Monday, January 2nd 2023
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX May Feature Faulty Coolers, Causing Overheating
AMD's latest GPUs have been reported to be experiencing overheating issues, with many users claiming that the vapor chamber cooler works better in a vertical rather than a horizontal position. Regardless of orientation, vapor chamber coolers should equal roughly the same heat dissipation performance and move the heat away from the source; however, testing showed that some reference AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPUs feature defect coolers. According to the testing conducted by Roman "der8auer" Hartung, AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XTX RDNA3 GPUs are experiencing problems with overheating caused by a faulty vapor chamber design.
What der8auer found is that these coolers could have a defect in the manufacturing process, where the liquid inside the vapor chamber faces problems in circulation after condensation. It could relate to manufacturing issues of the cooler itself, with an inadequate amount of fluid or insufficient pressure inside the chamber. For more in-depth testing and performance benchmarks, see the video below. It is important to note that we didn't see other reports that replicate this behavior, so always take these reports with a dash of salt.
What der8auer found is that these coolers could have a defect in the manufacturing process, where the liquid inside the vapor chamber faces problems in circulation after condensation. It could relate to manufacturing issues of the cooler itself, with an inadequate amount of fluid or insufficient pressure inside the chamber. For more in-depth testing and performance benchmarks, see the video below. It is important to note that we didn't see other reports that replicate this behavior, so always take these reports with a dash of salt.
https://www.techpowerup.com/
286 Comments on AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX May Feature Faulty Coolers, Causing Overheating
Never mind... thanks for the Igor's Lab reference and the summary. :)
He`s done proper in-depth HW testing for that matter and reported very transparently with many reservation for his own finding plus the thing you shouldn't conclude incorrectly from his test.
He did post a translated one also (machine translated? was readable at least)
www.igorslab.de/en/single-case-or-vapor-gate-samt-failure-of-quality-management-behind-the-rx-7900-xtx-cooler-problem-total-qm-qa-and-qc/
Yea, proper hard to find the scope of the issue when it's like that. And might also be NDA's or similar agreements, that prevents early statements.
But let's agree to disagree. :)
His reporting isn`t perfect, but non of it make AMD situation better or his finding wrong. At least I can see his effort to be accurate and to inform you when it`s his opinion and not hard fact`s. Can you say it about AMD in this case?
According to igors lab write (I just read the whole piece) ,AMD statement sound detached and based on wishful thinking or just an attempt to dwarf the situation, as it is not a small issue. ~10% RMA, when the usual total rate is sub 1%, and no way to track those affected units which makes it even worse is a blander and deserve criticism just as der8auer deserve it, if not more.
And as you suggested, I agree to disagree :toast:
As for AMD, they're stuck between a rock and a hard place. They could recall the entire line, but that would come at tremendous effort and cost if you consider worldwide shipping, storage, testing, redistribution of working units, etc., not to mention PR damage. RDNA 3 would be doomed for good.
The other option is what they chose instead: let the individual owners get in touch. This also comes with costs (support line, testing, replacement units, etc), albeit a lot less, as they only have to move the faulty units and the replacements, not all of them. It also doesn't come with such a massive PR damage. The flip side is that it's more effort for the consumer.
You can hate AMD for not going with the more costly, but more consumer-friendly option, but I personally don't. The end result for you is the same: your card gets replaced. Nobody knows when, as this fiasco wasn't planned. It sucks, I don't deny that. As for AMD, the house is on fire already, the question is how they want to save what can be saved. There is no single good option here, imo, and I can't blame them for picking the one that potentially causes less PR damage, especially since an error in cooler manufacturing wasn't their fault. It's Coolermaster that should pay the price, if anyone.
AVC and PC Partner have quoted shares though, so we might see some movement there in the future (in negative direction):
AVC: www.google.com/finance/quote/3017:TPE
PC Partner: www.google.com/finance/quote/1263:HKG
I think that if they really can`t trace the bad units than a recall from already sold units is irrelevant as no real danger is present.
It is very good to suggest consumers an immediate refund and mentioning this option it in the video by Scott could have help the PR wise.
But they do need to stop the shipment of MBA XTX and contact vendors and inform them about the situation now that they know of the problem, unless they put a big disclaimer on each unit that the product might behave below expected...
To knowingly keep selling products that 10% of them are affected and to really on the consumer to find for them the bad ones (because they can't do the serial match to bad coolers) is not cool at all. It will also keep this whole situation much longer and AMD will be the one to take the hit.
In the end, I worry that AMD might pave the way to more bad PR and elongation of this 'Vapor gate' saga (as Igor called it) by their own way of handling things. It can cost them more then a recall (PR and $ wise) if things will turn wrong and the ground is shaky atm.
Now i'm seeing here that Igor says that those vapor chambers don't have a serial ,thus the defective ones can not be detected.
Clearly these are conflicting info and you can't blame Der8auer if what Igor is saying is conflicting. (and i won't believe that Der8auer would ever mention Igor if Igor didn't actually said such a thing ).
--P.S. also , if we look Igor's quoted notes here , we clearly see that AMD's AIBs report around 10% RMAs ,and that they can be up to 10.000 defective vapor chambers ,so clearly NOT a "very small batch" of defective products like Herkelman claimed.
As for Der8aure, I'm done with his shit, 3 videos on this bullshit only one of which had any effort invested IE the first.
Beyond that the guy is looking like a click bandit who has been paid to defame AMD.
Like showing an already broken card somehow break more, truly revealing.
My hot take f him I'm unsubbed now.
Sure, 10% RMA is not a small number, but what's your point?
