 730.

What is the exact number on the GPU core? Should be a model number on the core to indicate the revision of the GF108 core, which would give a better idea of the model of this card.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/816/geforce-gt-630

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/600/geforce-gt-440

A gt730 is a real Gpu. But IMO those little gt's are more like a Video card than a Graphics card. I had a gt610 2gb Video I actually just gave away but I used it for a video card forever. I didn't play games nor did I try. I used to to watch moves and such. It'd not going to handle new titles. If gpu-z recognizes it as a gt 730 then it is a gt 730. You can't expect much out of it tho seriously. It's not designed to play intensive games.

Not necessarily, it can recognize as a GT 730 and still be a different card if someone force-flashed a different BIOS. That's just what it's reading the BIOS as. It's a dirty trick scammers use to get more money for lower-end and older cards. I once had a GTX 280 (a single GPU card) that thought it was a GTX 295 (a dual GPU card)

It should be a GK208 core, but it actually has a GF108 core. It can't possibly be a real GT 730 if that's correct. And all of the other specs are wrong for a GT 730.

 

[Rainwater]

Oh yup I just found that too. gf 108 does appear to be gt 630.

Well that I'd have to say is scandalous A F and I'm sorry to hear that.

TBH idk what I would do in that situation but I suggest doing the opposite which would be go back over there PEACEFULLY supplying evidence and KINDLY ask for a refund.


My first response was more to the part of it not existing.
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-730/specifications

 

[DaveB]

Just to add to the confusion, there are legitimate GT 730 variants with either 96 or 384 CUDA cores, ones with DDR3 or GDDR5, and varying memory bus widths. Below are the specifications from the nVidia website. Also note that manufacturers can add more DDR3 or GDDR5. I bought a low-profile single-slot MSI GT 730 with 384 CUDA cores and 2GB GDDR5 for a mini ITX rig for example.

 

[Kenrou]

A few years ago fake 650/650ti/770 were all the rage in eBay and Amazon. One way you could avoid getting one of these was to make sure the vendor wasn't in Hong Kong/China.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/789871/illegal-nvidia-branded-gpus-on-ebay-and-amazon-/

https://hardforum.com/threads/ebay-flooded-with-fake-gpus.1823664/

 

[Lazar]

How is it possible that i have 4gb of ddr5 with 128 bit? Thats what confuses me...when there is no any manufacturers that produce the gt730 with that much memory as we all know the chip itself isnt powerfull enogh to use all that memory...

And how is it possible that nvidia sels 2 different cars with same name? The gt 730 A1 revision has 96 cuda cores and 128bit memory interface and gt730 B1revision has much newer gpu with 384 cores and 64bit memory?

and how can they(nvidia) just rebrand cards like that? it looks like this is the 10 years old gpu...the gt 630 is rebranded gt 440...and the gt 730 that i have is rebranded gt 630? WTF?

I'll disassemble the card later and i'll get you some hi res pictures of chip and memory and pcb layout so you can tell me what is this card that i have

 

[Mr.Scott]

And how is it possible that nvidia sels 2 different cars with same name? The gt 730 A1 revision has 96 cuda cores and 128bit memory interface and gt730 B1revision has much newer gpu with 384 cores and 64bit memory?

and how can they(nvidia) just rebrand cards like that? it looks like this is the 10 years old gpu...the gt 630 is rebranded gt 440...and the gt 730 that i have is rebranded gt 630? WTF?

LOL, It's not manufacturer specific, AMD does it also.

 

[Lazar]

So here are the hi res images of gpu itself(sorry if i break forum rules with big images)...
Can anybody tell me do i have a geniuine gt730 wih gf108 or some chinese piece of _____ with re-flashed bios?

(someone put waay too much thermal compound, i'll have to clean that better later, and its gf108..so this gpu can't even theoretically support dx12 like gk208)

(4x these memory chips)

edit #2: And look at this?You can buy these chips for 5$ in china and start your own gpu company?
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/BGA-CHIPS-GT430-GF108-400-A1_1741880631.html

 

[DaveB]

Well at least the K4G20325FC-HC04 DRAM Chip is actually legit Samsung GDDR5!

 

[Lochekey]

I would say that is the 96 core base model with a reflashed bios. The base model used the same core as the 630. If you look at your gpuz it states 4gb of hynix memory but your actual memory chips are Samsung.

