AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX overheating issue could be caused by a faulty vapor chamber

[midian182]

A (very) hot potato Are AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference graphics cards heading for a recall? That's the nightmare scenario team red could be facing after legendary overclocker Roman 'der8auer' Hartung discovered a potential reason for the cards' overheating issues: a faulty vapor chamber.

As a recap, we heard a couple of weeks ago that some AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX MBA (Made By AMD) reference models are experiencing thermal issues involving GPU hotspot temperatures, or the maximum temperature read by the sensor, reaching as high as 110C.

der8auer hoped to uncover the cause of the high temps, so he purchased four Radeon RX 7900 XTX cards to perform some tests. It was discovered that the installation orientation made a difference, with horizontal setups improving temps by 20 degrees, but the overhearing issue still reared its head after just one minute once the burn-in test started.

The overclocker also investigated factors such as cooler weight and gravity to see if they were influencing the high temps. He used a specially designed stand to confirm these were not part of the problem. Mounting pressure was also ruled out as a cause by dismantling the cooler, removing the support bracket, and shortening the standoffs by 1.5mm.

That left one theory remaining: a problem with the vapor chamber, which could be related to the choice of material or a design flaw, possibly preventing the water from traveling back after condensing. der8auer said he is certain this is where the issue lies. He didn't have time to take the chamber apart for further investigation but may do so in a future video.

Stay safe this holiday season. @amdradeon pic.twitter.com/DOpg0f2qaP

— Sasa Marinkovic (@SasaMarinkovic) November 17, 2022

The overheating isn't affecting every Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference card: the one we used in our review didn't show any unusually high temps. However, a defect within the vapor chamber likely means the problem is more widespread than first realized and likely impacts a higher number of users than Nvidia's melting 16-pin 12VHPWR adapter issue, which AMD gleefully mocked in a tweet.

AMD last week said that it was aware of the problem with its RX 7900 XTX reference cards. It advised users experiencing unexpected thermal throttling to contact AMD support.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/97131-amd-radeon-rx-7900-xtx-overheating-issue-could.html

 

[nodfor]

I honestly don't understand why this video is distributed this much. All this "testing" and no def answer, installing a waterblock would have taken a fraction of the time and be way more informative.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Fun fact:
After mocking Nvidia with their "4GB means 4GB" marketing, AMD lost 20% market share the following year. AMD should literally stfu and let their products speak for themselves - assuming they aren't trash....

Oh... that's why they do it....

 

[VariableSpike]

At the end of the day, it's an issue with the reference cards only, and while a **** up, it's happened before and will happen again, and at the end of the day, most people buy AIB cards anyway, because they need all the sparkly lights......

 

[Jrfeimst2]

I honestly don't understand why this video is distributed this much. All this "testing" and no def answer, installing a waterblock would have taken a fraction of the time and be way more informative.

Yes he did get an answer because he eliminated all other scenarios. By process of elimination he proved that there is something wrong with the valor chamber. Yes, he could have just put a water block on but that would not have eliminated the vapor chamber unless he did all the other situations.

 

[Jrfeimst2]

AMD needs to take care of their own house before they start mocking other companies for using 16 pin adapters. I don’t care if it’s just reference coolers. People still bought them since well they are sold out and AMD needs to fix the situation and stop running their mouths about other companies. This was a disaster launch honestly. No where near the performance they promised, no where near the efficiency they promised, throttling cards, supposedly poor launch drivers… Take care of your own house AMD!

 

[bviktor]

Fun fact:
After mocking Nvidia with their "4GB means 4GB" marketing, AMD lost 20% market share the following year. AMD should literally stfu and let their products speak for themselves - assuming they aren't trash....

Oh... that's why they do it....

Myabe, just maybe, correlation doesn't mean causation, especially when we're talking about a sample of ONE.

 

[Beerfloat]

I honestly don't understand why this video is distributed this much. All this "testing" and no def answer, installing a waterblock would have taken a fraction of the time and be way more informative.

How would replacing the cooling help narrow down what is going wrong with the cooling?

 

[Beerfloat]

Myabe, just maybe, correlation doesn't mean causation, especially when we're talking about a sample of ONE.

The mounting orientation being a factor in reaching these absurd 'AMD normal' temperatures is rather widely reported.

It seems a heck of a lot easier to actually find people who are affected by this than, say, the 50-odd globally who melted their 12VHPWR connectors by not plugging them in properly.

 

[waclark]

Myabe, just maybe, correlation doesn't mean causation, especially when we're talking about a sample of ONE.

