MSI Listened to Us: RX 5700 XT Evoke Thermal Pad New vs. Old Test

[@GamersNexus]

Find our round-up of the best and worst RX 5700 XT cards here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a37Gh5ZmiLaAfrc Article of the 5700 XT Evoke thermal pad revision: www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3531-msi-listened-rx-5700xt-evoke-oc-thermal-pad-revision

[@righteousone8454]

You have the best tech channel on KZbin, Steve Keep doing it, I have been watching you for years now.

[@GamersNexus]

@@righteousone8454 Thanks!

[@adityamahadik6649]

watched it twice already...great video!

[@arnoldshmitt4969]

i think the damage is done to their product and no one will risk getting an old evoke batch card

[@bobonit6627]

I'm sorry but if these people have to fly out to learn how to use thermal pads u should be working at McDonald's

[@DrearierSpider1]

Always good to see a manufacturer willing to fess up and fix their mistakes. Unlike some of the more petty responses you've gotten in the past.

[@iBeast_M0de]

*cough cough* XFX

[@shredderx9813]

Some stupid mistakes could be easily avoided Msi 🙄

[@fredEVOIX]

@@shredderx9813 yes...and no...take it from someone who works in a related industry, you can have an engineer saying you need to do X, the factory machine programmer saying you need to do X operators in the manufacture saying you need to do X but a manager who says no we will do Y and it's Y that's made, that's how the industry works sadly, same thing than poor management in video games, banks, politics etc...changing it like in our case here is admitting the manager person who had final say in the manufacturing made a mistake, they don't do that usually, that's why most of the time nothing is done

[@jedfrades7548]

I hope asus fix the asus tuf 5700xt.

[@shido8597]

@@iBeast_M0de they already fixed it

[@mc909a]

Good for MSI. Instead of taking it as an attack they actually showed they cared.

[@hardcoreteunes]

it only took some months lol

[@strohhuttv8848]

XFX u hear that...

[@shido8597]

@@strohhuttv8848 xfx already did this before msi

[@Mach141]

I find it odd it took three engineers flying from wherever (Tiawan?) to figure out what needed improved....things that make you go hmmmm?

[@strohhuttv8848]

@@shido8597 When? I still hear is sh*t I had a RX 580 from XFX never again! My gpu was hot as f*ck people plz ignore XFX products.

[@BrettStrydom]

This is great! It's nice to see a manufacturer serious about listening to the community! Well done Steve!

[@Asdayasman]

... "Well done MSI" you mean? Steve's gonna do the same acecredible job he always does. I don't see you saying "Well done Steve!" On the other videos.

[@LeftJoystick]

Asdayasman Well done Steve (and his team) for bringing light to the issue.

[@CaseySexton]

When a multi billion dollar company takes the time to talk with you in person, and listen to your findings to the point that they change their manufacturing process, it's a perfect example of what quality testing, content, and relaying of findings can do to benefit the end user. Great job and thank you.

[@GholaTleilaxu]

When a multi-billion dollar company tries to sucker its clients with sub-par products sold as top-notch.

[@CaseySexton]

@Thomas Berger 1. I was thanking GN for their work and minding my own business. 2. If you think you can do better then you need to go start your own KZbin review channel and show GN how it's done.

[@Shizomis]

wow that shows you how good steve is. instead of just saying something is trash or bad he gives constructive criticism and in return MSI makes changes helping us the regular consumer. great work as always

[@darkwing5458]

He doesn't blatantly say it's trash but based on the evidence he doesn't need to say it...they cheap out on the pads.

[@LukeHimself]

This goes directly against those other reviewers like IGOR who said *"anyone claiming the GDDR6 cooling is bad on the Evoke is an idiot"* *MSI disagrees*

[@MrMastadox]

Its still trash.. I would be upset if i would have bought such a card.. Those thermal pads are a nightmare. distance to the cooler are huge..

[@BattleVulture]

Steve evokes a sense of reason with MSI.

[@charlbotha8138]

The greatest complement you can get from a reviewer "Its okay now to buy it if you really have to" Great work GN. Keep it up

[@georgeivanov844]

MSI on 5700 XT Evoke: "We've done a revision to improve G6 thermals." ASUS on 5700 XT TUF: "You're not paying enough for us to care".

[@machinainc5812]

George Ivanoff XFX on 5700: “GN has attacked us in the past”

[@LiLBitsDK]

@@machinainc5812 yeah that's the problem, they see it as an "attack" and it's not... it's often just pointing out the obvious... stuff they should already know and not make those mistakes again... but they do... over and over and over again...

