NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 GPU has started to receive the custom memory implementation with up to 128 GB capacity for a massive price.
Chinese AI Factories Now Creating Custom NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs With Up To 128 GB Memory Capacities
Factories in China have been dedicated to producing custom AI GPUs based on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX lineup. These factories spawned as soon as the AI boom started a few years ago. We have seen cards such as the RTX 4090 with 48 GB and even up to 96 GB VRAM (though that turned out to be a one-off thing), up from its standard 24 GB configuration. Now, it looks like the RTX 5090 is going to receive the custom memory treatment.
How these factories achieve such mods is by salvaging the GPU and memory from gaming graphics cards such as the GeForce RTX 5090, and equipping them to custom PCBs, which often allow for dual-side memory configurations. This allows them to create custom graphics cards with much larger capacities.
It isn’t just a simple component swap, as the proper firmware and BIOS are also used to ensure compatibility. Now, memory modding isn’t the only thing that happens in these factories. Gaming GPUs also get converted into two-slot blower-style designs for ease of use in server and workstation setups.
According to I_Leak_VN, it looks like the latest model to get this treatment is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. In stock, the card features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, but the custom variant features a massive 128 GB frame buffer, quadrupling its memory capacity. While we don’t have more specifics or pictures of the PCB itself (yet), it looks like the card is made through a combination of higher-capacity GDDR7 memory dies, which would lead to 64 GB on a single-sided PCB. The dual-sided PCB layout doubles the memory to 128 GB.
Now there’s a question to raise here, which memory modules is this card actually using? We know GDDR7 is available in 16 Gb and 24 Gb densities, which enable 2 or 3 GB memory per module, so 32 or 48 GB. Even a dual-sided model would end up with 96 GB VRAM, which is the same as the RTX PRO 6000. So, unless this factory was able to source 32 Gb density modules out of nowhere (currently, no memory vendors offer these), it does look like this could either be a hoax or some weird Frankenstein of a mod is going on with the PCB.
In the screenshot provided by the source, the card appears with its full 128 GB memory, and is running the 550.144.03 driver. The card is also given a price. The standard NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 retails for $1999 US (MSRP), but is more realistically found around $2500-$3000. The custom 128 GB variant is reportedly priced at around $13,200 US. That’s a 6.6x higher price for 4x the memory capacity.
While the price is quite hefty, it makes sense that the card is priced so high. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell with a 96 GB VRAM capacity costs around $10,000 US. In terms of price, the RTX 5090 128 GB variant is 33% more expensive and offers 33% more memory than the PRO Blackwell.
Once again, the RTX PRO 6000 is an official variant offered by NVIDIA, while the 128 GB GeForce RTX 5090 is a custom mod that doesn’t have any approval from NVIDIA. It’s sold via the factories themselves to AI customers since that much VRAM has no practical or sensible use in gaming at the moment.
The popularity of these custom VRAM designs is surprisingly big in Asian markets, which are deprived of proper AI GPUs due to their high prices (including tariffs) and trade restrictions over certain regions. We will dig for more information on this model.
