AMD has confirmed that the RX XNUMX XTX graphics card's overheating issue is particularly related to the vapor chamber, but has assured us that only a small number of these flagship RDNA XNUMX GPUs have been affected and that the exact replacements will be shipped immediately.
Scott Herkelman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's graphics division, gave us the new details in a YouTube interview with PC World (opens in a new tab) (reported by VideoCardz (opens in a new tab)) .
Herkelman told us that the situation is, in fact, just as overclocking specialist Der8auer had previously argued, namely that the root cause of GPU temperature spikes is due to a lack of water inside the chamber. of steam (which means that there is not enough). to certainly cool the whole chip).
This brief change only applies to a "small batch" of graphics cards, Herkelman says, and a very small percentage of existing reference cards. He should note that this issue only affects RX XNUMX XTX graphics cards based on AMD's reference design, as custom third-party cards naturally have their own cooling systems.
As for the replacement XNUMX XTX GPUs, AMD will ship them to affected service customers soon, with Herkelman saying "we'll ship them to you immediately."
If you are one of those people experiencing overheating issues on your RX XNUMX XTX, you should contact AMD support or the third-party graphics card manufacturer from whom you purchased your reference design product, and they will arrange a replacement. . .
Analysis: Putting out the flames of rumor
As we saw this week, rumors abounded that this would be a major drawback for AMD when it comes to the number of RX XNUMX XTX GPUs affected. So it's interesting to see AMD clarify that only a small percentage of reference cards are really affected. (Herkelman points out in a second point of the video that "really very few people experience this.")
So it would seem that the estimates of thousands of graphics cards being affected (in fact, a near 5 figure total was another theory we've seen circulated) are off the mark. That being said, depending on the number of 1 XTX cards shipped, a very small percentage (XNUMX-XNUMX%, maybe?) could be XNUMX or even a little more (but certainly not close to XNUMX).
Another rumor that Herkelman counters is the theory that AMD is struggling to keep up with enough stock of replacement graphics cards to send damaged cards back. Obviously, the comment about shipping replacement GPUs "immediately" is meant to alleviate this chatter on the grapevine.
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