Thursday, January 21st 2021
NVIDIA RTX 2070 Modded to Support 16GB Memory
PC enthusiast VIK-on pulled off a sophisticated memory mod for the GeForce RTX 2070, doubling its memory amount to 16 GB. In a detailed video presentation (linked below), VIK-on demonstrated how he carefully removed the 8 Gb Micron-made GDDR6 memory chips of his card, with 16 Gb Samsung-made chips he bought off AliExpress for $200. Memory replacement mods are extremely difficult to pull off, as you first de-solder the existing chips using a hot air gun while keeping the contacts on the PCB intact (ensuring no pins short); and solder the replacement BGA memory chips in place.
In addition, a set of "jumpers" on the PCB need to be modified to make it recognize the Samsung memory. The resulting card booted to desktop successfully, with GPU-Z reading its full 16 GB memory size. The card successfully made it through 3DMark TimeSpy, albeit with 30% lower performance than a normal RTX 2070 (6176 points vs. ~9107 points). The card would also crash Furmark. Still, it's mighty impressive that the "TU106" recognizes 16 GB of addressable memory (which means all its memory channels are intact), without the need for any BIOS mods, which is impossible to pull off.
Watch the VIK-on video presentation here.
Source:
VideoCardz
In addition, a set of "jumpers" on the PCB need to be modified to make it recognize the Samsung memory. The resulting card booted to desktop successfully, with GPU-Z reading its full 16 GB memory size. The card successfully made it through 3DMark TimeSpy, albeit with 30% lower performance than a normal RTX 2070 (6176 points vs. ~9107 points). The card would also crash Furmark. Still, it's mighty impressive that the "TU106" recognizes 16 GB of addressable memory (which means all its memory channels are intact), without the need for any BIOS mods, which is impossible to pull off.
36 Comments on NVIDIA RTX 2070 Modded to Support 16GB Memory
One way is to look at other 16GB cards & compare all resisters. Doing such a mod, I would have looked at the Titan cards & gone the full 24GB+, if the register supports anything higher than 24GB.
The other way to know that those jumpers control the register is to have full documentation of the GFX Chip itself, so i'm guessing he got that information from one of Nvidia support manufactures that make their cards.
It's remarkable he done this with a hot air gun, I use full infrared with vision base display so I can see the solder balls & PCB trace layout at the same time for perfect alignment. (Aoyue BGA9000A). The risk of just one poor solder contact will make the card not function as it should.
EDIT: You can't do this modding with just a air gun, you will overheat the memory chip & damage it internally. This kind of modding you also need a preheater, "mandatory".
hope nvidia can recognize that