RX 9070 XT Pure White OC hitting 120°C hotspot and shutting down my PC — what could be causing this?
Hi everyone,
I'm having a strange thermal issue with my RX 9070 XT Pure White OC and I'm trying to figure out what could be causing it.
When playing Fortnite for example, or pragmata, my GPU hotspot can get extremely high, even with different graphics settings. At one point the hotspot reached around **119–120°C**, while the GPU core temperature was only around **59–66°C**.
The biggest problem is that when I don't manually set the GPU fans to 100% **before launching the game**, the PC can completely shut down once the hotspot reaches around 120°C. This has also happened during FurMark and OCCT GPU testing.
I've already tried quite a few things:
* Repasted the GPU **twice**. * Tried different undervolt settings. * Tried reducing the maximum GPU frequency. * Tried lowering the power limit. * Checked the GPU installation and PCIe connection. * Changed the PSU to a **Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 ARGB 1050W**, using the PSU's own cables. * The issue existed before reinstalling Windows. * Other games don't seem to cause the same shutdown as consistently as Fortnite but i think is cause of the rtx.
Interestingly, with a **-30% power limit**, Fortnite can run at around **120 FPS** and the hotspot stays around **92°C**, so reducing power definitely helps.
However, I'm still concerned about the huge GPU-to-hotspot temperature difference and the fact that the card can reach \~120°C under normal gaming loads.
I'm now considering trying **PTM7950** instead of conventional thermal paste, mainly to determine whether this is a contact/thermal interface problem between the GPU die and the cooler.
So my questions are:
**Does this look like a bad cooler/die contact issue, or could something else be causing such a large hotspot delta?**
Would trying PTM7950 be a reasonable next step, or would you recommend something else first?
Thanks!
**Edit:** I don't really have an RMA option, unfortunately. I bought the card second-hand, so that's why I'm trying to troubleshoot and fix the issue myself rather than just RMAing it but thanks for the reply's.
Edit 2: Jesus christ, I decided to take the card apart again and clean all the old paste, then applied another thermal paste I had lying around.
The difference is honestly crazy. With the same undervolt/settings, I'm now getting around **54°C GPU / 78°C hotspot** with the fans at only **1200 RPM (\~30%)**.
I'm going to test it with the stock/default profile now to see if the results remain this good. If they do, it looks like the thermal paste and/or the way it was behaving under the cooler may have been a major part of the problem.
Thanks everyone for all the replies and suggestions. And especially a shout-out to the people who nailed it with the thermal paste/pump-out theory — absolutely crazy how much of a difference it made.