NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 “GB202” Chip Found Defective in Certain Units; Possible Impact on All Models

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs have landed in hot water once again, with whispers circulating about issues tied to the “Blackwell” GB202 chip that seems to be malfunctioning across various units.

NVIDIA’s Lead GPU Sees Performance Hiccups, Blaming the GB202 Chip

One can’t help but wonder—will gamers ever catch a break in the GPU market? At first, enthusiasts faced scarcity issues with NVIDIA’s top-tier RTX Blackwell series barely trickling onto shelves. Now, fresh reports suggest that the defective silicon in some of these units is causing a significant dip in performance. Just the other day, we spotlighted a ZOTAC GeForce RTX 5090 grappling with this problem. According to a source known as @MEGAsizeGPU, it looks like the root of these woes is the Blackwell GB202 chip. We’ll dig more into that shortly.

The root cause is the chip. A small batch of GB202 is defective, and the bios can not do anything with this issue.

— MEGAsizeGPU (@Zed__Wang) February 21, 2025

For those not in the loop, a puzzling issue has surfaced online where NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 models appear with reduced ROPs in GPU-Z readings. Essentially, this means that some users are saddled with a model not living up to its full potential compared to untouched units. Initially, it was chalked up to a possible GPU-Z hiccup affecting certain versions. Yet, the latest word pins the blame squarely on the defective GB202 chip—not the news anyone wanted to hear.

To solidify this issue’s independence from GPU-Z, a variant of the affected RTX 5090 was run through HWINFO, where reduced ROPs mirrored the findings, underscoring a deeper problem. Currently, the issue seems contained to a select number of SKUs, but it’s rumored that all variations, even the Founders Edition (FE), could be at risk.

Credit: @BuildLabEx

So, what’s the next move? We’ve reached out to NVIDIA for their take, and given that the GB202 chip is the culprit, it’s likely that NVIDIA will offer replacements under RMA. We’re hopeful this glitch doesn’t ripple any further, especially since there are already grumblings of production delays for their "mid-range" GPUs due to separate performance snags.

For those sporting an RTX 5090, it might be wise to check your model’s ROP count. If you’re spotting anything below 176, do drop us a line. As it stands, we’re not yet certain if other models, like the GeForce RTX 5080, are caught up in this bind, but we’ll keep you posted as the details unfold.