People rarely receive free gaming gear, especially something nice, such as an RTX 3060. However, LudM on the PCMR subreddit revealed he was given a free Chinese "RTX 3060" from Temu. The new RTX 3060 owner is waiting for the rest of his computer parts to arrive to build his gaming rig and verify if the card he was sent was an actual RTX 3060 and not a fake.
Chinese online e-commerce platforms are a popular place to find fake GPUs that might be advertised as an RTX 30 series or RTX 40 series GPU at "impossible" price points. More often than not, these crazy-cheap GPUs are scams, with the product being a much older GPU. Some are equipped with GPUs as old as a GTX 650 Ti or GTX 680. However, there are other times when the advertised product is legitimate.
The poster published images of the newly acquired RTX 3060, revealing that the card might be the real deal. One Redditor replied with a keen eye that the components behind the GPU look identical to a Palit RTX 3060 Dual OC. Another plus is that the card has an 8-pin supplementary power connector, three DisplayPort connectors, and one HDMI connector, the same as the Palit GPU, providing good evidence that the card might be legitimate. GPUs packing much older GPU models, such as a 600 series or 700 series GPU, will typically come with an older video connector such as DVI or VGA.
The comments section also suggested that the RTX 3060 might be the mobile variant of the GPU. This could also be the case; it is not uncommon for many of these desktop GPUs to feature a mobile Nvidia GPU, such as the RTX 3060 mobile. However, many comments also warned that the GPU might have malware-infected firmware, which could reach the GPU's host machine when the system is fully built and operational. This is another legitimate concern, especially considering the RTX 3060 was given for free.
LudM purportedly received the free RTX 3060 from a Temu advertisement. For months, LudM was harassed by Temu ads showcasing "expensive items at ridiculously low prices or even for free." After investigating and discovering that these ads were purportedly legitimate, LudM entered one of these giveaways and managed to win the aforementioned RTX 3060.
