During last week reported the German repair shop Krisfix that they had recently received 61 Radeon graphics cards, of which 48 had suffered from broken graphics circuits and short circuits. The driver was the common denominator between the graphics cards, and was then pointed out as a possible cause by the shop. Now Krisfix returns with a new theory.
Through a combination of testing and contact with the influencing customers, the repair shop Krisfix has landed on another theory. It is said to be about moisture damage which should be due to inappropriate storage from a single seller over a longer period. Krisfix believes that it is possibly one miner who have stopped crypto mining when it was no longer profitable.
To investigate the issue, the store collected eight copies of the Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, four of which were brand new reference design copies and the rest were used partner cards. All copies had their original BIOS versions installed. The graphics cards were then tested for a few days in the Furmark stress test with different graphics drivers. At the same time, the voltage was measured on two voltage regulators used for, among other things, memory and graphics circuitry to detect changes.
Seven of the eight graphics cards worked correctly regardless of the driver and no changes could be found. One of the new reference design cards was a Monday sample that consistently crashed regardless of the test scenario, and the behavior persisted even when the card was tested in another computer.
With those test results, Krisfix contacted the customers with questions about when and where the 48 graphics cards were purchased. The store also asked why they turned to a repair shop with products that should still be under warranty. Just under half responded, of which only two had access to proof of purchase. Many of the graphics cards were found to have been purchased around the beginning of December last year, and the problem appeared just days after they were installed.
The fact that many of the graphics cards had been purchased during the same time period made Krisfix suspicious, who also noted that the graphics cards were very clean and dust-free for being used, while the damage resembled moisture damage. If the theory is correct, accumulated moisture from long-term storage in combination with high humidity and low temperature could be the cause of the catastrophic damage, which then occurred when unsuspecting users installed the graphics cards without adequate dehumidification.
Like the previous report from Krisfix, it is about unconfirmed information and theories that have not been confirmed or substantiated by any other source. It is therefore reasonable to take the data with a pinch of salt while waiting for any updates or possible comment from AMD, something that is still missing at the time of writing. Whether the saga ends here remains to be seen.
