AMD has responded to the temperature issues of some Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards. The company indicates that they are believed to be caused by a problem in the cooler. Users are urged to contact customer service.
AMD writes in a statement that it is investigating the cause of the problems with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards. We are working to determine the cause of the unexpected throttling some are experiencing when using AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics cards. “Based on our current observations, we suspect the issue is related to the cooling system used in the AMD reference design.” AMD says the issue affects a limited number of video cards sold.
Igor Walllossek of Igor’s Lab previously reported that the problems may be caused by a faulty vapor chamber, which contains too little liquid. AMD doesn’t specifically comment on that. The company is again urging users to contact customer service. The company did that earlier, but did not substantively address the alleged problem with the GPU cooler.
According to sources of Igor Wallosek an estimated four to six batches of Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards shipped with a defective vapor chamber, causing them to experience high GPU hotspot temperatures of up to 110 degrees Celsius. It could be thousands of video cards, although that has not yet been confirmed.
Only Radeon RX 7900 XTX cards can reportedly suffer from the temperature issues. The RX 7900 XT models would not exhibit the defect. It also only concerns the Made by AMD cards. Those video cards have AMD’s own reference design and are sold directly by AMD and through board partners. Video cards with custom coolers do not suffer from this problem.
Hundreds of reference cards have already been returned to AMD, industry sources tell Igor Walllossek. The issues affect not only off-the-shelf video cards, but also Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards shipped as part of a pre-built desktop. AMD is now offering customers to exchange or return the affected video cards for a refund, Walllossek reports.