Over the past few days, reports of performance issues with Nvidia’s latest GeForce RTX 5000 graphics cards have been on the rise. The company has now confirmed that a rare production anomaly has resulted in some GPUs being shipped with a lower number of Render Output Units (ROPs) than originally specified.
- Affected models: RTX 5090, RTX 5090D and RTX 5070 Ti
- Error description: Some GPUs have eight ROPs less than intended
- Performance loss: On average about 4% in graphical applications
- Unaffected areas: AI and compute applications show no performance degradation
Details on the production error
The error affects less than 0.5% of the GPUs produced and has since been fixed. The affected graphics cards only have 168 ROPs instead of the intended 176, which leads to an average performance loss of around 4% in graphical applications. In the case of the RTX 5070 Ti, losses of as much as 11% are possible.
ZOTAC is shipping GeForce RTX 5090 with missing ROPs, up to 4.5% lower performance https://t.co/f05UmqB43D
– VideoCardz.com (@VideoCardz) February 21, 2025
AI and compute applications are not affected by this issue. Nvidia has stated that this is a “manufacturing anomaly” that has already been fixed. In the case of the RTX 5090, products from Manli(via X) and MSI(via X) are particularly affected. Specifically, the 5090 D, which is available in China.
However, the GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition also appears to be affected(via X), which indicates that the problem is at chip level and not only board partners are affected.
Impact on performance
The reduction in ROPs can affect the image processing rate, which can result in a lower frame rate or longer render times. Initial benchmarks showed that affected cards were up to 14% slower in the 3DMark TimeSpy Extreme benchmark. However, it should be noted that these tests were carried out under different conditions, and Nvidia itself speaks of an average performance loss of around 4%.
Recommended action for affected users
Nvidia recommends that affected customers check their graphics card with tools such as GPU-Z. If the number of active ROPs is lower than expected, users should contact the respective graphics card manufacturer to arrange a replacement. It is important to note that due to the high demand and limited availability of the RTX 5000 series, the replacement process may take some time.
Conclusion
Although the production error only affects a small percentage of the GeForce RTX 5000 series, users should check their graphics cards to identify any potential performance issues. Nvidia and partner manufacturers are working to replace affected cards and optimize future production processes. It is recommended to regularly consult official communication channels of Nvidia and the respective manufacturers to stay informed about the current status.
