Widespread reports from users on Chinese forums and Reddit suggest that initial instabilities observed with Nvidia's RTX 50 GPUs could extend beyond simple PCIe 5.0 compatibility problems. The diverse nature of the reports makes it hard to identify a single root cause; with users experiencing initialization failures, GPU-bricking drivers, PCIe 5.0 instability, and the list goes on. A cursory "RTX 5090/5080 failure reddit" Google search yields multiple accounts of users facing issues with these GPUs. Nvidia has yet to comment on this matter and thus it is difficult to deduce whether these teething problems stem from incomplete software, broken hardware, or something else.
Yesterday, we covered an instance where two melted 16-pin cables were mistakenly attributed to the RTX 5090. With the number of precautionary measures Nvidia and AIBs are taking, it is unlikely we'll run into any meltdowns, at least that's what we hope. Several reviewers suggested a potential flaw in Nvidia's FE-model design that leads to PCIe signal integrity degradation. Thus, a number of those lucky enough to get their hands on an RTX 50-series card have reported their GPU failing to boot in PCIe 5.0 mode. However, these new reports expand beyond Founders Edition models and also affect custom variants from AIBs, including the China-exclusive RTX 5090D.
From the screenshots attached below, several users report GPU initialization failures and black screens after installing the latest drivers from Nvidia. In one instance, the RTX 5080 only works in PCIe 2.0 mode. A driver rollback reportedly solves most of these problems, however, a subset of users report their GPU is no longer recognized by their motherboard or Windows, making it impossible to rollback drivers. A user speculates that the latest drivers can potentially burn an IC (Integrated Circuit) on the GPU, rendering it unusable.
It is tough to say what's causing these problems. A majority of incidents suggest immature Blackwell architecture drivers from Nvidia. As it stands, these users have no other option than to RMA their GPUs. There is no word on when they'll receive a replacement as retailers may take weeks to replenish RTX 50 inventory.
A report alleges that AIBs had little to no time to test these GPUs ahead of launch. This lack of time likely didn't allow vendors to polish the VBIOS sufficiently, or push appropriate BIOS updates on their motherboards to enable full RTX 50 series compatibility, but that's just a guess.
