Samsung's 3GB GDDR7 Chips Hit the Market — Could the RTX 5090 Get a Memory Boost

3GB GDDR7 memory chips (model: Samsung K4VCF325ZC-SC28) have unexpectedly surfaced for open sale on a Chinese marketplace. What makes these unique is their non-standard 3GB capacity per chip — doubling the density of typical 24Gb (gigabit) GPU memory dies. Pricing starts at just $10 per chip.

Notably, these exact chips are used in the mobile RTX 5090, where eight 3GB modules deliver 24GB of VRAM over a 256-bit bus. But the bigger reveal came from an NVIDIA GeForce channel presentation video: it showed an RTX 5090 Founders Edition board fitted with *16* GDDR7 chips. If each is indeed 3GB, that points squarely toward a potential desktop RTX 5090 with 48GB of VRAM and a 512-bit bus.

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If RTX 50-series boards were designed from the start to support 3GB modules (hinted at by their use in prototypes and Pro cards), and the physical chips are now publicly available, theoretically this opens the door to manually upgrading VRAM on existing cards. Such mods — while no small fea t— have succeeded before on older GPUs (RTX 20/30 series) when enthusiasts sourced higher-capacity compatible chips.

That said, success isn’t guaranteed. It hinges on whether NVIDIA imposes software locks (vBIOS, drivers) and the complexity of the re-soldering process. Still, the mere appearance of these niche chips on the open market is unusual — and it’s fueling excitement about the hidden potential of current-gen graphics cards. All eyes are now on modders to attempt the first upgrades.