Recently, Asus announced in a post on its website that it has addressed concerns regarding the thermal performance and cooler installation pressure of the RX 5700 series graphics cards; Asus explains that the ROG Strix Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT graphics cards were initially operated according to AMD guidelines. Typically, AMD recommends a PSI (pounds per square inch force) of 30-40 between pressure and temperature.

However, not long after the product shipped, Asus received several complaints from users about temperature issues. So Asus redesigned the mounting screws and "increased the cooler mounting pressure to 50-60 PSI, thus improving heat transfer from the GPU to the heatsink."

Essentially, these new screws increase the amount of force the heatsink physically exerts on the GPU itself. Increased contact force means more "sealing" and more heat can be transferred to the heatsink more efficiently. Since the original screws did not tighten properly, causing the GPU to run hotter than expected, users began adding their own plastic washers and tightening the screws themselves to solve the problem.

Asus is shipping RX 5700 series graphics cards with the new screws starting in January 2020, but if you purchased your GPU before that date, you can have the new mounting screws modified to work with your GPU for free. Anyone with a graphics card on the following list is eligible.

You cannot send the card back to fix it now, but you can starting in March 2020. Contact your local Asus service center; with March just around the corner, you shouldn't have to wait that long for a repair, even if you're experiencing thermal issues.