Thousands of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards have been photographed having arrived in China only to be converted following the recent ban. Seen arriving by the pallet, these AIB cards are being stripped of their factory-installed cooling solutions only to have blower-style coolers replace them. The reasoning behind this move has been said so that they can then be used in multiple GPU setups for AI scenarios. This turn of events seemingly mirrors a somewhat similar phenomenon that happened during the RTX 30 series launch when crypto mining experienced a huge boom causing graphics cards to be scooped up by firms, and individuals, across the world.
Many folks looking for deals for NVIDIA’s flagship card during this Black Friday found it to be absent, or instead of discounts, having had its price increased. It was only about a month ago that the top-tier card could be had at MSRP, and occasionally even on sale from multiple retail outlets but, for now, those days are gone and scalping is back in season. The GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM LIQUID X 24G, a popular liquid-cooled card that has often been competitively priced, was seen going for nearly $1K above MSRP on Newegg and now one seller is even offering a “refurbished” one for about double.
History Repeats Itself
There has even been some speculation that perhaps some of the Chinese firms that previously hoarded GPUs during the mining craze have managed to survive and renew their business models for AI. All of this has happened as a side-effect of the recent US ban that now prevents NVIDIA from exporting GPUs to China. Even as thousands of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards arrive, an insider has said there are more on the way, perhaps shipped prior to when the ban date went into effect. Meanwhile, the one US retailer that has managed to keep inventory in stock close to MSRP is GameStop.