In the world of graphics cards, there are only really two brands to choose between, Nvidia and AMD. While it's true that Intel has now thrown its hat into the ring by announcing its line of GPUs, it's the aforementioned other two that most will think of when it comes to purchasing graphical hardware. However, one rather unlucky user may have to think about which company they buy from in the future, as their card came shipped with an unexpected gift.
Uploading a photograph of the item to Reddit recently, it seems that one person got more than they bargained for when they purchased an Nvidia RTX 3090. With the phrase "so this happened today" kick-starting the post, the image shows a close-up of the card's graphics chip and what appears to be some unusual rubber item attached to the board. Upon closer inspection, it appears to be the finger from a pair of rubber gloves.
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It seems almost certain that this is something that has come off the glove of someone working at the factory which manufactures the GPUs, although some people in the comments have been jokingly proclaiming it to be some sort of prophylactic. Despite it almost definitely being the former, the rubber item could potentially have caused some damage to the GPU, by, for example, causing the hardware to overheat while playing a game. It seems fortunate that the user spotted it when they did.
So this happened today when I tried to replace Thermal Pads on my 3090 FE.. from
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Who knows how long the foreign item could have been there had the user not needed to replace the thermal paste on their Nvidia RTX 3090. No lasting damage seems to have been caused by the rubber finger, and it seems as though the user was not too put off by it. As of this article going live, nothing much else has been said about it. The fact that they were able to spot it in time suggests that they've been able to remove the item and carry on as normal.
With both Nvidia and AMD experiencing shortages, it's a wonder the user was able to get hold of the 3090 at all. With forecasts from insiders saying that the GPU deficit could last for most of 2022, there's no telling how soon supplies will become readily available again, or whether other people will find unusual items in them. Nvidia has not said anything about the rubber glove finger inside one of its cards, but it's most likely just a one off incident.
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