Nvidia has been having a somewhat tense start to the year with tariffs, Chinese AI gains (via Deepseek and Qwen), and reported delays when it comes to some of its highest-end data center GPUs, making what has previously been a Wall Street darling in the past a somewhat mixed bag as an investment in 2025.
Gamers, however, have other reasons for concern: skyrocketing RTX 50 series GPU prices thanks to limited supply on hand has played into scalpers’ hands increasingly well, with Nvidia’s RTX 5090 in particular being a very hard GPU to locate for most enthusiasts. In addition to that, there’s news that some (1 in 200) of Nvidia’s GPUs are slightly crippled due to a production issue.
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Nvidia’s statement on the matter clarifies that only a small segment (0.5%) is affected with potential to see a 4-5% performance downgrade.
All About the ROPs This Round
Some of Nvidia’s newest RTX 50 series GPUs are missing an ROP block, which essentially results in the GPU in question having eight fewer ROPs.
Nvidia’s official statement on the matter to The Verge is as follows:
“We have identified a rare issue affecting less than 0.5% (half a percent) of GeForce RTX 5090 / 5090D and 5070 Ti GPUs which have one fewer ROP than specified. The average graphical performance impact is 4%, with no impact on AI and Compute workloads. Affected consumers can contact the board manufacturer for a replacement. The production anomaly has been corrected.”
While the original issue seemed to be capped to the RTX 5090, 5090D, and the RTX 5070 Ti GPUs, users have since discovered that some RTX 5080 GPUs have also been affected by the same issue, with Nvidia admitting to the problem and offering the same solution (a replacement) to affected users:
Upon further investigation, we’ve identified that an early production build of GeForce RTX 5080 GPUs were also affected by the same issue. Affected consumers can contact the board manufacturer for a replacement
– Ben Berraondo, Nvidia GeForce global PR director.
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What Does This Mean For Prospective RTX 5080 Buyers?
While most users are unaffected by the missing ROP block issue, those that are unlucky enough to be in the 0.5% figure do need to reach out to the Add-in board manufacturer of their respective GPU to get a replacement. To reiterate, users can use a utility such as GPU-Z or HWiNFO to get specifics, such as the number of ROPs on their GPU. Affected GPUs will have eight fewer ROPs and you can consult the chart below to see if you are affected.
|
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 |
Thankfully, as per Nvidia’s recent comments, the issue has been fixed and should not affect newer batches of the RTX 50 series GPUs, including the RTX 5070, which is slated to launch on March 5, approximately a week from now. Not all users of the affected RTX 50 series GPUs, however, would be targeting a return for a replacement, given that Nvidia has noted that there is “no impact on AI and Compute workloads.”
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