Radeon RX 7900 XTX Red Devil graphics card suffers from elevated temperature issues

In December of the preceding year, PowerColor unveiled their Radeon RX 7900 Red Devil series of graphics cards, a flagship model renowned for its air cooling capabilities. As a novel iteration within PowerColor’s emblematic line-up, this series has been strategically positioned in the high-end market segment. What sets it apart, however inimitably, is the inclusion of a detachable backplate cover design. Users are afforded the liberty to opt for a standard metal backplate or install PowerColor’s translucent Devil logo backplate cover endowed with RGB lighting effects.

According to a report by Igor’s LAB, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX Red Devil graphics card suffers from elevated temperature issues, displaying a noticeable discrepancy between the GPU’s average temperature and the hotspot. While the difference tends to hover around 18℃ to 19℃ for standard edition graphics cards, and approximately 22℃ for Sapphire Nitro+ series aftermarket graphics cards, the Red Devil series exhibits a difference as high as 30℃—a practical variance between 80℃ and 110℃.

Upon disassembling, it was discovered that the thermal compound was not uniformly applied on the GPU chip, with some areas left untouched, indicating issues in the product’s manufacturing process. Reapplication of the compound significantly improved cooling performance, lowering the GPU’s average temperature from 80℃ to 75℃, while the hotspot temperature plummeted to between 93℃ and 95℃.

While some might dismiss this as an isolated incident, there have indeed been multiple similar issues with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX Red Devil graphics card. PowerColor subsequently acknowledged the manufacturing defects and pledged to address the problem. This issue seems to be affecting only a small portion of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX Red Devil graphics cards, but it remains uncertain whether other models from the same production line have been impacted. Users encountering similar issues with their PowerColor graphics cards are encouraged to contact the official customer service.