Missing ROP Block In Nividia RTX 50 Series Affect 5080

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2025 may not be the best time for Wall Street investors to consider Nvidia as a solid investment, given the company’s challenging beginning to the year. This includes tariffs, advancements in Chinese AI (through DeepSeek and Qwen), and reported setbacks with delivering some of its top-tier data center GPUs on schedule.

Gaming enthusiasts, on the other hand, find themselves dealing with multiple worries: the soaring prices of RTX 50 series graphics cards, driven by limited stock availability, have made it easier for scalpers to profit, and finding an Nvidia RTX 5090 in particular has become extremely challenging for many. To add to their concerns, there’s news that a small percentage (approximately 1 in 200) of Nvidia’s graphics cards are affected by a production issue, which might be causing some performance issues.

All About the ROPs This Round

In simpler terms, certain newly released Nvidia RTX 50 series graphics processing units (GPUs) lack one ROP block, leading to a reduction of eight ROPs (Render Output Units) in these specific GPUs.

Nvidia’s official statement on the matter to The Verge is as follows:

In our analysis, we discovered an unusual problem that affects less than one in every two hundred GeForce RTX 5090 / 5090D and 5070 Ti graphics cards. These particular units have one fewer ROP (Render Output Pipeline) than specified by the manufacturer. This discrepancy results in a decrease of approximately 4% in their overall graphical performance, but it does not impact AI or compute tasks. If you own an affected product, please reach out to the board manufacturer for a replacement unit. We have rectified the production issue that led to this anomaly.

Initially, it appeared that only the RTX 5090, 5090D, and RTX 5070 Ti GPUs were encountering the same issue. However, further investigation by users revealed that some RTX 5080 GPUs were also affected. Nvidia has acknowledged this problem and is providing the same solution to all affected users: a replacement of the faulty hardware.

After closer examination, it has been discovered that the very first batch of GeForce RTX 5080 GPUs encountered the same problem. Customers experiencing this issue should reach out to the manufacturer directly for a new unit.

– Ben Berraondo, Nvidia GeForce global PR director.

What Does This Mean For Prospective RTX 5080 Buyers?

As someone who’s deeply invested in this tech, I want to share a piece of advice for fellow enthusiasts: Although the majority of users aren’t impacted by the missing ROP block issue, unfortunate souls like us who fall into the 0.5% bracket do require assistance. To clarify, you can employ tools such as GPU-Z or HWiNFO to gather details about your GPU, specifically the number of ROPs it has. If you find that your GPU is eight ROPs short (affected GPUs will have this deficiency), you might need to contact the manufacturer of your Add-in board for a replacement part. A handy chart is available below to help determine if your GPU is impacted by this issue.

GPU SKU Expected ROP count Affected Unit ROP Count
RTX 5090 / RTX 5090 D 176 168
RTX 5080 112 104
RTX 5070 Ti 96 88

It’s good news as Nvidia has reported that the problem they mentioned earlier has been resolved. This means the RTX 50 series GPUs, including the upcoming RTX 5070, which will be launched on March 5, should not encounter this issue. However, some users of the affected RTX 50 series GPUs might not opt for a replacement since Nvidia has indicated that there is no negative impact on AI and compute tasks.

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2025-02-27 23:37