AMD hasn’t given us a lot details about the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT this CES 2025, however that hasn’t stopped Asus from giving us a peek at its personal variations of the brand new graphics playing cards. The corporate has simply introduced its TUF Gaming OC and Prime OC variations of the next-gen AMD playing cards and possibly the largest change is how they method cooling.
As an alternative of thermal paste on prime of the GPU die, the TUF Gaming Radeon RX 9070 (XT and non-XT) OC and Prime Radeon RX 9070 (XT and non-XT) OC graphics playing cards will all characteristic a “phase-change thermal pad” that Asus says is “designed to offer you dependable efficiency over the long run”.
Asus explains: “The electrically non-conductive pad is a stable at room temperature however liquefies because it heats up. Because it melts, it fills the microscopic gaps between the GPU and thermal module, offering superior thermal conductivity and enhanced warmth dissipation, guaranteeing optimum efficiency, even for sustained, heavy GPU workloads.
“Moreover, the phase-change thermal pads provide distinctive longevity. They outlast conventional pastes by a major margin, even for graphics playing cards that see heavy workloads regularly. We are able to’t say that you simply’ll by no means need to repaste certainly one of these graphics playing cards, however we’re assured that it’ll be a very long time earlier than you even think about it.”
The primary purpose to go for a phase-change thermal pad as a substitute of normal thermal paste, as Asus suggests, is as a result of it will probably provide extra longevity. It’s because phase-change paste returns to a stable state at room temp, and this could stop “pump out” within the long-term, which is when thermal paste squeezes away from the die centre over time, resulting in rising temperatures.
Our Nick makes use of a phase-change pad on his RTX 4080 Tremendous for simply that purpose. You possibly can see an image of this beneath. The fabric getting used to maintain the thermals in verify is Honeywell PTM7950, which has been proven to carry out extremely nicely.
Using such thermal pads is not fully new. XFX has used them for its Magnetic Air GPU fashions, for example, reminiscent of on its Quicksilver AMD Radeon RX 7900GRE Magnetic Air.
It is new for Asus’s TUF and Prime line-ups, although. And I do like how becoming will probably be to have resilient thermal pads within the “TUF” playing cards. These playing cards, Asus reminds us, are armoured “in a metallic exoskeleton for structural rigidity”, have dual-ball fan bearings that “hold the followers spinning as much as twice so long as typical designs”, and have “military-grade parts for rock-solid energy supply and a protracted lifespan.”
The Asus RX 9070 graphics playing cards themselves will characteristic 16 GB of VRAM and twin BIOS performance to decide on between a quieter or extra performant mode. The Prime fashions “pack a triple-fan cooling resolution right into a compact 2.5-slot design”.
I can not assist however discover it slightly humorous that 2.5-slot designs are actually deemed “compact”. However that is the world we dwell in now, I suppose: certainly one of large, highly effective graphics playing cards. And given extra energy tends to imply extra warmth, I suppose this could make us additional grateful that producers wish to improve longevity by making an attempt out new methods of maintaining issues cool.
Let’s not get carried away with the “highly effective” practice of thought, although. Though we do not know for certain, it seems like these RDNA 4 GPUs may rival the RTX 4070 Ti—which is nice, however nothing like the facility that Nvidia’s claiming of its newest high-end 50-series graphics playing cards. We’ll have to attend and see.