Friday, May 26th 2023
AMD Confirms: RX 7600 Reference Cards in Retail will Not Have Power Connector Flaw
In the course of our testing of the reference-design AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics card, we noticed a flaw in the physical design that could impede certain kinds of 6+2 pin PCIe power cables, causing improper power connector contact, posing a potential fire hazard, theoretically. The flaw centers on the design of the card's backplate. The cutout near the power connector is designed such that certain kinds of 6+2 pin PCIe power connectors don't properly insert. Most if not all power supply units (PSUs) have their 150 W, 8-pin PCIe power connectors designed to be 6+2 pin, where you can split two of their pins away, turning them into 6-pin PCIe. While some PSU brands use a passive hook-type tail-end bridge that ensures the 2-pin portion inserts along with the 6-pin portion, some brands use more elaborate stubs that hold the two portions together. The AMD RX 7600 reference backplate design impedes these kinds of connectors.
We reached out to AMD with our findings before the May 24 review NDA, and the company got back to us with a statement:
Here's our analysis of the AMD statement.
AMD states that there are plenty of Radeon RX 7600 graphics cards that you can buy right now. These are custom-design (non-reference design) graphics cards from AMD's board partners, such as Sapphire, PowerColor, XFX, ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI. These cards are currently available for purchase, and none of them have the flaw. As for the reference-design (made by AMD) graphics card, AMD says that these cards are not available in retail, but should be over the coming weeks, and will have a revised design without the flaw. AMD didn't spell out a definite timeline, and so "the coming weeks" could even mean months (the company isn't sure). The way we interpret the statement is that the current batch with the bad backplate design will not make it to market, not now, not in the coming weeks or after that.
If you'll notice, none of AMD's AIB partners have published product pages of reference-design RX 7600 cards on their websites, which confirms that AMD has placed a block on the sales and marketing of the reference-design RX 7600, giving them time to work on the revision—which really just needs to be a new backplate, the rest of the card isn't affected. Unlike NVIDIA, which has a de facto reference-design in the form of the Founders Edition graphics card that it directly markets without partner branding; AMD retains a classical marketing approach to its reference graphics card designs—these are sold by its add-in board partners with minimal re-branding (brand-specific retail packaging, stickers, inclusions, extended warranty incentives, etc).
In conclusion, AMD has ensured that none of the cards with the power connector design flaw make it to customers, while it works on a revision that comes out "over the coming weeks." Good job!
Be sure to catch our detailed review of the reference-design AMD Radeon RX 7600, in which we discussed a few workarounds under the assumption that cards with the flaw would make it to retail—which we now know they won't.
We reached out to AMD with our findings before the May 24 review NDA, and the company got back to us with a statement:
We are very pleased with the volume of Radeon RX 7600 cards available globally from our AIB partners. We expect RX 7600 reference design cards to be available over the coming weeks with a design that accommodates all power supply cables.
AMD states that there are plenty of Radeon RX 7600 graphics cards that you can buy right now. These are custom-design (non-reference design) graphics cards from AMD's board partners, such as Sapphire, PowerColor, XFX, ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI. These cards are currently available for purchase, and none of them have the flaw. As for the reference-design (made by AMD) graphics card, AMD says that these cards are not available in retail, but should be over the coming weeks, and will have a revised design without the flaw. AMD didn't spell out a definite timeline, and so "the coming weeks" could even mean months (the company isn't sure). The way we interpret the statement is that the current batch with the bad backplate design will not make it to market, not now, not in the coming weeks or after that.
If you'll notice, none of AMD's AIB partners have published product pages of reference-design RX 7600 cards on their websites, which confirms that AMD has placed a block on the sales and marketing of the reference-design RX 7600, giving them time to work on the revision—which really just needs to be a new backplate, the rest of the card isn't affected. Unlike NVIDIA, which has a de facto reference-design in the form of the Founders Edition graphics card that it directly markets without partner branding; AMD retains a classical marketing approach to its reference graphics card designs—these are sold by its add-in board partners with minimal re-branding (brand-specific retail packaging, stickers, inclusions, extended warranty incentives, etc).
