A manufacturing defect affecting some NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti graphics cards has emerged, resulting in reduced performance due to missing render output units (ROPs). The affected cards have 88 ROPs instead of the specified 96 ROPs outlined in NVIDIA's documentation.
The issue came to light when users began testing their new graphics cards and discovered the missing ROP partition. One MSI RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Trio owner reported performance drops up to 12% in certain scenarios compared to properly functioning units.
Benchmark results show the impact clearly - in 3DMark Time Spy, an affected RTX 5070 Ti scored 24,755 points, approximately 10% lower than a fully functional MSI Ventus OC model with all 96 ROPs.
NVIDIA has acknowledged this manufacturing defect, stating it affects approximately 0.5% of produced GPUs. The company claims the performance impact averages around 4%, though real-world testing suggests larger variations depending on the workload.
The defect appears limited to certain GB203 chips used in the RTX 5070 Ti, while the RTX 5080, which uses the same chip architecture, remains unaffected so far. This manufacturing issue adds to other challenges facing the RTX 50 series launch, including supply constraints and PCIe stability concerns.
NVIDIA is directing affected customers to contact their board partners for replacement units. However, due to ongoing Blackwell chip shortages, replacement times may be extended.
The timing of this issue is particularly challenging for NVIDIA as AMD prepares to launch its competing RDNA 4 graphics cards. While supply issues are expected to improve next month, this manufacturing defect represents another hurdle for the RTX 50 series launch.