Leaked Footage Shows RTX 5090s Being Stripped for AI Servers in China

Leaked footage making the rounds on X reportedly shows factory workers in China pulling apart brand-new GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards. According to the post that shared the clip, the workers remove the GPU chip and its GDDR7 memory from finished cards, then fit those parts onto custom server boards built for AI work.

The clip was shared by the account Pirat_Nation on 25 October. Some of the cards in the footage are said to be Nvidia’s own Founders Edition models. Neither Nvidia nor the factory has commented, and the footage has not been independently verified, so treat the details with some caution.

Why would anyone take apart a 5090?

The RTX 5090 is Nvidia’s top gaming card, with 32GB of fast GDDR7 memory. That much memory, combined with a powerful chip, also makes it useful for running and training AI models.

Nvidia’s dedicated AI data-centre chips face heavy US export restrictions to China. The post’s claim is that companies are getting round those limits by buying gaming hardware instead and reworking it into something closer to a server accelerator. Moving the chip onto a server board lets them pack cards more densely and cool them in a rack, which a normal gaming card isn’t designed for.

Not the first time

Gaming cards being reworked for AI is not a new story. Earlier generations, including the RTX 4090, were also reported to have been rebuilt in China into AI cards with extra memory. If this footage is genuine, the same thing is now happening with the 5090.

What it could mean for gamers

• Tighter supply: every 5090 taken apart for AI is one fewer card on sale for gamers, which can keep prices high.
• Prices in Pakistan: most high-end GPUs sold here are imported, so any squeeze on global stock tends to show up in local prices too.
• Be careful buying used: cards that have been opened, reworked or had parts swapped can end up on the second-hand market. If you’re buying a used high-end GPU, test it in person, check the serial number and warranty, and look the seller up on our Trade Caution List first.

We’ll update this story if Nvidia responds or the footage is confirmed.

Source: Pirat_Nation on X

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