AMD responds to temperature issues on Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards

AMD has responded to the temperature issues of some Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards. The company indicates that they are probably caused by a problem in the cooler. Users are urged to contact customer service.

AMD writes in a statement that it is investigating the cause of the problems with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards. “We are working to determine the cause of the unexpected throttling some are experiencing when using AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics cards,” the company said. “Based on our current observations, we suspect that the issue is related to the cooling system used in the AMD reference design.” AMD says the problem occurs with a limited number of video cards sold.

Previously, Igor Wallossek of Igor’s Lab reported that the problems may be caused by a defective vapor chamber that contains too little liquid. AMD does not elaborate on this in detail. The company once again urges users to contact customer service. The company previously did this, but did not substantively address the alleged problem with the GPU cooler.

According to Igor Wallossek’s sources An estimated four to six batches of Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards shipped with a defective vapor chamber, causing them to experience high GPU hotspot temperatures of up to 110 degrees Celsius. This could involve thousands of video cards, although that has not yet been confirmed.

Only Radeon RX 7900 XTX cards can reportedly suffer from the temperature issues. The RX 7900 XT models would not exhibit the defect. This also only concerns the Made by AMD cards. These video cards have AMD’s own reference design and are sold directly by AMD and through board partners. Video cards with an adapted cooler do not suffer from this problem.

Hundreds of reference cards have already been returned to AMD, industry sources told Igor Wallossek. The issues affect not only separately sold graphics cards, but also Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference cards that came as part of a pre-built desktop. AMD is now offering customers to exchange or return the video cards in question for a refund, Wallossek reports.