The temperature is rising here.
Recently, Nvidia was embroiled in the melting 16-pin connector scandal, but things are heating up for AMD. According to reports and user feedback, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX can reach temperatures of 110 degrees Celsius in certain areas. Therefore, PowerColor, one of AMD’s most prominent partners, has issued a call for user reports on Reddit so it can forward the information to AMD for further investigation.
The 110C hotspot phenomenon appears to affect only MBA (Made By AMD) or reference Radeon RX 7900-series graphics cards, regardless of whether they were purchased directly from AMD or one of the chipmaker’s partners. There have been no reports of affected custom designs, indicating a potential design flaw with the reference cooler. Nonetheless, let’s not jump the gun: The million-dollar question is whether the junction temperature of 110 degrees Celsius is acceptable for Radeon RX 7900-series graphics cards. We’ve reached out to AMD for confirmation, but the chipmaker has yet to respond, likely due to the holidays.
There is precedent for Radeon graphics cards to reach 110 degrees Celsius, which is consistent with AMD’s specifications. The normal junction temperature for Radeon RX 5700-series graphics cards, such as the Radeon RX 5700 XT, was 110 degrees Celsius.
“Rather than setting a conservative, ‘worst case’ throttling temperature for the entire die, the Radeon RX 5700 series GPUs will continue opportunistically and aggressively ramping clocks until one of the many available sensors reaches the ‘hotspot’ or ‘Junction’ temperature of 110 degrees Celsius. Three years ago, AMD stated in a blog post (opens in a new tab) that operating at up to 110C Junction Temperature during typical gaming usage is expected and within spec.
In addition to the junction temperature, it is crucial to examine the edge temperature to determine if there is an underlying issue. The temperature measured at the silicon’s edge corresponds to the edge temperature. Therefore, it is an excellent indicator of the condition of the rising pressure. A low value indicates a favorable mounting pressure. “110 hotspot is within spec if your card’s GPU edge temperature is 90° or higher… If 110 is reached at 70 edges, that’s not ideal,” an AMD representative commented on Reddit (opens in new tab).
AMD has stated that its GPU team is currently investigating the issue. It will be essential to determine if the high temperatures are to blame for the thermal throttling, which causes the graphics card’s clock speed to drop below the rated speed. Otherwise, the behavior is typical. Don’t forget that AMD only guarantees the base clock speeds of its graphics cards.
The owners of Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics cards are reportedly RMAing or returning their products. However, the feedback has been mixed. In a Reddit thread (opens in a new tab), some claimed that AMD had accepted their RMA, while others claimed that the chipmaker had rejected the RMA and refunds.
Some user reports indicate that repasting the Radeon RX 7900 XTX solves the issue, but this is not always the case. There is a theory that the cold plate of the cooler is not uniform. This would explain why the thermal interface material (TIM) appears to be thicker in the center of the die than at its edges. A Reddit user suggested that a graphite thermal pad could solve the issue. In previous generations of Radeon graphics cards, AMD opted for thermal pads, so it is unclear why the chipmaker decided to use TIM on RDNA 3. In any case, we do not recommend removing your cooler, as doing so would likely void your warranty. Currently, the only options are to either wait for AMD’s direction or attempt to RMA the graphics card, though the latter would be fruitless if the card is operating as expected.