[@machinainc5812]

Jesper Andersen definitely. It came off horrendously bad. Just like “i’m a victim of GN”, instead of doing something like MSI did here. Tbf they did end up improving the THICC model, but the way they reacted to the inicial GN criticism was pretty awful.

[@lorsch.]

*ASUS on 5700 XT ROG Strix

[@chadmckean9026]

Achievement Acquired: Become a Influencer, This awarded is granted when you successfully influence manufacturers to improve there product.

[@triadwarfare]

Influencers still make me sick. Someone's head got chopped off from all this.

[@djr11472]

Your four typos/mistakes in one line really pair brilliantly with the "internet-ness" of your comment. Brilliant and delicious satire even if it was unintentional.

[@Termiux]

Tbis is why we need real tech journalism, it makes the manufacturers accountable, thanks GN for this content

[@illyillyill]

They got exposed, and back tracked. BUT. good on them for revisiting it.

[@GholaTleilaxu]

EXPOSED! Still, the money was pocketed.

[@Zeveulesaussure]

Hello Asus and the TUF lmao

[@guldukat1354]

it's nice to see that an independent reviewer has enough influence to actually get a company to improve the product based on the feedback and not release some BS marketing statement.

[@mataznuiz]

Mad respect to MSI, let's see what they come up with in the future

[@GholaTleilaxu]

When you say MSI, do you mean the engineers who try their best, or the Corporate Commander who pocketed the money made from this..."error in the system"?

[@greenalchemist6824]

Yup. There was a thousand ways to handle this the wrong way and face huge backlash. Now they get to continue, a little embarrassed, but unscathed.

[@onionring1531]

People in factory: "We want to use full size thermal pads but management won't let us because it costs 0.001 cents more per unit." Management: "Get PR to fix this statement." PR: "Ahh there was a mounting issue or something like a clearance issue so we can't use full size thermal pads on any of the cards we produce."

[@nimrodery]

People in factory: Not saying anything because too busy attaching thermal pads as fast as possible all day long everyday

[@kmoussi2852]

I purchased an early model of the Evoke and just got off the phone with MSI who offered a replacement with the revised version!! Thank you Steve and GN for your hard work

[@absol505]

Somehow I missed this video till now, was already busy looking into watercooling it somehow. If it costs me weeks to get it back it's still not really an option but if they offer to replace it for a revised one I'll be happy to take it. But it probably won't fix it being a jet engine, but maybe I won't hear it trough my damn noise canceling headphones anymore.

[@absol505]

It will take at least 10 working days to have it fixed, gotta send it to reseller who sends it to Poland then they fix, send it back to reseller and then back to me. Great..

[@KeanoMUFC1]

I wish Evoke OC had different color variants, while it's unique, it's hard to match gold with the rest of the PC components

[@CordlezToaster]

Good to see msi care, would be nice if ASUS fixed the TUF 5700xt

[@matthewmcfarland9]

I think they did eventually

[@tonyjara184]

Thank you guys for getting the word out and having an impact on problem solving.

[@derks0]

thats rad dude , getting vip to your shop xD, neat stuff! do good work n ppl take note. hats off to you guys bud

[@Aiscold93]

Ima still be picking up Sapphire Nitro+

[@Yuzuki1337]

Agree with ya, always loved my Sapphire Pulse and Nitro+ cards

[@raifmohamed8401]

I would love to .. but i want an msi themed build😂😂🤘

[@Aiscold93]

@@raifmohamed8401 don't understand such things, favouritism is bad for market and customers in the end. If you give your money for theme or brand, they won't strive as hard as the should to exceed Sapphire and produce better product because they know that they are favoured and there would be buyers anyway

[@JesusSerranoFireandIce]

@@Aiscold93 I feel that, but when it's in a three way tie for the top 5700xt partner cards, the lil love I have for the brand will tip the scales. If there are better options for cheaper then that's what I'll cop.

[@1leggeddog]

It's sad that it's rare to see manufacturers live up to their mistakes and fix them. Kudos MSI.

[@blueredtan2872]

Really nice for a manufacturer to stand up, admit their mistakes, AND offer fixes and RMA. The ASRock Challenger 5700XT also has the same problem with heat trapping backplates and high junction temps. I’ve fixed the problem via the same route and more, adding thermal pads to the back of the pcb, adding heatsinks to the backplate, adding washers to improve mounting pressure, and used Conductonaut liquid metal. Really helped me get the temps down.

[@LiLBitsDK]

Very interesting that they actually went to visit you AND tries to fix the issue, that's a huge plus.

