For a while now, resellers have been modifying lower end Nvidia graphics cards and flogging them off as more powerful cards online. It is somewhat telling that most people who buy them cannot spot the difference regarding performance.

In a recent version of its GPU-Z graphics card information utility, TechPowerUp has added the ability to detect these fake Nvidia cards.

This new feature allows buyers of cards to detect if the card is actually a relabled Nvidia G84, G86, G92, G94, G96, GT215, GT216, GT218, GF108, GF106, GF114, GF116, GF119, or GK106 GPU by displaying an exclamation point where the Nvidia logo would normally appear and also prepends the string "[FAKE]" before the card's name.

TechPowerUp's release notes stated: "We worked extensively on the ability of GPU-Z to detect fake Nvidia graphics cards (i.e. cards not having the GPU advertised on the box)."

"GPU-Z now prepends "[FAKE]" to the Graphics Card name field, and lights up with a caution triangle. This capability is forward compatible for the supported GPUs (listed in the changelog), so for example, it will be able to detect a fake RTX 2060, which uses a GK106 GPU. "

TechPowerUp does not say how it is detecting the fake GPUs, but it appears the sellers were modifying the BIOS so that they appear as higher end graphics cards.

TechPowerUp also told us that it is unaware of fake AMD cards and that the cards are typically sold in China but can make it to the West through eBay.