AMD RX 7000 series GPU Owners' Club

[tpa-pr]

Navi31 Owners - have you had long term problems with junction temps? Through a strange turn of events, I've actually got my 3rd 7900XTX about a month ago. I'm at 100% "failure rate" for maxing out junction temps (110°, jet turbine fans, etc.) after ~9 months of daily use. Why did I buy three XTX's, you may ask. Fair question, I didn't really. A brief review:

1. The OG Reference (RIP) - Bought December 2022 from AMD official store. I was relieved to "not have the high junction temp" problem with the launch batch. Typical gaming would see ~89° junction temp. High junction developed ~10 months later. The card also had some instability and artifacting - thankfully AMD honored the RMA and replaced it. (TBH I think the card was fine. But RMA window closing!)
2. The Encore - This was replacement Reference model from 1st RMA. Began daily use in Nov 2023. Again, ran just fine (~89°) for at least 6 months and left service in October '24 and by then it would regularly get 105°+.
3. The Wildcard - (Sapphire Pulse 7900XTX). TLR buddy had Cable Mod brand cables fail and destroy the connectors on this card. Cablemod wrote him a check for after-tax price, no questions asked. (Without needing to send melted card!). He had YouTube guy NW Repair fix power connectors, cost him like ~$200 or so with shipping and everything. He bought the Sapphire Nitro + (jealous) with his blank check. Sold to me for $450. Couldn't pass it up! (Especially knowing no chance to buy a 24GB AMD card soon). Interestingly, after a month or so of running this card, it hits 110° junction temp! It absolutely did NOT for first week or so.

Anyways, with all that out of the way - I have to wonder: Could I just have incredibly bad luck, or does every 7900 XT/X have this happen sooner or later?

Note - aside from gaming ~20 hours or less/week, I have been tinkering with many AI image-gen models. They are very intense, short duration workloads (90 sec or less). Perhaps the rapid heat/cool cycles are worse for the factory paste than long gaming sessions with more steady workloads.

All that to say, planning to replace paste with PTM 7950, and figured I should replace all thermal pads since coolers will be off. I can't seem to find dimensions for the pads anywhere! TechPowerUp's teardown has great pictures of both model's pads, but not sure what thickness to order.

Red Devil 7900XTX owner here, apart from the stock fan curve being too low (which I have since adjusted) I have had no temperature issues with my card since I brought it at the start of this year. In fact I struggle to get it hot, even with extra board power it only hits 85C at the junction. I'm convinced PowerColor used PTM7950 on my card but there's no way I'm opening it to confirm!

Good luck with your repaste and I hope it works out!

 

[3x0]

I'm convinced PowerColor used PTM7950 on my card but there's no way I'm opening it to confirm!

Powercolor Hellhound 7800XT does have PTM applied, so Red Devil 7900XTX certainly does

 

[tpa-pr]

Powercolor Hellhound 7800XT does have PTM applied, so Red Devil 7900XTX certainly does

Awesome, thanks for the confirmation. That's exactly what I wanted to hear

 

[Todestrieb]

Navi31 Owners - have you had long term problems with junction temps?

HellHound 7900XTX owner here. It has done reasonably well with a very low default fan curve.
Its hotspot didn't go over 94C in a good airflow config for ~8 months, but at that time something was defective in the card that caused all sorts of crashes that I thought was software issues until I ran out of copium, so repair/RMA that is.
When the card came back, it got noticeably worse hotspot and VRAM temps (both 110C, on different specific workloads), maybe with slightly damaged screws. VRAM is fixed with correct thermal pads. Hotspot is only slightly better after two repastes with PTM7958 (the first time with a very dried out tube of 7958), and between that I upgraded all the case fans.
Though I have to say after all the hassles, other than one specific game (TDUSC) which is out during repairs, hotspot is only ~4C worse than before, and I can't find another workload that can push hotspot above 100C.

 

[Atlas21]

Hey all!

I’m new to the forum and I just purchased the Gigabyte 7900xtx gaming oc card, which was on sale for $870. I’m building a completely new machine with a 7800x3D CPU, 32GB of ram, etc.

