NVIDIA has recently addressed a rare issue that has come to light with their GeForce RTX 5090, 5090D, and 5070 Ti GPUs, where some units were found to be missing crucial ROP units. These components play a vital role in rendering graphics, and their absence resulted in a noticeable 4-5% drop in gaming performance. Thankfully, NVIDIA has assured customers that this issue affects less than 0.5% of these GPUs and is due to a temporary production anomaly that has now been resolved.
The problem first came to the surface when a tech review site noticed that their ZOTAC RTX 5090 sample was underperforming compared to other standard samples. Upon investigation, it was revealed that the sample had only 168 ROPs instead of the full 176 ROPs typically found in the RTX 5090. This was thought to be an isolated incident initially but later discovered to affect other manufacturers as well.
NVIDIA has stepped up to clarify that not just the RTX 5090 and 5090D models were impacted, but the RTX 5070 Ti might also experience this issue, although no direct reports have surfaced yet for the latter. Despite the problem being limited to a very small percentage of GPUs, NVIDIA acknowledges the importance of receiving the full performance expected by consumers. To this end, they urge users with affected GPUs to contact their board manufacturers for a prompt replacement.
However, the current low supply of RTX 50 series GPUs could mean delays in replacements for those needing them. Both gamers and tech enthusiasts may find it challenging to assess the true scale of the issue due to the limited stock and shipments of these new models. Fortunately, users can check if they have an affected GPU by using diagnostic tools like GPU-Z to verify the ROP count.
It’s clear that NVIDIA has taken swift action to fix the production line error, but the question remains as to why such a meticulous component issue occurred with the launch of their cutting-edge Blackwell RTX 50 series cards. As enthusiasts eagerly await replacements amidst scarce supplies, NVIDIA’s response suggests they’re committed to ensuring customers experience the top-tier performance the RTX series promises.
