AFOX GT 1030 problem... fake or not?

[pepe234321]

‎
Hello, I bought a gt 1030 2gb ddr5 from the AFOX brand, in gpu-z it tells me that it is fake, that it has the GK208 CHIP, which I think is the GT 730 2gb as they say. The disassembly and the chip say GP108 that it is from the gt 1030. So is it or is it not a gt 1030? what's going on? ._.
‎ ‎EDIT : When I update drivers I get error code 43. Then it was tampered with?, I can get it back?. I don't understand aha.
Last question, is the GT 730 2GB DDR5 better than a GTX 650 1GB DDR5?

This is what GPU-Z and CPU-Z say, what graph is it.

What I don't understand is why if it's a GT 730, when you disassemble it, it's the chip from a GT 1030. Did they modify it? I don't understand, forgive my ignorance.

 

[the54thvoid]

Hi, this is an English language forum. Please post in English only

Thanks.

 

[kiriakost]

With or without proper hardware identification, if this card cannot play well your games, then simply return it back.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Afox crooks at it again... talk about a rotten brand. Looks like they learned absolutely nothing with the scuffle they had with Ronaldo and the guys at TecLab. My advice? If you are still within return period, just send this graphics card back, you have been scammed. If you bought it on AliExpress, eBay or MercadoLibre, file a complaint.

The reason you get code 43 is that your GPU has a fake ID and the current graphics driver no longer supports Kepler (of which GK208B is part of). Kepler was last supported with 472.12, and the GK208B is actually a GT 710, much worse than the graphics card you have paid for. Don't even try to "fix" it, just send it back.

 

[pepe234321]

@Dr. Dro OH too bad, I was scammed haha, I'll have to return it, I had bought it at a very low cost, the one who had it said he played many games, maybe he lied to me. Thank you very much for answering

@Dr. Dro Last question, is the GT 730 2GB DDR5 better than a GTX 650 1GB DDR5?

This is what GPU-Z and CPU-Z say

 

[Dr. Dro]

@Dr. Dro OH too bad, I was scammed haha, I'll have to return it, I had bought it at a very low cost, the one who had it said he played many games, maybe he lied to me. Thank you very much for answering

@Dr. Dro Last question, is the GT 730 2GB DDR5 better than a GTX 650 1GB DDR5?

This is what GPU-Z and CPU-Z say

Yeah, GPU-Z is in the right. It's been designed to detect fake GPUs. If you open the card you will more than likely find a GK208 in there, and that is why you cannot load modern drivers, the code that manages these older chips was removed to make way for future releases.

The GTX 650 is only slightly faster than the 730, but you are talking about 10 year old low end graphics solutions on a discontinued architecture, I don't think you should be looking at these no matter how tight your budget is. I own a GTX 780 (which is one of the high end models from back then) and even that card has major difficulty with relatively basic games these days, not to mention it uses a lot of power for what it does.

There are no driver updates anymore, and they are very, very slow. The best thing you can do if you are on a very tight budget, is buy an actual GT 1030, imo. That goes for whether you'd like to play games or just have something to drive your display correctly. Good luck man.

 

[pepe234321]

Yeah, GPU-Z is in the right. It's been designed to detect fake GPUs. If you open the card you will more than likely find a GK208 in there, and that is why you cannot load modern drivers, the code that manages these older chips was removed to make way for future releases.

The GTX 650 is only slightly faster than the 730, but you are talking about 10 year old low end graphics solutions on a discontinued architecture, I don't think you should be looking at these no matter how tight your budget is. I own a GTX 780 (which is one of the high end models from back then) and even that card has major difficulty with relatively basic games these days, not to mention it uses a lot of power for what it does.

There are no driver updates anymore, and they are very, very slow. The best thing you can do if you are on a very tight budget, is buy an actual GT 1030, imo. That goes for whether you'd like to play games or just have something to drive your display correctly. Good luck man.

MMM, YOU'RE RIGHT, WHEN I DISASSEMBLE THE CHIP IT SAYS GP108 WHICH IS FROM THE GT 1030, BUT WELL I KNOW I WAS SCAMMED HAHA, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ANSWERING. IT HELPED ME A LOT

 

[Final_Fighter]

MMM, YOU'RE RIGHT, WHEN I DISASSEMBLE THE CHIP IT SAYS GP108 WHICH IS FROM THE GT 1030, BUT WELL I KNOW I WAS SCAMMED HAHA, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ANSWERING. IT HELPED ME A LOT

can you post a picture?

 

[pavle]

Looks like a nvKepler from that GPU-Z screenshot (number of function units).

