Gigabyte's GPU Thermal Paste Keeps Leaking

Yahoo

06-05-2025

Several instances of Gigabyte graphics cards leaking thermal interface gel during operation have raised concerns over the quality control of its new graphics cards. Although Gigabyte claims the problem is merely cosmetic, the fact that these problems have arisen so soon after the cards launched isn't giving new owners much confidence in the design.
All graphics cards use some form of thermal interface material (TIM) to sandwich between the big metal heatsink and individual chips and components on the card's PCB, including the GPU itself and memory modules. Traditionally that's been in the form of heat paste, but more exotic solutions are used today, including thermal pads, liquid metal, and in this instance, a "server grade" thermal gel. Where traditional concerns with TIM involved it drying out, this newer gel design appears to have a potential issue with its viscosity going in the other direction entirely. At the very least, something is causing it to slip out of its intended placement.
There have now been three confirmed reports of Gigabyte RTX 50-series graphics cards leaking thermal gel from between the heatsink and various chips on the cards. It puddles around the chips, but as of yet hasn't caused any problems beyond merely looking unsavory, leading to Gigabyte's hand-waving comments about it being merely an aesthetic issue, as per TechPowerUp. But it also claims the issue only affects early production batches, suggesting that there is something about the design that has changed since then, fixing whatever the problem is.
Gigabyte gel slipping out on a GPU.
Credit: TechPowerUp Forum
In each case of leaking gel, the cards were mounted vertically in the case, perhaps oriented in such a way that gravity contributed to the force driving out the gel in a certain direction. But Gigabyte doesn't warn about this in the official documentation for the cards, nor when these cards were first sold. That raises questions about what changed from early batches of the card, and if the change was made knowingly, why wasn't it communicated?
Owners of the affected cards are understandably upset and concerned. Even if the issue is only cosmetic for now, surely leaking gel isn't as thermally effective, or will become less so over time. This raises concerns over long-term reliability, which shouldn't be something a new GPU owner has to worry about. Especially if they paid the inflated prices of Nvidia's new high-end cards, which in some cases can cost over $3,000.
Gigabyte has issued a statement saying that it takes "your concerns seriously," but has made it clear that for now it won't be doing any kind of recall of potentially affected products.
If you have a Gigabyte RTX 50-series graphics card, it might be worth avoiding vertical mounting. At least until this issue is cleared up or understood more.