Radeon VII performance issues, fans running at maximum speed
Radeon VII performance issues, fans running at maximum speed
Hey, your setup sounds tricky. The Radeon VII is running hot—temperatures over 110°C even though it's throttled to 800MHz—and the fans aren't spinning fast enough at 900 RPM. You tried enabling fan control in the driver, but it didn’t work. There’s a possibility the UEFI flashing caused problems, which you addressed by re-flashing, but no clear fix has been found online. Have anyone else had success with this setup?
Have you considered thoroughly cleaning the chip and applying fresh thermal paste?
I’ve discovered some details and decided to wrap up this subject. The fans on my Radeon VII kept spinning around 850 rpm even after being detached from the card. Even when I separated them from the motherboard and connected directly to the board using an adapter, they maintained that speed despite the mainboard controls set high. However, I managed to resolve it by removing the fan cover and disconnecting all three fans at once—the maximum RPM returned to about 4000. I tested with just one, then two, then all three to avoid a single failure dropping the speed. If your Radeon VII has similar problems, try separating the fans like that; if that fails, you might need replacement parts.
But the trouble didn’t end there. Even after fixing the fan issue and pushing the speed up to full capacity, the card still showed power irregularities. On both firmware versions, the power consumption fluctuated wildly—between roughly 80W and 210W—and the clock speeds on the core increased from a base of 800MHz to as high as 1500MHz. These rapid changes noticeably impacted frame rates, suggesting the card wasn’t functioning optimally.
I’m aware this could be linked to a hotspot issue since temperatures stayed above 100°C, though it’s possible the problem started earlier. The GPU’s performance dropped noticeably even when fans ran at full speed and the paste was fresh. I suspect the thermal pad might have worn out over time, possibly affecting cooling consistency. It’s also conceivable that prolonged high heat caused damage, though this is just a guess.
Given these patterns, it seems the card itself may have inherent flaws. If I revisit it, I’ll replace the original thermal pad and suggest others do the same if they can.
Update positive! The rumors about my previous post were mostly wrong. Except for the fans running at idle, everything was related to overheating. I researched online and saw that the original Hitachi thermal pad is no longer available, so I wasn’t sure what else to try. Then I discovered a case with liquid metal thermal pads—better than anything before. Following der8aurs’ guide helped me cover the parts, and my clocks and power stayed steady around 1780MHz and 225W. The hotspot dropped significantly; it used to spike instantly above 100°C now it takes much longer for temperatures to rise. That’s the conclusion! If your Radeon VII isn’t acting right, check the fans first. Otherwise, it’s safe to assume liquid metal will be needed to bring the card back under control.