[@mattsmechanicalssi5833]

I am so thankful for the effect you are having on the industry. It's good to see them taking you seriously, and working to fix the issues you've found. And this really reflects on you, and your integrity. (And your staff too, I didn't forget about them!) All this, and I get to learn something every video. Thank you. o7

[@v12vanquish]

When Steve speaks, manufacturers listen.

[@colbeh]

*XFX intensifies*

[@v12vanquish]

Oh holy Steve, thou Gamers nexus be thy reviewer.

[@mattshell2010]

Dude thanks for these videos! Due to lock down I didn't want to send to MSI but just ordered the pads and did it myself. Temperature has been so much better than it was and so far isn't being as noisy on some of the games I play.

[@Curiosity_Cars]

Good video. Nice to know there listening

[@Snowman312]

Kudos to MSI for listening to feedback and improving products!

[@davidyoung9289]

Excellent. I like these follow-up new-revision reviews. Next do an xfx feature with the thicc2's replacement coldplate and the thicc3.

[@AlchemicSoul]

Still sounds like an iffy fix if properly sized thermal pads and some washers get an extra 100 percent improvement. Extremely appreciate content like this, nowhere else out there was doing much if any of this prior to you all. Thanks so much.

[@Foggy_2806]

I contacted MSI support on twitter on 13th November to ask about the 5700 XT Mech OC and they said there was a thermal pad rework "Late September, early October". I'm glad Steve has revisited this to help confirm this is actually the case and a "rework" has been implemented.

[@RepsUp100]

Can't wait for GN to hit 1 million subscribers

[@jasongooden917]

I'm glad some companies use reviews from KZbinr's to improve their product. I just mentioned this on Dave2D's channel about the Macbook in the freezer incident. Now the new Macbook is way better with a better keyboard.

[@WildkatPhoto]

Doing great work GN!

[@ElijahPerrin80]

Well I have to hand it to MSI for taking the initiative and listening to reviews knowing you are very capable and competent taking your opinion at value and using it to make changes now and hopefully rethink heat long term. Well done Steve and team.

[@mr_jarble]

Good on msi for going back to look at this

[@renehoyvik]

That MSI took feedback, made changes and actually improved the design is great. Speaks volumes of both your work here at GN and MSI.

[@rodrigofilho1996]

Very nice response from MSI, serious approach.

[@fordgtguy]

I recently built two pcs with MSI motherboards and behavior like this and my recent experiences makes me want to support them as a company. Good on you MSI.

[@achkr597]

Please review ASUS *TUF GAMING RX 5700 XT* It is a budget card with more than 100°C VRAM temperatures. Their aren't many reviews of it and because of ASUS' popularity many might buy it unknowingly. Keep up the good work Steve!!

[@andrewryder3075]

Once again, GN's analysis has provided a product improvement that otherwise may never have occurred! I can't overstate the importance of the work Steve and his guys do. Not only do we get objective comparisons of GPUs, CPUs, cases, etc., but manufacturers actually PAY ATTENTION to it (in a way that they wouldn't to most YT tech channels) because they understand that the channel has no "axe to grind" or any sort of bias toward or against anything (other than real-world performance and value-per-dollar) and just wants to see the best hardware possible produced.

[@QuentinStephens]

Well done! And it's good for MSI because they'll be able to use this for future GPUs.

[@84Actionjack]

That's the problem with getting information relayed from the source rather than directly from the source. Been there! Whenever required to provide an answer when I was not the resident expert, I always brought said expert with me to clarify or correct my presentation. I shouldn't be embarrassed to say 'I don't know' when the person asking the question clearly doesn't know either.

[@WraithWTF]

This is why constructive criticism in reviews is so important, especially if you can offer potential solutions (and data backing up the fact that your solution works) instead of just blanket "it's good/bad" statements that all too many "reviewers" stop at...admittedly, it's also important for the companies to actually listen to said criticism, but that's out of the control of the reviewer. Nice to see MSI stepping up and doing the right thing for their customers.

[@Yoshi_206]

Glad to see a manufacturer actually putting effort into hearing and implement feedback to make improvements. The real test will be if they can avoid being an outlier in future custom AIB at launch.

[@CharcharoExplorer]

Steve, can you perhaps do a video showing how you mod several mediocre and even several good designs to make them better? I have a Red Devil 5700 XT and was thinking of adding thermal pads to the back, under the VRAM modules. Would love a guide in general on how you mod some coolers though, like a massive 2-3 part video for DIY people. Thank you!

[@DurzoBlunts]

Great to see sapphire leading the pack! Miss my old sapphire hd6000 series. Those toxic cards have amazing build quality atleast they used too. I want one!

[@blacksheepshepherd]

These are the companies that WILL GROW and gain traction in their product following.

