Nvidia has confirmed that some of its early RTX 50 series graphics cards were affected by a rare manufacturing issue, leading to missing Render Output Units (ROPs) and slight performance degradation.
Initially, Nvidia had stated that only the RTX 5090, 5090D, and 5070 Ti were affected. However, the company has now added the RTX 5080 to the list.
According to Nvidia GeForce global PR director Ben Berraondo, the issue has been identified and resolved in newer production batches. Consumers who own affected GPUs can contact their board manufacturer for a replacement.
The problem stems from a manufacturing anomaly where certain GPUs were produced with fewer ROPs than intended. RPOs are crucial components responsible for finalizing rendered images and outputting them to a display. A missing ROP can lead to a slight drop in overall performance, estimated at around 4%.
Despite this issue, Nvidia has reassured users that AI and compute workloads remain unaffected, meaning the impact is primarily on gaming and rendering tasks.
Which GPUs Are Affected?
The affected models include:
- RTX 5090
- RTX 5090D
- RTX 5080 (newly confirmed)
- RTX 5070 Ti
Nvidia has explicitly stated that other GPUs, including the upcoming RTX 5070, are not affected.
How to Check If Your Nvidia GPU Is Affected
If you own one of these GPUs, you can verify whether it is affected using diagnostic tools like GPU-Z or Nvidia’s own Control Panel. These tools display detailed specifications, including the number of active ROPs.
If you discover any discrepancies, you should:
- Check your manufacturer’s website for support information.
- Contact the board manufacturer (such as ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, etc.) to inquire about a replacement.
- Monitor Nvidia’s official channels for further updates.
Nvidia has assured that the production issue has been fixed, and newer units will not suffer from this defect. Moving forward, affected users are encouraged to seek replacements if necessary.
While the performance drop is minor, this incident highlights the importance of rigorous quality control in high-performance GPUs. Nvidia’s swift response in acknowledging and addressing the issue reinforces its commitment to customer satisfaction.
For those planning to buy an RTX 50-series GPU, the good news is that newer batches are unaffected.