 

[Mr.Scott]

I would say that is the 96 core base model with a reflashed bios. The base model used the same core as the 630. If you look at your gpuz it states 4gb of hynix memory but your actual memory chips are Samsung.

Agreed. Bios revision comes back as a GT 630 with 1 gig of Hynix vram.
Card is a cheap Chinese knockoff, probably put together with reject components and a modded bios. Happens all the time.

 

[DaveB]

All the regular manufacturers, EVGA, MSI, etc. made 96 CUDA core base models with DDR3. When people dismiss the GT 730 as useless for anything but windows browsing, they are talking of these models. The "real" GT 730s with 384 CUDA cores and GDDR5 is quite viable as an all around budget GPU especially for low profile systems. You just need to be careful what you buy.

 

[Lazar]

so the card has 4x Samsung 4G20325FC-HC04 DRAM Chips...so does it have 1gb vram (4x 256mb) or it really has 4096mb?(4x1024mb d ram chips)

Is there any program that can test gpu memory?I mean all of it...because nvidia drivers start to crash when my vram comes close to 1gb in games?(using evga monitor)

Can i flash this card with its original bios? gt630?

 

[Mr.Scott]

Doesn't matter what the chips really are. If the bios thinks you only have 1 gig, that's all it's gonna use.

Sure, you can flash the GT 630 bios. Do you know which one it really is?, there's only about 20 different ones.
You might wind up worse off.

 

[Lazar]

Doesn't matter what the chips really are. If the bios thinks you only have 1 gig, that's all it's gonna use.

Sure, you can flash the GT 630 bios. Do you know which one it really is?, there's only about 20 different ones.
You might wind up worse off.

but what happens if gpu has 1gig of memory and has been flashed to "see" 4 gigs?

The problem that i have with this card isn't the performance nor the fact that it may be a clone...it actually crashes all official nvidia drivers when i start pushing the settings...Dirt Rally runs on ultra low 100fps avg...one would think that you could bump up the settings a little?Look at the end of video to see what happes

the same is with crysis 2 and crysis 3...crysis 2 runs okay on high-ultra settings...Push settings to extreme the video memory goes over 1gig and the video driver crashes...
Crysis 3 runs okay on medium setting, if put setting to high video driver crashes...

and its the same like in dirt...all kinds of textures and artifacts all over the screen



But gpu passes every stress test (like msi kombustor or 3d mark because they don't try to use all 4 gigs of vram)...is there a program for vram stress test?
is it possible to modify this original bios to limit the memory to 1 gig and see if that fixes the problem?

 

[Mr.Scott]

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/video_memory_stress_test.html

Probably will not help you though. Only good for 1 gig of vram.

is it possible to modify this original bios to limit the memory to 1 gig and see if that fixes the problem?

It sounds like it is already limiting you to 1 gig.

As far as 'pushing settings' goes, there is no guaranty on any of that. Doesn't matter what card you have.

 

[Lazar]

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/video_memory_stress_test.html

Probably will not help you though. Only good for 1 gig of vram.


It sounds like it is already limiting you to 1 gig.

As far as 'pushing settings' goes, there is no guaranty on any of that. Doesn't matter what card you have.

downloaded, tried direct x test with standard 1024mb limit...white screens and driver crashes every 15s but test continues without any detected errors?

 

[Mr.Scott]

downloaded, tried direct x test with standard 1024mb limit...white screens and driver crashes every 15s but test continues without any detected errors?

No idea.

What I will tell you though is, that bios is probably using Hynix timings and voltage on those Samsung chips. That's a bad mix and will probably never work right. That's probably your whole artifacting/crashing problem right there.

Seriously, dump that card. It will be nothing but trouble.

 

[Rainwater]

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-730/buy-gpu

They do make 4gb gt 730's. There are some on this list. The actual Gpu itself the gf 108 is the only thing you should be researching because if Tech Tweaker is correct and they did not use that chip in any gt 730's then you have a flashed card of another sort. I don't have time to look into it at the moment but I will later.

But as everyone has pointed out, it looks like you got burned. And that sucks. See if the dude will give you your money back. This is why I don't buy used stuff online. Even tho you bought it in person but I don't think it will be long before people start using these De-Lid tools to put a 7700k heat spreader on an i3.