toms hardware Igor's Lab uncovers 'hotspot issue' affecting all RTX 50-series GPUs

[pio]

Igor's Lab uncovers 'hotspot issue' affecting all RTX 50-series GPUs — says it could compromise graphics card longevity

 

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Power delivery hotspots can run hotter than the GPU core itself.

Igor's Lab has discovered a worrying trend among all Nvidia Blackwell RTX 50-series graphics cards, including even faux-budget GPUs like the RTX 5060 Ti. According to a lengthy blog post the outlet published, most if not all RTX 50-series AIB partner cards are allegedly prone to high-temperature hotspots in the power delivery area, which could potentially damage these graphics cards after extended heavy use.

The problem lies in the construction of power delivery systems for the affected graphics cards. Igor's Lab states that several components that make up the power delivery system, such as the FETs, coils, drivers, and traces connecting everything together, are grouped too close together, creating temperatures that can potentially deteriorate the power delivery system over the course of a card's life, potentially killing the card after just a few years of use.

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Igor's Lab uncovers 'hotspot issue' affecting all RTX 50-series GPUs — says it could compromise graphics card longevity | Tom's Hardware

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Power delivery hotspots can run hotter than the GPU core itself.

Definitely not a good trend to be starting.  This entire 50 series launch seems like its been a complete disaster.  I honestly don't think there's a single 50 series card I'd even recommend to somebody at this point; unless you're an enthusiast and are willing to take apart your card to fix it before you install it.

[LabRat]

Incredible.
This GeForce 5000series is panning out even worse than their FX5000s. 

TBQH at this point, it's looking like this was a 'holdover' generation,
and nVidia does not want to be competing with their own (used) product, come next-gen.

 

[ENTERPRISE]

The 50 series for me brings the following to mind.

 

1. Refresh generation offering little in actual performance gains. Forget MFG, DLSS etc. 

 

2. Hideous design flaws, one would go as far as negligence. The 12VHPWR is an absolute joke in general but Nvidia decided to double down and make it even worse with their power delivery design.  Most AIB's are taking the lazy way out and STILL not addressing the design issues, even though they have the power to do so. I understand there are small margins for GPU's but I would like to see more AIB's take responsibility for their consumers sake.

 

This point alone would make me hesitant to put a 50 series card in my PC. 

 

3. Buggy drivers. Unsure what is going on with Nvidia at the moment, but producing drivers that affect not only the 50 series but 40 and 30 series is embarrassing, especially with continuous releases still showing problems.

 

4. Hotspot reading removal. In my opinion Nvidia did this to hide something they are not keen on sharing. Tells you all you need to know. 

 

5. Pricing. While I understand they have little competitions, Nvidia still didn't have to punish gamers with astronomical pricing. Nvidia doesn't care anymore about the crowd that made them. 

 

6. Disingenuous marketing. Sure, we expect companies to make products look attractive. The 50 series however has a marketing campaign designed to cover for 50 series being fairly underwhelming as a product with bullshit claims such as the 5070 = 4090 and similar. You can't polish a turd.

 

I really enjoy Nvidia products but they really have fallen from grace this round, its been a growing issue for ages but the 50 series just takes the piss. Nvidia have cut corners at virtually every avenue and then tried to sell it as the single wonder of the universe. Fortunately most have seen through it. 

 

While im still very happy with my 3090, If I were upgrading today It would likely be a 9070XT or AMD successor to that if they continue their improved trajectory. I just can't justify the insanity anymore. 

 

Im willing to bet Nvidia will double down again on the 60 series in some form.  Nvidia knows right from wrong regarding design etc, but ultimately they don't care IMHO.

[GanjaSMK]

Looking at the 50xx series release and all of the surrounding BS I concur wholeheartedly, what a mild disaster.

 

Even for those of you who have had *no* issues... WOW for the rest. 

* 5070 = 4090 performance 

 - NOPE

* 5xxx = lower power draws 

 - NOPE 

* 20+% uplift across the board over 40xx 

 - NOPE 

* Missing ROP, ODD shader counts, melting cables again

 - YEP

 

What in the EFF green team?  

 

 

[ozlay]

  On 23/04/2025 at 03:43, LabRat said:

Incredible.
This GeForce 5000series is panning out even worse than their FX5000s. 

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No the FX5000 series was actually faster than the 4000 series before it. Sometimes...

[pio]

  On 30/04/2025 at 23:19, ozlay said:

 

No the FX5000 series was actually faster than the 4000 series before it. Sometimes...

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Ehhhhhhh..............my GF 4 Ti would like to have a word with your FX 5 series card.  

That reminds me, I still need an FX 5950 Ultra.  The really bad thing, those FX series cards that everybody hated are now more expensive than modern GPU's.  Can literally buy a 5060 / 5060Ti for cheaper than a good condition FX 5950 Ultra. -_-

Also - why is it more fun to talk about the FX 5000 series cards and the failure that those were, instead of the RTX 5000 series?  

[Fluxmaven]

50 series is a big letdown to me. The performance uplift of every card in the stack is pretty much in line with the increased power consumption for each card. The only additional benefit is the software trickery. Add in all the issues they are having and crazy prices then they aren't looking very attractive. 

 

I was hoping for a 24GB 5080 that matched or was slightly faster than the 4090 for $1000. I don't need 32GB and don't want to spend over $2k on a GPU. I'll wait and see if we get a 5080 Super/Ti/whatever that is a closer fit for my needs. If that doesn't come around or is a flop, I'll just wait for the 6090 and just accept that it's going to cost a fortune. 

[schuck6566]

As someone who's last 2 card purchases were a gtx970 & a RTX 2070 I honestly think Intel is just as likely to fill my price/Performance needs.At least they are HONEST about what you're getting now.

[ozlay]

  On 01/05/2025 at 00:50, pio said:

Ehhhhhhh..............my GF 4 Ti would like to have a word with your FX 5 series card.  

That reminds me, I still need an FX 5950 Ultra.  The really bad thing, those FX series cards that everybody hated are now more expensive than modern GPU's.  Can literally buy a 5060 / 5060Ti for cheaper than a good condition FX 5950 Ultra. -_-

Also - why is it more fun to talk about the FX 5000 series cards and the failure that those were, instead of the RTX 5000 series?  

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I wish i could find a Galaxy GeForce 7950GT AGP to test against my HD3850 AGP. To see if it is any faster. Or AGP bottlenecked.

Edited May 6 by ozlay

[pio]

  On 06/05/2025 at 21:19, ozlay said:

 

I wish i could find a Galaxy GeForce 7950GT AGP to test against my HD3850 AGP. To see if it is any faster. Or AGP bottlenecked.

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That's a good point to be honest.  AGP cards of decent performance are hard to get ahold of anyway.  When you do find one, they're overpriced because of rarity.  I don't have the 7800 or the 3850 either, as I already assumed those were out of reach.  Planned on stopping AGP with the Radeon 9800XT and the GeForce 6800 myself.

That HD3850 AGP card you have is a rare one.  

[ozlay]

  On 06/05/2025 at 21:26, pio said:

That's a good point to be honest.  AGP cards of decent performance are hard to get ahold of anyway.  When you do find one, they're overpriced because of rarity.  I don't have the 7800 or the 3850 either, as I already assumed those were out of reach.  Planned on stopping AGP with the Radeon 9800XT and the GeForce 6800 myself.

That HD3850 AGP card you have is a rare one.  

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Also the PCI zotac GT430/GT520. To add physx to your 7800. 

Edited May 6 by ozlay

[pio]

  On 06/05/2025 at 23:01, ozlay said:

 

Also the PCI zotac GT430/GT520. To add physx to your 7800. 

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Hold on a second there, WHAT?  That's actually a thing????????

Okay yup, I need to find these cards.  I have a Socket 754 system that could probably play PhysX titles great with a GPU setup like that.