Counterfeit GPUs sweeping the market.

[Wraith]

Counterfeit GPUs sweeping the market.

Well hello fellow PC & Tech enthusiasts, something a little different today and we're going to touch on the subject of counterfeit hardware, namely GPUs. I decided to take a delve into the world of fake hardware after reading a recent thread here about a GTX 780 Ti 4GB which was clearly not the genuine article and simply a GTX 750 which had been flashed and sadly one of many that import specialists AliExpress allow to flow into the market.

Well after googling for a good many hours the same names appear over and over again the first being AliExpress who as far as I can see are solely responsible for the influx of these cheap counterfeit cards and the second being Vamery a vendor of these fake graphics cards, if you have a quick search you'll find these "Vamery" cards everywhere, even on Newegg and Amazon, they are more commonly found on eBay and recently I discovered a website who sell pretty much nothing but Vamery products. A quick look over the price, description and specs gives the game away, these items are to be given a wide birth.

Now while I feel the sale and distribution of these products offensive and down right immoral there is nothing to stop them being sold even to the point that AliExpress have a sub section "Wholesale Counterfeit Goods" they seriously have no shame.

So is there a point to all this, from a consumer point of view yes, don't be fooled by these fake products if you have a doubt simply question it, or best of all hit the forums and raise your concerns, us enthusiasts see right through these cons and are more than happy to help out.
Now as far as trying to stop this kind of thing happening, unfortunately it's impossible, while ever there is a market for a product someone will always try to get in on the revenue even if that means faking a product or manufacturing sub standard versions.

My advice for anyone looking for PC hardware is as follows:

Always purchase from reputable retailers.
Stick to Name brand products.
If it looks to good to be true, it most certainly is.
Bang for buck is one thing but performance comes at a premium.
Don't be afraid to ask.

Please feel free to share your thoughts and counterfeit finds below, hopefully this will reach those looking to buy and make them think twice, while we can't stop the sales we can be web savvy and educate those who know no difference.

NVIDIA have yet to comment on my findings at this time.

~Wraith~​

 

[barnsley]

There was an article on this in another forum (which itself was following on from a german site):

GTX 660 and 650 cards have turned up that had a real nVidia chip (which was also confirmed by nVidia), but it turned out to be old Fermi-generation leftover stock chips, with less than 1/4 of the performance of the real GTX660/650 cards.

nVidia has refused to give further information about this, even though they have confirmed that they've tracked the chips to their own production.

The cards were branded Zotac, the wholeseller that put them into circulation claimed that they had been bought from Point-of-View, but Point-of-View doesn't recognise the SKU's or the serial numbers and claims not having produced the cards.

Then the plot thickened:

Point-of-View said that the article number wasn't known by them, yet the Heise redaction has found out that the same cards with the same article numbers are also listed as Point-of-View cards.

All traces lead to the Dutch Point-of-View, not to China, not to nVidia. Point-of-View is a hardware partner of nVidia that makes a lot of nVidia cards, and that makes sense, because you really need a specialized production line and pretty detailed technical information from the GPU chip manufacturer to make such cards, it's not something that any Chinese board bakery can do.

Sooo.. blame the dutch?

 

[Kilbane]

I understand the trade in counterfeit watches/clothes/bags etc. The world is full of people who will judge you before even giving the time of day (Which will probably be wrong on their chinese made Breitling). It gives people a sense of ease around these people. However, fake GPU's? What have you possibly got to gain from this? The people making this are clearly into the whole fraudulent scam for money rather than "cheap status". This is wrong.

Sooo.. blame the dutch?

Always blame the Dutch

 

[shambles1980]

have been noticing some blatant fakes on ebay of late, but i wouldn't say flooding.. its just a few chancers, i have been reporting them to ebay as i see them.
the 1st one you posted for instance.. i have reported that one probably 5 times already, it seems they just keep re listing the thing.

To me if you are making a fake gpu.. then dont put a VGA port on one that should not have one..

As far as im concerend these were probably labled correctly then some one has copied a sn/make sticker.
jammed it on the back and said thats good enough.
possibly got on the old bios editor and changed the name.

 

[Feronix]

Sooo.. blame the dutch?

Always blame the Dutch

Oi!

No wait, you're right, we suck

 

[DarthDudo]

hmm I had a cringe worthy Irish rap song to link but for some reason it wont show, search full irish 6 dutch

 

[SuB]

giving the time of day (Which will probably be wrong on their chinese made Breitling).

To be fair even a genuine Breitling will likely have the time wrong, they're not accurate time-keepers by any stretch, a cheap (~200GBP) Seiko will be orders of magnitude more accurate

They're dress watches, not accurate ones

 

[DarthDudo]

To be fair even a genuine Breitling will likely have the time wrong, they're not accurate time-keepers by any stretch, a cheap (~200GBP) Seiko will be orders of magnitude more accurate

They're dress watches, not accurate ones

Hmm wheres the analogy for the EK 750 waterblock?? JK

 

[Dicehunter]

This is why I'd personally only buy from places like OCUK or Scan.