[@vasheroo]

MSI makes some interesting stuff. Stuff like the B450 tomahawk is totally great. Their gaming x models look good. But the evoke and and a couple of their x570 boards have bad thermals. It's good they are updating this, thanks your thorough reviews GN.

[@WXSTANG]

I like the brutal honesty.

[@NerfHerdsman]

Good to hear MSI is a company willing to take criticism and respond positively.

[@tuckerhiggins4336]

Msi is a good company. They make questionable decisions sometimes, but they seem to listen to reason.

[@Slick263]

Must be hard to make episodes like this. Hats off to MSI though, I'll definitely be looking a bit harder at their products in the future because of this. (I'm usually a 'stick with what you know guy') Because I live in a place that catches fire multiple times a year, cooling is absolute priority, it's funny how much this can limit things (Coolers, Cases etc). And I'm still not sure if I'm 100% sold on water, though it does look cool.

[@GamersNexus]

It's pretty easy and we enjoy them. Why would it be hard?

[@blas_de_lezo7375]

Good job! Keeping them real!

[@3pw00d]

A reviewer making a difference...less than a minute into this video and I already love it.

[@kenlarge5154]

thank you sir. carry on with your awesome work! i hope this marks a turning point in your channels career where manufactures will see GN input as more valuable to all gamers around the world, and give GN more standing to make intelligent and honest claims!

[@nick7072]

What about THICC III? Are you going to check it out?

[@lCielConLimon]

It improved significantly, that's good!

[@CaveyMoth]

EXTRA THICC

[@strohhuttv8848]

@@CaveyMoth EXTRA HOT ;)

[@haukikannel]

The one problem with thick still is that the thicness is fat, not muscle... So it is harder to fix. But it should be possible to make something to it too. Maybe making it thinner, so that heat can get out, instead staying inside all that plastic!

[@CaveyMoth]

@@strohhuttv8848 Super Happy Meal

[@azurehydra]

Glad I've always purchased MSI parts. It's great to see an attempt to fix an issue and offering an RMA. Good to see.

[@shelbysteiner]

You must be popular with MSI if you can get them to fly the entire company out to see you. Seriously though, good work bringing this to their attention. You may have saved hundreds of consumers some serious headaches.

[@Vaxtin]

You know, for all the problems it's really good to see them bothering to patch the holes on the sinking boat instead of just outright giving up on it.

[@davidtolley1374]

Good on MSI for taking care of their customers. Wouldn't be afraid to buy their products after this.

[@CaiusMeridius]

Hey XFX, this is how it's done, Listening!

[@giggyolly]

If anything XFX have done a better job, they are offering free revised cooler replacements to existing THICC II owners. And they have released a new version of the THICC II with the fix, as well as a THICC III which is a 3 fan version.

[@shido8597]

they already listened weeks ago

[@CaiusMeridius]

@@shido8597 My commented was referring to the email XFX sent to GN...

[@ChrispyNut]

GJ as usual guys.

[@davidemarchetti5381]

Very useful video. How can I recognize the updated version from the outside?

[@NeroKoso]

Props for MSI!

[@Nhakario]

Saphire Nitro+ 5700XT looks like a Must Have

[@kgonepostl]

I think it's 100% fair to say that they deserved the criticism. That should have never left the door.

[@tekelupharsin4426]

I don't own one of these cards (still rocking an EVGA GTX 1080ti Superclocked Black Edition), but this is enough to make me consider MSI when getting my next card (likely going to wait till RTX 3000 series).

[@drackar]

At this point, if it's sufficiently cheap behind competition, it might be worth considering. Unfortunately, those caveats don't really fit, as it's still drastically over-priced for where it fits into the stack, features wise. Better cards can be had for, in some cases, less money on amazon right now. I'm looking at a listing for a gigabyte gaminc OC for $399, FFS.

[@viktorplatson4121]

So short version - instead of "absolutely horrible", after all this trouble, they made it into "marginally acceptable"… thanks MSI...

[@CaveyMoth]

They might as well have used Gamers Nexus for QC testing.

[@Scitch87]

Great follow up video as always Steve! Will you also do one on the XFX RX5700XT Thicc II and Thicc III? Would be great to know if XFX actually managed to improve the cooler like they said they would.

[@alexgottmituns7049]

Because of it's size, it's worth it. This 5700XT will fit in cases where others can't.

[@agenericaccount3935]

It's quite nice when they listen.

[@TheSpinelessNinja]

The thermal pads on my MSI GTX 1660 Super Ventus XS OC that I purchased today in Mar. 2021 has thermal pads that cover only about 10-15% of the memory chip (right on the edge of the chip). I'm not sure if there are any pads on the backplate. It seems MSI hasn't learned much from this experience.

