Hardwareluxx has confirmed a significant temperature issue affecting the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, causing the graphics card to reach 110 degrees C. We are talking about such a high figure that keeping the graphics card running at that temperature would end up causing serious damage that, in the worst case, would render it completely useless.
Their tests have not been limited to one unit, but have been carried out on a few Radeon RX 7900 XTX based on the reference design, and multiple drives experienced that issue. The difference between the average GPU temperature and the hottest spot was also very large, reaching 54 degrees. We are not aware of the Radeon RX 7900 XT being affected by this issue, at least for now.
In all the tests carried out, a part of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX showed normal behavior, which suggests that it is not a serious problem, and that those very high temperatures that some models reached could be due to a failure in the cooling system. I am inclined to think that the key to this issue may be in the radiator contact base, it is likely that it does not make good contact with the graphics core. When this happens there is no heat transfer from the GPU to the radiator, and this heat ends up building up irretrievably.
That buildup of heat can end up pushing the GPU to the limit, although in the end it will always try to reduce the work frequencies, something we all know as thermal throttling. This technique can severely limit performance, but it is essential to prevent irreversible damage from occurring immediately. However, keep in mind that a component that is used continuously in this situation will end up suffering damage sooner or later.
AMD has confirmed that it is investigating the issue, but we don’t have official information yet so we can just wait. If it is confirmed that the problem is in that the radiator base does not make good contact with the GPU The solution would be relatively simple, although in order to apply it it would be necessary to call the affected graphics cards back, since it would be essential to change the radiator or adjust it, something that an average user would not be able to do.
I remind you that the normal temperatures of a Radeon RX 7900 XTX with the reference design They hover between 63 and 67 degreess, totally optimal values for a high-end model. If your unit exceeds those levels but is at 70 degrees you have nothing to worry about.
