Modified 96GB RTX 5090 Appears on Alibaba for Under $4,000
A Chinese OEM is offering a modified Nvidia GPU with triple the standard VRAM, targeting the AI market.
A modified Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 featuring 96GB of VRAM has appeared on Alibaba, potentially offering a low-cost alternative for AI developers. The listing, posted by Shenzhen Suqiao Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., prices the card at $3,888.
The modified GPU boasts three times the memory capacity of the standard RTX 5090, which features 32GB of VRAM. The card is positioned as a high-capacity alternative to professional-grade hardware. Notably, the RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell, which officially supports 96GB of memory, utilizes the same GB202 silicon as the consumer-grade RTX 5090, making such a modification technically plausible.
The AI Hardware Gap
This listing follows an established pattern of Chinese factories modifying consumer GPUs to better suit artificial intelligence workloads. In previous hardware cycles, similar modifications were applied to the RTX 3090 and 4090 to create 48GB versions. These modifications generally involve the use of custom printed circuit boards (PCBs) and "clamshell" memory mounting—where memory chips are placed on both sides of the board—to bypass the VRAM limitations imposed on consumer hardware. This trend is driven by the intense demand for local Large Language Model (LLM) training and inference, which requires significant memory to handle massive datasets.
Market Implications
If the hardware is authentic, it represents a drastic shift in the cost-to-performance ratio for AI researchers. Professional workstation GPUs with similar memory capacities often command significantly higher prices than the $3,888 asking price for the Suqiao modification. By bringing professional-grade VRAM to a consumer-adjacent price point, such modifications lower the barrier to entry for developers who cannot afford enterprise-level Blackwell hardware but require more than the standard 32GB of memory to run complex models.
Remaining Questions
Despite the listing, several technical details remain under scrutiny. Reports from Tom's Hardware noted contradictions in the listing regarding memory type and speed, though these specific claims have not been independently verified. Furthermore, while some suggest that leaked firmware may have enabled these modifications, such claims remain unconfirmed. Potential buyers and industry analysts are now watching to see if the card delivers on its specifications or if the listing is a case of misleading marketing.