 

[Dr. Dro]

MMM, YOU'RE RIGHT, WHEN I DISASSEMBLE THE CHIP IT SAYS GP108 WHICH IS FROM THE GT 1030, BUT WELL I KNOW I WAS SCAMMED HAHA, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ANSWERING. IT HELPED ME A LOT

If this processor is mislabeled (and is a GK208 with GP108 designation laser etched onto it), and these are being sold as GT 1030s, please post a picture of the die, cleaned of thermal paste. It would be most appreciated and a story would likely break out from it.

Afox is not a licensed AMD or NVIDIA AIB partner, but their ill-reputed crap seems to always find its way to the mainstream market in third world countries. Recently they were caught pants down shipping reused and recycled Polaris ASICs that came from Chinese cryptocurrency farms as new GPUs, peddled at full price here in Brazil through hardware stores. These were not only used, but some chips were also mislabeled as in, wrong ASIC type for the SKU being advertised... but nothing as malicious as laser-etching the incorrect designation onto the processor die. That's downright criminal, IMO.

Either way my personal recommendation would be... get away from anything this accursed brand sells. Before buying a graphics card, always verify if it is either a first-party product built by AMD or NVIDIA themselves or was manufactured by a licensed AIB partner, having gone through the necessary certification steps to ensure you have a real and working product.

Pretty much all big brands (ASUS, Gigabyte, PowerColor, HIS, MSI, Sapphire, Zotac, etc.) are licensed and reputable manufacturers. Unlicensed brands are very likely to be counterfeit.

 

[pepe234321]

can you post a picture?

Going up

If this processor is mislabeled (and is a GK208 with GP108 designation laser etched onto it), and these are being sold as GT 1030s, please post a picture of the die, cleaned of thermal paste. It would be most appreciated and a story would likely break out from it.

Afox is not a licensed AMD or NVIDIA AIB partner, but their ill-reputed crap seems to always find its way to the mainstream market in third world countries. Recently they were caught pants down shipping reused and recycled Polaris ASICs that came from Chinese cryptocurrency farms as new GPUs, peddled at full price here in Brazil through hardware stores. These were not only used, but some chips were also mislabeled as in, wrong ASIC type for the SKU being advertised... but nothing as malicious as laser-etching the incorrect designation onto the processor die. That's downright criminal, IMO.

Either way my personal recommendation would be... get away from anything this accursed brand sells. Before buying a graphics card, always verify if it is either a first-party product built by AMD or NVIDIA themselves or was manufactured by a licensed AIB partner, having gone through the necessary certification steps to ensure you have a real and working product.

Pretty much all big brands (ASUS, Gigabyte, PowerColor, HIS, MSI, Sapphire, Zotac, etc.) are licensed and reputable manufacturers. Unlicensed brands are very likely to be counterfeit.

Thank you very much for this information, it helps me a lot. In a while I'll take a picture of the chip, thanks again.

If this processor is mislabeled (and is a GK208 with GP108 designation laser etched onto it), and these are being sold as GT 1030s, please post a picture of the die, cleaned of thermal paste. It would be most appreciated and a story would likely break out from it.

Afox is not a licensed AMD or NVIDIA AIB partner, but their ill-reputed crap seems to always find its way to the mainstream market in third world countries. Recently they were caught pants down shipping reused and recycled Polaris ASICs that came from Chinese cryptocurrency farms as new GPUs, peddled at full price here in Brazil through hardware stores. These were not only used, but some chips were also mislabeled as in, wrong ASIC type for the SKU being advertised... but nothing as malicious as laser-etching the incorrect designation onto the processor die. That's downright criminal, IMO.

Either way my personal recommendation would be... get away from anything this accursed brand sells. Before buying a graphics card, always verify if it is either a first-party product built by AMD or NVIDIA themselves or was manufactured by a licensed AIB partner, having gone through the necessary certification steps to ensure you have a real and working product.

Pretty much all big brands (ASUS, Gigabyte, PowerColor, HIS, MSI, Sapphire, Zotac, etc.) are licensed and reputable manufacturers. Unlicensed brands are very likely to be counterfeit.

ready, take a photo of all the parts of the plate. the chip is not visible, it was erased a little more, but it said GP108-300-A1, Samsumg memories.

The quality of the memory photos was lowered a bit

 

[Dr. Dro]

Yeah, that is 100% a GK208 chip, and with the GP108 designation seemingly painted onto the die. Not even laser etched, looks like the original marks were just polished off and this was painted since it's coming off as you clean the ASIC. The SMD resistors around the package, as well as the date code coincide with a GK208, not with a GP108.

