Excitement is building over AMD's new Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics cards. However, a small but growing worry is starting to be heard from live reports. Some custom-built versions of this much awaited GPU may be running a little too hot in one critical area: the VRAM.
VRAM Temperatures Reach Alarming Levels
Main DSP temperatures on the RX 9070 XT seem perfectly alright under heavy load. Insiders, on the other hand, reported that their Video RAM (VRAM) modules are running hot. Temperatures in some instances were said to soar above 90°C, according to preliminary hearsay circulating around the web.
In one report, there were test cases that had VRAM temperatures of 88°C and even 94°C in an isolation test. Notably, in one of these instances, the overall power draw (TBP) seemed lower than the card's typical specification. This adds another notch of mystery.
Why VRAM Temperature Matters
Why should you care that the VRAM is getting too hot? There are bad reasons why summer heat in VRAM is severe:
- Underperformance under Throttling: In too much heat in memory, the card will throttle its performance down to cool. Thus, you are not getting the peak performance you paid for.
- Overclocking Barriers: For people who like to push hardware limits by overclocking the VRAM, their headroom might be significantly reduced.
- Long-Term Consideration: High temperatures for a long time won't immediately cause damage, but they might affect the lifespan of components over the long haul.
Possible Causes and Next Steps
What could cause this? Here are some possibilities indicated by reports:
- Airflow: Perhaps the custome models' cooling solution does not provide enough airflow particularly to the VRAM area.
- Thermal Pad Issues: It is also possible something was wrong with the pads transferring heat away from the VRAM chips and onto the heatsink.
This is still early days. The reports may be isolated or specific to designs of a few custom cards. However, the official retail launch of the RX 9070 XT is just around the corner, with a date set for 6 March. As more cards creep into the hands of reviewers and users, it will soon become clearer if this case is something that is wide-spread or just a couple of isolated cases.
For now, if you're buying an RX 9070 XT, especially if you're looking at a custom model, this is an aspect to monitor. We'll be keeping close tabs on this as it develops. Don't miss out.
