NVIDIA has hit another snag with their GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs, as it appears that many of the onboard "Blackwell" GB202 chips are proving to be faulty—a big disappointment for gamers eagerly waiting for this flagship.
Rollout Issues of NVIDIA’s RTX Blackwell GPU: The Missing ROP Dilemma
When will gamers catch a break in the GPU market? Initially, it was all about the inventory shortages, with NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line RTX Blackwell models being hard to come by. Now, word on the street is that some of these GPUs are running into major performance issues due to defects, amplifying frustrations. Just recently, we cited a ZOTAC GeForce RTX 5090 grappling with this problem, and according to @MEGAsizeGPU, the real culprit seems to be Blackwell’s GB202 chip. Let’s dive deeper into that.
"The root cause is the chip. A small batch of GB202 is defective, and the bios can not do anything with this issue."
— MEGAsizeGPU (@Zed__Wang) February 21, 2025
In case you missed it, NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 is popping up online with fewer ROPs in GPU-Z, which essentially indicates that users affected by this hiccup are stuck with underperforming models compared to their fully-functional counterparts. While it was initially suspected that the discrepancy was due to GPU-Z inconsistencies, it’s now clear that the problem squarely lies with the faulty GB202 chip—certainly not what anyone wanted to hear.
To substantiate this issue as not being an error with GPU-Z, an impacted RTX 5090 model was evaluated using HWINFO, where the ROP reduction was also observed. This points to a more serious problem. Although it’s early days and only a few SKUs appear affected, the fear is that the problem could extend beyond a single AIB, potentially impacting all variants, even the FE model.
Photo Credit: @BuildLabEx
Where do we stand? Well, we’ve reached out to NVIDIA for updates, and in light of the GB202 chip being at fault, it’s likely they will initiate RMA replacements. Fingers crossed the issue doesn’t escalate, which would create even bigger headaches for NVIDIA, especially since their mid-range GPUs are already facing production delays due to performance setbacks.
For now, we urge you to verify your model’s ROP count—if it falls short of 176, do get in touch with us. As we continue to sort through this developing situation, we’re still in the dark about any effects on other models, like the GeForce RTX 5080. Stay tuned for more updates on this unfolding saga.
