Saturday, February 22nd 2025
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Spotted with Missing ROPs, NVIDIA Confirms the Issue, Multiple Vendors Affected, RTX 5070 Ti, Too
TechPowerUp has discovered that there are NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards in retail circulation that come with too few render units, which lowers performance. Zotac's GeForce RTX 5090 Solid comes with fewer ROPs than it should—168 are enabled, instead of the 176 that are part of the RTX 5090 specifications. This loss of 8 ROPs has a small, but noticeable impact on performance. During recent testing, we noticed our Zotac RTX 5090 Solid sample underperformed slightly, falling behind even the NVIDIA RTX 5090 Founders Edition card. At the time we didn't pay attention to the ROP count that TechPowerUp GPU-Z was reporting, and instead spent time looking for other reasons, like clocks, power, cooling, etc.
Two days ago, one of our readers who goes by "Wuxi Gamer," posted this thread on the TechPowerUp Forums, reporting that his retail Zotac RTX 5090 Solid was showing fewer ROPs in GPU-Z than the RTX 5090 should have. The user tried everything from driver to software re-installs, to switching between the two video BIOSes the card comes with, all to no avail. What a coincidence that we had this card in our labs already, so we then dug out our sample. Lo and behold—our sample is missing ROPs, too! GPU-Z is able to read and report these units counts, in this case through NVIDIA's NVAPI driver interface. The 8 missing ROPs constitute a 4.54% loss in the GPU's raster hardware capability, and to illustrate what this means for performance, we've run a couple of tests.
In the first test, "Elden Ring" at 4K UHD with maxed out settings and native resolution (no DLSS), you can see how the Zotac RTX 5090 Solid falls behind every other RTX 5090 we tested, including the NVIDIA Founders Edition, a de facto reference-design that establishes a performance baseline for the RTX 5090. The Zotac card is 5.6% slower than the FE, and 8.4% slower than the ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC, the fastest custom design card for this test. Officially, the Solid is clocked at 2407 MHz rated boost frequency, which matches the Founders Edition clocks—it shouldn't be significantly slower in real-life. The interesting thing is that the loss of performance is not visible when monitoring the clock frequencies, because they are as high as expected—there's just fewer units available to take care of the rendering workload.
A ROP (Raster Operations Pipeline) unit in the GPU processes pixel data, handling tasks like blending, antialiasing, render-to-texture, and writing final pixel values to the frame buffer. In contrast, a shading unit, aka "GPU core" is responsible for computing the color, lighting, and material properties of pixels or vertices during the rendering process, without directly interacting with the frame buffer, so the performance hit of the eight missing ROPs depends on how ROP-intensive a game is.
For example, in Starfield, the performance loss is much smaller, and in DOOM Eternal with ray tracing, the card actually ends up close to its expected performance levels.
We've also put the card through a quick 3DMark Time Spy Extreme graphics score run.
So far, we know only of Zotac 5090 Solid cards that are affected, none of our review samples from ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Palit, and NVIDIA exhibit this issue, all 5090 owners should definitely check their cards and report back.
This is an issue with quality assurance at both NVIDIA and Zotac. NVIDIA's add-in card partners (AICs) do not have the ability to configure ROP counts, either physically on the silicon, or in the video BIOS, and yet the GPU, its video BIOS, and the final product, cleared QA testing at both NVIDIA and Zotac.
We are working with Zotac to return the affected card, so they can forward it to NVIDIA for investigation. At this time Zotac was unable to provide a statement, citing the fluidity of the situation. As for possible fixes. We hope the issue is localized to a bug with the driver or the video BIOS, so NVIDIA could release a user-friendly BIOS update tool that can run from within Windows and update the BIOS of the affected cards. If, however, the ROPs were disabled at the hardware-level, then there's little that end-users or even AIC partners can do, except initiating a limited product recall for replacements or refunds. If the ROPs really are disabled through fuses, it seems unlikely that NVIDIA has a way to re-enable those units in the field, because that would potentially provide details to how such units can be reactivated on other cards and SKUs from the company.
Update 14:22 UTC:
Apparently the issue isn't specific to Zotac, HXL posted a screenshot of an MSI RTX 5090D, the China-specific variant of the RTX 5090 with nerfed compute performance, but which is supposed to have 176 ROPs. Much like the Zotac RTX 5090 Solid, it has 8 missing ROPs.
Update 16:38 UTC:
Another card has been found, this time from Manli.
Update 17:30 UTC:
ComputerBase reports that their Zotac RTX 5090 Solid sample is not affected and shows the correct ROP count of 176. This confirms that the issue isn't affecting all cards of this SKU and probably not even all cards in a batch/production run.
