Vendors Turn RTX 3070 Ti Mobile Into Bogus Desktop GPUs

A small maker of graphics cards is selling its so-called “GeForce RTX 3070 TiM” graphics card that barely offers the performance of a desktop GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. The board is indeed based on Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics processor for laptops configured accordingly and has nothing to do with GeForce RTX 3070 Ti for desktops. Unfortunately, while the manufacturer discloses the product’s specs, it still carries quite a misleading model number so you won’t see it on any lists of the best graphics cards.

The 51Risc GeForce RTX 3070 TiM graphics card with 8GB of GDDR6 memory sold at Aliexpress (opens in new tab) (and noticed by VideoCardz (opens in new tab)) disguises itself as a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti since few people will ever see the M moniker after the Ti. Meanwhile, this board carries Nvidia’s GA104 (GN20-E) silicon used for laptop-bound GeForce RTX 3070 Ti which is considerably slower than its desktop-bound brother.

(Image credit: 51Risc)

Nvidia’s desktop GeForce RTX 3070 Ti uses the company’s full-blown GA104-400 GPU with 6,144 CUDA cores and a 1,770 MHz boost clock paired with 8GB of 19 GTps GDDR6X memory. By contrast, the laptop version of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti features a GPU with 5,888 CUDA cores and an up to 1,485 MHz boost clock mated with 8GB of 14 GTps GDDR6 memory. Meanwhile, the 51Risc GeForce RTX 3070 TiM features a GPU with 5888 CUDA cores operating at up to 1410MHz and accompanied by 8GB of 17.5 GTps GDDR6 memory.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
CUDA Cores Clocks FP32 Performance Memory TDP
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 4864 1410 – 1665 MHz 16.2 TFLOPS 8GB, 14GT/s GDDR6 200W
GeForce RTX 3070 5888 1500 – 1725 MHz 20.3 TFLOPS 8GB, 14GT/s GDDR6 220W
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 6144 1580 – 1770 MHz 21.7 TFLOPS 8GB, 19GT/s GDDR6X 290W
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop 5888 510 – 1485 MHz 14.6 TFLOPS 8GB, 14GT/s GDDR6 125W
GeForce RTX 3070 TiM 5888 915 – 1410 MHz 16.6 TFLOPS 8GB, 17.5GT GDDR6 220W

Given the clocks of the GeForce RTX 3070 TiM, it should offer performance similar to that of the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in most cases and will never reach the framerates provided by the GeForce RTX 3070. Yet, due to its 17.5 GTps memory, it can beat both in applications that require high memory bandwidth.

Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 TiM is also relatively reasonably priced: it costs $337 (opens in new tab) with free shipping from China to the U.S., which is significantly lower than the cheapest GeForce RTX 3070 ($530 (opens in new tab)) but is more or less in line with the price of the most affordable GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ($389 (opens in new tab)) board at Amazon.

The 51Risc GeForce RTX 3070 TiM looks like all inexpensive gaming graphics cards these days: it is a reasonably compact dual-wide product with a dual-fan cooling system, one eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connector, and four display outputs. The only sticker on its backplate says this is an ‘RTX3070TI 8G DDR6’ device. The board rocks a220W TDP, which aligns with the desktop GeForce RTX 3070. Meanwhile, the GeForce RTX 3070 TiM requires drivers for laptop GPUs, which 51Risc does not conceal but does not state explicitly.

Nowadays, at least in well-developed countries, forged processors and graphics cards are not as common as they used to be some 20 years ago. But the proliferation of global trade opened doors for forged hardware from Asian stores to the U.S. and Europe. 51Risc, by any means, does not produce fake hardware as it adequately discloses specifications and even mentions with what silicon they are dealing. But the rather bogus naming looks quite misinforming and may mislead a consumer unaware of various GPU peculiarities.