NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 “GB202” Chip Found Defective in Certain Units; Potentially Impacts All Variants

NVIDIA’s latest GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs seem to be caught in yet another turmoil. It appears that several units equipped with the "Blackwell" GB202 chip are experiencing significant problems.

NVIDIA’s New Flagship Blackwell GPU Faces Missing ROPs in Tests; Suspicions Point to the GB202 Chip

The GPU market has been anything but peaceful for gamers. The newest drama revolves around NVIDIA’s flagship RTX Blackwell series, where supplies were initially scarce. Now, reports have emerged suggesting that some units have defective silicon, leading to a drastic drop in performance. Not long ago, a ZOTAC GeForce RTX 5090 made headlines for this issue. According to industry insider @MEGAsizeGPU, the problem is rooted in the Blackwell GB202 chip. Let’s delve deeper.

In a tweet, @MEGAsizeGPU explained the issue: "The root cause is the chip. A small batch of GB202 is defective, and the BIOS can’t address this issue."

If you haven’t heard, some GeForce RTX 5090s are showing fewer ROPs in GPU-Z. This essentially means that buyers who landed one of these faulty units are seeing their performance suffer compared to typical models. At first, it was thought that GPU-Z was malfunctioning for some versions, but it’s now clear that the flaw lies with the GB202 chip itself, which isn’t promising news.

To confirm that GPU-Z wasn’t the culprit, the problematic RTX 5090 was also examined using HWINFO. The reduced number of ROPs appeared there as well, signaling a larger issue. Thankfully, it’s still early in the process, and only a few SKUs seem affected so far. However, it’s not confined to a single AIB model, as rumors suggest all variants, including the Founders Edition, could be at risk.

credit: @BuildLabEx

So, where do we go from here? We’ve reached out to NVIDIA for clarification. If the GB202 chip is indeed the culprit, we expect NVIDIA to roll out replacements through RMA. Fingers crossed that the issue doesn’t expand, as NVIDIA is already grappling with production delays for their so-called "mid-range" GPUs due to prior performance concerns.

We’re advising our readers to examine their models for potential ROP count issues. If your model’s count is under 176, let us know. As of now, it’s unclear if this issue affects other models, like the GeForce RTX 5080. Stay tuned as this situation continues to unfold.