Interesting! This is all new to me.

I wonder if this explains the video card scam that was really bad about a year ago. Explanation below, but lots of people were reporting that the cards they got from Amazon were actually a generation or two old, worth pennies on what they paid.

Amazon would usually accept a return (but more than a few people reported that Amazon accused them of trying to scam Amazon, which...), but if what you're saying is true, then the fake item just went back in the bin, waiting to screw over the next schmuck.

Detailed explanation:

High end (gaming) computer graphics card are kind of a unique class of item:

• they're relatively expensive (few hundred to a couple thousand dollars)
• there tons of variations on them (each brand makes 20-30 models)

• the models are only around for about 18 months before a newer, shinier model comes out, and so

• they lose value very quickly.

• they are all very similar. I'm an enthusiast, and I could only tell you the basic details of any given card until I plugged it in.

There are two major components to a graphics card that make it unique:

• the electronics (a mainboard, the graphics chip itself, and power and memory circuitry), which are all the same along a model and made by the same manufacturer such as nVidia or AMD (eg, that's what makes a 2080 a 2080 and not something else).
• the cooler assembly - this is the physically identifiable part, and it's what the second company who sells it manufacturers. EVGA, Asus, build a big cooler - fans, heatsinks, but also lights and structure and that is what varies. The thing is, these coolers are usually roughly the same size and shape between electronics generations.

Or, even more simple: just buy a new card that's the same manufacturer and level as your current card, and send the old one back. An Amazon employee checking stock is going to say, "yeah, it's clearly a... video card?"

To demonstrate this point, compare the photos of a a 980 ti vs a 1080 ti.

When this was going on, the first one was worth about $250 and the second was worth about $800, and they're barely distinguishable.