# Why does the GPU-Z show that my graphics card is fake?



## Ryan Liu (Oct 28, 2018)

I bought a used NVIDIA Quadro K4000 for video editing.
But the GPU-Z said this Graphics card is fake. 
Can someone help me to know why the GPU-Z check it is a fake K4000?  Or How can I find out the real model of this graphics card?
BTW driver is ok and all display ports is ok.


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## jboydgolfer (Oct 28, 2018)

The easiest way would be to physically inspect the video card. Taking pictures of the back of the PCB, or removing the heat sink and actually taking a picture of the GPU diode. Faking Software is more common than printing legitimate looking stickers & chip markings, as the chip is lazer etched


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## eidairaman1 (Oct 28, 2018)

Take pictures of the heatsink, port layout, white stickers on the back of the board, taking heatsink off, getting a clear picture of you gpu die, the ram chips around it and the text info off of them, post it all here.

Thanks @jboydgolfer


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## StefanM (Oct 28, 2018)

Ryan Liu said:


> I bought a used NVIDIA Quadro K4000 for video editing.
> But the GPU-Z said this Graphics card is fake.
> Can someone help me to know why the GPU-Z check it is a fake K4000?  Or How can I find out the real model of this graphics card?



Looks like a detection bug in GPU-Z

Open advanced tab / Vulkan
A genuine Kepler GPU shows an installed Vulkan driver.
Fermi or older GPUs would show nothing.


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## Mussels (Oct 28, 2018)

the 'fake' function is new and this is a rare card - could be a false positive

@W1zzard can you have a look?


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## Voluman (Oct 28, 2018)

Shader, rop, tmu counts checked, clocks check, gpudatabase, it is probably false alarm or a really good fake. Or an experienced bios modder can check the bios version is correct.


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## W1zzard (Oct 28, 2018)

At first look this seems to be a false positive.

The GPU is GK106, but GPU-Z thinks Quadro K4000 should be based on GK104

Anyone know if Quadro K4000 is based on GK104 or GK106 ?


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## Voluman (Oct 28, 2018)

Official spec: Quadro K4000 based on GK106.


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## WikiFM (Oct 28, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> At first look this seems to be a false positive.
> 
> The GPU is GK106, but GPU-Z thinks Quadro K4000 should be based on GK104
> 
> Anyone know if Quadro K4000 is based on GK104 or GK106 ?



According to TPU database is GK106.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/quadro-k4000.c1841


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## STSMiner (Oct 28, 2018)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Quadro


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## Deleted member 178884 (Oct 28, 2018)

The detection software's function to detect fake cards isn't finalized, older cards such as your one or rarer cards may falsely display "Fake".


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## Salty_sandwich (Oct 28, 2018)

Now that could be an issue, so you cant really just trust what GPU-Z say's atm then?


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## W1zzard (Oct 28, 2018)

Xx Tek Tip xX said:


> The detection software's function to detect fake cards isn't finalized, older cards such as your one or rarer cards may falsely display "Fake".


How do you know that? I thought I make GPU-Z



WikiFM said:


> According to TPU database is GK106.


I had it defined as GK104 in GPU-Z, which is why there's a mismatch that triggers the fake detection. Changed now, see the attached build

@Ryan Liu please check if the attached build is working correctly


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## Deleted member 178884 (Oct 28, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> How do you know that? I thought I make GPU-Z


Common sense, The function has only been released recently, it's bound to be buggy within the first week, if there were no bugs then your a OP programmer, software is often buggy and people get mad it at for no reason.


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## maxslo (Nov 3, 2018)

Same here, false positive for K2100M also based on GK106.


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## W1zzard (Nov 3, 2018)

maxslo said:


> Same here, false positive for K2100M also based on GK106.
> View attachment 109818


thanks. does the build i attached two resonses up work correctly?


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## maxslo (Nov 3, 2018)

Nope, it behaves exactly the same as 2.14.0


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## W1zzard (Nov 3, 2018)

maxslo said:


> Nope, it behaves exactly the same as 2.14.0


Are you sure? I thought I fixed the detection code for both K4000 and K2100M

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/gpu-z-exe.109501/ This link


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## maxslo (Nov 3, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> Are you sure? I thought I fixed the detection code for both K4000 and K2100M
> 
> https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/gpu-z-exe.109501/ This link


I tested it in the morning, it could be i ran wrong executable, i'll give it another try when i get back home later today.


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## W1zzard (Nov 3, 2018)

maxslo said:


> I tested it in the morning, it could be i ran wrong executable, i'll give it another try when i get back home later today.


Thanks!


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## maxslo (Nov 3, 2018)

Tried it again, it's definitely still reported as fake with the attached build.


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## Zfast4y0u (Nov 4, 2018)

@W1zzard, why do u bother with that function at all? nvida put stop on fake bios flashes nowdays, and amd too i think, only older cards can be manipulated but who cares, in few years no1 gonna use em anyway, let alone buy.


