A memory boost for the RTX 3070 is an upgrade that would make many people happy. While the RTX 3070 GPU is significantly more potent than its little brother, the RTX 3060 12GB, modern titles have started to hit the boundaries of the VRAM more often. This may be one of the reasons that rumors are swirling about a reanimated RTX 3060 arriving in the coming months, rather than the RTX 3070.
Back to the mod details, and AssassinWarlord started by taking the eight BGA memory chips off both donor cards, then reballed the ICs. Desoldering and reballing chips like these isn't for the casual hobbyist, so we'd characterize AssassinWarlord as a high-level tech tweaker. They also 3D printed a bracket for a GDDR6 reballing stencil… Commenting on the hardware aspect of the process, the intrepid modder summed up that it was "actually not that difficult, the whole thing." (machine translation from German). However, a little bit more effort was needed, such as a resistor change to get the system to see 16GB of VRAM, and a VRAM config switch would be added later.
Modders use jumper wires and a custom BIOS to save a damaged RTX 4090 from the trash
Modder pushes rare 20GB RTX 3080 Ti past 550W with risky power shunts and liquid metal cooling
Nvidia reportedly working on RTX 5050 with 9GB of VRAM, new RTX 5060 with cut-down GB205 also planned
AssassinWarlord commented that, as well as jumpers for different VRAM chip brands, the original RTX 3070 design was fine with 16Gb Samsung memory ICs (so, 8x 2 GB chips), which are needed to configure the graphics card with 16GB of VRAM total.
No extra software or hardware mods were needed to successfully test the RTX 3070 16GB in modern Windows tools and games, but a wrinkle remained in this otherwise perfect mod, which works with standard GeForce drivers . In short, the system would black screen after closing a tool that stressed the GPU subsystem.
Some investigative work indicated that memory timings set in BIOS were the underlying problem in the 16GB configuration. A RegEdit 'DisableDynamicPstate' solution to this issue was produced, meaning the GPU wasn't downclocked (or black screens) after being taxed, but this results in an idling power consumption of approximately 70W.
The forum source thread contains a few before and after synthetic benchmarks with various GPU and memory clocks tested. But it is only really in some modern games that we get to see the true advantage of the RTX 3070 16GB. Specifically, AssassinWarlord tested Marvel's Spider-Man 2 like-for-like (4K Very High) with the 8GB and 16GB switch modes. The frame rate doubles from the ~20 fps region to 40 fps+ with the 16GB enabled – see below.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/fully-functional-rtx-3070-16gb-gets-frankensteined-into-existence-by-harvesting-dead-pcbs-and-rx-6800-xts-vram-chips-doubles-frame-rate-in-games-like-spider-man-2-at-4k-and-includes-switch-for-8gb-mode#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
- Trump calls $14 billion Taiwan arms deal a 'negotiating chip' with China after Xi said Taiwan issue could lead to 'clashes and even conflicts' — Trump says 'Tai
- Bitcoin trader recovers $400,000 using Claude AI after getting 'stoned' and losing wallet password 11 years ago — bot tried 3.5 trillion passwords before decryp
- Alienware's budget gaming laptop starts at $1,299 — Last-gen parts and a plastic shell bring the premium brand into the mainstream
- Acer's monster 18-inch Predator Helios Neo 18 AI gaming laptop drops to $1799 — save $400 on this 5070 Ti desktop replacement
- Sea You in the Cloud: ‘Subnautica 2’ Early Access Dives Onto GeForce NOW
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.