Anecdotally, my friend got one he had to return because it maxed out the fans, throttled, and crashed, regardless of orientation. These are defective cards, an

Anecdotally, my friend got one he had to return because it maxed out the fans, throttled, and crashed, regardless of orientation. These are defective cards, and there are a lot of them. Don't explain away broken cards by calling it some design compromise. A high percentage of the AMD coolers are completely unusable due to defect, and should be replaced. The ones that work in one orientation but not the other are also defective. No one should have to put up with any dry-out whatsoever, in either orientation.