Key Takeaways
1. Nvidia acknowledged production flaws in RTX 5090, RTX 5090D, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5080 GPUs, leading to missing ROPs.
2. Affected RTX 5080 cards have 8 fewer ROPs, reducing the total from 112 to 104.
3. Nvidia advises users to contact board manufacturers for replacements, potentially leaving many unaware of the issue.
4. Performance tests suggest gamers may experience noticeable drops, with reports of up to 11% reductions in benchmarks.
5. Nvidia’s claim of a 4% average performance drop remains unverified and should be approached with skepticism until independent evaluations are available.
After Nvidia acknowledged that a small number of its RTX 5090, RTX 5090D, and RTX 5070 Ti GPUs had a production flaw resulting in some ROPs being absent, new reports have surfaced indicating that the RTX 5080 also faces similar problems. Nvidia has confirmed that certain RTX 5080 cards are missing 8 ROPs, bringing the total down to 104 instead of the expected 112.
Nvidia’s Statement
In a statement to The Verge, Nvidia revealed that “an early production build of the RTX 5080 GPUs were also affected by the same issue.” The company has once again advised users to “contact the board manufacturer for a replacement.” VideoCardz noted that Nvidia appears to be leaving the resolution of this issue largely to the customers. While this may work for knowledgeable gamers who can utilize tools like GPU-Z, it’s likely that many average users will remain in the dark about the problem.
Performance Impact
As a result, many unsuspecting gamers might experience a noticeable drop in performance, as indicated by recent tests.
Interestingly, Nvidia claims that only about 0.5% of the RTX 5090/D, RTX 5080, and RTX 5070 Ti are impacted by the missing ROPs. This has sparked several questions from the media. For one, how did Nvidia come to discover that only around 0.5% of the RTX 5080 were affected shortly after the initial reports surfaced online? Is it possible that Nvidia was already aware of the issue and chose not to disclose it?
Concerns on Performance Claims
Additionally, there’s the matter of the 4% gaming performance reduction that Team Green has mentioned. As reported previously, the RTX 5070 Ti with 8 fewer ROPs displayed performance losses ranging from single digits up to 11% in 3DMark benchmarks. This indicates that the final impact may vary depending on different scenarios, which appears logical.
Thus, Nvidia’s assertion of an average 4% performance drop remains unverified until we have thorough evaluations conducted by independent testers. Until then, it’s wise to approach any information shared online with a degree of skepticism.
Source:
Link