News XFX unveils Radeon RX 7900 XTX Phoenix Nirvana graphics card with phase-change thermal pad

[Admin]

XFX preps 3.5-wide Radeon RX 7900 XTX Phoenix Nirvana graphics card with advanced cooling.

XFX unveils Radeon RX 7900 XTX Phoenix Nirvana graphics card with phase-change thermal pad : Read more

 

[Notton]

I'm surprised more makers haven't switched over to PTM7950 already.
It'll last the lifetime of the GPU/laptop/etc. It works almost as good as liquid metal, but without any of the risks.

 

[mac_angel]

8.5 W/m.k, that's not that high compared to many other thermal pad makers on the market. What am I missing?

 

[Notton]

8.5 W/m.k, that's not that high compared to many other thermal pad makers on the market. What am I missing?

W/mk is a useless measurement, because there's no standard.

 

[Alpha_Lyrae]

8.5 W/m.k, that's not that high compared to many other thermal pad makers on the market. What am I missing?

You're missing the pump-out effect of most high W/m.k pastes that inevitably cause high hotspot temperatures, throttling, and/or instability when trying to OC (or UV/OC). This is also phase-change, so it liquefies at high temps and solidifies at low temps. Other pads may still have hotspot issues as well. Graphite pads, for example, can be difficult to place without an adhesive side to affix it. Many don't fill in gaps unless mounting pressure is very high or the pad is very soft. I don't think Navi 31's packaging is compatible with crazy high mounting pressures. Something will probably break. Graphite pads often advertise high W/m.k numbers too, but can see higher operating temps if mating is not 100% correct.

PTM7950 (and its usually decent copies) generally solves this issue and also provides a much more stable thermal interface that tends to fill in gaps and any unevenness from cold plate manufacturing to provide better overall temps. This leads to improved stability and can help UV/OC stability as well (due to lower hotspot temps).