I thought I had done quite a bit of research, but now I’m second guessing the 7900xtx. There’s a 4080 Super on sale for $999 and I’m wondering if I should switch to that instead? I’m looking to play games (modern or otherwise) at high settings for the next few years.

 

[MrSleezebag1964]

Hey all!

I’m new to the forum and I just purchased the Gigabyte 7900xtx gaming oc card, which was on sale for $870. I’m building a completely new machine with a 7800x3D CPU, 32GB of ram, etc.

I thought I had done quite a bit of research, but now I’m second guessing the 7900xtx. There’s a 4080 Super on sale for $999 and I’m wondering if I should switch to that instead? I’m looking to play games (modern or otherwise) at high settings for the next few years.

Overall, both cards perform similarly - the Nvidia will do better in ray tracing heavy scenarios, and XTX in most non-RT scenarios. Plus extra VRAM is nice. My last card was a Gigabyte and it was great, never had any issues. Check the warranty info of course. Nvidia cards are subject to needing work over time as well - I know the last generation had issues with thermal pads and high VRAM temps. FWIW - both of the XTX's I have showing 110° hotspot function perfectly fine and are stable. I just don't want to run them that hot long term - trying to avoid buying a 5090 here man!!

 

[Atlas21]

Overall, both cards perform similarly - the Nvidia will do better in ray tracing heavy scenarios, and XTX in most non-RT scenarios. Plus extra VRAM is nice. My last card was a Gigabyte and it was great, never had any issues. Check the warranty info of course. Nvidia cards are subject to needing work over time as well - I know the last generation had issues with thermal pads and high VRAM temps. FWIW - both of the XTX's I have showing 110° hotspot function perfectly fine and are stable. I just don't want to run them that hot long term - trying to avoid buying a 5090 here man!!

Awesome and thanks for the detailed reply! I think I’ll stick with the 7900xtx in that case since I’m not really into RT. It’s a great feature, don’t get me wrong, but it takes such a performance hit that it’s not worth it to me.

I'm trying to avoid the same thing haha! I know there are new cards on the horizon but my last build kicked the bucket after about 14 years so I need a new machine asap. I was into Intel and Nvidia, but can’t justify the prices so I went with an all AMD build this time around. I’m pretty stoked to give AMD a shot!

 

[outpt]

I have a PowerColor Hell Hound 7900xtx and there’s been no problems at all. Before I got this card I thought long and hard about purchasing a 4090 of some sort but couldn’t justify the cost. RT effects are nice but when a 4090 has too use the latest tricks with the newer games I think I made a good decision. With the newer cards on the horizon I will take a wait and see approach. I don’t see my card using 24gb of memory any time soon and when it does it’s probably time for a newer card.

 

[Atlas21]

I have a PowerColor Hell Hound 7900xtx and there’s been no problems at all. Before I got this card I thought long and hard about purchasing a 4090 of some sort but couldn’t justify the cost. RT effects are nice but when a 4090 has too use the latest tricks with the newer games I think I made a good decision. With the newer cards on the horizon I will take a wait and see approach. I don’t see my card using 24gb of memory any time soon and when it does it’s probably time for a newer card.

That’s reassuring to hear so I appreciate it. I took a look at the 4090 as well, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger with those prices. I know they’re incredible cards, but it’s outrageous.

I think I’ll be very happy with my new setup and I’m hoping it lasts a few years.

 

[Zach_01]

Navi31 Owners - have you had long term problems with junction temps? Through a strange turn of events, I've actually got my 3rd 7900XTX about a month ago. I'm at 100% "failure rate" for maxing out junction temps (110°, jet turbine fans, etc.) after ~9 months of daily use. Why did I buy three XTX's, you may ask. Fair question, I didn't really. A brief review:

1. The OG Reference (RIP) - Bought December 2022 from AMD official store. I was relieved to "not have the high junction temp" problem with the launch batch. Typical gaming would see ~89° junction temp. High junction developed ~10 months later. The card also had some instability and artifacting - thankfully AMD honored the RMA and replaced it. (TBH I think the card was fine. But RMA window closing!)
2. The Encore - This was replacement Reference model from 1st RMA. Began daily use in Nov 2023. Again, ran just fine (~89°) for at least 6 months and left service in October '24 and by then it would regularly get 105°+.
3. The Wildcard - (Sapphire Pulse 7900XTX). TLR buddy had Cable Mod brand cables fail and destroy the connectors on this card. Cablemod wrote him a check for after-tax price, no questions asked. (Without needing to send melted card!). He had YouTube guy NW Repair fix power connectors, cost him like ~$200 or so with shipping and everything. He bought the Sapphire Nitro + (jealous) with his blank check. Sold to me for $450. Couldn't pass it up! (Especially knowing no chance to buy a 24GB AMD card soon). Interestingly, after a month or so of running this card, it hits 110° junction temp! It absolutely did NOT for first week or so.

Anyways, with all that out of the way - I have to wonder: Could I just have incredibly bad luck, or does every 7900 XT/X have this happen sooner or later?

Note - aside from gaming ~20 hours or less/week, I have been tinkering with many AI image-gen models. They are very intense, short duration workloads (90 sec or less). Perhaps the rapid heat/cool cycles are worse for the factory paste than long gaming sessions with more steady workloads.

All that to say, planning to replace paste with PTM 7950, and figured I should replace all thermal pads since coolers will be off. I can't seem to find dimensions for the pads anywhere! TechPowerUp's teardown has great pictures of both model's pads, but not sure what thickness to order.

Just for confirmation I run today a benchmark for 40+min to see how is the card's thermals.
As I said before the GPU is ~11 months old with a few hundred hours of gaming.

Nitro+ 7900XTX
Ambient/room: 22-23C
TBP: 375W
VRAM Freq: 2600MHz



VRAM temp limit at 65~69%
There is an advantage thermally wise for the whole system. There is no case as the system is like an open test bench with a few fans around it in strategic places.

 

[kapone32]

That’s reassuring to hear so I appreciate it. I took a look at the 4090 as well, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger with those prices. I know they’re incredible cards, but it’s outrageous.

I think I’ll be very happy with my new setup and I’m hoping it lasts a few years.

Over time you will thoroughly enjoy the experience. Once you turn on the PC the hype train will stop running and you will laugh when the narrative complains about Console ports and AMD software will blow you away. Don't forget the Overlay so there is no need for MSI Afterburner and way more settings than you can shake a stick at. Welcome to the red side of the PC experience.

Just for confirmation I run today a benchmark for 40+min to see how is the card's thermals.
As I said before the GPU is ~11 months old with a few hundred hours of gaming.

Nitro+ 7900XTX
Ambient/room: 22-23C
TBP: 375W
VRAM Freq: 2600MHz

View attachment 373895

VRAM temp limit at 65~69%
There is an advantage thermally wise for the whole system. There is no case as the system is like an open test bench with a few fans around it in strategic places.

The VRAM issue for me is not the 7900XTX but XT where there is a Thermal Pad of the same size but no Memory module. Even with a water block it effects the Memory temps.

 

[wNotyarD]

Finished installing the Bykski block on my Pulse XTX, if only I had the time to finish the rig today...

 

[wNotyarD]

Rig's running under water. And boooooy, did the temperatures on the 7900XTX go down.

 

[kapone32]

Finished installing the Bykski block on my Pulse XTX, if only I had the time to finish the rig today...
View attachment 374374

I meant to ask you if your GPU came with those screws on top of the PCB and how you removed them?

 

[wNotyarD]

I meant to ask you if your GPU came with those screws on top of the PCB and how you removed them?

My Pulse had some on the backplate itself and the four on the frame. Had to remove all, plus two on the video out panel, and pray a lot while forcing the shroud off: the stock thermal paste looked like cement.

 

[manquillo]

az:

 

[Launcestonian]

Heads up on the newish 24.12.1 driver package, if you don't dig down & disable, it will auto run with HYPER-RX whether you like it or not on my (& maybe other) RX 7900 XTX card. Never seen this on previous releases. Was driving me nuts for a while why my game was stuck on 60Hz despite 165Hz monitor & windows indicating its running at 165Hz! The game ran very smooth (DX-11) with the previous drivers @ 165Hz so why the sudden change with this crap code?
Stupid dump software this HYPER-RX code is forcing itself on you unless you disable it. I don't know about others but I like to run with just diver defaults & none of this extra code to "give me a better gaming experience" BS. Disabling it was the only way to get the refresh rate back to 165Hz on my Asus monitor.