Not sure what you mean by a sample of one. der8auer tested 4 cards and was easily able to reproduce the problem. From what I saw he pretty much eliminated most of the other suspected causes. This will require additional analysis of the vapor chamber design. It's possible, I suppose, that it could be a manufacturing defect. Maybe some debris in the VC is prohibiting the water from circulating properly limiting the heat transfer.

 

[DSirius]

Let s make a fuss noise about 7900XTX maybe people will forget about Nvidia burning in flame (literally) their computers.
Pitiful that some youtubers are clickbaiting to increase their subs. It worked for Nexus guy, der8auer is following.
How unforgiving they are with AMD and how merciful they are with all Nvidia wrongdoings. It is easy for them to trash AMD for wrongdoings while in the same time avoiding biting the Nvidia hand which feed and pay them behind the scenes. And if some dare to talk about Nvidia wrongdoings, Nvidia just showed them how easily they can blackmail them whenever they want. Der8auer guy did not even make an English video about 4090 burning 16 pin connector. How rightfully of him, though it is understandable, he did not get the Nvidia approval, so he just ignored the 16 pin power connector melting entirely.
We do not forget, and between 4090 and 7900XTX, Nvidia melting power connector is definitely the worst.
Nvidia, hand in hand with these 'famous' youtubers just told to all 4090 customers that they are too stupid and do not know how to plug the great 16 pin power connector, which by the way was perfectly designed and promoted by Nvidia.
And because the 16 pin power connector is so perfect, than Nvidia should offer an extinguisher to all 4090 buyers to avoid a class action lawsuit.
In the red team garden, AMD should lower their prices, improve their drivers and let OEM make their cards instead.
In fact both AMD and Nvidia should stop making this nonsense reference card design only to fool customers with a 'lower' price which is a blatant lie.

 

[McMurdeR]

Let s make a fuss noise about 7900XTX maybe people will forget about Nvidia burning in flame (literally) their computers.
Pitiful that some youtubers are clickbaiting to increase their subs. It worked for Nexus guy, der8auer is following.
How unforgiving they are with AMD and how merciful they are with all Nvidia wrongdoings. It is easy for them to trash AMD for wrongdoings .

It's not about flaming one company or another, it's about the people who have paid money for this stuff. If reporting on these issues is how Gamersnexus and der8auer are making their bread, then more power to them. Gamersnexus in particular has done sterling work in PC tech consumer advocacy.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Myabe, just maybe, correlation doesn't mean causation, especially when we're talking about a sample of ONE.

I'm just aware of a trend.

 

[Rdmetz]

Let s make a fuss noise about 7900XTX maybe people will forget about Nvidia burning in flame (literally) their computers.
Pitiful that some youtubers are clickbaiting to increase their subs. It worked for Nexus guy, der8auer is following.
How unforgiving they are with AMD and how merciful they are with all Nvidia wrongdoings. It is easy for them to trash AMD for wrongdoings while in the same time avoiding biting the Nvidia hand which feed and pay them behind the scenes. And if some dare to talk about Nvidia wrongdoings, Nvidia just showed them how easily they can blackmail them whenever they want. Der8auer guy did not even make an English video about 4090 burning 16 pin connector. How rightfully of him, though it is understandable, he did not get the Nvidia approval, so he just ignored the 16 pin power connector melting entirely.
We do not forget, and between 4090 and 7900XTX, Nvidia melting power connector is definitely the worst.
Nvidia, hand in hand with these 'famous' youtubers just told to all 4090 customers that they are too stupid and do not know how to plug the great 16 pin power connector, which by the way was perfectly designed and promoted by Nvidia.
And because the 16 pin power connector is so perfect, than Nvidia should offer an extinguisher to all 4090 buyers to avoid a class action lawsuit.
In the red team garden, AMD should lower their prices, improve their drivers and let OEM make their cards instead.
In fact both AMD and Nvidia should stop making this nonsense reference card design only to fool customers with a 'lower' price which is a blatant lie.

Calm down friend AMD is still all the (cheap) people's favorite "hero" and the influencers still know that the real wins is pushing amd to all those viewers who (somehow) still think they will come out on top of Nvidia.

You know that is if AMD doesn't just become another Nvidia charging insane prices for what they deliver and naming products up a tier to make them SEEM like they are better suited than they really are..... Oh wait....

