Many reviewers praised the reference design of the new graphics cards Radeon RX 7900 XTX и RX 7900 XT, noting the equipment with only two 8-pin power connectors and a fairly compact size, which ensured the convenience of their use. At the same time, according to HardwareLuxx, complaints from some owners of reference versions of these accelerators regarding overheating and high noise levels of the cooling system began to appear on the Web.
Image Source: AMD
With reference to the data of several reviews, as well as reviews of owners of Radeon RX 7900 XTX video cards, 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 is no more than 20 degrees Celsius. In other words, if the average temperature of the GPU reaches 80 degrees Celsius, then the temperature at the hottest point of the chip will not exceed 100 degrees. Overheating in this case does not occur and the GPU will not reset the operating frequency.
Image Source: AMD
At the same time, some owners of the reference versions of video cards complained regarding a much more significant difference between the average and maximum temperatures of the GPU. In some cases, it was as much as 53 degrees Celsius (56 degrees for the GPU on average and 109 degrees for its hotspot). This means that the chip, at a perfectly acceptable average temperature of regarding 60 degrees Celsius, can begin to reset the frequency (throttling) for cooling, since at the hottest point the temperature indicator will reach the maximum allowable value of 110 degrees.
The difference between the average temperature of the GPU (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 regarding the non-reference versions of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT hints that the reference AMD cooling system of these video cards may be the source of the problem. HardwareLuxx does not jump to conclusions, but suggests that the task of cooling the Navi 31 GPU, which is 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 that “The reason for the high temperature difference may be uneven pressure between the pad of the cooling system 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 on the same level. Thus, the reason for the uneven contact of the chip with the cooling system may be something else. For example, the GPU bezel that surrounds 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, not overclocking to higher frequencies, despite the temperature headroom. The same situation in FurMark was observed in other reviewers of these video cards.
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