Wild GeForce RTX 4090 Mod Upgrades VRAM To 48GB, Requires Nerves Of Steel

Russian YouTuber VIK-on recently released a video showcasing his modded NVIDIA RTX 4090, doubling its VRAM to 48GB from its already-beefy base 24GB. To pull it off, VIK-on needed to source a couple of 4090s, a standard model and a modified one from Chinese modders on Avito. The modified board was pre-flashed with firmware to support 48GB of VRAM, and VIK also needed to swap the GPUs, and re-soldier both his new GPU chip and memory onto the modified board, which accepts VRAM chips on both sides.


The full 17-minute video on YouTube details the process in agonizing detail, including a brief history lesson these efforts and moves that made them possible. VIK-on cites examples of how Chinese modders have been working their way around sanctions on high-end NVIDIA GPUs by shipping the cards with the GPU chip and VRAM removed, and installing them themselves. Some leaked firmware files, which VIK-on speculates may have been leaked by NVIDIA itself, have also opened up an entire secondhand market for modified NVIDIA GPUs, since the leaked files also allowed the creation of custom boards.

All told, this is a wild, but high-risk hardware mod. That it was successful at all speaks to VIK-on's experience and skill, though we wouldn't recommend anyone consider attempting a move like this. It's an especially complex step up from previous GPU modifications we've covered, like the SFF GeForce RTX 4080 or the 16GB RTX 3070. In the former case, it may look like an extreme transformation but ultimately the modder only needed to trim off most of the original GPU cooler, leaving the actual GPU's PCB totally untouched. In the latter case, no custom board was required, just replacing the existing 1GB VRAM modules with 2GB VRAM modules. Still a more difficult endeavor than most enthusiasts are willing to go through— though VIK-on was a trailblazer for that particular mod, too.