Always buy a graphics card It is a significant investment, and if we are talking about the GeForce RTX 4090, there is no doubt that these are big words, because in Spain it has a starting price of 1,699.99 euros in its most affordable version. Depending on the chosen model and installer, the price can exceed 2000 euros.

With this in mind, it’s easy to see why scams have become popular around the sale of the alleged GeForce RTX 4090, which in reality They are nothing more than partially empty PCBs mounted on a cooling system that tries to mimic the appearance of a real graphics card. those cards They don’t attach any GPUso they are useless.

If you look at the attached picture, you will find out the space where the GPU would normally be mounted is empty, and around it there are also many unoccupied places in the spaces reserved for graphics memory. Interestingly, it has traces of thermal paste on the part of the heatsink where the GPU would touch, and we can also see that thermal pads are present.

I can confirm that it is a scam that is hard to avoid, but not impossible if we are careful. We also have to take into account that it was found on the used car market and that there are currently no cases in Spain. I said it’s hard to avoid because the graphics card is ready to turn on your RGB LED lightingand since the fans don’t move in standby mode, it’s easier to fool potential buyers.

This is exactly what happened to one of the affected buyers who lost $1,660, about 1,516 euros depending on the exchange rate, when buying one of these empty GeForce RTX 4090. Everything was well planned, in fact even the selling price was reasonable, that is, not too low and therefore not “too good to be true”.

This type of fraud and others related to the world graphics card usedcan be avoided if we try always try before you buy second hand unit. If this is not possible, we have to take extreme measures because we can face many problems when we receive the purchased graphics card.

In these cases I I’d rather go to the bazaar although I have to pay a little more because I will finally have a warranty and be able to complain if the product does not meet my expectations or if it causes me some type of bigger problem. If we buy graphics cards with a price below 100 euros, the risk is lower because the economic loss is less, but even in these cases we have to be careful, because I can confirm that I have experienced cases of attempted fraud with retro graphics cards for only 25 euros.