PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 Hellhound

[Miiksuli]

Thanks for the review! Cheapest in Finland was 740€ in stock. A bit too much. I'm still waiting for more water blocks to come out. No need to hurry to get one of these.

 

[Semik]

Faulty chip surface ex works on a Radeon RX 9070XT, extreme hotspot temperatures and research into the causes of pitting (Update #2)​

Faulty chip surface ex works on a Radeon RX 9070XT, extreme hotspot temperatures and research into the causes of pitting (Update #2) | igor´sLAB

As part of a reader request, I was given a new PowerColor Radeon RX 9070XT Hellhound for analysis, in which unusually high GPU and hotspot temperatures were observed under load…

www.igorslab.de

As part of a reader request, I was given a new PowerColor Radeon RX 9070XT Hellhound for analysis, in which unusually high GPU and hotspot temperatures were observed under load, which suggests an uneven or locally disturbed thermal coupling of the GPU die. Despite proper reapplication of a high-quality PTM pad and additional thermal putty instead of rigid pads on the memory and voltage converters, no significant improvement in the thermal situation could be achieved. After disassembly, gentle surface cleaning with xylene and subsequent microscopic examination, the rear side of the die (i.e. the top side of the chip) showed a deeply structured damage pattern with holes, as is characteristic of pronounced pitting. This could be directly related to the locally restricted heat dissipation, and yes, it did trigger me enormously.

 

[Miiksuli]

@Semik Need to get an answer from PowerColor but it seems like poor quality control.

 

[MeakerSE]

Looks like this is the same PCB as the 9070XT reaper that I have

 

[Greenzombie04]

It is quiet but mine got coil whine, rather hear fans than high pitch coil whine.

 

[MeakerSE]

It is quiet but mine got coil whine, rather hear fans than high pitch coil whine.

With the smaller heatsink mine has more fan noise but between 270W and 340W it's not got audible coil whine.

 

[Super XP]

Fixed


I thought about complaining about this, too, but in which way would you change the BIOS? Temperatures are ultra-low, noise levels are ultra-low, actually no need for a dual BIOS

If say PowerColor was not to release this GPU with a dual bios, because I don't believe it needs it, as you said too, could it been a bit cheaper in price? I wonder Hmmm,

Faulty chip surface ex works on a Radeon RX 9070XT, extreme hotspot temperatures and research into the causes of pitting (Update #2)​

Faulty chip surface ex works on a Radeon RX 9070XT, extreme hotspot temperatures and research into the causes of pitting (Update #2) | igor´sLAB

As part of a reader request, I was given a new PowerColor Radeon RX 9070XT Hellhound for analysis, in which unusually high GPU and hotspot temperatures were observed under load…

www.igorslab.de

As part of a reader request, I was given a new PowerColor Radeon RX 9070XT Hellhound for analysis, in which unusually high GPU and hotspot temperatures were observed under load, which suggests an uneven or locally disturbed thermal coupling of the GPU die. Despite proper reapplication of a high-quality PTM pad and additional thermal putty instead of rigid pads on the memory and voltage converters, no significant improvement in the thermal situation could be achieved. After disassembly, gentle surface cleaning with xylene and subsequent microscopic examination, the rear side of the die (i.e. the top side of the chip) showed a deeply structured damage pattern with holes, as is characteristic of pronounced pitting. This could be directly related to the locally restricted heat dissipation, and yes, it did trigger me enormously.

Sounds like a faulty chip?
I've been seeing more and more various chip issues lately. Or is it because the internet is vast & people all over the world is posting about it.

 

[Schalde]

Can you low this card to run at 600 rpm all the time if you want to disable zero rpm???

 

[MeakerSE]

Can you low this card to run at 600 rpm all the time if you want to disable zero rpm???

900rpm is the minimum but you can disable zero fan mode.

 

[Schalde]

900rpm is the minimum but you can disable zero fan mode.

Ok thanks. Was hoping it was possible to get lower

 

[rusty caterpillar]

Can you low this card to run at 600 rpm all the time if you want to disable zero rpm???

Will not suffice for good temps in load, if you want fixed RPM, go at least 1400 RPM for a 9070XT

 

[Schalde]

Will not suffice for good temps in load, if you want fixed RPM, go at least 1400 RPM for a 9070XT

its because i want a card with lower rpm when playing lite gaming like wow, hs, roguelike... i dont want the card to switch zero rpm on /off al the time

 

[W1zzard]

with lower rpm

Do you want lower RPM or lower noise? RPM is not noise, it depends on the fan and fan motor construction

 

[Schalde]

Do you want lower RPM or lower noise? RPM is not noise, it depends on the fan and fan motor construction

Lower noise .. definately. Cooling is no problem at all. But i am very rarely sitting with headphones just chilling with games at low volume so having a pc with lower noise is a big priority. I had the merc 310 7900xt which had a function that could run all the time with 500-600 rpm and it was amazing. Sadly it was very noisy when it reached 1k+ rpm.

For info i have the fratal north case. And my other components is dead Silent.

 

[W1zzard]

Lower noise .. definately

9070 specifically? all the models that i've tested are super quiet and can be run even quieter if you set a fixed fan speed that's lower than the rpm under full load (and accept higher temps, which is fine)

 

[rusty caterpillar]

Faulty chip surface ex works on a Radeon RX 9070XT, extreme hotspot temperatures and research into the causes of pitting (Update #2)​

Faulty chip surface ex works on a Radeon RX 9070XT, extreme hotspot temperatures and research into the causes of pitting (Update #2) | igor´sLAB

As part of a reader request, I was given a new PowerColor Radeon RX 9070XT Hellhound for analysis, in which unusually high GPU and hotspot temperatures were observed under load…

www.igorslab.de

As part of a reader request, I was given a new PowerColor Radeon RX 9070XT Hellhound for analysis, in which unusually high GPU and hotspot temperatures were observed under load, which suggests an uneven or locally disturbed thermal coupling of the GPU die. Despite proper reapplication of a high-quality PTM pad and additional thermal putty instead of rigid pads on the memory and voltage converters, no significant improvement in the thermal situation could be achieved. After disassembly, gentle surface cleaning with xylene and subsequent microscopic examination, the rear side of the die (i.e. the top side of the chip) showed a deeply structured damage pattern with holes, as is characteristic of pronounced pitting. This could be directly related to the locally restricted heat dissipation, and yes, it did trigger me enormously.

If is not the vapor chamber with holes in it is the chip itself