A leaked video reportedly originating from a Chinese factory suggests a substantial number of new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards are being diverted from the consumer market for use in AI servers. The footage, shared on X by HKEPC, depicts what appears to be a large-scale operation where hundreds, possibly thousands, of high-end GPUs are being dismantled.
The process involves workers removing the original three-fan cooling solutions from the consumer RTX 5090 cards. These coolers are replaced with dual-slot, blower-style heatsinks, which are better suited for the high-density configurations found in AI server racks. The removed GPUs and VRAM are then desoldered and potentially transplanted to new PCBs before the conversion is complete.
Following the modifications, the converted graphics cards undergo testing on extensive benchmarking rigs to ensure their functionality for AI computations. The scale of the operation, as shown in the video, is significant, with assembled GPUs being neatly stacked and repacked for delivery to clients. This activity is said to be occurring in facilities across China, even though the RTX 5090 is not officially available for sale in the country.
The demand for AI processing power has made the RTX 5090 a sought-after component in this market. This repurposing effort may contribute to the scarcity of the RTX 5090 in the consumer market, where availability is already limited and prices from third-party sellers are drastically inflated, often exceeding $8,000. This trend, driven by AI server demand, is impacting the availability and pricing of consumer PC hardware.