HardwareGraphics CardsWith its Prime and TUF Radeon RX 9070 graphics cards, Asus is ditching thermal paste for a thermal pad that melts when hotWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareGraphics CardsWith its Prime and TUF Radeon RX 9070 graphics cards, Asus is ditching thermal paste for a thermal pad that melts when hotWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Asus)
AMD hasn’t given us much information about the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT thisCES 2025, but that hasn’t stoppedAsusfrom giving us a peek at its own versions of the new graphics cards. The company hasjust announcedits TUF Gaming OC and Prime OC versions of the next-gen AMD cards and probably the biggest change is how they approach cooling.
Instead of thermal paste on top 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 cards will all feature a “phase-change thermal pad” that Asus says is “designed to give you reliable performance over the long term”.
Asus explains: “The electrically non-conductive pad is a solid at room temperature but liquefies as it heats up. As it melts, it fills the microscopic gaps between the GPU and thermal module, providing superior thermal conductivity and enhanced heat dissipation, ensuring optimal performance, even for sustained, heavy GPU workloads.
The main reason to opt for a phase-change thermal pad instead of standard thermal paste, as Asus suggests, is because it can offer more longevity. This is because phase-change paste returns to a solid state at room temp, and this should prevent “pump out” in the long-term, which is when thermal paste squeezes away from the die centre over time, leading to increasing temperatures.
Our Nick uses a phase-change pad on his RTX 4080 Super for just that reason. You can see a picture of this below. The material being used to keep the thermals in check is Honeywell PTM7950, which has beenshown to perform incredibly well.
(Image credit: Future)
The use of such thermal pads isn’t completely new. XFX has used them for its Magnetic Air GPU models, for instance, such as on itsQuicksilver AMD Radeon RX 7900GRE Magnetic Air.
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It’s new for Asus’s TUF and Prime line-ups, though. And I do like how fitting it will be to have resilient thermal pads in the “TUF” cards. These cards, Asus reminds us, are armoured “in a metal exoskeleton for structural rigidity”, have dual-ball fan bearings that “keep the fans spinning up to twice as long as conventional designs”, and have “military-grade components for rock-solid power delivery and a long lifespan.”
The Asus RX 9070 graphics cards themselves will feature 16 GB of VRAM and dual BIOS functionality to choose between a quieter or more performant mode. The Prime models “pack a triple-fan cooling solution into a compact 2.5-slot design”.
Let’s not get carried away with the “powerful” train of thought, though. Although we don’t know for sure, it looks like these RDNA 4 GPUsmight rival the RTX 4070 Ti—which is great, but nothing like the power that Nvidia’sclaiming of its latest high-end 50-series graphics cards. We’ll have to wait and see.
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Catch up withCES 2025:We’re on the ground in sunny Las Vegas covering all the latest announcements from some of the biggest names in tech, including Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Asus, Razer, MSI and more.View Deal
Catch up withCES 2025:We’re on the ground in sunny Las Vegas covering all the latest announcements from some of the biggest names in tech, including Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Asus, Razer, MSI and more.
Catch up withCES 2025:We’re on the ground in sunny Las Vegas covering all the latest announcements from some of the biggest names in tech, including Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Asus, Razer, MSI and more.
Catch up withCES 2025:We’re on the ground in sunny Las Vegas covering all the latest announcements from some of the biggest names in tech, including Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Asus, Razer, MSI and more.
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