 

[Rdmetz]

It's not about flaming one company or another, it's about the people who have paid money for this stuff. If reporting on these issues is how Gamersnexus and der8auer are making their bread, then more power to them. Gamersnexus in particular has done sterling work in PC tech consumer advocacy.

Yea GN Steve makes some pretty dumb jokes (or jabs) as he calls them but typically he is PRETTY fair in dishing them and when it comes to actual reviews and their methodology as well as what they cover.... They are absolutely impartial and one of the few review teams I still have respect for.... Some of the other guys (or Steve's).... Not so much.

To give some credit to HUB though no matter how I feel about many of their choices in "balancing" review coverage...They haven't held back on AMD and many of their failures recently....

They are kinda hard to ignore so it's likley just them reading the room but still good to hear....

Or maybe it's just good to hear that "the room" has finally opened their eyes a bit and the shine they saw on amd has somewhat dimmed...

So maybe HUB is just doing like they always do... Saying whatever "the room" wants to hear... Lol

 

[Arbie]

So maybe HUB is just doing like they always do... Saying whatever "the room" wants to hear... Lol

That's a scurrilous remark. The HUB guys explain and defend every conclusion they come to. Backed by more testing than you'll find anywhere else - herculean amounts of work reported for free. They are entirely consumer / viewer-focused.

 

[loki1944]

Well I meanthis lack of qc is not just AMD; look at the detonating Nvidia cards with that Amazon MMO: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amazon-new-world-gpu-deaths-caused-by-hardware-not-game

 

[DSirius]

Calm down friend AMD is still all the (cheap) people's favorite "hero" and the influencers still know that the real wins is pushing amd to all those viewers who (somehow) still think they will come out on top of Nvidia.

You know that is if AMD doesn't just become another Nvidia charging insane prices for what they deliver and naming products up a tier to make them SEEM like they are better suited than they really are..... Oh wait....

Well, it seems that you chose to take it personally instead of addressing the issues I mentioned. We can debate valid arguments with another arguments, but for this, you must have at least a valid one.

 

[waclark]

Well I meanthis lack of qc is not just AMD; look at the detonating Nvidia cards with that Amazon MMO: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amazon-new-world-gpu-deaths-caused-by-hardware-not-game

Is the AMD situation with overheating a QC problem or a design problem? I don't think we know yet, though der8auer did open up the vapor chamber on one of his cards and it seems like it might be a lack of cooling liquid, but he's not making that claim just yet.

 

[waclark]

Let s make a fuss noise about 7900XTX maybe people will forget about Nvidia burning in flame (literally) their computers.
Pitiful that some youtubers are clickbaiting to increase their subs. It worked for Nexus guy, der8auer is following.
How unforgiving they are with AMD and how merciful they are with all Nvidia wrongdoings. It is easy for them to trash AMD for wrongdoings while in the same time avoiding biting the Nvidia hand which feed and pay them behind the scenes. And if some dare to talk about Nvidia wrongdoings, Nvidia just showed them how easily they can blackmail them whenever they want. Der8auer guy did not even make an English video about 4090 burning 16 pin connector. How rightfully of him, though it is understandable, he did not get the Nvidia approval, so he just ignored the 16 pin power connector melting entirely.
We do not forget, and between 4090 and 7900XTX, Nvidia melting power connector is definitely the worst.
Nvidia, hand in hand with these 'famous' youtubers just told to all 4090 customers that they are too stupid and do not know how to plug the great 16 pin power connector, which by the way was perfectly designed and promoted by Nvidia.
And because the 16 pin power connector is so perfect, than Nvidia should offer an extinguisher to all 4090 buyers to avoid a class action lawsuit.
In the red team garden, AMD should lower their prices, improve their drivers and let OEM make their cards instead.
In fact both AMD and Nvidia should stop making this nonsense reference card design only to fool customers with a 'lower' price which is a blatant lie.

First, nice dramatic effect, but I don't think overheating and therefore, throttling $1000 GPUs is clickbait. A lot of people covered the Nvidia connector issue, in great detail so I don't think anyone was coddling Nvidia or forgetting about the issue.

As for AMD, I see several bloggers championing AMD even in light of the fact that the cards performed below expectations. I also see people, like yourself, championing AMD due to its lower price, but failing to recognize that a $1000 GPU is expensive and ridiculously priced for gaming.

An overheating and throttled $1000 GPU is a problem. It may be a design problem, though we don't know that for sure. It could also be a manufacturing defect. Either way, it's a problem that should be reported and having AMD say, "hey, it's normal" is simply trying to deflect blame and they should be called out on it. PS - AMD, as well as Nvidia, is part of the industry group that designed the connector, so nice try at blaming Nvidia for the design.