 

[Zach_01]

No auto HYPR-RX enabling for me after 24.12.1 installation

 

[cenovita]

Hi everyone, new on the forum.

I am the proud owner of a Powercolor Radeon RX 7900 XT and I have noticed huge delta between hotspot and GPU temp.

At 100% capacity I get around 70º GPU, 100º hotspot, sometimes even more.

I got recommendation to change thermal paste and thermal pads, any advice there? specially with the pads?

I'm kinda afraid of the process so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[leonavis]

Hi everyone, new on the forum.

I am the proud owner of a Powercolor Radeon RX 7900 XT and I have noticed huge delta between hotspot and GPU temp.

At 100% capacity I get around 70º GPU, 100º hotspot, sometimes even more.

I got recommendation to change thermal paste and thermal pads, any advice there? specially with the pads?

I'm kinda afraid of the process so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I used pattys for the same problem. Worked well. Used those. For paste, I used thermalright TF8 and preheated it a little. Something like Alphacool Apex should also work well.

Good thing about pattys is that they are adapting themselves to the pressure applied. I feel the big dif between junction and edge might be because the chip isn't fully connected to the cooling body, at least that's how it seemed with my card.

 

[cenovita]

I used pattys for the same problem. Worked well. Used those. For paste, I used thermalright TF8 and preheated it a little. Something like Alphacool Apex should also work well.

Good thing about pattys is that they are adapting themselves to the pressure applied. I feel the big dif between junction and edge might be because the chip isn't fully connected to the cooling body, at least that's how it seemed with my card.

Thanks man, I will try that. Question thou, can i still use my card while I wait for the patty and paste?

 

[Zach_01]

Hi everyone, new on the forum.

I am the proud owner of a Powercolor Radeon RX 7900 XT and I have noticed huge delta between hotspot and GPU temp.

At 100% capacity I get around 70º GPU, 100º hotspot, sometimes even more.

I got recommendation to change thermal paste and thermal pads, any advice there? specially with the pads?

I'm kinda afraid of the process so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I would take out the card and inspect it first for any cooler-PCB gaps. Hold it like a sandwich and compress it. Feel if there is any movement.
Maybe try to tight the cooler screws just a tiny bit.

Is the card brand new or you have it for months? Was it like that from start or it happened progressively?
Give details please so that people can understand better and help faster without giving unnecessary advice.

30+C delta out of the box may indicate that something is wrong with cooler contact.

 

[cenovita]

I would take out the card and inspect it first for any cooler-PCB gaps. Hold it like a sandwich and compress it. Feel if there is any movement.
Maybe try to tight the cooler screws just a tiny bit.

Is the card brand new or you have it for months? Was it like that from start or it happened progressively?
Give details please so that people can understand better and help faster without giving unnecessary advice.

30+C delta out of the box may indicate that something is wrong with cooler contact.

I bought it on january 2024, so its almost an year since then.

I have noticed this issue this month or so, the hotspot was always hotter but now its crazy.
just now i finished playing helldivers and Memory peaked at 92, HS 104, GPU 65

EDIT:
I have bought the following:
CX H1300 Thermal Putty 13.5W/m.K for VRAM & VRM
Gelid Solutions GC-Extreme 3.5g with Tooling for the core
based on several feedback saw on the net and some friends

 

[leonavis]

Thanks man, I will try that. Question thou, can i still use my card while I wait for the patty and paste?

Sure. Hot spot max is 115° I think. Should be fine for now.

Oh and get 50g. You'll need most of it, if not all.

 

[Zach_01]

Sure. Hot spot max is 115° I think. Should be fine for now.

Oh and get 50g. You'll need most of it, if not all.

I believe GPU HS is 110C and VRAM is 115C, could be wrong. Or some cards have VRAM max at 110C and others on 115C.
Anyway its around 110-115C for max operating temp.

For reference I consider normal delta something between 10 and 20C.

After 1 year of usage (~2 hours game play)