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## IceScreamer (Nov 4, 2018)

Zfast4y0u said:


> @W1zzard, why do u bother with that function at all? nvida put stop on fake bios flashes nowdays, and amd too i think, only older cards can be manipulated but who cares, in few years no1 gonna use em anyway, let alone buy.


Well it's a great thing to have when buying/selling used cards, as a sort of proof.


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## W1zzard (Nov 4, 2018)

maxslo said:


> Tried it again, it's definitely still reported as fake with the attached build.


Thanks for testing in private. This is fixed now and the fix will be included in next release


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## MrGenius (Nov 4, 2018)

Zfast4y0u said:


> @W1zzard, why do u bother with that function at all? nvida put stop on fake bios flashes nowdays, and amd too i think, only older cards can be manipulated but who cares, in few years no1 gonna use em anyway, let alone buy.


Did you see how he just fully ignored you? There's a reason for that.


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## purecain (Nov 5, 2018)

@W1zzard thanks for the effort, gpu-z has been a great little tool over the years! much appreciated buddy!


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## Ryan Liu (Nov 10, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> Thanks for testing in private. This is fixed now and the fix will be included in next release


I am sorry that I did not reply in time.  And it seems this issue has been fixed.
Thanks all your guys to help me to find out the reason. Especially for @W1zzard and @maxslo.
I am worried that it may be a fake card. Then there would be tons of shit discussions between me and the seller.



Zfast4y0u said:


> @W1zzard, why do u bother with that function at all? nvida put stop on fake bios flashes nowdays, and amd too i think, only older cards can be manipulated but who cares, in few years no1 gonna use em anyway, let alone buy.


Used does not mean useless. I build a $70 PC for my grandapa. All parts are used except a new ssd. He just want to surfing internet and watching videos. I think it is the best for him. 
My grandpa care about TV series more than which is the best graphic Titan or 2070Ti.


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## karl53 (Oct 7, 2019)

Good morning,
I am posting in this thread on 'FAKES' videocards, one year later.

Here is a 3 x NVS300 setup. *All FAKES?!*
The first shown is actually HP branded; the other two are NVIDIA.

No one of them shows any 'Vulcan': 'Device not found'.


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## W1zzard (Oct 7, 2019)

Looking at the NVS300 specs, it is specified to have 16 CUDA cores, and is based on GT218.

Your card reports 24 cores and is based on GT216 even though its device id (10D8) says it is a GT218 GPU. This is what triggers the fake detection in GPU-Z.

Given that your card seems to have a better spec than the original, I'm not sure if it really is a fake, or just some kind of rebrand.

Where did you buy those cards?


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## karl53 (Oct 7, 2019)

Thank you for your reply!

All of the three videocards have been bought on eBAY from differend sellers.
Surely the 1st of 3 videocard is a re-brand: clearly is visible 'HP'  as subvendor and even marked physically on the card.

But the other two NVS300s (2nd and 3rd) are "Nvidia":





So Nvidia produced better specs than... _Nvidia_?

All three videocards show:





Or actually a *bug *has been introduced in GPU-Z creating the false positive. Look at this old 2.9 GPU-Z release  I downloaded back one year ago:





Ditto for the two other 'Nvidia' NVS300s:





The NVS300 cards have been detected correctly with GPU-Z 2.9: GT218 and 16 shaders either for the 'HP' and 'NVIDIA' models. No traces of _GT216 _or _24 cudas_.


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## W1zzard (Oct 7, 2019)

karl53 said:


> Look at this old 2.9 GPU-Z release


The fake detection wasn't part of GPU-Z back then.

Good observation about the shader count, I checked around a bit and your cards seem genuine indeed, it's just an edge case where NVIDIA is internally using a different GPU for their manufacturing.

Next version of GPU-Z will no longer flag this card as fake.


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## karl53 (Oct 10, 2019)

I think there are two different sides: one is the previous GPU-Z release did not detect fake detection feature; the second aspect is the 2.9 detected a GT218 while now it is being reported as GT216.


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## karl53 (Oct 11, 2019)

A final clarification *W1zzard*, please:  the GPU-Z dropdown sequence of those videocards, reflects the physical sequence of the  motherboard PCI-E slots?  So the first NVS300 is on PCIE1, the 2nd is on PCIE3 and the 3rd NVS300 is on  PCIE4?


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## W1zzard (Oct 11, 2019)

karl53 said:


> A final clarification *W1zzard*, please:  the GPU-Z dropdown sequence of those videocards, reflects the physical sequence of the  motherboard PCI-E slots?  So the first NVS300 is on PCIE1, the 2nd is on PCIE3 and the 3rd NVS300 is on  PCIE4?


They should be sorted by PCI bus number, most motherboards number their slots from top to bottom, some number them differently.

Stop the fans with your finger for a moment and watch the reported fan RPM in GPU-Z sensors. Should be obvious then.


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## karl53 (Oct 12, 2019)

Unfortunately I can't stop the fans because those cards are fanless.
PCIE2 is a x1 slot. So what you called sortering according to _PCI bus number_ would be PCIE1, PCIE3, PCI4 sequence  in my case?  Should GPU-Z show that PCI bus number under the Advanced tab?
What I know for sure is the Bus ID for the 1st card (HP subvendor) is 4, while the other two NVS300s are 7 ad 8 bus ID#.
So PCIE1 is Bus ID4, PCIE3 is 7 and PCIE4 is 8?


