NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 series has introduced various architectural improvements, but one change that caught the attention of hardware enthusiasts wasn't related to the gaming performance or AI capabilities. Instead, it was related to the temperature monitoring on the RTX 50 series graphics cards.
Unlike previous-generation RTX GPUs, NVIDIA removed the GPU hotspot measurement from the GPUs, even though the sensor for these cards exists. This prevented monitoring software from displaying the hottest point on the GPU die, which has served enthusiasts, reviewers, and overclockers for years and helped them learn about GPU behavior.
This has been discussed across various PC hardware forums, and after nearly one year since its launch, the feature has now been unlocked, thanks to the community's efforts. Through extensive research, modding, and reverse engineering, enthusiasts have now managed to restore the hotspot monitoring feature on the RTX 50 cards. Moreover, it's now possible to enable temperature readings for the latest GDDR memory chips on RTX cards.
Here's a complete roundup of everything that has happened in the last few days.
NVIDIA Disabled Traditional GPU Hotspot Reporting on RTX 50 Graphics Cards
Traditionally, NVIDIA GPUs exposed several thermal sensors, including a standard GPU temperature and a hotspot. The hotspot represented the hottest measured location for a GPU die, making it extremely valuable for enthusiasts who would utilize the readings for diagnosing cooler mounting pressure, uneven thermal paste application, and similar stuff.
While the RTX 50's arrival marked a major development in GPU architecture, it lacked the core feature that has always been crucial for PC users. Apparently, NVIDIA disabled the hotspot readings on these GPUs, even though the sensor for hotspot exists. Utilities such as HWmonitor, HWiNFO, GPU-Z, MSI Afterburner, and similar utilities couldn't read the hotspot even though they could read the average GPU temperature.
This wasn't because the software was outdated, but because NVIDIA intentionally prevented the sensor from being exposed through its public telemetry interface. That said, this resulted in difficulties for enthusiasts, but the average gamer wasn't affected much by this.
For everyday gaming and such moderate use cases, the average GPU temperature is usually sufficient. However, the absence of hotspots confused many when their cards throttled in performance even though the average GPU temperature was merely touching 80° Celsius, which is way lower than the max operating temperature.
GPU Hotspot Temperature Gets Restored on NVIDIA RTX 50 Series Through Modding
A few days ago, Paulo Games discovered that one could really unlock the GPU hotspot measurement through a workaround. Through modding, they managed to unlock the GPU hotspot monitor on the RTX 50 cards, exposing the real GPU hotspot temperatures. One could see that the RTX 50 series could easily exceed 100°C, resulting in thermal throttling and performance loss.
The investigation revealed that this was due to a poor thermal contact, but it was fixed after they changed the thermal interface material. Now the GPU hotspot temps went from 107°C to 100°C, resulting in much better stability and performance. Once this story went viral, hardware monitoring utilities quickly added the new feature to their interfaces.
Popular Hardware Monitoring Utilities Bring the Feature Onboard
CPUID was the first one to bring the hotspot readings to its popular utility, HWmonitor. The HWmonitor version 1.65 brought not one, but two hotspot measurements. One was for the GPU die, but the second one was apparently for the VRM. Users quickly downloaded the new utility, and some of them discovered that their RTX 50 GPUs were thermal throttling. The GPU hotspot could be seen shooting past 110°C, which is really hot and cannot maintain stability.
But HWMonitor reportedly had an issue. Users were reporting really high hotspot temperatures compared to other utilities such as HWiNFO. Therefore, CPUID rolled out version 1.65.1, which, even though it didn't reveal the actual changes in the release notes, fixed the inaccurate hotspot temperature reporting. Moreover, it ensured much more stable temperature monitoring for the hotspot and removed the VRM hotspot reading.
That said, this was the biggest update since most users rely on hardware utilities to monitor their hardware metrics such as temperatures and voltages. Now that major utilities were offering hotspot measurements on the RTX 50 series cards, it became convenient and helpful for users to understand the GPU behavior properly.
Modders Unlock Individual GDDR6, GDDR6X, and GDDR7 Memory Chip Temperatures on RTX GPUs
The same modders who unlocked GPU hotspot temperature on the RTX 50 series were now responsible for finding another surprise. Paulo Games found that every memory module on the RTX cards was equipped with a temperature sensor. This was something that NVIDIA never made known to the public, and it works on both desktop and mobile platforms.
The modder team was able to unlock the temperature readings on the RTX 30 and RTX 40 series cards that are based on GDDR6 and GDDR6X memory. However, GDDR6-based desktop cards couldn't expose the memory readings through the mod. Remember that the memory temperature is already accessible through popular hardware monitoring utilities, but it's the hottest available reading and not the average temperature of all the modules.
The new finding unlocked measurements for individual GDDR6 and GDDR6X chips on the cards, helping users know which module is running hotter than the other.
Not much later, enthusiasts collaborated to enable individual memory temperature readings on RTX 50 series cards as well. By accessing the memory registers and detecting clamshell memory configurations, enthusiasts were able to expose the readings in popular software such as HWiNFO and MSI Afterburner. Even the RTX 5090 memory readings are now accessible through this software despite having memory chips installed on both sides of the PCB.
Now, although multiple memory temperature readings may seem excessive. In reality, they provide a valuable insight into GPU cooling performance, as GPUs rarely cool every memory chip equally. Since the GPU package sits at the center of the PCB, while the memory modules sit around it, they are affected by differences in heatsink pressure, thermal pad thickness, and such factors.
Per-module monitoring will immediately reveal which memory chips are running the hottest and can be extremely helpful for enthusiasts, who could then fix the issue by replacing thermal pads or installing the water blocks if necessary.
Final Words
Initially, it appeared that even the latest generation of NVIDIA GPUs would continue operating without hotspots and detailed memory readings. However, the PC builder community is always at the forefront when it comes to tackling such issues. While NVIDIA may not like this, the solutions have been created anyway. Kudos to all the enthusiasts who worked on bringing GPU hotspot and individual memory temperature readings, as now gamers around the world can monitor their GPUs much more easily for easy diagnosis.
