As per der8auer and GamersNexus, AMD claims to know which batches of cards have underfilled vapor chambers yet at the same time refuses to recall them and wants customers to RMA instead.
Customers could also return them to the retailers they bought them from.
The hyperventilating about this on tech YouTube is getting a bit ridiculous. The same thing happened with the controversy over the power connector on the 4090. Yes, it's bad -- but it's not like AMD ran over your dog.
When a new product has bugs (and many do), it takes some time to figure out who is impacted and what the fix is -- and when an issue becomes high profile, a lot of people who are not impacted manage to convince themselves that they are. Given that, and the general hyperventilating about this, I am not surprised AMD wants to be careful.
> a lot of people who are not impacted manage to convince themselves that they are
Well, there's one difference in the two: when the company doesn't announce a recall, customers are left guessing whether or not they're affected, assuming they even find out about this known issue to begin with. But if there was a recall, customers can verify whether or not they're affected and they can be notified.
This is a $1000+ product. What is the appropriate amount of outrage I am allowed to express as a consumer?
I don't have one, but I don't game much, and mostly run in a Linux desktop without overclocking... I do sell my older cards when I update/upgrade sometimes. This could literally saddle someone else down the road with a card that breaks/throttles/ramps fans to an annoying level, because AMD didn't at least release serial numbers for the cards in question.
I'm guessing it's a MASSIVE amount and they just don't want to do the right thing.
I don't disagree there could have been a better design, and I think the design is fundamentally a risk when misused. When seated properly there shouldn't be any risk. That said we should ask for better than that from hardware makers.
This feels like a job for a warning sticker this generation and something a little different next generation.
The Nvidia issue is not like the NZXT H1 riser fire issue, for instance.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/yx0m1g/gamers_nexus...
GN is extremely critical and holds manufacturers to a very high standard. GN is the first to lambaste a manufacturer over a design that's even slightly sub-par. If Steve says it's fine, it's almost certainly fine IMO.
I'd recommend watching the video. [1]
[edit] johnnyguru apparently said the same thing. These are no spring chickens, and Johnny now works at Corsair AFAIK making power supplies.
The fix is shorter sense pins that don't indicate to the card the cable is actually plugged in until fully seated. Don't get me wrong it should have been that way from the start, and a warning is needed. That said, it's not an issue when used correctly.
It might sound nit-picky, but this is a normal standard of engineering design safety.