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## W1zzard (Oct 14, 2019)

The card name tooltip shows the PCI bus location. Good suggestion for advanced, will add in next release


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## karl53 (Oct 14, 2019)

Running _tooltip _over which button/label should show the PCI Bus location, please?


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## W1zzard (Oct 14, 2019)




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## karl53 (Oct 15, 2019)

Ok, thank you. This confirm what I wrote above:
_"What I know for sure is the Bus ID for the 1st card (HP subvendor) is 4, while the other two NVS300s are 7 ad 8 bus ID#."_

Now, again, I will try address myself the question referring to the above scheme:
"Is PCIE1 slot linked Bus ID4, PCIE3 to 7 and PCIE4 to bus 8?"    Again, I can't stop fans that do not exist as workaround.
Then will post the topic of my question in a proper thread (one of those 3 cards is systematically _lazy on clock_, even if the temperature is low)


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## eidairaman1 (Oct 15, 2019)

karl53 said:


> Ok, thank you. This confirm what I wrote above:
> _"What I know for sure is the Bus ID for the 1st card (HP subvendor) is 4, while the other two NVS300s are 7 ad 8 bus ID#."_
> 
> Now, again, I will try address myself the question referring to the above scheme:
> ...



Physically pull them if you can

Or go to device manager and disable them or check their "hardware properties"


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## W1zzard (Oct 15, 2019)

Yeah +1 on physically removing or swapping cards


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## juiseman (Oct 15, 2019)

W1zzard said:


> Looking at the NVS300 specs, it is specified to have 16 CUDA cores, and is based on GT218.
> 
> Your card reports 24 cores and is based on GT216 even though its device id (10D8) says it is a GT218 GPU. This is what triggers the fake detection in GPU-Z.
> 
> ...



Most certain they were the most common card shipped with HP Z400 workstations. I have personally went through at least 5 of these cards that came in the Z400's
I resold some also on Ebay with 1 return. The buyer claimed the card was defective but I worked fine when I retested. If I remember correctly 
he was saying something about the CU not matching up or something. But its funny, you would think 24 CU vs 16CU  would be a celebration like you stated....

Side note; why are you running 3 NVS300's like that? multiple screens? 
Depending on motherboard, it may drop you down to 8x, 4x, 4x PCIE lanes instead of the normal x16 x8 x8..
Not that a NVS300 would bottleneck the PCI-e Bus or anything...just simply curious......


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## karl53 (Oct 16, 2019)

Sure, it is because of multiple screens setup.  Scaling down to 8x or 4x is not a problem for office use. no 3D is involved with such a videocards... 



eidairaman1 said:


> Or go to device manager and disable them or check their "hardware properties"



@eidairaman1: are you actually being able to find the *PCI-E slot* involved looking at Device Manager _hardware properties_ for your videocards?  Not sure which of those dropdown menus show that detail


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## juiseman (Oct 16, 2019)

cool. Love multiple screens, 3 or 6?


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## eidairaman1 (Oct 16, 2019)

karl53 said:


> Sure, it is because of multiple screens setup.  Scaling down to 8x or 4x is not a problem for office use. no 3D is involved with such a videocards...
> 
> 
> 
> @eidairaman1: are you actually being able to find the *PCI-E slot* involved looking at Device Manager _hardware properties_ for your videocards?  Not sure which of those dropdown menus show that detail



Right click on the cards and look, sometimes things are in hexadecimal or decimal.

Showing hidden or non present devices helps too


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## W1zzard (Oct 16, 2019)




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## karl53 (Oct 17, 2019)

Thank you but - again, as referred in posts #35, #39 and 43 - the issue is not getting the Bus ID# that clearly are available under GPU-Z too, but the *PCI-E Slot ID# , *in other terms how the Bus ID# are associated with PCI-E slots, since stopping the fan (that does not exists) is not a possible workaround*.   *Out of note, a further complication is the the GPU-Z dropdown sequence of the three NVS300 cards is different than Windows Control Panel/ Device Manager: I got a Bus ID 4 - 7 - 8 vs  4 -8 - 7  respectively.

*@juiseman : *6 screens.


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## W1zzard (Oct 17, 2019)

karl53 said:


> how the Bus ID# are associated with PCI-E slots


I don't think this can be read via software. Try: Motherboard manual, ask the vendor support, or just keep swapping devices and try to figure it out.



karl53 said:


> 4 - 7 - 8 vs 4 -8 - 7


It sorts cards with connected output further to the top, so basically you have two groups that each are sorted by pci bus number


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## karl53 (Oct 12, 2020)

W1zzard said:


> Next version of GPU-Z will no longer flag this card as fake.


Good morning W1zzard,
Just to let you know that even with the latest v 2.34 the FAKE status appears. 
No drama! Just a feedback.


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