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While many issues plague the launch of RTX 50 series GPUs, the missing ROP problem seems to be the most controversial. That's because it directly affects gaming performance, and fans are unhappy about it. Nvidia's representative spoke to The Verge and confirmed the company is aware of the issues, but users believe Team Green could be trying to downplay it.
This article analyzes and explains the controversy surrounding the RTX 50 series ROP controversy and fans' reactions to the news.
Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and reflect only the writer's opinion.
The curious case of missing ROPs in Nvidia RTX 50 series GPUs
The first reported case of missing ROPs was discovered in the Zotac GeForce RTX 5090 SOLID GPU when a TechPowerUp Forum member posted about it. This user included GPU-Z screenshots of his card showing a lower ROP count and mentioned that it was getting a lower-than-expected score in the 3DMark benchmark. Switching between two BIOS didn't do anything in this case.
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TechPowerUp had the same card in their sample list, and it turns out, that the Zotac card also had eight fewer ROPs than other RTX 5090s and the official specs.
For non-tech-savvy users, the ROPs stand for Render Output Units or Render Output Pipelines, and they are responsible for various functions, including but not limited to pixel data processing, texture rending, blending, antialiasing, and more.
ROPs work in conjunction with the shader units, and a dip in their number would create an imbalance in specs, resulting in a noticeable performance impact, which is exactly what happened.
Performance impact from missing ROPs
According to TechPowerUp's testing, the Zotac GeForce RTX 5090 SOLID GPU scored 5.6% slower than the RTX 5090 Founders Edition and about 8.4% worse score than the ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC Edition.
How much of a performance the lower ROP count has will depend on how ROP-dependent a game is. Therefore, not all games will have the same performance impact.
Nvidia's controversial response
When the missing ROPs issue blew up on the internet, Nvidia's global PR director Ben Berraondo spoke to The Verge and confirmed that it affects only about 0.5% of all GeForce RTX 5090/5090D and RTX 5070 Ti graphics cards.
However, when reports resurfaced about the missing ROPs in RTX 5080, Nvidia changed their statement to The Verge to include the RTX 5080. The original statement didn't mention the RTX 5080 at all, which prompted a few users to believe that Nvidia could be trying to downplay this issue.
Fans are calling the RTX 50 series the most embarrassing GPU launch ever
The X user, @Jojenite, wrote that this is the most embarrassing GPU launch, and there's some truth to that. After all, this isn't the only issue affecting RTX 50 series cards.
Another user on X, @SeekerStar01, wrote that Nvidia didn't suddenly realize and that "they" knew about it all along.
Other users convey the same message that Nvidia knew about it and that they chose to hide it.
Fans are unhappy with what happened and the way Nvidia has handled the problem. However, the company mentioned that customers can contact their board manufacturers to get a replacement unit for any affected RTX 50 series GPU, which sounds positive.
