Even PowerGPU's founder can't escape thermal gel leakage from the Gigabyte RTX 50-Series Master GPU

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Gigabyte's leaking thermal gel problem still affects early adopters.

Leaking thermal gel on Gigabyte GPU
(Image credit: Jese Martinez / X (formerly Twitter))

Gigabyte’s leaky thermal gel problem finally hit a prominent system integrator. According to VideoCardz, PowerGPU founder and CEO Jese Martinez discovered that his Gigabyte RTX 50-Series Master GPU, which he had owned since February, had been leaking its thermal putty after he switched to an RTX 50 Founders Edition graphics card. Martinez had already warned his customers about the issue, but didn’t expect the problem to impact his personal system.

Despite this claim, users are saying that the dripping thermal gel might cause problems. One Reddit user documented the dripping, melted putty, where they shared pictures of the progress of the putty creeping until nothing was left on what seems to be their GPU's VRAM chips. If that is the case, it could potentially impact the graphics card's performance, as it no longer has a conducting material connecting the chips to its heatsink.

A few proactive gamers decided to solve the issue themselves and had the thermal gel replaced with thermal pads. Aside from reducing the risk of having the factory-applied thermal gels to zero, the procedure also improved the card's cooling, lowering VRAM temperatures by around 7C.

You likely don't need to worry about your Gigabyte GPU leaking its thermal gel if you weren't among the first to buy them, as the company has reportedly already adjusted its processes and solved the problem. But if you're concerned that your GPU's performance will be affected, Gigabyte recommends contacting your regional customer service center for support.

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Jowi Morales
Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • bit_user
    The article said:
    Even PowerGPU's founder can't escape thermal gel leakage from the Gigabyte RTX 50-Series Master GPU
    ... PowerGPU founder and CEO Jese Martinez ...
    This is just a poorly-written article: not to say who this guy is, what PowerGPU does, or why he should be any less likely than anyone else to be affected by this problem.
    Reply
  • Notton
    A few proactive gamers decided to solve the issue themselves and had the thermal gel replaced with thermal pads. Aside from reducing the risk of having the factory-applied thermal gels to zero, the procedure also improved the card's cooling, lowering VRAM temperatures by around 7C.
    I think I've said this before, but if switching to thermal pads (silicone?) lowers temps by 7C, that either means the thermal gel was defective, counterfeit, or Gigabyte did a horrendous job applying it.
    Thermal Gel is superior to Pads and the reason why it's used in servers.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    One Reddit user documented the dripping, melted putty, where they shared pictures of the progress of the putty creeping until nothing was left on what seems to be their GPU's VRAM chips.

    Properly applied TIM should only have an ultra-thin layer anyway, not slathered on like toothpaste, as it is only meant to fill the microscopic gaps between the heatsink and chip/IHS.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Alvar Miles Udell said:
    Properly applied TIM should only have an ultra-thin layer anyway, not slathered on like toothpaste, as it is only meant to fill the microscopic gaps between the heatsink and chip/IHS.
    The article talks about VRAM (GDDR6), which usually doesn't have as tight tolerances as the GPU, itself. If you look at some GPU teardown photos or vids, you can see this, in the thickness of the pads or putty where the VRAM goes.

    Even if you engineered the board so that everything had the same, tight tolerances vs the heatsink, this would be hard to maintain in the presence of bending. So, they design it so that the part which is both producing the most heat and the most temperature-sensitive (i.e. the GPU chip) is the thing in direct contact with the IHS and then everything else just has to dump enough heat via TIM that it stays within spec.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    bit_user said:
    The article talks about VRAM (GDDR6), which usually doesn't have as tight tolerances as the GPU, itself. If you look at some GPU teardown photos or vids, you can see this, in the thickness of the pads or putty where the VRAM goes.

    Even if you engineered the board so that everything had the same, tight tolerances vs the heatsink, this would be hard to maintain in the presence of bending. So, they design it so that the part which is both producing the most heat and the most temperature-sensitive (i.e. the GPU chip) is the thing in direct contact with the IHS and then everything else just has to dump enough heat via TIM that it stays within spec.

    That's the reason why VRMs and RAM chips have pads that can be variable thicknesses (unlessSapphire on the 5970 and forget that VRMs need them), but Gigabyte wanted to go cheap and it bit them.
    Reply
  • YSCCC
    Notton said:
    I think I've said this before, but if switching to thermal pads (silicone?) lowers temps by 7C, that either means the thermal gel was defective, counterfeit, or Gigabyte did a horrendous job applying it.
    Thermal Gel is superior to Pads and the reason why it's used in servers.
    I would say... all of the above are the issues..
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    The Vram wet dreams, Gigabyte has a Meme in their hands. People only GiGAbug products because they can't find other brands on the market.
    Reply
  • tiredcrow
    Amdlova said:
    The Vram wet dreams, Gigabyte has a Meme in their hands. People only GiGAbug products because they can't find other brands on the market.
    Hey Gigabyte used to make some great cases!
    Reply
  • YSCCC
    tiredcrow said:
    Hey Gigabyte used to make some great cases!
    Gigabyte used to make quite reliable and good MB, (well, in my 6th grade era... Athlon 1Ghz era)...
    Reply