In one of his news videos, Steve from Gamer's Nexus said he didn't report on this issue because most of his team was on holiday, and he was too busy with something else. Given the magnitude of the case, I don't think that's entirely true. I think he just didn't want to step in this hot mess, and be another der8auer reporting half news with half-done tests, and I don't blame him.
And if you accept Igor's quoted statements (you said it yourself that this was the most important post on this thread) ,then this means that the 10% is also accepted.
If so , then why nobody accuses Herkelman who tried to downplay the significance of the matter ,and used the term "very small batch" while many here seem to have a problem with Der8auer's analysis ?
Herkelman's analysis was also incorrect at best , misleading at worse , if Igor's AIB-RMA numbers are accurate.
But if we can use Igor's statements as a tool in order to blame Der8auer , then we have to also use Igor's statement as a tool in order to blame Herkelman , and clearly this is not what happening here.
That's my point.
1. You think 10% RMA is a high number. I agree. Herkelman does not. I still don't see what the point is here, or how it changes anything. Do you think AMD should change their approach to the situation? I personally do not. Recalling the bad 10% along with the 90% of perfectly good products is a huge waste of money and effort that also comes with tremendous PR damage. It's unnecessary, impractical and unreasonable.
2. Igor making a statement on his opinion (or on whatever), and then der8auer parroting it are two different things. If you comment on something that you don't know, you're making a fool of yourself. But if you comment on someone's ignoramus comment, then doubly so. Not to mention if you're a public figure, you should at least do the courtesy to your fan base to come up with something original. Fact checking is also not totally unheard of, you know. Just because Igor says something, it doesn't mean it's fully right, and you should make a video on it. Like I said before: one source is no source. If you go ahead and make an opinion piece on it without checking or trying to obtain first-hand information anyway, then you're the fool. Even the analysis that he did do on his own was weak and lacking data that could have supported his claims a lot better. I equally disapprove of JayzTwoCents for making a video on der8auer's (weak) analysis, commenting totally false things like XT models are also affected, and such. Jay should know better to make his own content instead of parroting someone else's.
TL,DR: I'm not using Igor's statement to blame der8auer. I'm blaming der8auer for using Igor's statement without checking facts or using multiple sources to make a quick clickbait video.
3. What do you mean "Herkelman's analysis"? What did he analyze? As far as I remember, he only issued AMD's statement on the matter. There was no analysis. Whether he thinks that 10% is a high number or not is irrelevant. Owners of faulty cards need to contact AMD support for a replacement or refund. End of.
yes, this is a true, bad issue but we have no idea how much of that conjecture is true.
(*although i always prefer AMD when it comes to CPUs compared to Intel )
The initial reports were saying that those parts have QR code ,so they can be spotted(* thus they could be recalled as well ).
A later report says that it seems that those parts don't have anything that could lead anyone to spot them(very weird from logical point of view , but anyway) .
So as i said before ,these are conflicting info , thus i can't conclude or think anything before this matter doesn't get completely clear.
But what i can judge is the morality of Herkelman's/AMD's statements :
So ,apparently , what you ,or myself , and i'm sure the vast majority of customers as well , would judge as a high RMA percentage , another person (Herkelman) who also ,coincidentally ,happens to be the representative of the company who sells those faulty products ,speaks about a .... "small batch".
If you combine that ... "evaluation gap" , with the fact that also Herkelman reffers to a "small performance delta" from the throttling ,while Der8auer ,through his tests reports a hit in performance up to 10-20% (in his video he mentioned that many of those faulty coolers can lack about 70-80watt of heat dissipation ,compared to the good ones ) .
so ,with these 2 combined ,it leads me to conclude that either :
A)AMD's representative has a (very)serious issue whenever he tries to evaluate percentages/numbers !!! , or
B)There is something wrong with AMD's approach on the matter , trying to lower its significance to the(their) customers.
Which is more likely , i :rolleyes:wonder ?
Anyway ,i don't have the intention to keep this discussion going ,it seems futile ,so , just like you wrote ;): "End of"
There is so much propaganda about both Companies that it is sickening but watching Youtube tech "Influencers" making videos asking the question as if a Driver could actually make a GPU explode but leave the fuses intact. Electronics 101 speaks to major conductive contact on that GPU but I guess that is not in the wheelhouse of some of these individuals. The problem is that Millions of people think that these people know more than engineers about PC and will be quick to jump on the bandwagon.
Even here on TPU I have heard the opinions of some that are worrying. Someone said that Nvidia make better cards in construction but is there a difference between the MSI TRIO 6800XT or 3080 in terms of construction? People will say that AMD is Garbage and the Management is lost without realizing that Freesync, FSR and AMD software were all free and adopted. I sadly saw a user write at least a page of comments about how the 4070TI was a better GPU to get than the 7900XT or 7900XTX because they were not as good at DLSS and Ray Tracing. Yes reviews are part of the problem as (I say this all the time) when Gaming became Rasterization it started us down this rabbit hole of Features for Gaming. The problem is Freesync is that good at what it does that as long as your output is in the range 48-165HZ you will have no issue with what use to plague Games traditionally but people are fixated on FPS. So much so that users will argue with owners of the X3D chips on how it cannot be a better experience than the 5800X because of Clock speed.
If sub 1% is the normal RMA for GPU'S all reasons (so 1% is not small but average) than 10% for spacific reason can't be considered small. Right?
(sometimes when you have deal with people like Herkelman ,you are starting to doubt about your own ability to evaluate some basic percentages/numbers:D )
If only UFD Tech had made this video a little earlier , I wouldn’t have to bother to make comments myself ,since what he is saying is exactly what I’ve said few days earlier … oh well:p …