Just a couple of days ago, we reported on news of a user dealing with thermal gel leakage in their RTX 5080 graphics card. This issue has appeared online a few times; Gigabyte has now responded with a statement today. The Gigabyte 5080 was reportedly only used for 2 hours of gaming a day, but thermal gel leaking out from the component was clearly visible in its vertical mount.

The initial report came from a forum post on the Korean community site Quasar Zone, if you wish to read more about it. Moving on to Gigabyte’s response now, the company gives a possible explanation as to why the seemingly ‘leaking’ gel came to be. In an official statement, Gigabyte says that a “higher volume of gel” was applied to early batches, but assures that there’s nothing to worry about.

Gigabyte explains the quality assurance process

According to the statement, which references both the RTX 50 series and RX 9000 series from Nvidia and AMD, respectively, Gigabyte’s thermal gel application is engineered to “ensure optimal contact across uneven component surfaces” and is a fully automated process. The company assures that all Gigabyte graphics cards go through “rigorous testing to verify the performance and stability” to endure drops, vibration, extreme ambient temperatures, and both horizontal and vertical installation.

Gigabyte goes on to say that its thermal conductive gel “can endure at least 150 °C before any melting or liquification could happen” while remaining securely in place. However, it does suggest that the reported case could simply be an overapplication:

“In some early production batches for the GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 50 Series, a slightly higher volume of gel was applied to ensure sufficient thermal coverage. The overapplication may cause the excessive gel to appear more prominent, extended, and could potentially be separated from the designated area. While the appearance of extra gel might be concerning, this cosmetic variance does not affect the card's performance, reliability, or lifespan. We had already inspected the issue, and adjusted the gel to the optimal amount in the following production runs.”

Source: Gigabyte

Assuming that we can rule out leakage due to overheating and melting on the grounds of the 150 °C claim, it seems like the user’s issue is one of an abundance of gel, which is purely “cosmetic variance,” as Gigabyte phrases it.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.