Is DMA detectable? How DMA cards get caught

Yes, DMA can be detected. Our firmware is undetected, but any build can be detected at any time, ours or anyone else's, at any price. We'll never promise you won't get banned.

How anti-cheats look at the card

Your firmware makes the card show up on your main PC as a normal device. Anti-cheats can scan the PCIe devices in your PC (the cards in the motherboard's slots, like your graphics card). They check what each one reports about itself, which is called config space.

• Known patterns.
  Community research says anti-cheats can read config space. Some, like BattlEye, are believed to check it for patterns already known to belong to cheat cards. Once a pattern is known, every card showing it can be caught, no matter who owns it.
• Stock or copied IDs.
  A card still showing its factory IDs, or IDs copied straight from another device, is easy to flag.
• A device that doesn't act like the device.
  A card that claims to be one thing but doesn't behave like it stands out.
• Lots of people on one device.
  The more people share a device, the more bans it gets. What shared firmware means goes through why.
• Checks aimed at DMA in general.
  Anti-cheats keep adding them, and they change without warning.

IOMMU and Kernel DMA Protection

These are memory protection features in your CPU, motherboard and Windows. They don't catch cheats on their own, but anti-cheats can require them.

• IOMMU.
  A part of the CPU and motherboard that controls which memory a device can reach. It's a BIOS setting. Intel calls it VT-d, and on AMD it's called AMD-Vi or just IOMMU.
• Kernel DMA Protection.
  The Windows feature that uses the IOMMU to stop devices reading memory they shouldn't. Microsoft made it for plug-in devices like Thunderbolt. For a card inside your PC, what matters is whether the game forces the IOMMU on.
• Games that require them.
  Riot's Vanguard can ask for IOMMU, TPM 2.0 (a security chip on the motherboard or CPU), Secure Boot (a BIOS setting that only lets signed software start) and Memory Integrity (a switch in Windows Security, under Device security and Core isolation) before VALORANT, League of Legends or 2XKO will start. In May 2026 Riot started requiring IOMMU on accounts using DMA devices. That cut off DMA devices that pretend to be storage drives. Riot said IOMMU will stay required to play its games. Private and MiTM run VALORANT with IOMMU forced on, on Intel only, and VALORANT DMA compares them.
• Other games are doing the same.
  Delta Force's anti-cheat, ACE, added a "DMA Shield" alongside Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 at the end of 2025. FACEIT requires IOMMU and Windows virtualization-based security (VBS, the feature Memory Integrity runs on) for every player, and none of our firmware works on FACEIT.

If a game needs a setting on to launch, leave it on.

How you play

Plenty of bans aren't about hardware at all.

• Stats.
  Reaction times, headshot rates and tracking that no person could do. Games look at these across many matches, not one.
• Machine learning.
  Games like ARC Raiders and Call of Duty run models over player data, looking for play that doesn't look human.
• Reports and replays.
  Other players report you, and people or systems review the match.
• Reading memory doesn't hide what you do with it.
  If an ESP (a cheat that shows players through walls) has you looking at people through walls, that looks the same from any cheat.

Aim devices

• Input is checked on the PC you play on.
  An aim device moves your mouse like a real mouse, but the movement can still be checked.
• Games do look at input.
  Call of Duty says Ricochet looks at input timing and consistency to catch devices like the Cronus Zen and XIM Matrix. Those are console adapters, not PC aim devices. It still shows input is being watched.
• The movement gets checked, not the device.
  MAKCU's developer says anti-cheats record your raw mouse movement and send it to their servers to check. He says they don't ban you for having an aim device plugged in. Aim that doesn't look human is what gets caught. MAKCU vs FERRUM has more.
• Humanized settings help, but they can still be caught.
  They're the options in your software that make your aim look more human.

Account bans and hardware bans

The account is what gets banned, whatever you cheat with. Hardware bans are real too. They target your main PC, the one the game runs on, and a DMA card doesn't change that PC's identifiers. Riot says its Vanguard restrictions can hit the account or the PC's hardware ID. ACE says TPM makes its hardware bans more accurate. Hardware bans has more.

DMA bans happen at scale. PUBG says it permanently banned about 260,000 DMA cheaters in 2025.

Blocked or detected

You'll see both words on our firmware pages.

• Blocked.
  The anti-cheat stops the card working with that game, for example by refusing to start or cutting off its access. It doesn't have to mean a ban.
• Detected.
  The anti-cheat has recognized the device. That usually looks like a 24-hour ban that turns into a 365-day ban, or straight to 365 days if you were offline. Sometimes it's a manual ban.
• In warranty.
  Blocked or detected, it's handled the same way. Once we've confirmed and announced it, open a ticket in our Discord. Send your MewDMA username and your card's DNA ID, and say you were affected by the announced block or detection and want to claim warranty. A ban on its own isn't a claim. We don't move everyone on a device automatically, only the people who ask. Then you flash the new build. MiTM is covered for as long as your key is renewed, and since every MiTM device is unique, we only need to confirm it.
• Out of warranty.
  40% of what you paid comes off your next order.

Firmware warranty and upgrades says how long each warranty lasts and how the credit works. If you've been banned, or a game update broke something, DMA firmware after you flash says what to do next.

"No HWID bans", "invisible", "undetected forever"

Some sellers promise these. None of them are true.

• "No HWID bans."
  Hardware bans target the PC the game runs on, and a card doesn't change that PC.
• "Invisible."
  The card is a device in your PC, and devices can be scanned.
• "Undetected forever."
  Anti-cheats change without warning, and nobody knows what next month's update will check.

If a seller promises you any of these, ask them what happens the day it gets detected.

What makes your odds better

None of these guarantee anything, but they help your odds.

• Fewer people on a device.
  Fewer people means fewer bans tied to it. Higher tiers also get more emulation work and more of our time. They cost more, so the people on them are mostly legit players who won't get the device flagged by raging. Firmware tiers has the numbers.
• Playing like a person.
  Nothing on the hardware side helps if the way you play gets you reported.

Is DMA detectable in my game?

We don't say whether a game "detects DMA". We say which anti-cheat it uses and which builds are made for that anti-cheat. Which anti-cheat does my game use? has the list.

Questions before you buy go on the support forum. After you order, open a ticket in our Discord.