Reports indicate that some Nvidia RTX 5090 GPUs are shipping with fewer ROP units (Render Output Pipelines) than expected, leading to performance losses in both synthetic benchmarks and real-world gaming tests.
RTX 5090 GPUs May Ship with Fewer ROPs, Impacting Performance
According to MEGAsizeGPU, a reliable hardware source, Nvidia has allegedly supplied AIBs (Add-in-Board partners) with defective GB202 chips, suggesting this issue is a hardware limitation that cannot be fixed via BIOS updates or drivers. As a result, both custom RTX 5090 models and Nvidia’s own Founders Edition may include GPUs with fewer than the expected 176 ROPs, potentially leading to a performance drop of 5-8% in gaming and up to 11% in synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark Time Spy Extreme.
Performance Discrepancies Reported
The issue first surfaced when TechPowerUp (TPU) readers noticed discrepancies in Zotac RTX 5090 Solid models, reporting fewer ROPs than the official factory specifications. Further analysis confirmed that multiple RTX 5090 models, including those from MSI, Manli, Zotac, and Gigabyte, also exhibited similar reductions. TPU conducted independent testing and found that affected units suffered performance drops of up to 8.5% in Elden Ring, while other games like Starfield and DOOM Eternal showed less noticeable FPS loss.
Additionally, sources claim that review samples of the RTX 5090 had their dies stamped with “Press Build”, possibly meaning that media units were shipped with fully enabled ROPs while retail versions were not. While Nvidia has denied making any performance enhancements for reviewers, speculation remains that certain retail RTX 5090 models could be carrying cut-down versions of the GB202 chip.
Root Cause of the Issue
Each GB202 GPU is expected to feature 176 ROPs, with 192 ROPs available in the full die configuration. However, several retail RTX 5090 units appear to be missing up to 8 ROPs, leaving them with 168 ROPs instead. Since ROP units handle anti-aliasing, pixel blending, and framebuffer transactions, a reduction in ROPs could impact resolution scaling and overall frame rate stability.
Both GPU-Z and HWiNFO confirm these findings through NVAPI, ruling out software reporting errors. With Blackwell GPU shortages already affecting the market, some experts speculate that Nvidia may have disabled faulty ROP units to ensure more usable chips could be sold.
What This Means for Consumers
For consumers who have purchased an RTX 5090, the only way to determine if their GPU is affected is to check the ROP count using GPU-Z. While not every RTX 5090 is impacted, retail shortages and long wait times—up to 14 weeks in some cases—could make returning or exchanging affected GPUs difficult.
As of now, Nvidia has not issued an official statement regarding these reports. If the issue cannot be resolved via software updates, potential solutions could include recalls, replacements, or refunds, though the ongoing Blackwell supply constraints complicate these options.
More updates are expected as further investigations unfold.