 

[loki1944]

Is the AMD situation with overheating a QC problem or a design problem? I don't think we know yet, though der8auer did open up the vapor chamber on one of his cards and it seems like it might be a lack of cooling liquid, but he's not making that claim just yet.

tomato tomato

 

[DSirius]

First, nice dramatic effect, but I don't think overheating and therefore, throttling $1000 GPUs is clickbait. A lot of people covered the Nvidia connector issue, in great detail so I don't think anyone was coddling Nvidia or forgetting about the issue.

As for AMD, I see several bloggers championing AMD even in light of the fact that the cards performed below expectations. I also see people, like yourself, championing AMD due to its lower price, but failing to recognize that a $1000 GPU is expensive and ridiculously priced for gaming.

An overheating and throttled $1000 GPU is a problem. It may be a design problem, though we don't know that for sure. It could also be a manufacturing defect. Either way, it's a problem that should be reported and having AMD say, "hey, it's normal" is simply trying to deflect blame and they should be called out on it. PS - AMD, as well as Nvidia, is part of the industry group that designed the connector, so nice try at blaming Nvidia for the design.

Great, now please apply your arguments to Nvidia wrongdoings and failures, and you will find objectivity.
And please read my post carefully till the end. I acknowledge that AMD is at fault, and I pointed out how bias are those 'experts' towards Nvidia. You are very precise with your arguments against 7900XTX. Are you able to deliver us at least some precise arguments against Nvidia 4090 burning card, 4080 1200$ fake overprice which is a failure compared with 7900XTX, or 4080-12GB renamed 4070-4070ti and soon 4070 Super, and Super Ti?
Let's be realists. Nvidia has like 80% market share. It is a fact, as also is the fact that is owning 80% of 'testers', 'youtubers' media coverage about their overhyped products.
And I am speaking from experience, I owned and currently have both AMD and Nvidia videocards in my computers and laptop. So I could make an informed opinion, and I can clearly see the double standards applied by these 'famous' 'youtubers' to Nvidia vs AMD.
This is the issue which I pointed out and should be discussed with arguments from both sides.
And including AMD in 16pin power connector melting Nvidia disaster is not a valid argument, do you have some proofs for this? Until then it's just an opinion which is not supported by facts.
But hey, you may just give new ideas to those 'famous' ' youtubers' to make more clickbait videos about how AMD is at fault for Nvidia 16 pin power burning disaster, while AMD chose to not use the infamous 16pin burning connector.

 

[waclark]

Great, now please apply your arguments to Nvidia wrongdoings and failures, and you will find objectivity.
And please read my post carefully till the end. I acknowledge that AMD is at fault, and I pointed out how bias are those 'experts' towards Nvidia. You are very precise with your arguments against 7900XTX. Are you able to deliver us at least some precise arguments against Nvidia 4090 burning card, 4080 1200$ fake overprice which is a failure compared with 7900XTX, or 4080-12GB renamed 4070-4070ti and soon 4070 Super, and Super Ti?
Let's be realists. Nvidia has like 80% market share. It is a fact, as also is the fact that is owning 80% of 'testers', 'youtubers' media coverage about their overhyped products.
And I am speaking from experience, I owned and currently have both AMD and Nvidia videocards in my computers and laptop. So I could make an informed opinion, and I can clearly see the double standards applied by these 'famous' 'youtubers' to Nvidia vs AMD.
This is the issue which I pointed out and should be discussed with arguments from both sides.
And including AMD in 16pin power connector melting Nvidia disaster is not a valid argument, do you have some proofs for this? Until then it's just an opinion which is not supported by facts.
But hey, you may just give new ideas to those 'famous' ' youtubers' to make more clickbait videos about how AMD is at fault for Nvidia 16 pin power burning disaster, while AMD chose to not use the infamous 16pin burning connector.

Nvidia "burning card". That issue was well examined by many and it comes down to not fully seating the connector. So, it's not the card, per se, unlike the AMD heating issue. The heating issue is less catastrophic as the GPU will throttle itself, but it's still a problem for people who spent $1000 on the GPU.

The 4080 "fake overprice"? Well, that's one man's opinion. It performs on par, in raster, with the XTX. It out performs the XTX when raster is turned on. Could it be less expensive, absolutely and I have said so in many posts. Nvidia could really drive a stake through the heart of XTX by simply dropping price to $950. But to ignore the $1000 price tag on XTX or suggest that it's a better "value" is ridiculous. Neither of these cards are worth the price point, but you can certainly spin it to make them seem like a good buy.

