Defective Units Found in NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 “GB202” Chip; All Variants Could Be Impacted

NVIDIA’s latest GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs seem to have hit a snag, as reports indicate that a significant number of units are packed with faulty "Blackwell" GB202 chips.

Issues Found in NVIDIA’s High-End RTX Blackwell GPU: Missing ROPs Detected

Will the GPU market ever be smooth sailing for gamers? First, there were stock shortages, with NVIDIA’s top-tier RTX Blackwell model being scarcely available. Now, whispers are spreading about certain units being defective, leading to significant drops in performance. We recently highlighted an incident with a ZOTAC GeForce RTX 5090 experiencing these issues. According to @MEGAsizeGPU, the underlying fault appears to be with the Blackwell GB202 chip, which we’ll delve into in more detail now.

"The root cause is the chip. A small batch of GB202 is defective, and the bios cannot fix this problem."
— MEGAsizeGPU (@Zed__Wang), February 21, 2025

For those not in the know, users online are discovering their NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 displaying fewer ROPs in the GPU-Z software. This essentially means these customers have unfortunately received a model with reduced performance compared to standard versions. Initially, the blame was placed on GPU-Z’s detection abilities concerning certain models, but attention has swiftly shifted towards the faulty GB202 chip, an unfortunate development indeed.

To add weight to this revelation, an affected RTX 5090 was scrutinized using HWINFO, where the reduction in ROPs was also confirmed. This points to a larger issue than initially thought. Currently, reports suggest that only a limited number of SKUs are affected. However, speculation is rife that the problem might extend beyond a single brand, potentially affecting all variants, including the Founders Edition models.

Image Credit: @BuildLabEx

What’s the next step? We’ve reached out to NVIDIA for further clarity on the situation. With the GB202 chip confirmed as the issue, it’s expected that NVIDIA will offer replacements through the RMA process. We’re hopeful this doesn’t snowball into a larger complication, especially given rumors of production delays plaguing NVIDIA’s "mid-range" GPUs due to performance issues.

To our readers, check your RTX 5090 models for any inconsistencies with the ROP count. If it’s below 176, please get in touch. As of now, we don’t have information on whether other models, like the GeForce RTX 5080, are involved, since the situation is still unfolding.