In conclusion, AMD has ensured that none of the cards with the power connector design flaw make it to customers, while it works on a revision that comes out "over the coming weeks." Good job!
Be sure to catch our detailed review of the reference-design AMD Radeon RX 7600, in which we discussed a few workarounds under the assumption that cards with the flaw would make it to retail—which we now know they won't.
98 Comments on AMD Confirms: RX 7600 Reference Cards in Retail will Not Have Power Connector Flaw
Pricing is still not perfect but when the MBA cards drop around 220, they will be interesting models
Where are the surveys, "Did your rtx 4090 burned out?" or "Do you have bend issue with your LGA1700"?
TPU does not hide that they are trolls
Can they add support for DLSS3 to RTX3000, yes they can, will it be as good as if it is RTX4000? Only Nvidia knows. But they must add support for it, because is easy to deprecate all existing hardware each 2 years to make new shinny stuffs for the new gen and racket your old clients instead to start actually do your job and add support even if it make the new gen not that attractive. Everyone here start roaring when gtx 600 get 2 years more driver support than 10 year old hd6-7000, but there is no problem when Nvidia cut the support for 2 years old hardware
Shall we continue to go in circles? Or we could get back on topic of AMD's latest fumble.
Also, what is the point to speak with someone who has not brain to think once, 3070 lacks hardware? Then they must make DLSS3 to work with the existing hardware, as I said, its very easy to deprecate all existing hardware, to make new stuffs, the hard part is to make the new stuffs to work with the existing hardware, something that Nvidia proved that they can't while AMD can.
Edit: if the truth is so funny stop the drugs, or just go back to your "village of idiots" where you can be a king ;)
Interesting concept that sometimes to push a new boundary or innovate, new or upgraded hardware is needed. AMD didn't prove anything whatsoever, they just know their fan base very well and cater to them, because as we can see, when they do that a good subset of them will happily help with marketing and promotion free of charge. In another way, it's the only play they could make, you can't arrive late to the party, with a substandard solution... then lock it to your paltry market share and expect it to win many people over over...
XeSS 1.1 has basically levelled the performance field while giving DLSS like quality, and still being open, perhaps XeSS is both the DLSS and FSR killer lol. A quote from the comparison currently on TPU's homepage, but I suppose if they're trolls you can just ignore this to support your argument.
Anyway, if you are happy with deprecated hardware in 2 years ok, I am not, especially when this is on purpose to make the new GPUs to look better and make 60 class card expensive as 80
I don't follow, can you not still use the DLSS super resolution feature set? All you lack is FG which requires the Ada OFA. I'd argue DLSS has actually aged well, they continue to improve quality and performance, with a few significant steps along the way sine 2.0 (2.3.x, 2.4.3 and 2.5.1 spring to mind), and since reflex is always bundled with FG, we're getting that now too.
but it's not it's a new generation of GPU that's slightly over priced for zero generational performance improvement it's a shit show card like it's 40 series competition.
Oh and making sure the power connector fits in should be taken for granted but going by 4090 issues at launch I guess no amount of incompetence is off the table at team red or green these days.
I'm so glad AMD has reassured me that retail card's won't have the flaw when launched (sarcasm)
EDIT: First card was NVIDIA GeForce 7500 LE
www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-7500-le.c1772
If people stop comparing the card to Ti (which was never it's main competitor) models it isn't a bad card.
This would have been a bigger issue since the majority of users buying budget GPU would of course have a budget (or old) PSU, and those PSU only have 6+2pin PCIe cable.
TPU actually saved AMD's butt here, imagine rx7600 MBA buyers find out the "AMD experience" and swear never to buy AMD again :rolleyes: