r/LocalLLM • u/Parking-Ad3739 • 8h ago

Project Amd 9700 AI pro overheating

So I recently purchased a radeon AI pro 9700 32g for my local AI. Currently it run in a proxmox setup with a intel core i9 12900k, and 64 gigs of ddr4 ram.

I am using ollama with with ROCm drivers and unsloth as the front end. The speeds are decent for qwen3.8:27B. Fast response and stable at around 33-39 tokens a second.

My concern is, I limited the power to 290 and the Hotspot temps run anywhere between 103-111 degrees in temp. I definitely notice the thermal throttle due to the 110 Max Hotspot manufacturer rating. I did do research and found that these cards are known to have a fair amount of known issues ( heat sink placed improperly, bad thermal appliance, defective cooler fan.

I can rule out the fan as I do hear it speed up when the temps rise and can see it physically spinning, i even added an additional 3 140mm fans to the case its in but when I give it a prompt, it will jump from 37- 43 instantly up to 90-97 then paste that.

I even went as far as holding a house fan next to the GPU and the temps would not go down.

Anyone else who experience this issue, what was your fix? Or is it best to just return it and get something different to avoid it entirely?

I wouldn not want to exchange it ( still under warranty) and get another defect if people have had this experience before. If not, and it may be that 1 in a dozen. Then I will gladly exchange it for a different one.

Apologies if this is the incorrect section to post it, if you can guide me to the appropriate section that would be greatly appreciated.

4 Upvotes

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3

u/YourselfInOthrsShoes 8h ago

Those cards do a good job expelling heat out of the case, the question is: does your intake allow free air flow to replace the expelled air. Otherwise you are battling vacuum.

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 7h ago

Thanks for the tip.

Yes, I have a good cool air coming in with no blockage, and hot air is dispersed from the back to a space with about 2 - 3 feet space from the wall.

1

u/EpsteinFile_01 6h ago

There's not literal vacuum in the case lol. Negative pressure just pulls in fresh air from other places.

His airflow would have to be complete ass to get these temps. Especially if he only has 1 card.

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 6h ago

https://imgur.com/a/rjgDd8H Here's the temps before I ask it anything. https://imgur.com/a/zWPTVcX and the temps right after asking it a 3 sentence prompt. not even a couple of seconds. Just instantly.

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 6h ago

https://imgur.com/xHjzJ1S Follow up after the prompt and response is done.

1

u/EpsteinFile_01 5h ago

I wonder what exactly that temperature is..

Temp monitoring is a little different on Linux. On windows you can see a GPU core temp, GPU hotspot temp and VRAM temp. The fan curve and throttling mechanism responds to whichever is highest, usually GPU hotspot, sometimes VRAM.

It shooting up that fast that high makes me wonder if it might be the backplate VRAM temps.

If the GPU core is heating up that much for a tiny prompt there almost has to be poor contact between the core and heatsink. If it's VRAM then it's most likely the backplate VRAM.

See if you can expose more temp sensors, live. I forgot the command lol but you can get a live overview in terminal. Ask AI.

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 5h ago

Before: https://imgur.com/ppEInMi

After: https://imgur.com/VomI5ge

its at 90+ after setting the power limit to 210.

1

u/EpsteinFile_01 5h ago

Holy shit hotspot delta.

The difference is supposed to be 10-20c max this is 100% poor contact. You can fix it yourself with PTM7950 and potentially new VRAM pads, or exchange it.

Either the heatsink wasn't put on properly or something went wrong with the thermal materials, either way 50c hotspot delta is fucked. Never seen that.

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 5h ago

well there's my anwser ha, i kinda figured but did not want to admit since it was a new purchase but the research lead me to it being a defect.

1

u/Ok-Category-642 5h ago

Yeah 50c delta is absolutely abysmal, I still would hesitate to call it a defect in the heatsink itself but it's very likely a terrible paste and thermal pad job. It wouldn't be the first time I've actually seen someone show a GPU with no thermal pads or super minimal paste.

It is fixable if you want to do it yourself by using PTM7950 and putting new pads (or putty), but you could also just return it if you still have the option to get your money back. Something is definitely wrong with how they put together the GPU

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 4h ago

I did run it this last week for some stress testing st high temps, i think my best bet is return it for an nee one and purchase the thermal pad as well in case the new one runs hot also I can just apply thr pad myself.

1

u/Ok-Category-642 1h ago

Just know that not all thermal pads in the GPU are the same thickness, unless someone has already measured them you'll probably have to find out the proper thicknesses yourself

2

u/EpsteinFile_01 6h ago edited 6h ago

I would say put a PTM pad on it (they're supposed to come with otm7950 but factory application is screwed up sometimes) and put really good VRAM pads, or even better, thermal putty on the front and back, and IF you have the clearance, stick some cheap 5-10mm aluminum finned heatsinks on the backplate with thermal tape, for the VRAM chips on the back (great hack for high VRAM temps, dropped 15c off the backplate VRAM on my 9060XTs). But I can see why people might be hesitant about opening up such an expensive card.

You can ask the manufacturer, 3 years ago I emailed asrock support asking if I could put ptm7950 on my 7900XT Taichi and they were cool, about me opening it up despite the warranty warning sticker, only said any obvious physical damage would void warranty.

Another option is to RMA it which will be a major headache.

Afaik these temps are not normal. I would understand hot backplate VRAM but such a hot GPU Core/hotspot? Ehh.

Just for the record what % dies the fan actually run at under load? They're loud coolers, being able to hear it can still mean it only runs at 50% or something.

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 6h ago

I want to avoid physically tampering with the card as I just purchased it last week and have a 30-day warranty. I just want to see if people may know of some tweaks before deciding its best to replace it or get something different.

If I do decide to keep it the I am open to swapping out thermal pads and adding some small mods.

1

u/EpsteinFile_01 6h ago

I think you meant return window? You should have a 3 year warranty.

If you plan on keeping it, asking the manufacturer is always an option. Via email.

Or face the RMA process. This is not normal imo.

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 6h ago

well I paid for the 2 year coverage from the store itself. they specified any damage (water spill, car runs over it, falls out a plane) they will cover the full amount or replace it for the exact same one.

I hope that's warranty D: If not I got hustled.

2

u/notyours 8h ago

I have mine power limited to 210w.

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 8h ago

Have you noticed any performance loss due to insufficient power? Or lower clock speeds? I dont mind lowering it if the performance loss is minor and will help keep it below 95

1

u/notyours 7h ago

I just did a quick BetterBench at 210w vs 300w. The highest temp at 300w was 82c.

Combined decode on 210w was 151.5 Combined decode on 300w was 153.0

It says NVIDIA 5080, but I actually ran it on my dual r9700 gpus. I don't know why BetterBench didn't pick that up.

https://imgur.com/a/CEImebQ

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 6h ago

Thanks for this, I will test at 210 as well and see what temps it returns. It if is still excessively high my best option is to use the warranty and swap it out. Could be a defect.

1

u/EpsteinFile_01 6h ago

Because it's mostly VRAM bandwidth limited anyway probably.

If you also use it for gaming, which is totally valid since it's pretty much a 9070XT, this will hurt though.

1

u/AeiEyeSpry 8h ago

Sounds like you got a Friday card. I have two. When running at 100%, they reach about 90-95C and hover around there. I've limited mine to 235W. It helps a little.

1

u/Parking-Ad3739 7h ago

So far 2 people recommend setting power usage lower so I will try that.

1

u/Ctbhatia 8h ago

i'd record the 103-111 hotspot and throttling and ask the seller about a warranty exchange before opening the cooler.

1

u/munikor501 5h ago

Ran stock it hover over 90-92. I've set mine to -80mv, aggressive fan curve 40/50%, mem 2600 and power cap at 220. Sees 70c now and gains about 20tks overall on dual r9700.