7900XTX oily substance?

[u/WolfRevolutionary890]

XFX 7900XTX

Been having Driver crashes as of beginning of last month... several times an hour...or go as long as 2 days. random.

was stable otherwise since Feb 2025 when i got it.

tried it all except for a system format. DDU, twice. AMD driver tool removal. reinstalled CPU chipset drivers. changed DP cable.

I pulled the card out of the case and noticed what seems like an thick oily substance around the screws that made its way down onto the gold chip.....never seen this before.

Edit: no it's not a Cpu cooler leak.

[u/unimportantinfodump]

Thermal pad bleed?

Does your card run hot

[u/WolfRevolutionary890 → u/unimportantinfodump]

I only monitor the main temp, not the hotspot. But I can confidently say the temp is not hot at all. Mostly play Cs. Runs 55-63 C

[u/ime1em]

Do you happen to running your GPU vertically?

[u/WolfRevolutionary890 → u/ime1em]

Yes...

[u/Ratiofarming → u/WolfRevolutionary890]

Then it's thermal pads bleeding some oil. Not dangerous, just looks bad. You can re-order them or get thermal putty to replace them with. Maybe a PTM7950 or TG PTM pad for the GPU itself. Make sure it's genuine PTM7950 though, lots of fake ones offered online.

But your issues might not hardware related anway, unless the card really is overheating. Those pads are, apart from losing some oil, likely completely fine.

As for the oil, PCB cleaner or 99/99.9% IPA works for that and doesn't hurt the PCB. As long as the contacts are clean, it doesn't really matter though. You can also just leave it.

[u/Motor_Attention1865 → u/Ratiofarming]

I would recommend using mx7 or hyp17 instead of ptm. Temp differs by couple of degrees. Pumpout is not a real concern within the rest of the cards realistic lifetime.

[u/tht1guy63]

If nothing spilled its probly oil from thermal pads.

[u/apachelives]

Seeping from thermal pads. Normal.