Brazilian modder successfully builds the RTX 3070 Ti 16GB that Nvidia never released
A YouTuber has constructed a working version of Nvidia's cancelled high-memory graphics card by combining components from multiple sources and reconfiguring the memory architecture.
Years before its official cancellation, Nvidia had planned to ship the RTX 3070 Ti with 16GB of memory rather than the 8GB that ultimately reached consumers. Evidence of this variant surfaced only in database records and a single prototype, neither of which demonstrated the card in operation. Brazilian content creator fmklab, whose real name is Fabian, has now constructed a functioning version by taking an RTX 3070 circuit board, installing a 3070 Ti processor, and populating it with Samsung GDDR6 memory modules to achieve the intended 16GB capacity.
The project required careful engineering because the standard RTX 3070 Ti uses GDDR6X memory, a faster variant than the GDDR6 found on the RTX 3070 board. Rather than upgrade to GDDR6X chips—a prohibitively expensive option—Fabian replaced the existing Samsung HC14 (8Gb) GDDR6 modules with HC16 (16Gb) variants of the same memory type. This doubled the capacity, but the system initially reported only 8GB, requiring adjustments to the PCB's memory configuration settings.
Using Nvidia's BIOS Reader utility, Fabian identified which memory straps needed modification and performed the necessary soldering work. Following this adjustment, both MATS and GPU-Z correctly identified the full 16GB of GDDR6 memory, matching the specifications of the prototype that had surfaced years earlier. The next phase involved stress-testing to confirm the additional memory was genuinely usable.
Fabian validated the card's functionality by running a local language model that consumed nearly the entire 16GB pool. Call of Duty: Warzone paired with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor utilized more than 13GB without any stability issues. A Unigine Superposition benchmark run by Fabian, documented in his video, produced a score of 5,367 points—lower than typical RTX 3070 Ti results, a consequence of GDDR6's reduced bandwidth compared to the standard GDDR6X specification.
While the experiment succeeded in creating what may be the only functional RTX 3070 Ti 16GB in existence, the practical advantages are limited. The RTX 3070 Ti remains capable, but current-generation Blackwell cards significantly outperform it. For users seeking higher memory capacity with modern performance and efficiency, an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB would represent a more sensible purchase, offering superior power efficiency, expanded feature support, and manufacturer backing.
Source: Tom's Hardware