Many reviewers praised the reference design of the new graphics cards Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT, detecting the equipment with only two 8-pin power connectors and quite compact dimensions, which ensured its convenience in use. At the same time, according to HardwareLuxx, complaints from some owners of reference versions of these accelerators began to appear on the Web about overheating and high noise from the cooling system.
Image source: AMD
Referring to data from several reviews, as well as reviews of Radeon RX 7900 XTX video card owners, HardwareLuxx writes that the difference between the average GPU temperature and the temperature at its hottest point for non-reference versions of these video cards it is no more than 20 degrees Celsius. In other words, if the average GPU temperature reaches 80 degrees Celsius, the temperature at the hottest spot on the chip will not exceed 100 degrees. Overheating in this case does not occur and the GPU will not restore the operating frequency.
Image source: AMD
At the same time, some owners of reference versions of video cards complained about a much more significant difference between the average and maximum GPU temperatures. In some cases, it was up to 53 degrees Celsius (56 degrees for the average GPU and 109 degrees for its hotspot). This means that the chip, at a perfectly acceptable average temperature of about 60 degrees Celsius, can start to throttle back for cooling, since at the hottest point the temperature gauge will reach the maximum permissible value of 110 degrees.
The difference between the GPU’s average temperature (orange) and the temperature at its hotspot (red). Image source: HardwareLuxx
An AMD spokesperson confirmed to HardwareLuxx that they are aware of these complaints: “Our GPU team is currently investigating this issue”.
The absence of such complaints on non-reference versions of Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT suggests that the reference AMD cooling system of these video cards may be the source of the problem. HardwareLuxx doesn’t jump to conclusions, but suggests that the task of cooling the Navi 31 GPU, used at the heart of these video cards, may be complicated by the fact that this GPU uses a chiplet design. In particular, journalists noted this “The reason for the high temperature difference may be uneven pressure between the cooling system pad and the GPU”.
In turn, other reviewers note that the central GCD chiplet with graphics cores and six auxiliary MCD crystals with cache memory of the Navi 31 processor are at the same level. Therefore, the reason for the uneven contact of the chip with the cooling system may be something else. For example, the GPU bezel surrounding the GPU dies.
AMD Navi 31 GPU. Image source: TechPowerUp
Tom’s Hardware reports that when testing the reference versions of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT, it did not notice a significant difference between the average and maximum GPU temperatures, did not observe throttling or clearly excessive cooling system noise. The maximum GPU temperature remained within a reasonable 70 degrees Celsius. However, journalists complained that under the most intense loads, for example, in the FurMark stress test, the graphics chip worked at very low frequencies of 1650-1700 MHz, without overclocking to higher frequencies, despite the temperature. The same situation in FurMark was observed in other reviews of these video cards.
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