Update 17:36 UTC:
Just to clarify, because it has been asked a couple of times. When no driver is installed, GPU-Z will use an internal database as fallback, to show a hardcoded ROP count of 176, instead of "Unknown." This is a reasonable approximation, because all previous cards had a fixed, immutable ROP count. As soon as the driver is installed, GPU-Z will report the "live" ROP counts active on the GPU—this data is read via the NVIDIA drivers.
Update 19:18 UTC:
A card from Gigabyte is affected, too.
Update Feb 22nd, 6:00 UTC:
Palit, Inno3D and MSI found to be affected as well
Update Feb 22nd, 6:30 UTC:
NVIDIA's global PR director Ben Berraondo confirmed this issue. He told The Verge:
While NVIDIA talks about "one ROP unit," this really means "8 ROPs" in our context. Many years ago, marketing decided that higher numbers = better, so they started to report the number of pixels that can be processed per unit, instead of the actual unit counts. So in this case, one hardware unit is disabled, which mean eight pixels per clock less can be processed, resulting in a loss of "8 ROPs".
Two days ago, one of our readers who goes by "Wuxi Gamer," posted this thread on the TechPowerUp Forums, reporting that his retail Zotac RTX 5090 Solid was showing fewer ROPs in GPU-Z than the RTX 5090 should have. The user tried everything from driver to software re-installs, to switching between the two video BIOSes the card comes with, all to no avail. What a coincidence that we had this card in our labs already, so we then dug out our sample. Lo and behold—our sample is missing ROPs, too! GPU-Z is able to read and report these units counts, in this case through NVIDIA's NVAPI driver interface. The 8 missing ROPs constitute a 4.54% loss in the GPU's raster hardware capability, and to illustrate what this means for performance, we've run a couple of tests.
A ROP (Raster Operations Pipeline) unit in the GPU processes pixel data, handling tasks like blending, antialiasing, render-to-texture, and writing final pixel values to the frame buffer. In contrast, a shading unit, aka "GPU core" is responsible for computing the color, lighting, and material properties of pixels or vertices during the rendering process, without directly interacting with the frame buffer, so the performance hit of the eight missing ROPs depends on how ROP-intensive a game is.
We've also put the card through a quick 3DMark Time Spy Extreme graphics score run.
- NVIDIA Founders Edition: 25439
- Zotac Solid: 22621
- Gigabyte Gaming OC: 26220
So far, we know only of Zotac 5090 Solid cards that are affected, none of our review samples from ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Palit, and NVIDIA exhibit this issue, all 5090 owners should definitely check their cards and report back.
This is an issue with quality assurance at both NVIDIA and Zotac. NVIDIA's add-in card partners (AICs) do not have the ability to configure ROP counts, either physically on the silicon, or in the video BIOS, and yet the GPU, its video BIOS, and the final product, cleared QA testing at both NVIDIA and Zotac.
We are working with Zotac to return the affected card, so they can forward it to NVIDIA for investigation. At this time Zotac was unable to provide a statement, citing the fluidity of the situation. As for possible fixes. We hope the issue is localized to a bug with the driver or the video BIOS, so NVIDIA could release a user-friendly BIOS update tool that can run from within Windows and update the BIOS of the affected cards. If, however, the ROPs were disabled at the hardware-level, then there's little that end-users or even AIC partners can do, except initiating a limited product recall for replacements or refunds. If the ROPs really are disabled through fuses, it seems unlikely that NVIDIA has a way to re-enable those units in the field, because that would potentially provide details to how such units can be reactivated on other cards and SKUs from the company.
Update 14:22 UTC:
Update 16:38 UTC:
Update 17:30 UTC:
ComputerBase reports that their Zotac RTX 5090 Solid sample is not affected and shows the correct ROP count of 176. This confirms that the issue isn't affecting all cards of this SKU and probably not even all cards in a batch/production run.
Update 17:36 UTC:
Just to clarify, because it has been asked a couple of times. When no driver is installed, GPU-Z will use an internal database as fallback, to show a hardcoded ROP count of 176, instead of "Unknown." This is a reasonable approximation, because all previous cards had a fixed, immutable ROP count. As soon as the driver is installed, GPU-Z will report the "live" ROP counts active on the GPU—this data is read via the NVIDIA drivers.
Update 19:18 UTC:
Update Feb 22nd, 6:00 UTC:
Update Feb 22nd, 6:30 UTC:
NVIDIA's global PR director Ben Berraondo confirmed this issue. He told The Verge:
NVIDIAWe 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.Very interesting—NVIDIA confirms that RTX 5070 Ti is affected, too.
