AMD promises to fix overheating problems of RX 7900 XTX graphics cards

In a statement to a press outlet during the ongoing CES 2023 exhibition, AMD admitted that the overheating issues with the RX 7900 XTX are real. Apparently, a limited number of these flagship cards based on RDNA3 architecture are performing poorly due to some flaws in the production procedure.

AMD came out with its latest flagship GPU, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, in December 2022. Since its inception in the retail market, the card has been plagued with allegations of overheating, which the brand said was normal.

Users saw temperatures as high as 110 degrees Centigrade while subjecting their GPU to persistent loads. The issue can be attributed to the poor thermal dissipation solution of the cards.

Scott Herkelman, the Senior Vice President & General Manager for AMD, recently stated that the company was able to pinpoint the root cause of this issue. The temperature anomalies are consistent with a certain batch of cards, which are made by AMD.

According to the brand, the said batch of cards has an issue with its vapor chamber. The vapor chambers are hollow, vacuum-sealed plates primarily constructed with copper. It relies on a minuscule amount of fluid to change states extremely quickly to cool the component in question.

Herkelman said:

"It all comes down to a small batch of vapor chambers actually have an issue, not enough water and it is a very small percentage. We said OK, that is the root cause."

The vapor chambers used in the production of the AMD RX 7900 XTX do not have sufficient fluid to manage the temperatures of the chip effectively. This has resulted in high temps and severe cases of thermal-throttling.

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How is AMD looking to tackle the RX 7900 XTX issue, and what can you do as an end-consumer to get your GPU fixed?

In the same press address stated earlier, Scott Herkelman revealed that AMD has worked out a fix for the product and is ready with replacement units to help customers in distress. He said:

"We have the fix we are ready to send it to you. Just call our tech support line if you bought it from amd.com or if you bought it from one of our AIB partners call them, they have units, We know how to make sure and identify that they are good, and we will ship it to you right away because we want you to have a great product."

There are mostly two channels via which customers have sourced their cards. The primary ones are cards from AMD's official website and "Founder's Edition" cards. The others are cards from AMD's official board partners like MSI and ASUS.

As a customer, you might think you might have an RX 7900 XTX from the specified faulty batch. In that case, you can always reach out to AMD tech support and verify the same.

If you have purchased the card from a partner brand, you can contact them for further tech support. According to Herkelman, the partner brands are also furnished with replacement cards to process swift and efficient replacements for customers.