AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards are reportedly facing cooling issues

Recently there have been some reports of overheating RX 7900 XTX graphics cards. After investigation, some believe that the reference design cooler might be faulty. AMD is already aware of the complaints and is asking those affected to contact their support team so they can further investigate the issue. 

Some Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference card owners have been reporting that their cards are registering 110ºC at the junction, which AMD temporarily considered to be within spec. Users, however, disagree with AMD, as this is the point where the GPU starts throttling. Meanwhile, AMD has changed its take on the situation, as it's now recommending those affected by the issue to open a ticket with the support team.

We've yet to get an official reason for the issue. Some owners claimed that the vapour chamber cooler works better when the GPU is mounted vertically instead of horizontally. However, this shouldn't happen, assuming the cooling solution has been designed correctly.

While we wait for a formal statement from AMD, Der8auer has decided to take matters into his own hands. In total, he received about 48 reports of Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference card owners, of which 19 were vertically mounted, and 29 were horizontally mounted. This should be enough to prove that the card's positioning and orientation are not at fault here.

After evaluating these reports and isolating possible causes (excessive or lacking mounting pressure, software/firmware, cooler orientation), he claims to have found out what's going on with these cards. After running multiple tests with four Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards bought from users who reported overheating issues, he concluded that the problem was in the vapour chamber.

Although he couldn't pinpoint what was wrong with the cooler, he mentioned some possible scenarios. The first was the pressure inside the vapour chamber. For the second potential cause, he said the amount of liquid could have been wrongly calculated. The design of the vapour chamber could also be at fault here, as it seems to have quite a complex structure. Lastly, the choice of materials is also a possibility.

After the video had been posted, Igor'sLAB (via ComputerBase) claimed it had received the first feedback from an AIB partner. According to this AIB source, the issue should only affect a batch of cards that don't have enough liquid within the chamber to cool the GPU properly. If that's the case, issuing a recall of the cards affected could be a viable solution to fix the problem.

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KitGuru says: Do you own a Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference design card? Are you experiencing any overheating issues with it?

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