While NVIDIA talks about "one ROP unit," this really means "8 ROPs" in our context. Many years ago, marketing decided that higher numbers = better, so they started to report the number of pixels that can be processed per unit, instead of the actual unit counts. So in this case, one hardware unit is disabled, which mean eight pixels per clock less can be processed, resulting in a loss of "8 ROPs".
419 Comments on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Spotted with Missing ROPs, NVIDIA Confirms the Issue, Multiple Vendors Affected, RTX 5070 Ti, Too
As for AI being a bubble, did the internet cease because the dotcom bubble burst ? If you're not sure, I'm asking on the internet right now.
And AI is much more than just LLMs.
Crypto calculations on GPUs were unnecessary, but GPUs as SIMD processors will continue to be used more and more for other things than gaming. Dreams of its usage drying up are just that : dreams.Just another fact that aligns with my theory.
As I said, if you are unhappy with the quality, you always have the option not to buy said GPU.
I don't think nVidia will be bothered that much.
Second, To maximize AI GPUs production, they need to lessen gaming GPUs production. It means that the price of these gaming GPUs will go up, and having lower quality GPUs is a way to have a larger production than an otherwise stricter quality control would allow. Stricter quality control means even lower production (GPUs being discarded/repurposed) which means higher prices.
I think the quality issue is quite deliberate.
And it would be the same for AMD if they hadn't exited the high end GPU market or Intel if they were able.
And you're saying we should all get on our knees thanking Jensen for selling defective GPUs?
No that isn't how it works, when you pay for something, you should expect it to work as it was advertised.
AMD and Intel has nothing to do with these issues, your argument is so far removed from reality it makes no sense.
And I'm pretty sure that according to US laws, Jensen could be in trouble if his company provided much more gaming GPUs that it has. His investors could sue his *ss to Mars and back.
It's not the fact that you bought a GPU. It's the fact that this $2,000 GPU is available for sale in the first place.
And as I explained above, lower quality means greater stock and lower price.
But when people have that much comprehension impairment, it's a miracle we are only sinking at this slow pace. Jeez.
And the trend is not in favor of gaming GPUs.
I don't think it will exit the gaming market, but as, any company would do, it will prioritize the segment that makes 4.5 times more revenue than the other (and growing).
I'm sorry to say that it is how things are.
Also according to US laws, Jensen could be in trouble for selling the AIBs cards with missing ROPs, he's already lied about the 5070 being faster than a 4090 when the 5070Ti doesn't even beat a 4090.
It doesn't matter what the GPU costs, to use the car analogy again, say you paid full price for a car it should be expected for the car to perform as advertised, not get a V6 vehicle only firing on 5 cylinders. There are laws against false advertisment and anti-consumer tactics.
And there is no excuse for lower quality chips, Nvidia had the choice to delay Blackwell to fix the quality issues.
I can comprehend your argument just fine, but your logic of praising Nvidia for selling defective hardware is a completely flawed argument.To be honest I don't have trust in most reviewers with Nvidia cards, and every reviewer has to follow the rules or they no longer get cards or press guides.
For example, Hardware Unboxed tried calling out Nvidia, they nearly got blacklisted for it so HWUB changed to being significantly less critical of Nvidia.
The 4080 historically would have been the 5070 and the 4090 the actual 4080, the 5090 would have historically been the 5080 or maybe 5080ti at best, not an actual $2500+ halo product. Every single Nvidia GPU in these past 2 generations is a scam!
Explaining is not condoning.
As I explained, I think that stricter quality controls would have resulted in less stock therefore even more expensive hardware.
And what would have been the reaction of the community then ?
If you think you have ground for suing nVidia, more power to you.
Any for profit company in the world would rather sell a thing for $25,000 than for $1,000.
Where is the mystery ?
Nobody forced them to announce cards at CES. It's their fault they rushed this non-launch with a handful of cards. I have not seen such disastrous paper launch with additional issues in a decade.Which "thing"?
If they want to sell only data center GPUs, that's fine by me. Leave gaming market and sell what you want.
Yes, I think it's on purpose.
It is a choice between less quality and less quantity (and more expensive).
And quality always loses.
Look at the debacle with SMR hard drives.Or you just don't buy nVidia cards. You are not alone. For some reason, some people want high end graphics cards whatever the price (almost). And there is no alternative to nVidia. So not everything is about you.
Yes it's illegal!
I'm sure Jensen at the head of its $3 trillions company will have a hard time sleeping.
Especially when you can RMA the faulty cards.
- Poor performance
- High prices
- A lot of issues
- Worst nvidia gpu generation ever
When was the last time when nvidia had such bad times in general ?
I thought that RTX 40 Series was the worst but this one seems to be is even worse thanks to nvidia buyers.