Chinese GPU manufacturer Zephyr confirms dead RDNA 2 GPU chips due to cracking, bulging, or shorting — Company says it has replaced several dead Navi 21 cores under warranty
A two-year-old cold case has reawakened as GPU OEM Zephyr has said it has replaced several dying Navi 21 cores on RX 6000 series graphics cards. Previously, this was an isolated incident that never got much attention, so this is our first outside confirmation of the high-end RDNA 2 GPU dies going poof and being RMA'd.
(Image credit: Zephyr on Bilibili)
In 2023, reports of dead Navi 21 GPUs began to surface, raising questions about the cause of the surge. While this was essentially a contained, isolated event that has since been put to bed, we've now received an update to the story more than a year later. Zephyr, a GPU brand from China, has just revealed that it has replaced numerous high-end RDNA 2 GPUs under warranty to date, all of which had dead cores. The company also displayed GPU dies that had died due to cracking, bulging, or shorting, saying there was "a 1% chance of it exploding every year" in reference to the odds of this occurring to users.
zephyr西风, a gpu brand in china, showed a tray of dead rdna2 (6800/6900xt) gpu dies, to prove that zephyr is willing to handle rma regardless of whether the gpu die is shorted / cracked / has the substrate blistered.afaik, this is the first time a gpu brand confirmed these… pic.twitter.com/YjgAz1h1JfDecember 27, 2025
(Image credit: Zephyr on Bilibili)
At the time when the terminal RX 6000 series fiasco was unfolding, a German retailer had already attributed their death to a combo of the crypto boom and high-humidity storage. However, no manufacturer had come forward to make a statement, as this wasn't a large-scale issue that ever took precedent. Therefore, it's interesting to see a vendor-side corroboration so many years later.
We can argue that the primary goal of Zephyr's post was to flex its muscles as the only brand that will take on warranty claims for dead GPU cores. However, we finally learn that AIBs may have received various fatal Navi 21 cards at the time, making this incident more widespread than previously imagined. Many people still rock RDNA 2 GPUs for their incredible value proposition, so don't let this turn you away from them.
