NVIDIA to Inspect Laptop RTX 50 Series for ROP Anomalies, Deliveries Delayed to April

[AleksandarK]

After just a few weeks from our initial report of missing ROPs on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 series "Blackwell" for desktop, it appears that the laptop versions of these GPUs could also be prone to the same issue: missing ROP (Raster Operations Pipeline) units, which degrades performance by up to 14%. According to the German publication Heise Online, NVIDIA is working with laptop manufacturers to inspect any case of missing ROPs on its GeForce RTX 50 series cards, which the company claims affect only 0.5% of the entire supply. To avoid giving consumers GPUs with missing ROPs, NVIDIA is working overtime with OEMs to ensure that the GPUs are correctly operating and offering the hardware true to the specification sheet.

With NVIDIA Blackwell laptop SKUs announced at CES and pre-orders in February, NVIDIA expected to hand these GPUs through its partner laptop manufacturers to consumers in March, but it's currently scheduled for April, which is a whole month later. Here is what Heise Online said:

As we have learned from several notebook manufacturers, they are currently working overtime in the Far East to prevent the drama from escalating into the next act: NVIDIA has instructed manufacturers to inspect already-produced notebooks with the new mobile GeForce RTX 5000 graphics chips. The focus is on GPUs where fewer ROPs are active than specified in the datasheet. This can lead to potentially significant losses in 3D performance.

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[Darc Requiem]

The sad saga continues. It's seems like it's something everyday with Blackwell. This launch is a travesty.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

The sad saga continues. It's seems like it's something everyday with Blackwell. This launch is a travesty.

- Yep, this is a cursed launch for the ages.

Honestly don't think we've ever seen a situation quite like this before between no stock (of even old cards), fake MSRP (which was bad to begin with), used card prices skyrocketing, poor generational uplift, faulty products...

 

[Nostras]

Oof this is a lot more problematic. With cards you can just swap them out, with laptop gpu's the entire laptop needs to be replaced.

 

[neatfeatguy]

I was curious if this was going to happen with the laptops as well. Guess it did.

I'd be pissed if I purchased any thing like this and come to find out it's defective....then have to play the waiting game to return it or get a refund. That would put a sour taste in my mouth.

 

[Tomgang]

OMG the shit show Blackwell has no end in sight it feels like. This has to be the worst and if not the worst, then one of the worst launch from Nvidia.

 

[AleksandarK]

To avoid confusion, I re-worded the text. Manufacturers are just double-checking, so no consumer gets a missing ROP unit

 

[Bruno Vieira]

All the ROPs can be found at the datacenter division.

 

[Auxityne]

Nvidia, if you don't want to make GPUs anymore, just shut down the division.

 

[b1k3rdude]

Colour me surprised, it coulden't happen to a nicer, more deserving company...

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I guess the downside of being an execution beast like Nvidia is when you screw up:

A) You really screw up

and

B) People will absolutely roast you over the coals for it.

AMD did this, everyone would just shrug and buy Nvidia anyway... A lot of "just another day at AyyyMD" and such.

 

[wNotyarD]

To avoid confusion, I re-worded the text. Manufacturers are just double-checking, so no consumer gets a missing ROP unit

That still means those laptop integrators may end up with faulty GPU stock which they can't sell, no?

 

[Pumper]

With gaming cards being as bad as they are, does that mean that nvidia's AI crap is just as cursed for the same architecture? That's where Jensen will get in real trouble.

 

[AleksandarK]

That still means those laptop integrators may end up with faulty GPU stock which they can't sell, no?

NVIDIA replaces their defective SKUs, if any are found.

 

[bonehead123]

Well, I'm just gonna call this launch the "mother of all m.f.'n shit shows", and be done with it, hahahaha

I'm soooo glad I have no need for, nor interest in, any dGPU's at the moment...since my mini-me box does all my personal stuff just dandy, and my work machine is only 1 year old, and if & when it gets upgraded, my company pays for it....

Fortunately for them, our IT crew stays up to date on whatever is happening in the tech world, and know when to buy or not buy most items to get the best products for the best prices....

 

[bitsandboots]

NVIDIA replaces their defective SKUs, if any are found.

Unless NVIDIA decides its not worth the trouble and makes a SKU for laptops called somethingsomething MaxQ NoROP, and then its up to the masses to figure out which laptop has what and what it means.

 

[Vya Domus]

NVIDIA is working with laptop manufacturers to inspect any case of missing

Again with this nonsense, they already know which chips are missing ROPs and even if they didn't OEMs do their own testing.

 

[Vayra86]

With gaming cards being as bad as they are, does that mean that nvidia's AI crap is just as cursed for the same architecture? That's where Jensen will get in real trouble.

At this point it is starting to feel like its just a matter of time.

All empires crumble at some point, right. Nvidia's empire expanded almost overnight. I can imagine they're having trouble guarding all the borders.

 

[Dragokar]

Yeah, sure 0.5%.......they thought the customer does not even not what ROPs are, so screw them and feed the AI minions.

 

[Bwaze]

With gaming cards being as bad as they are, does that mean that nvidia's AI crap is just as cursed for the same architecture? That's where Jensen will get in real trouble.

Apparently no, ROP is needed for gaming but not used for CUDA, LLM, AI acceleration - so in my opinion it could even be deliberate, to explain the extreme scarcity we're facing - see, we have problems in production, it could take months to solve this completely, just you wait patiently!

Meanwhile AI accelerators at $70.000 a pop are flying off the production lines...

 

[Nostras]

Unless NVIDIA decides its not worth the trouble and makes a SKU for laptops called somethingsomething MaxQ NoROP, and then its up to the masses to figure out which laptop has what and what it means.

Honestly I think this is the best option for everyone if and only if this is the only problem and no further shenanigans occur.
The GPU is not literally defective, just sell it under a different name. Would help with supply as well.

 

[A&P211]

All your ROPs are belong to us