This is how a GP108 (specifically the variant used on GT 1030) should look:

and this is how a GK208 looks like, a lot closer to your pictures:

Both pictures are from the GPU DB here at TPU, it would seem that your GPU was intentionally and maliciously mislabeled and this was actually a relatively poor attempt at hiding a false GPU ID from people who would open the board and look at the ASIC model to diagnose it as a counterfeit product. The SMD positioning, die size and the font used in the laser etching machine all mismatch, and of course, since this is an old Kepler die they salvaged from somewhere, it would never work with drivers that were intended for the real, Pascal architecture GT 1030.

I almost expected something like this showing up in an Afox card again, just not so soon after they got into a major altercation with a large YouTube hardware channel that covers the entire Latin American market... after what I have seen with TecLab regarding this brand's counterfeit AMD GPUs, they just are not to be trusted ever again, IMO.

 

[Nike_486DX]

well now as we know for sure its a 710, if you dont have warranty on that thing you could try flashing a legit 710 bios on it, and also tweak the core frequency to 1200mhz. with that you will get proper gpu detection and it will also get about as "powerful" as a gt 730 ddr3. Btw if it uses passive cooling make sure to slap a fan onto it.

 

[Dr. Dro]

well now as we know for sure its a 710, if you dont have warranty on that thing you could try flashing a legit 710 bios on it, and also tweak the core frequency to 1200mhz. with that you will get proper gpu detection and it will also get about as "powerful" as a gt 730 ddr3. Btw if it uses passive cooling make sure to slap a fan onto it.

From what I understand he was sold this counterfeit... thing recently, and he should definitely try to get his money back. It's not right, I feel.

But there's another problem at hand, too. I can't know if it's a 710, because the original GK208 marking etched on the processor was polished away, so I can't really find the precise variant for the BIOS to work. It'd involve a lot of blind flashes and trial and error, that ultimately are not worth it. Not to mention that the poor quality of this board might as well be a problem unto itself, I would just not use this GPU if at all possible.

 

[pepe234321]

From what I understand he was sold this counterfeit... thing recently, and he should definitely try to get his money back. It's not right, I feel.

But there's another problem at hand, too. I can't know if it's a 710, because the original GK208 marking etched on the processor was polished away, so I can't really find the precise variant for the BIOS to work. It'd involve a lot of blind flashes and trial and error, that ultimately are not worth it. Not to mention that the poor quality of this board might as well be a problem unto itself, I would just not use this GPU if at all possible.

Thank you, thank you, I already learned. I thank you, you helped me.

I don't play much, they say to continue using it? I use it more for multimedia or some basic editing programs.

Thank you, thank you, I already learned. I thank you, you helped me.

I don't play much, they say to continue using it? I use it more for multimedia or some basic editing programs.

well now as we know for sure its a 710, if you dont have warranty on that thing you could try flashing a legit 710 bios on it, and also tweak the core frequency to 1200mhz. with that you will get proper gpu detection and it will also get about as "powerful" as a gt 730 ddr3. Btw if it uses passive cooling make sure to slap a fan onto it.

The one that actually is, is it a GT 630?

 

[Dr. Dro]

Thank you, thank you, I already learned. I thank you, you helped me.

I don't play much, they say to continue using it? I use it more for multimedia or some basic editing programs.

That is your decision to make, mate. But I personally wouldn't, I would try to get a refund. You were sold junk for actual good money, after all. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you good luck and remember that sometimes a "great deal" may just end up being the complete opposite

 

[YESSS]

Afox is not a licensed AMD or NVIDIA AIB partner, but their ill-reputed crap seems to always find its way to the mainstream market in third world countries.

For a fun fact, a few weeks ago AFOX was also available here in Budapest, Hungary in retail too (talking about a leading computer store), but it was some AMD card, when I remember right. I never heard of that brand before, and now I also know, why not...

I just don't get it, really?! Why can't ppl. save up a little bit more and buy a 'known good' brand instead of some fake Chinese knockoffs or other shady companies, like AFOX? It's beyond me, really...

That is your decision to make, mate. But I personally wouldn't, I would try to get a refund. You were sold junk for actual good money, after all. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you good luck and remember that sometimes a "great deal" may just end up being the complete opposite

Well, I'd bin that junk right away, or only use it for a limited time, till I could get something legit--if I was the OP.

 

[The red spirit]

I just don't get it, really?! Why can't ppl. save up a little bit more and buy a 'known good' brand instead of some fake Chinese knockoffs or other shady companies, like AFOX? It's beyond me, really...

