GPU junction temperature

GPU junction temperature, also called hotspot temperature, is a GPU sensor reading that AMD SMI reports with its own thermal slowdown and shutdown limits. AMD SMI reports edge, hotspot (aka junction) and memory temperatures, and its sample limit listing for an Instinct MI300X shows edge as N/A. NVIDIA's nvidia-smi documents a core GPU temperature, a memory temperature and T.Limit, the signed margin in degrees C to the maximum operating temperature. Its documentation lists no hotspot field.

AMD's MI300X sample shows hotspot slowdown at 100 °C and shutdown at 110 °C, with memory slowdown at 95 °C and shutdown at 105 °C. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 page lists a 90 °C maximum GPU temperature. In nvidia-smi, software trims clocks at Max Operating Temp, hardware cuts them at Slowdown Temp, and the GPU shuts down at Shutdown Temp. Hardware thermal slowdown cuts core clocks by a factor of 2 or more.

Read the limit from the card, using amd-smi static --limit or nvidia-smi -q, not a forum number. Judge cooling by hotspot or T.Limit margin under a full-length load, not by an idle reading.

Sources

Last verified October 30, 2026.