Asus revised the liquid metal application on its $4,000 ROG Matrix RTX 5090 cards — der8auer says retail versions come with 'much more professional' spread

Old vs. new TIM application on Asus ROG Matrix RTX 5090 .

Last month, reports of Asus' hyper-expensive ROG Matrix RTX 5090s being recalled started popping up, with the company saying that "product optimizations and enhancements" were in order. At the time, the leading theory pointed toward subpar liquid metal application on the GPU core, as called out by Roman 'der8bauer' Hartung, which has now been confirmed in his latest video. He takes the card apart to find a different spread that should hold up much better over time.