AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX launched in mid-December providing an enormous efficiency improve over its predecessor and extra efficiency than Nvidia’s pricier RTX 4080. However it’s not all roses. Over the vacation break, a worrying variety of customers reported excessively excessive scorching spot temperatures, hitting a whopping 110 levels Celsius and slowing their GPU’s efficiency.
After first stating that these are regular working temperatures, AMD is now doing an about-face, admitting that at the least some 7900 XTX reference playing cards suffered from a producing defect that impacts efficiency. Right here’s what the corporate advised {Hardware} Luxx’s Andreas Schilling, who has been investigating the problem:
“We are working to determine the cause of the unexpected performance limitation of AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics cards. Based on our observations to date we believe the issue is related to the thermal solution used in AMD’s reference design and is occurring in a limited number of cards sold. We are working to resolve this issue for the affected cards. Customers experiencing this unexpected limitation should contact AMD support.”
Right here’s what it’s essential to find out about overheating Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPUs.
Why are Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPUs overheating?
We haven’t lined this ordeal but because of the vacation, however in a nutshell: Some Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics playing cards are hitting excessively excessive temperatures. The tech press—particularly German tech press—have been digging into the problem with famous overclocker Der8auer performing intensive checks on a reader-supplied 7900 XTX recognized to be affected. He concluded that the problems probably stemmed from a problem with the vapor chamber coolers within the reference fashions, a conclusion that AMD’s “issue is related to the thermal solution” appears to verify.
You possibly can see his efforts within the video beneath.
It’s unknown how widespread the issue is. On social media, extra Radeon RX 7900 XTX homeowners than not appear to be having no thermal points in any way, however Igor Wallossek’s well-connected sources declare it might have an effect on a number of manufacturing batches. Wallossek says 1000’s of playing cards could should be returned, each from DIYers and system builders.
Oof, if true. These AMD jabs towards Nvidia’s melting energy connectors certain really feel awkward now. Happily, with AMD now acknowledging the problem, patrons of affected Radeon RX 7900 XTX playing cards ought to hopefully have the ability to have their GPUs changed or refunded. Fingers crossed.
Which Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPUs are affected by thermal points?
Solely the reference-designed Radeon RX 7900 XTX is affected, together with reference playing cards offered by companions like Sapphire, XFX, and so forth. The difficulty is with the vapor chamber in that particular design. Customized Radeon RX 7900 XTX fashions aren’t affected by the identical points. The reference mannequin for the step-down Radeon RX 7900 XT seem like high quality as nicely.
How do I do know if my Radeon RX 7900 XTX is overheating?
In case your card is stuttering or delivering much less efficiency than supposed, it’s price checking to see in case your Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference card suffers from thermal defect points. AMD’s Radeon Overlay might help. Allow the “GPU junction temperature” monitoring choice utilizing this information, then pull up the overlay and play some video games for a bit. If you happen to see it creeping up in the direction of 110 levels, you’ll wish to contact AMD utilizing the hyperlink on the prime of this text. (For reference, our Radeon RX 7900 XTX junction temps maxed out at 84 levels.)
Ensure you’re trying on the GPU Junction Temperature and never the usual GPU temperature, although. The junction temperature reveals the most well liked spot on the die. That’s the place you may even see a problem, even when the usual GPU temps look peachy.