I have to admit that I had no idea that Afox was unlicensed and not legit brand. I would have assumed that it's just some brand like Palit, Manli, Zotac level. Not great, but adequate for 1030. It's just sold as any other regular brand at retail.

 

[Shrek]

I like the GT 1030 because it comes in a fan-less (GDDR5) version; one thing less to wear out.

 

[Ruru]

They do have some legit cards though, like this GTX 750 4GB:

But to put up fake low-end cards like GT 1030... what a time to be alive.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I have to admit that I had no idea that Afox was unlicensed and not legit brand. I would have assumed that it's just some brand like Palit, Manli, Zotac level. Not great, but adequate for 1030. It's just sold as any other regular brand at retail.

Palit (which owns Galax/KFA2 and Gainward brands) as well Zotac and Manli are all licensed AIB partners, the latter two are brands of PC Partner Group.

:: Palit - About US ::

Palit Microsystems Ltd. is well-known for manufacturing stable, excellent, and innovative graphics accelerators. As one of the top PC components manufacturers, Palit continues to provide top-to-bottom graphics cards with stable and excellent quality to the world.

www.palit.com

PC Partner

www.pcpartner.com

Both PC Partner and Palit are huge system integrator companies, and it's very likely you've owned a product that was manufactured by one of their brands at some point.

They do have some legit cards though, like this GTX 750 4GB:

But to put up fake low-end cards like GT 1030... what a time to be alive.

Yeah, I approached this on the other thread that caused this one to be "revived". They do have some legitimate products. I don't think this is done entirely on bad faith, it seems to be a quality and sourcing control issue. They've had some interesting products over the years, I think the first time I ever heard of them was when they made a Pitcairn-based low profile card, I think Radeon HD 7850? That was actually impressive at the time.

AFOX HD 7850 Low Profile Specs

AMD Pitcairn, 860 MHz, 1024 Cores, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 2048 MB GDDR5, 1200 MHz, 256 bit

www.techpowerup.com

But as soon as we get scattered reports of fake GPUs being sold through retail channels, and something being sold as a product but sourced from all sorts of recycled hardware, I think we have a bit of a problem that needs to be taken care of, and from what I managed to understand after the Brazilian TecLab kerfuffle, is that these cards do seem to come from the company.

Igor Wallossek has an article on his website that explains more or less how the development cycle of a licensed GPU works (in German), though ever since the GPP debacle, NVIDIA became... considerably shy about the details, most of this is covered under various NDAs... and of course, there's simply no room for "fake" GPUs to exist if they follow these standards.

I also looked at their website extensively, there doesn't seem to be any portal where one can register their GPU and verify if it's a genuine product from the company, and many links are either extremely out of date or point to generic webpage errors in Chinese.

Edit: Updated some of the post with current research and made it more readable

 

[YESSS]

I like the GT 1030 because it comes in a fan-less (GDDR5) version; one less thing to wear out.

Actually I do have one of these and I have to say, it's a pretty decent piece of HW especially if you can grab one at a reasonable price.. Got mine for a reduced price, but brand new and in a non-gaming office rig it's working perfect. True, I use it @ only 720p resolution on a relatively small display.

 

[Ruru]

Actually I do have one of these and I have to say, it's a pretty decent piece of HW especially if you can grab one at a reasonable price.. Got mine for a reduced price, but brand new and in a non-gaming office rig it's working perfect. True, I use it @ only 720p resolution on a relatively small display.

I had also a GT 1030 for a little while and it was surprisingly fine for lightweight gaming for my ex-HTPC (it had a 2600K @ 4.5 & 16GB DDR3-1600, so it ran at PCIe 2.0 x4). Mine had active cooling though, Asus Phoenix OC model.

 

[YESSS]

...Asus Phoenix OC model.

Yeah, Phoenix series also fine, indeed. One of my friends is running an Asus GT 740 Phoenix in some C2D config till today without any issues. Note, that he's in his 70s tho, so no urge to upgrade anymore, at least for him...

 

[qubit]

Yes, definitely return it as not as described (show GPU-Z screenshot) and defective since you can't install the driver.

I own a GTX 780 (which is one of the high end models from back then) and even that card has major difficulty with relatively basic games these days, not to mention it uses a lot of power for what it does.

Yup, I've got a 780 Ti and know what you mean. I also have a top of the range for 2011 GTX 580 which is considerably more useless lol. It cost me £400 and was such a beast in its day. How times change.

Running benchmarks on it, it's hot and noisy, while my RTX 2080 SUPER trounces it and in near silence, too.