It's been a while since we heard about NVIDIA GPUs with missing ROPs, but here we are, seeing one more GPU having fewer ROPs.
Redditor Reports 160 ROPs Instead of 176 on His NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell GPU; The First Workstation Blackwell GPU With Fewer ROPs
Right after the launch of the Blackwell NVIDIA RTX 50 series, we heard a few reports that confirmed a small percentage of the inventory had fewer ROPs (Render Output Units). This issue was mostly observed on the flagship card, the GeForce RTX 5090, but we also saw slower GPUs, including the GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti, suffer from a similar problem. With fewer ROPs, these GPUs were performing worse than they should, but NVIDIA began providing replacements for such units.
Nonetheless, this issue quickly disappeared from the scene as NVIDIA confirmed that there were only 0.5% of such units in existence, and it's likely that the next batches didn't have this problem. However, this is probably the first time we are hearing about a "PRO" GPU having missing ROPs. Redditor u/xmikjee reported that he bought an NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell GPU as a replacement for his RTX 4090.
As he installed the GPU and opened up GPU-Z, he noticed something unusual. In the ROPs section, the software lists only 160 ROPs, which is noticeably fewer than the number of ROPs mentioned on various third-party sites. NVIDIA currently doesn't show how many ROPs the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has on the official website, but according to Techpowerup, the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell should have 176 ROPs.
He also tested it with other utilities, such as Geeks3D, which also reported 160 ROPs. The third utility (probably AIDA64) also reported the same ROP count, confirming that he got a defective unit. With 16 fewer ROPs, the performance will be noticeably slower, but he can simply apply for RMA as NVIDIA has previously promised to provide a replacement. It appears that this particular unit might be from the early batches when the defective units went unnoticed due to poor quality control. Right now, the reports of the RTX 50 series with fewer ROPs are quite rare.
UPDATE: As per the provided screenshots, the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell has 10 GPCs, which means 160 ROPs is the correct configuration.
News Source: Reddit
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
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