GeForce RTX 5080 FE Joins List Of GPUs Spotted With Missing ROPs
A user on Reddit has posted a GPU-Z screenshot that purportedly shows their GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition graphics card with fewer render operation pipelines (ROPs), or render output units if you prefer, than what are supposed to be there. It's the first case we're aware of with missing ROPs on a GeForce RTX 5080 class card, FE or otherwise.
As such, the plot of the missing ROPs thickens. The issue first gained widespread attention last week when a user in TechPowerUp's forums reported seeing fewer ROPs on their Zotac GeForce RTX 5090 Solid (non-OC model) graphics card. TPU happened to have the same model in-house, and interestingly enough, theirs too showed missing ROPs in the site's own GPU-Z utility.
There was some initial hope that the utility could be mis-reading the card's vitals or that a BIOS update would solve the apparent issue. However, NVIDIA's GeForce global PR director, Ben Barraondo, issued a statement to The Verge confirming a "production anomaly" on a small number of affected cards, with a promise to take care of affected customers.
"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," Barraondo said.
According to the statement, the issue affects the GeForce RTX 5090, GeForce RTX 5090D (altered version of China), and GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. There was no mention of the GeForce RTX 5080 or the upcoming GeForce RTX 5070 (non-Ti model). However, it now appears that the GeForce RTX 5080 is affected as well.
Reddit user gingeraffe90 posted the above GPU-Z screenshot showing 104 ROPs on their GeForce RTX 5080 FE, which is supposed to have 112 ROPs. One thing to note is that each ROP can process eight pixels per GPU clock cycle, hence why NVIDIA specifies that some cards are missing a single ROP while GPU-Z shows eight fewer ROPs than advertised. They're reporting the same thing, essentially.
The GPU-Z screenshot above is in line with a single missing ROP (identified as eight missing ROPs in the utility), suggesting it's the same production anomaly as has been confirmed to affect three other GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs. As spotted by WCCFTech, it's a validated entry too, which further suggests it's a legitimate discovery.
As to the potential performance impact, the user provided a Time Spy score that the folks at hardwareLUXX compared (via @aschilling on X) with their own results. The gimped RTX 5080's score is around 12.7% lower in this single benchmark.
One other thing to note is that the issue isn't limited to just FE models and/or Zotac cards, at least broadly speaking. When including RTX 5090/5090D and 5070 Ti cards, the list of add-in board (AIB) partners that have been attached to reports of missing ROPs includes ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and Palit, and perhaps more that we've not seen (or have yet to be reported).
If you own any GeForce RTX 50 series card, do yourself a solid and download GPU-Z (it's free) to check if you have an affected model. Both the GeForce RTX 5090 and 5090D should show 176 ROPs (versus 168 on affected models), the GeForce RTX 5080 should show 112 ROPs (versus 104), and the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti should show 96 (versus 88). The ROP count will be on the main 'Graphics Card' tab underneath the 'Subvendor' field.
We've reached out to NVIDIA regarding the GeForce RTX 5080 in question and will update this article when we hear back.
