A while ago we shared information about unusually high temperatures for the latest RX 7900 XTX. Some card holders have experienced temperatures in excess of 110°C. This issue seems to be concentrated on the RX 7900 XTX reference designs. Poor application of thermal paste and pads on the card holder was quickly pointed out. Der8aer further examined the RX 7900 XTX to identify any faults and may have found something. Working on analyzing four reference maps, he seems to have found that the main reason for these high temperatures is a faulty vapor chamber.
The 7900 XTX heatsink design seems to be the source of the heating issue
RX 7900 XTX: A defective heatsink?
According to him, the vapor chamber, which is the heart of the heatsink, is not working as expected. The coolant (gas) in the chamber can’t move properly after condensation, resulting in overheating during prolonged testing. In practice, the latter should evaporate at the hotspot (above the GPU) before it condenses again at the other end of the circuit by dissipating the stored heat. The problem for AMD is that this vapor chamber design equips its own cards, but also the cards from brands that ship versions with the reference design.