Monday, August 9th 2021
User Discovers PowerColor RX 6700 XT Card with Thermal Pad Covers Still On
A user discovered a manufacturing defect with their PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card. Apparently a card still has the protective covers of its thermal pads still in place on a finished graphics card. "angry_kitten" on Reddit posted pictures of a disassembled PowerColor RX 6700 XT graphics card showing protective covers over the thermal pads that pull heat from secondary components such as memory chips and VRM. The user spotted the blue protective film before installing the card, and decided to take the card apart. With modern memory chips and MOSFETs capable of heating up beyond 100 °C, this card would have raised quite a stink. This is likely a defect at the plant that assembles the card, installing the cooler onto the PCB, rather than at the OEM that makes these coolers. These protective covers are meant to be removed at the final assembly line. There's no evidence at this point to suggest that the issue is widespread.
Sources:
angry_kitten (Reddit), Igor's Lab, VideoCardz
25 Comments on User Discovers PowerColor RX 6700 XT Card with Thermal Pad Covers Still On
I understand supply problems but come on, oil dripping from my graphics card is probably among the things I want to see the least.
They had tons of inventory of these kind of thermal pads
But these thermal pads aren't designed for the high heat output of GDDR6X
They degraded very quickly in high temps.
I get it, assembly is tedious and often stressful. I've worked enough minimum wage summer manufacturing jobs to know. But still, I consider this unacceptable and am very surprised it slipped past QC like this. At least with PowerColor, the thermal pads were aligned nicely...
No wonder robots are replacing human workers... :shadedshu:
Many of these products are premium priced luxuries and it didn't used to be like this. :banghead:
I've seen many Audio Premium products last for 40 & 50 years. The old days really were good.