Truckload of GPUs stolen on their way out of San Francisco
- Reference: 1636358344
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/11/08/evga_gpu_theft/
- Source link:
A [1]forum post by EVGA product manager Jacob Freeman states “PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that on October 29, 2021, a shipment of EVGA GeForce RTX 30-Series Graphics Cards was stolen from a truck en route from San Francisco to our Southern California distribution center.”
“These graphics cards are in high demand and each has an estimated retail value starting at $329.99 up to $1959.99 MSRP.”
[2]
Which probably explains the motivation for the crime – either someone hopes to resell them or a crypto-miner has just built a cut-price rig.
[3]
[4]
Freeman’s post doesn’t say how many GPUs were stolen, or if the truck was carrying anything else. He did, however, warn that buying stolen property is a crime, as is “concealing selling or withholding” purloined goods.
He then appears to lay a trap of sorts by pointing out that attempts to register products that aren’t stolen will succeed on [5]this page which requires registration. Crooks are probably smart enough to use fake details when registering. Are they also smart enough to use a VPN and/or Tor to hide their tracks?
[6]
EVGA has created the email address [7]stopRTX30theft@evga.com in an attempt to find the culprits.
[8]Imagination mulls adding DirectX to its GPU roadmap amid customer interest
[9]Upcoming Intel GPU to be compatible with Arm
[10]European Commission sticks 'in-depth' antitrust probe into Nvidia-Arm merger plan
The RTX-30 range is aimed at gamers and content creators, so this heist will make it even harder to score a GPU for those who suffer from low pixel counts and/or refresh rates. Those who use GPUs for other tasks can already wait months to get their hands on the devices, as COVID-crimped supply chains continue to delay production.
That situation is set to persist for many months: in August Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he expects “a supply constrained environment for the vast majority of next year”. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://forums.evga.com/Notice-of-Stolen-EVGA-GeForce-RTX-30Series-Graphics-Cards-m3490851.aspx
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YYlXwhzEdA19eNx@-hrv9QAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YYlXwhzEdA19eNx@-hrv9QAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YYlXwhzEdA19eNx@-hrv9QAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.evga.com/community/myProducts.asp
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YYlXwhzEdA19eNx@-hrv9QAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] mailto:stopRTX30theft@evga.com
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/04/imagination_ldirectx_gpu/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/29/intel_gpu/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/28/eu_nvidia_arm/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Are they also smart enough to use a VPN and/or Tor to hide their tracks?
If not, check El Reg for instructions on how not to get caught!?
But how would the buyer know?
Since the only way to get a GPU nowadays seems to be through scalpers, how would a buyer ever know if what he's buying was stolen or not?
Re: But how would the buyer know?
the warranties may have been invalidated but the smart thing would be to let the registration page take the details as normal but then follow those up to trace the distribution network.
Re: But how would the buyer know?
Honestly if I knew they were stolen, at least there's quality control. Better than trying to buy rebranded or refurbed cards online. Hard to see any negatives for the consumer.
$1959.99 !?
That's a gra thicc s card!
GPUs or Graphics cards?
The headline and the constant references in the article to GPUs implies it was the chips on the way to the factory making graphics cards that were stolen, except for the quote by the NVidia guy who correctly refers to "graphics cards". I expect more from El Reg authors and editors.
Re: GPUs or Graphics cards?
That quote was practically the first thing in the article....did you simply not read the article in the normal order?
Re: GPUs or Graphics cards?
>..did you simply not read the article in the normal order?
Programmer, Forth, am I
Is it gamers trying to get cards
To stop the bitcoin PITAs getting them?
Better than the other way round
Re: Is it gamers trying to get cards
You don't mine bitcoin with GPUs.
Re: Is it gamers trying to get cards
You do however mine other cryptocurrencies with GPUs, for which you often get paid in BTC...
Unless you're just trying to score nit-picky points, it really doesn't matter whether or not you're mining the BTC directly on your GPU, the end result is still an insatiable demand for GPUs from people wanting to convert GPU time into BTC one way or another (and being willing to pay above RRP for them), which has an undesirable impact on GPU availability (at more reasonable prices) for everyone else.
Fell off the back of a lorry, guv
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