After fabled RTX 4090 Ti was allegedly dug out of a bin last year, tech testing YouTuber puts Nvidia's prototype GPU through its paces

pcgamer.com:

The reality of mounting e-waste is just one more thing that keeps me up at night—though every now and then, such a nightmare spits out a real gem. One Reddit user shared that after recently moving, they went rummaging through a bin full of junked computer parts, and pulled out not just a surprisingly decent graphics card, but something genuinely special.

Over the years, we've reported on the graphical powerhouse that never was, the Nvidia RTX 4090 Ti. Reportedly cancelled, one lucky poster apparently saved a prototype model from landfill back in November 2024 (via VideoCardz). You know what they say, one person's trash is another's GPU—wait, haven't we been here before? I'm about to go full Danny DeVito and debut my refuse-themed, musical wrestling persona, the Queen of Slop.

Jokes aside, what surfaced on Reddit last year appeared to be a mostly complete prototype, with both the MASSIVE cooler plus the card itself. I say 'appeared' because the Reddit post including the original photo uploads of the prototype, has since been scrubbed. But fear not! This is far from the final twist in the tale.

Enter tech testing YouTube channel Gamers Nexus, who have more recently got their hands on the fabled GPU. After plenty of partial sightings like some kind of cryptid, Gamers Nexus not only benchmarked the prototype of what is thought to be the long lost RTX 4090 Ti, but also shared a teardown of the funky, chunky card.

Gamers Nexus first highlighted the hefty GPU's somewhat unusual construction, drawing attention to the front, back, and middle fan placements. This not only sucks airflow straight through the card, but also necessitates a more discretely placed PCB. The board in question is a hefty bit of kit too, running along the belly of this absolute beast—and it is a beast, measuring 80 mm in width. Getting up close and personal with the PCB reveals a densely packed hotbed of tech, with the central GPU crowded by memory and multiple layers of VRAM.

The otherwise pretty