NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 “GB202” Chip Found Defective in Certain Market Units; All Models May Be Impacted

NVIDIA’s latest GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs are facing yet another setback, as many units seem to have a faulty “Blackwell” GB202 chip onboard, sparking quite the uproar among users.

NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line RTX Blackwell GPU has recently hit the spotlight for showing missing ROPs in tools like GPU-Z and other similar tests. The underlying issue is rumored to be linked to the GB202 chip, creating a wave of concern among users.

It seems peace is hard to come by for gamers when it comes to the GPU market. Earlier, there were the infamous inventory shortages with NVIDIA’s flagship RTX Blackwell cards being scarcely available. Now, word has it that some of the chips have defects that significantly impact performance. Only recently, we covered a ZOTAC GeForce RTX 5090 encountering such problems. Now, based on insights from @MEGAsizeGPU, it appears the core issue is rooted in the Blackwell’s GB202 chip, which we’ll delve into further.

According to @MEGAsizeGPU, “The root cause is the chip. A small batch of GB202 is defective, and the bios can not do anything with this issue.”

For those unfamiliar, these problematic GeForce RTX 5090 models surfacing online showcase fewer ROPs in GPU-Z, meaning performance takes a noticeable hit in these defective units. Initially, there was talk about GPU-Z misreading some versions, but it seems the real trouble lies in the faulty GB202 chip. This is certainly disconcerting news for owners.

Further evidence comes from testing an affected RTX 5090 model with HWINFO, where reduced ROPs were also detected, suggesting a more significant problem at play. Although we are at the nascent stages of unraveling this issue, reports indicate a limited number of SKUs are impacted so far. It’s not just one model from a specific manufacturer either; the word on the street is that multiple versions might be under threat, including the Founders Edition.

So, where do we stand now? We’ve reached out to NVIDIA for an update. Given the GB202 chip’s central role in this mess, it’s likely NVIDIA will initiate replacements through their RMA process. One can only hope the problem doesn’t escalate, especially when their “mid-range” GPUs are already rumored to face production delays due to performance hiccups.

We’re urging our readers to inspect their models to see if their ROP count is less than the expected 176. If you find inconsistencies, let us know. Currently, we’re not sure if other models like the GeForce RTX 5080 are affected, as this situation is still unfolding.