You see a double standard because you're biased towards AMD. I see plenty of people calling out Nvidia as well as AMD. I see some YouTubers praising AMD, right up to the point where the new GPUs came out and everyone was disappointed with the results (same with the CPUs too). In other words, AMD was not the white knight to save us all from Nvidia (or Intel).

And, even AMD is engaging in a bit of greed with their CPUs and GPUs. They are already dropping prices on CPUs to compete with Intel. That tells me they were happy to gouge you on the price when they could have easily introduced the CPUs at the lower price point. If Intel had of come in with higher prices, guess what? No price drops for AMD.

As for the connector, the design was done by PCI-SIG, sponsored by Nvidia and Dell. AMD is a member of PCI-SIG and is notified of any new standards being developed and can submit engineering changes as needed. This is how standards get created.

 

[DSirius]

Nvidia "burning card". That issue was well examined by many and it comes down to not fully seating the connector. So, it's not the card, per se, unlike the AMD heating issue. The heating issue is less catastrophic as the GPU will throttle itself, but it's still a problem for people who spent $1000 on the GPU.

The 4080 "fake overprice"? Well, that's one man's opinion. It performs on par, in raster, with the XTX. It out performs the XTX when raster is turned on. Could it be less expensive, absolutely and I have said so in many posts. Nvidia could really drive a stake through the heart of XTX by simply dropping price to $950. But to ignore the $1000 price tag on XTX or suggest that it's a better "value" is ridiculous. Neither of these cards are worth the price point, but you can certainly spin it to make them seem like a good buy.

You see a double standard because you're biased towards AMD. I see plenty of people calling out Nvidia as well as AMD. I see some YouTubers praising AMD, right up to the point where the new GPUs came out and everyone was disappointed with the results (same with the CPUs too). In other words, AMD was not the white knight to save us all from Nvidia (or Intel).

And, even AMD is engaging in a bit of greed with their CPUs and GPUs. They are already dropping prices on CPUs to compete with Intel. That tells me they were happy to gouge you on the price when they could have easily introduced the CPUs at the lower price point. If Intel had of come in with higher prices, guess what? No price drops for AMD.

As for the connector, the design was done by PCI-SIG, sponsored by Nvidia and Dell. AMD is a member of PCI-SIG and is notified of any new standards being developed and can submit engineering changes as needed. This is how standards get created.

About Nvidia 16 pin burning connector: from your statements the conclusion is that is Nvidia fault, they designed and pushed it to PCI-SIG.
About double standards, I did not call you biased, though you may expose yourself as one through your own statements.
And one good argument about biases and double standards is that there are biased 'youtubers experts' on both side Nvidia and AMD. And the proportion is 80% Nvidia vs 20% AMD. This I pointed out, but it seems that you really want to focus on those 20% while pretending that 80% do not count, do not exist or that for you is 'normal'.
Like you stating that AMD is greedy and ignoring the real greedy one which is Ngreedia.
I watched 'live' fake Jensen launching of 4090, 4080 and fake 4080-12GB version videocarda. That launch is the definition of greed, and Nvidia clearly won the crown for it for a long time.
But it seems that you speak for second or third parties info sources instead of primary sources. Like buying and using both Nvidia and AMD cards and make an informed opinion for yourself. You may discover that there is a huge difference between what Nvidia claims and what delivers in reality. Amd also started to make hyped claims but has a long road to catch up Ngreedia.
I bought and used an GTX 1080 card. All 1080 cards had a display port problem, randomly not showing image on a G-Sync monitor certified by Nvidia. Nvidia kept hidden this problem, pretended that it was not real or do not exist and after 1 YEAR they released a bios which users had to manually update their videocards.
I bought a 2070 Super, and was a nightmare using it on a dual monitor configuration, every time I switched from a game to the other monitor the screen went black for 2-3 seconds.
With AMD 5700XT card I had some driver stability problems but overall not so bad as Nvidia issues.
Now I have a 6900XT and a 3080 on my laptop. Both serve to me well, though even 3080 desktop is more expensive and slower than 6900XT.
For the future, try to be objective with valid arguments, not just statements like 'you are biased' cause I said so. Wish you good luck.

 

[waclark]

tomato tomato

Not really. One would require a recall of all units. The other would only require RMAing the bad ones.