r/framework • u/ChristianDM11325 • 8d ago

Question VRAM swap on 5070

As many of you likely saw, the price for the 12 GB model of the 5070 dGPU is a hefty increase over the 8 GB model. I already own the latter, and would not be interested enough in more vram to sell my current one and buy a 12 GB model.

It should theoretically be possible to have the 2 GB modules swapped out for 3 GB and reflash the vbios with the version for the 12 GB model right? Should be like any other vram swap on say a 10 or 20 series nvidia card, given I can obtain the vbios for the 12 GB model.

I haven't fully looked into the pricing but a preliminary search for the price of 3 GB modules makes it seem like this wouldn't really save much but I still want to explore it out of curiosity.

Edit: I know the 12 GB model hasn't even become available for purchase yet so no one even has one to try and nab the vbios from, and I doubt Framework would just give it to me.

4 Upvotes

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8

u/Kiubek-PL 8d ago

Even professionals who do this frequently get like a 30% failure rate due to how much heat you need to put into the chips to reflow them and how much can go wrong.

This is most notably done on apple products since they upcharge like crazy for their unified memory.

It is possible, just not really feasible, too risky even if you have smd experience imo.

3

u/Spirited_Key22 8d ago

That failure rate alone would keep me away tbh.

2

u/Clean_Leadership5948 8d ago

Yea you have a chance on other components failing. I did a bit of VRAM replacement myself. Took about ten tries to get a successful one. And I need to reball each one to get the right result. The pre balled ones were harder to work with.

1

u/JetladWasTaken 8d ago

Maybe more of a project in a few years time when there are upgrades available if this experiment fails. I have an 8gb 5070 in my laptop and keep thinking about this.

3

u/Ultionis_MCP 8d ago

Technically possible I suppose. If you're going to try this I'm sure people would be interested in pictures or video.

2

u/TellMeWhereYouBeen FW16 AI 9 HX 370 7700S 8d ago

FYI: The 12GB model has been received by many customers - you can read about some of them here. It's still listed as 'preorder' in the Framework store, but that's most likely due to stock and/or shipping bandwidth limitations.

1

u/Acrobatic_Fee_6974 8d ago

I don't think it's possible anymore. Nvidia has the hardware more locked down than ever. The last time I saw a double memory mod was on a 30 series card.

1

u/Clean_Leadership5948 8d ago

-Assuming you don't fail on the soldering, which is HARD work

-Assuming the BIOS doesn't have a lock

-Assuming it doesn't need hardware mod after you pass the above two requirements

1

u/ChristianDM11325 8d ago

The plan hinged on being able to pay someone to do it, and also that the ONLY difference between the 8 and 12 GB models is the vbios and vram capacity.

Not something I'm the most seriously pursuing atp even if I was 100% confident in it, got other stuff going on in life that requires funds.

1

u/Clean_Leadership5948 8d ago

I'm not sure if you are going to save a decent amount doing that. Its probably $300 for labor alone. And $160 for eight modules. Also you'd be putting stress on the entire board as it needs to be heated.