Nvidia confirms rare GeForce RTX 50-series GPU issue

Nvidia released its latest GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs in January, and they're almost impossible to buy at retail. The powerful graphics card not only pushes the boundaries of how PC games can look, but they also make use of AI to make the hardware work more efficiently.

With the advanced technology in the RTX 50-series, there is a likelihood of issues popping up, and Nvidia confirmed a very rare problem affecting the GPUs.

A small number of Zotac, MSI, Gigabyte, and Nvidia RTX 5090 Founders Edition GPUs were found to have fewer render output units (ROPs) than listed in the specifications, as first spotted by TechPowerUp on Friday. The cards are listed to have 176 units, but some were round to have 168 ROPs, which contributes to a performance loss of 4-5%.

Nvidia confirmed the existence of the issue with Tom's Hardware and says the problem only affects less than 1% of RTX 5090s and 5070 Ti GPUs.

“We 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," an Nvidia representative told Tom's Hardware Saturday. "The average graphical performance impact is 4%, with no impact on AI and Compute workloads.”

Nvidia explained that this problem stems from issues in production and quality control. Those who have been affected are advised to contact the makers of the GPUs and obtain an RMA to send back the affected graphics card.

Problems with the RTX 50s

So far, the issues with RTX 50 series cards are few and far between. Earlier in the month, there were two instances of 12VHPWR cables melting.

In both cases, the cable was connected from the power supply to an RTX 5090 GPU. Also in both cases, the users had a Asus Loki SFX-L 1000W ATX 3.0 Power Supply so it's unclear if this is actually a problem with the Nvidia GPUs. Both card owners were provided with replacements by Nvidia.

On Saturday, one poster on the Nvidia subreddit claimed their ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 caught on fire while browsing the internet. It's unclear if the GPU was the sole issue or if there was some other problem that occurred to cause the fire.

Good luck trying to get a RTX 50-series GPU

Since the RTX 50-series began rolling out in January, the GPUs have been hard to find. Retailers are selling out of cards within minutes due to high demand for the new GPUs, which also brings in scalper bots that can create hundreds of orders in seconds while the human customers are still trying to complete one order. The owner of these bots then attempts to sell the cards for a premium on platforms like eBay although some people are trying to make it harder for scalpers to make a profit.

Nvidia warned of the scarcity problem before the RTX 50-series GPUs were released, and the company is making an effort to help those customers who really want the new graphics cards.

Nvidia created Verified Priority Access for customers who want to purchase a GeForce RTX 5090 or RTX 5080 Founders Edition graphics card directly from the company. To get access, customers must have an Nvidia account created on or before Jan. 30, 2025, and fill out a form. Those lucky enough to be picked will be able to purchase either GPU they picked when filling out the form directly from Nvidia.