GoKawiilModder revives Nvidia's canceled RTX 3070 Ti 16GB with custom VRAM swap
Brazilian YouTuber Fabian (fmklab) built a working version of the RTX 3070 Ti 16GB that Nvidia never shipped, by fitting an RTX 3070 Ti GPU onto an RTX 3070 PCB and swapping in higher-capacity Samsung GDDR6 chips. After reconfiguring the board's memory straps using Nvidia's BIOS Reader tool, the card correctly recognized the full 16GB pool in GPU-Z, matching the specs of a prototype that had only ever surfaced in database listings and photos.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
This project effectively completes a piece of unreleased Nvidia history, showing what a doubled-memory 3070 Ti could have offered gamers and AI hobbyists years after the fact. It also highlights how enthusiast modders can manipulate VRAM straps and firmware to reshape consumer GPUs, a technique with growing relevance as demand rises for cheaper high-VRAM cards for local AI workloads.
- A modder combined an RTX 3070 PCB with an RTX 3070 Ti GPU and swapped GDDR6 chips to hit 16GB VRAM.
- Memory straps had to be manually reconfigured for GPU-Z to recognize the full capacity.
- The build revives a card Nvidia reportedly planned but never released to the public.
Quick 861DW Hot Air Rework Station — Swapping BGA memory chips like fmklab did on that Frankenstein RTX 3070 Ti demands serious hot air control, and the Quick 861DW is a favorite among GPU repair channels for exactly that kind of work. Its lead-free-capable airflow and stable temperature make reflowing GDDR6 packages and GPU cores far less nerve-wracking than a cheap heat gun. A solid centerpiece for anyone building a board-level repair bench.
See Quick 861DW Hot Air Rework Station on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: tomshardware.com — Hassam Nasir, 2026-09-09
Published there as: “Nvidia's unreleased RTX 3070 Ti 16GB comes to life thanks to a modder's crazy GDDR6 swap — Frankenstein card combines RTX 3070 PCB and new VRAM with RTX 3070 Ti GPU”
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