GIGABYTE RTX 4090 Goes on Sale in Hong Kong Well Ahead of Time, But it's a Paperweight Until Drivers Release

[btarunr]

A GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC "Ada" graphics card allegedly went on sale way ahead of the October 12 retail availability date. The person who bought it, "Likhg," posted unboxing pictures of the card, revealing a gigantic 4-slot design, a triple-fan cooling solution, with flow-through for the third fan; and accessories that include a reinforcement brace with some screws, an NVIDIA adapter that converts four 8-pin PCIe power connectors into an ATX 12VHPWR connector, and well, that's about it. Graphics card manufacturers have mostly weaned away from including a driver DVD in the box, and point you to download the latest compatible drivers from the NVIDIA website, which means this card is a paperweight until we're closer to the retail date. We're hearing that whoever bought this card managed to resell it for a hefty profit.



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[P4-630]

Not the aluminium heatsink I know from "Windforce"...

 

[kiddagoat]

Let the scalping and inflated pricing begin.

 

[68Olds]

The back of the box says 1000W system power supply required. No thanks.

 

[dj-electric]

This is a paperweight even to some media bc sharing drivers is still such a headache...

 

[jonup]

So Windows won't have drivers for it in their database? I won't be surprised if this GPU with MS drivers.

 

[N/A]

Not the aluminium heatsink I know from "Windforce"...

The above is GAMING OC

And Windforce. One less Heatpipe and thinner.

I like the short PCB. Water cooling variant can be very neat. Just need that new cable for my modular corsair 750W, but it should be just fine, unless I go for 300 W CPU..

I know what you mean, My 980 Ti looks like a toy compared.

 

[Dyatlov A]

Why no driver CD inside?

 

[P4-630]

The above is GAMING OC

View attachment 263092

And Windforce. One less Heatpipe and thinner.
View attachment 263095

I like the short PCB. Water cooling variant can be very neat. Just need that new cable for my modular corsair 750W, but it should be just fine, unless I go for 300 W CPU..

I know what you mean, My 980 Ti looks like a toy compared.
View attachment 263101

 

[dj-electric]

Why no driver CD inside?

Because it is not 2006 anymore, really.
NVIDIA prohibits the distribution of drivers with pre-launch hardware, regardless

 

[neatfeatguy]

Why no driver CD inside?

I haven't seen a CD in any of the Ampere boxes for included drivers. In fact, most boxes include pretty much nothing except for the GPU itself, not even stickers. Most people don't use CD/DVD/Blu-Ray drives anymore.

Last GPU before Ampere was Maxwell for me and I can't remember if a driver on a CD was included with that one.....
I know CDs still came in the 5x0 series from Nvidia, but they were still kind of a common place thing to see back in 2010 and earlier.

Including them with today's hardware, it would just be a wasted cost.

 

[cvaldes]

There were no CDs with Turing either. I own an RTX 2070 Super FE and there was no disc.

There might have been a CD with my Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 550 (2017 launch).

Maybe there's access to beta drivers through NVIDIA's developers program. Wasn't that how miners cracked LHR?

 

[MaddoggMiranda]

I haven't seen a CD in any of the Ampere boxes for included drivers. In fact, most boxes include pretty much nothing except for the GPU itself, not even stickers. Most people don't use CD/DVD/Blu-Ray drives anymore.

Last GPU before Ampere was Maxwell for me and I can't remember if a driver on a CD was included with that one.....
I know CDs still came in the 5x0 series from Nvidia, but they were still kind of a common place thing to see back in 2010 and earlier.

Including them with today's hardware, it would just be a wasted cost.

Correct me if im wrong but i believe it stopped just before Pascal im pretty certain last set of cards to be shipped with a driver CD was Maxwell if my memory serves me correct i know Kepler did as i still have a driver cd from my old 780Ti.

But yes they havent had driver CD's for some time tbh theres becoming less and less in the box. Its suprising to see hardware in the box these days. I mean if it was apple you be charged like $50 for the GPU support stand

 

[TheDeeGee]

So instead of using a 25MM fan they're using a 15MM one and added a 10MM RGB ring below it... G ****ing G.

 

[N/A]

You could do a Fan swap, L=340 W=150 is a triple 120mm easy. And save the original fans for resale value. And 6 years down the line be able to say, yes It really really looks like new. not just completely covered by sticky dust, but it's new trust me, although how easy is to to remove them. I almost broke the connector on my card while disassembling, but there is a method to do it properly.

 

[awesomesauce]

Update: It is said that the card in question is now sold for around 20,000 HK (2,548 USD), that’s almost 1000 USD more than US MSRP.

It from the source videocardz site

 

[Hofnaerrchen]

There were no CDs with Turing either. I own an RTX 2070 Super FE and there was no disc.

There might have been a CD with my Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 550 (2017 launch).

Maybe there's access to beta drivers through NVIDIA's developers program. Wasn't that how miners cracked LHR?

Just checked my MSI RTX 2070 box: Driver & Utilities CD included. I think it has nothing to do with the generation of the GPU and more with the company making it. While it's a waste of resources most of the time (unless you live in a region with very slow or no internet) the cost for adding one is marginal.

 

[P4-630]

Just checked my MSI RTX 2070 box: Driver & Utilities CD included. I think it has nothing to do with the generation of the GPU and more with the company making it. While it's a waste of resources most of the time (unless you live in a region with very slow or no internet) the cost for adding one is marginal.

I'm not sure if MSI a driver CD added to my 2070 SUper Gaming X Trio, but I mostly download the latest driver from nvidia.
BTW if I get a new GPU now, I'm unable to even use a CD-ROM since I don't have an optical drive installed anymore... Lucky I got a good internet connection.

 

[N/A]

Update: It is said that the card in question is now sold for around 20,000 HK (2,548 USD), that’s almost 1000 USD more than US MSRP.

It from the source videocardz site

Windforce is listed 1599 on newegg. We'll have to see if that's true and for how long until it sells out.

 

[Prima.Vera]

1KW PSU required.
Is this a joke?

 

[Vayra86]

Why no driver CD inside?

They're busy saving the planet

 

[bonehead123]

They're busy saving the planet

yep, and they're doing with YOUR money, instead of theirs

 

[cadaveca]

I guess this means there are lots of cards at stores already, ready for launch day. Prices probably gonna stay high.

 

[cvaldes]

1KW PSU required.
Is this a joke?

Not sure why you are surprised. NIVIDIA lists an 850W power supply as its requirement for their 3090 Ti Founders Edition

3090 & 3090 Ti Graphics Cards

TITAN class performance for the ultimate in gaming.

www.nvidia.com

and the 4090 draws more current.

 

[Sandbo]

I guess this means there are lots of cards at stores already, ready for launch day. Prices probably gonna stay high.

Rumor has it they were sitting in the warehouse since Aug, and really just waiting for the 3000 series to clear after the ETH upgrade.