Nvidia confirms ‘rare’ RTX 5090 and 5070 Ti manufacturing issue

It’s true: Nvidia has just confirmed it shipped some RTX 5090, RTX 5090D, and even some RTX 5070 Ti graphics chips that were missing render units, as TechPowerUp originally reported — and that you’ll be able to get a replacement if your card was affected.

Nvidia global PR director Ben Berraondo tells The Verge:

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. The average graphical performance impact is 4%, with no impact on AI and Compute workloads. Affected consumers can contact the board manufacturer for a replacement. The production anomaly has been corrected.

In the grand scheme of things, that doesn’t sound like a lot of affected GPUs, particularly because there weren’t a lot of 5090s on shelves to begin with, nor was it a huge hit to performance — as those who discovered the missing render units can already attest. But it is the latest in a line of annoyances with Nvidia’s latest pricy cards, including launch driver issues (including some ongoing black screen issues that Nvidia is still investigating) and some melting power connectors.