Nvidia denies reports of missing ROP units in RTX 5000 laptop GPUs

[midian182]

In brief: In what could have been the latest piece of disastrous news for Nvidia's RTX 5000 series, there have been reports that the missing ROPs issue affecting some desktop cards was also present in laptop GPUs. However, Nvidia has categorically denied this is the case, though the company's typically ambiguous answers suggest this issue may have been present but was caught and addressed during testing.

According to German publication Heise Online (via HardwareLuxx), Nvidia has asked notebook manufacturers to ensure their manufacturing partners in the Far East work extra shifts to spot any laptops with missing ROP units before they are shipped to retailers.

After some users discovered that their desktop RTX 5000-series cards had fewer ROP units than they were supposed to, Nvidia said that an issue had affected less than half a percent of RTX 5090, 5090D, and 5070 Ti GPUs, which shipped with at least one ROP missing. The company later admitted that the RTX 5080 was also affected – though only after a user found the problem in their model. Nvidia added that this could affect gaming performance by four percent, but AI and compute performance were unaffected.

As with the desktop GPUs, the reports claim only a tiny number of laptop GPUs were missing the ROP units. One manufacturer that Heise Online spoke to allegedly said its first batch of laptop devices had to be fixed, though it never said if the problem was also present in other batches.

Nvidia assures buyers of RTX 5000 lapopts that all the ROPs will be present

Nvidia told The Verge that its RTX 5000 laptops aren't missing ROP units. "All partners continue to run checks as part of our standard testing procedure," said Nvidia GeForce global PR director Ben Berraondo, who added that the company will be contacting both German publications to discuss the reports.

The Verge triple-checked with Berraondo that "no laptop GPUs are affected by the missing ROP issue," to which he replied, "Correct, no further issues."

Berraondo could be referring to the desktop cards' missing ROPs when he says there are no "further" issues, or he could mean that while the problem exists in laptop GPUs, manufacturers are conducting more thorough checks to ensure all ROP units are present before shipping.

There have been reports that the top-end RTX 5000-series laptops were delayed from January to March while the mid-range and low-end variants have been pushed back from March to April or May. Heise writes that one possible reason for the delay could be that Nvidia only recently distributed the final vBIOS for the notebook GPUs.

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Nvidia denies reports of missing ROP units in RTX 5000 laptop GPUs

 

[Beerfloat]

It would make most sense that the mobile chips were affected as well. After all, they are based on the same silicon, though in slightly different configurations. I bet there was some panicky cleanup work behind the scenes. Let's hope it worked out.

We will still need to get commitment to an exchange program for desktop Blackwells.

 

[godrilla]

The Labtop market is where they make a higher margins.
They caused their own credibility to be in question when the publicly leave out the 5080 was affected then back track that when the public proves otherwise.

Also this is what a bear chart looks like.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

"Nvidia, stop lying!!" - Steve

 

[yRaz]

The Labtop market is where they make a higher margins.
They caused their own credibility to be in question when the publicly leave out the 5080 was affected then back track that when the public proves otherwise.

Also this is what a bear chart looks like.

So I read your comment really fast and read it as "beer chart" and I want to know what a beer chart looks like. Not a beer list, I know what those look like.

 

[godrilla]

So I read your comment really fast and read it as "beer chart" and I want to know what a beer chart looks like. Not a beer list, I know what those look like.

cheers

 

[yRaz]

cheers

I will have to test this chart for accuracy, thank you.

 

[Watzupken]

Have they ever acknowledged their products have any problems to begin with? Let's see,
- Launch of Ampere: RTX 3090 failing. Nvidia attributed to AIB due to the caps they used. Then they quietly updated the driver to resolve the issue. They never said they caused the issue.

- Launch of Ada: Power connector on RTX 4090 melting. Nvidia attributed to "user problem" because Gamer Nexus thinks this is the most likely scenario. But we know now that there is very little margin for error because of the single high power connector design. How can this not be picked up during testing bewilders me. Do they really need to scrimp on adding another connector to mitigate the risk of melting or fire? Again, Nvidia kept quiet and never said anything about them causing the issue.

- Launch of Blackwell: Problem 1 - Same power connector melting despite Jensen claiming that it will not happen again. Of course it will happen because the problem with having so much power going through thin strands of wire that is unable to balance the power load will result in overheating. So root cause, completely ignored by Nvidia despite the lessons learned from Ada. Problem 2 - Missing ROPs. Jensen claims that it impacts a meager 0.5% and will not impact the RTX 5070 Ti. Now we know the latter is untrue. I also question the 0.5% impact when supply is so limited, and yet, we see quite a number of cases on forums, Reddit and even reviewers' units. Now they are saying, no issues with laptop GPUs, but wait, these are essentially the same die. The only way they can confirm 0 cases is to make sure that laptop manufacturers checks and ensures no defective unit leaves the door.

All in all, we can tell that when there is a problem, Nvidia never admit it is a problem. The problem is always someone else. Yet, Nvidia supporters are still supportive which essentially lets them do what they want with no consequences. That is no wonder they keep messing gamers up and throwing overpriced "bones" to them.