One Reddit user decided to take an unusual route to upgrading their laptop by modding in 12GB of VRAM to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU.
Reddit user HarunaKai is the owner of an Asus Zephyrus G14 laptop from 2020, which comes equipped with a dedicated GPU, a Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060. For reasons that remain unclear, HarunaKai decided to ‘upgrade’ the GPU by increasing its VRAM capability from 6GB to 12 GB.
Laptops are not the easiest devices to upgrade. Some makes and models allow for certain components such as the RAM or storage drive to be easily swapped out for newer versions, and more rarely it is possible to swap out the GPU. Many modern laptops, however, have all the components such as the GPU soldered into the mainboard. This means that any upgrades need to be done by replacing the individual chip modules, which is exactly what HarunaKai has done to achieve this mod.
A mod requiring specialist tools
Despite HarunaKai claiming that replacing the VRAM on Nvidia cards such as theirs is “pretty easy”. The reality is that this is an extremely delicate job that requires specialist tools such as a professional-grade soldering rework station and a digital microscope. This is because the component chips that need to be replaced are smaller than a grain of rice.
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HarunaKai was lucky in that they were able to borrow the professional rework station from a friend who regularly engaged in motherboard repairs. Even then, the first motherboard they worked on was ruined, though HarunaKai admits they are not sure how that happened. A second motherboard was acquired through unspecified means, and this time HarunaKai was able to successfully replace the stock 1GB chips with 2GB equivalents, then short one identifying resistor to enable the GPU to recognize the additional VRAM.
Many users in the replies were a bit confused as to why this was done, noting that most applications would not see any significant performance improvement. Other users were curious about how it would perform in benchmarking tests and encouraged HarunaKai to put the modded GPU through its paces.