Leaks on Unnamed Radeon RX 9070 XT Custom Cards Record Temperatures of 90°C and Higher VRAM
Since early December, there has been a consistent stream of AMD RDNA 4-related leaks from the Chiphell forum, leading members to fear that “Radeon RX 8800 XT” GPUs were about to reach a mass manufacturing phase. Since then, a whole lineup of Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 models—along with a “modernized” naming scheme—has been formally unveiled by Team Red and board partners. Insiders seemed to have working units by Christmas 2024, as Chiphell residents continued to share pre-release information well into launch week. The owners of unidentified custom Radeon RX 9070 XT cards informed UNIKO’s Hardware of the most recent signals, “calling out bad cooling on GDDR6 VRAM.”
Wccftech points out that while NDA-busting revelations have hinted at excellent GPU thermal measurements—when operating at full load—a number of leakers have reported subpar VRAM temperature readings. Chiphell-sourced GPU-Z pictures show that the affected GPU’s hotspot reached a maximum temperature of 79°C, while the maximum recorded VRAM temperature was 94°C. It appears that this leaked contender has a TBP rating of 329 W. Wccftech noticed discrepancies with the second sample that was evaluated: “The memory temperature reaches 88°C while the GPU temperature at the hot spot reaches a maximum of 63°C under full load.” Considering that the Radeon RX 9070 XT (reference specification) starts at a TBP of 260w, the first case’s TBP of only 237 W is remarkable. There may be a bug here. According to the user, the first one is actually the RX 9070 XT and not the RX 9070 as one may assume. One of the anonymous custom cards is dancing dangerously near to the figurative flame because the “guided” upper limit for newer VRAM standards is 95°C. Some hardware news sites believe that once GDDR6X memory reaches a 120°C ceiling, it will be damaged. A few of AMD’s reliable board partners have chosen Honeywell PTM7950 thermal pads and sturdy heatpipe formations, so perhaps these problems are restricted to a small number of review samples.
The Chiphell founder responded (in full) about the VRAM cooling scenario or situations, according to Uniko’s translation: “Previously, I only paid attention to the GPU temperature and ignored the video memory.” The outcome is favorable. I have a lot of brands with really amazing video memories. The temperatures are 88°C and 94°C, respectively. Overnight, it’s like traveling back in time to the mining era. I advise you to take your time examining the assessment of No. 5 to determine whether it is a typical occurrence or a unique instance. When selecting a card, you can avoid it if it’s a unique case.
