Leaked Video Shows RTX 5090s Being Turned Into AI Server Cards
Footage from workshops in China reportedly shows GeForce RTX 5090 cards stripped of their GPU and memory chips, which are moved onto two-slot server boards.
Merhabyte Newsdesk · · 2 min read
A striking glimpse has emerged of where the GeForce RTX 5090 went after it all but vanished from retail shelves. Videos shared on X show industrial conversion workshops in China taking brand-new RTX 5090 cards apart in bulk and rebuilding them for use in AI servers.
The footage shows these flagship gaming cards being shipped in large batches to conversion factories and processed on a production line instead of reaching consumers. The card is not officially sold in China, so the activity reportedly runs through gray-market supply chains, with the rebuilt cards put to work on AI workloads.
How the conversion works
According to the video, technicians desolder the GB202 chip and the GDDR7 memory chips from each card. The components are then transferred to a different board built for server use, with a two-slot blower-style cooler. In the process the original large fans and heatsink blocks are removed entirely and replaced with a two-slot turbo cooler with a thick copper base.
The workbenches hold boxed and bare RTX 5090 models from various manufacturers, along with Nvidia's own Founders Edition cards. Once converted, the cards go to open test rigs where many of them are put through graphics-load and stability tests at the same time. Units that pass are repackaged and shipped to customers, most likely data centers and AI labs.
Why a blower cooler matters
High-end consumer graphics cards typically ship with wide three-fan coolers and occupy three to four slots in a case. They vent hot air back into the chassis, which makes them hard to use in 4U servers or in setups where several cards sit side by side. A two-slot blower cooler pushes heat straight out the back of the chassis, saving space and improving cooling efficiency in dense card arrays.
Such factories are said to be scattered across the country. The scale of the operation is described as large, with thousands of cards probably processed every day, and gray-market middlemen are reportedly constantly hunting for RTX 5090 stock to feed these lines.
Market impact: stock gone, prices soaring
According to the reports, Nvidia has halted GeForce RTX 5090 production and is most likely redirecting the silicon to higher-margin professional cards such as the RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell. With supply diverted on one side and aggressive repurposing on the gray market on the other, RTX 5090 stock at US retailers has nearly run out. Custom-design RTX 5090 models now start at $8,500, and sources sharing the video claim prices are approaching $10,000.
The result is an odd one: in some cases, prebuilt gaming PCs containing an RTX 5090 can be had for less than the card alone, and they come fully assembled with a manufacturer warranty. Under current market conditions, prebuilt systems have unexpectedly become the more reasonable option for gamers looking for a top-tier graphics card.
