Gamer is said to find AMD’s top graphics card for little money – instead it’s a GPU that’s notorious among gamers
A gamer finds an AMD graphics card with her boyfriend. But behind it is a completely different GPU that has a bad reputation among gamers.
Two people had discovered a Radeon RX 6800 for around 400 euros. But the two were already suspicious in the shop: the sales box says Radeon RX 580, but the graphics card is declared as RX 6800 (via reddit.com).
From the outside, the model looks like an old Nvidia graphics card. So nothing really fitted together. A user from the comments also says: “Ah yes, the notorious GTS 450.”
The GTS 450 is in almost every fake graphics card
What kind of GPU is that anyway? The GTS 450 (codename “Fermi”) from Nvidia is an entry-level graphics card from 2010 and was already too slow for high resolutions and current games back then (via computerbase.de). It could never really keep up with ATI’s counterpart.
That hasn’t changed 12 years later, although ATI has meanwhile merged into AMD. Today, the Nvidia graphics card is really outdated and only manages reasonably modern games in low settings. You can see how much performance this graphics card delivers in the following YouTube video:
What does that have to do with the fake? On controversial sites like Aliexpress and Wish, but also sites like eBay and Amazon, you will regularly find offers where you can supposedly get great graphics cards for little money. If you then order such a graphics card, you will be sent a GPU, but in most cases it is not the one you bought.
You often get a fake graphics card that has nothing to do with the actual product. If you install the model, the purchased product will be issued, but you will soon realize that something is wrong. Behind this is a scam that has been used in the sale of graphics cards for some time:
- Fraudsters buy an old GTS 450 or the corresponding circuit board for a ridiculous price.
- They then install a BIOS update that pretends your computer to be a completely different graphics card. About a GTX 1060 Ti.
- In the next step, the graphics card is then sold as a GTX 1060 Ti. People with little experience buy the product without recognizing the fake. Because the stickers and the box identify the graphics card as the “correct” model.
- If the graphics card is then installed, there is mostly trouble with glitches and crashes, since the software and graphics card do not go together. GPU-Z, a small free tool, now recognizes such fakes and then tells you that you have the wrong graphics card.
It is particularly annoying that there seem to be a number of Chinese models of the GTS 450. This makes it difficult and time-consuming to get such a card up and running and to install the appropriate BIOS, since there are models with different amounts of video memory.
Graphics card is notorious among gamers, users regularly fall for it
What’s the reputation of the graphics card? The GTS 450 is now considered notorious among gamers. In several forums (via techpowerup.com, linustechtips.com or computerbase.de) these fake graphics cards are very well known and there are always users who fall for them and wonder about problems.
Various manufacturers are selling these Fermi graphics cards as GTX 1000 series GPUs to ignorant buyers on the Internet.
The well-known tech YouTuber “Dawid Does Tech Stuff” once showed the differences between fake and original in detail in a video:
This is how fake models can be recognized relatively easily, as the YouTuber and other users explain:
- For example on the wrong connections, because newer graphics card models no longer offer VGA.
- Or a cooler design that does not match the graphics card.
- In some cases, fake models also lack components such as cooling fins or the like. This suggests that the scammers recycled the cooling system from another card.
- You should also be skeptical about the packaging: the box is almost empty of marketing material and often only offers very simple packaging and no anti-static padding.
Tips and tricks for purchasing graphics cards: If you want to buy a graphics card and are looking for tips and recommendations, then take a look at the following article on MeinMMO:
What should you consider if you want a graphics card – buy it now or later?
Reference-mein-mmo.de