[@MrRourk]

Very happy with my Thicc III

[@vanceholbrook8720]

I just tore-down my RX 5700 Evoke (NOT XT), and while most of the pads were centered - the top two where not. Moreover, there were no pads on the back. Also, at least for the 5700, 1.5mm pads where perfect and one needs 2.5 - 3mm on the back. Just FYI.

[@sam-dn9hr]

I bought one of the affected evga 1070 ftw second hand a few months ago and evga sent me a thermal mod kit for free and gave me a 2 year warranty and I only payed £130 for the 1070.... Proves that the company's do sometimes care about the customers

[@ulogy]

Guessing this fix was also applied to the MECH variant as my copy purchased recently seems fine, unlike some of the earlier reviews of it. (Still not the best card, but considering the discount I got on it made it the price I was going to pay for a non-XT 5700...I'm fine with it being a lite imperfect.)

[@davide30541]

keep up the good work.

[@ZAR556]

Another, "Doing Good things for the world" -The Verge version Still remember that??

[@StaticVapour590]

Respect to MSI for listening

[@sirobb]

MSI savings by reducing thermal pad size: 64 cents. MSI costs for air fare, salaries, reworking and retooling to rectify the inevitable overheating problem: Many thousands of $$$$$ The pad decision was probably made by someone with zero technical knowledge but would have looked great on the company accounts spreadsheet.....until now. Well done MSI.

[@MrBoom6009]

Idea: around the time of the 7700k and 8700k, people running older i7's we're told to just overclock them and get a better GPU instead of upgrading to the newer platform since gaming performance wouldn't be too much different. How well does this suggestion hold up today? Have games started to use more than 4 cores enough for the older 4c/8t i7's to struggle? I feel like the difference between 4 cores and 6/8 is a bit overlooked these days where everything has at least 6.

[@Rose.Of.Hizaki]

On a bonus note - those who have received card with samsung memory must be really happy as samsung memory has always been super overclockable compared to hynix or micron.

[@RandomXUsr]

Got one of the 5700 Mech oc cards with gimped thermal pads and lack of Heatsink contact in a few spots. YAY

[@krazie835]

Gamers Nexus i love you, and thank you for this video, but could you review the XFX Thic III?

[@blahorgaslisk7763]

So the short of it is that MSI fsck:ed up, and they own up to that. MSI has cobbled together a number of fixes that some what alleviates the problem, making the card slightly better while not requiring a lot of expensive retooling. As old versions of the card can still be found in stock at distributors it's not certain that a card you buy now will have these fixes applied. MSI offers to fix or swap the original version cards, but details about how they will go about this has not yet been released. And finally, even the fixed version doesn't have particularly impressive cooling performance. Kudos to MSI for not ignoring this and coming up with a way to improve their product. However I think it was to little and to late for this card. If it had been done this way from the beginning the card hadn't been the worst of the 5700XT cards only threatened by the XFX Thicc II. With any luck this won't happen again with the next generation graphics cards whenever those might turn up.

[@MadManMike.]

I've just ordered one of these today, I hope it's worth it.

[@rogehmarbi]

I don't care the manufacturer. If they listen to criticism and improve their products, they deserve our respect. Just like what Steve said, it's uncommon these days for that to happen.

[@Drinkyoghurt]

Not even mad, takes a lot of guts (and money) to do this as MSI.

[@AlexLionson]

Great job Msi. Now we can go and buy Pulse or Red Dragon with a piece of mind.

[@Marti77e]

Good to see that MSI tried to fix the problem👍 for that. Only if Asus could do the same with TUF3 5700XT card.

[@Schmirgus]

Stll would prefer the 5700 XT Red Dragon... lower memory temps even though they dont have pads on the backplate... just a better cooling solution

[@tonychiu1068]

I wouldn't mind buying this card now, but how can i be sure that i'm getting the correct version?

[@AdaaDK]

You rock steve(gamers nexsus), plz keep the companys at their tiptoes, so they dont screw over costumers like they ohh so often try to. You and a few orther channels are the reason most of the big companys cant get away with just about anything under the rest of our noses.

[@scottyhaines4226]

Steve you need to keep the criticism going. Everytime you do it the company makes changes within 30 days.

[@kevenharvey9711]

Well it's nice to see a company that doesn't go into full denial/butthurt mode when the flaws in its product is exposed. It's a sign that it's not common place in their products and that there will be improvement.

[@jwbowen]

"MSI flew out..." Wow, that was unexpected.