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. But 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. Here’s what the corporate informed 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.”

Here’s what it’s good 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 as a result of 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 in depth checks on a reader-supplied 7900 XTX recognized to be affected. He concluded that the problems possible stemmed from a difficulty with the vapor chamber coolers within the reference fashions, a conclusion that AMD’s “issue is related to the thermal solution” appears to substantiate.

You 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 by any means, however Igor Wallossek’s well-connected sources declare it may have an effect on a number of manufacturing batches. Wallossek says 1000’s of playing cards could must be returned, each from DIYers and system builders.

Oof, if true. Those AMD jabs in opposition to Nvidia’s melting energy connectors certain really feel awkward now. Fortunately, with AMD now acknowledging the problem, patrons of affected Radeon RX 7900 XTX playing cards ought to hopefully be capable to have their GPUs changed or refunded. Fingers crossed.

Which Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPUs are affected by thermal points?

Only the reference-designed Radeon RX 7900 XTX is affected, together with reference playing cards bought by companions like Sapphire, XFX, and so forth. The situation is with the vapor chamber in that particular design. Custom Radeon RX 7900 XTX fashions aren’t affected by the identical points. The reference mannequin for the step-down Radeon RX 7900 XT look like high-quality as properly.

How do I do know if my Radeon RX 7900 XTX is overheating?

If your card is stuttering or delivering much less efficiency than meant, it’s price checking to see in case your Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference card suffers from thermal defect points. AMD’s Radeon Overlay may help. Enable the “GPU junction temperature” monitoring possibility utilizing this guide, then pull up the overlay and play some video games for a bit. If you 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.)

Be certain you’re wanting on the GPU Junction Temperature and never the usual GPU temperature, although. The junction temperature exhibits the most popular spot on the die. That’s the place you might even see a difficulty, even when the usual GPU temps look peachy.