970's having performance issues using 4GB Vram - Nvidia investigating

Mei · 24 Jan 2015 at 07:29

yep! new video!! b0000m!!
im subscribed
he talks more sense than oc3d
<3 ("\(^_^)/")

McGraw · 24 Jan 2015 at 07:32

Marine-RX179 said:
I just realised something...

If the 970's memory problem was due to some reason of how it was cut down from the 980...what about the new 960? I mean if they were cut down using the same method, would they also potentially have the problem of memory bandwidth taking a dive, when memory usage exeed 87.5% of the total capacity (1.75GB)?

I posted this a while back. It wouldn't be good.

triss · 24 Jan 2015 at 07:34

Mei said:
ye that was mentioned earlier in the thread, kaap can test for us!
in happier news jimmy has released a new video!! <3

Well hes a geek with a beard so it has to be 100% true

james.miller · 24 Jan 2015 at 08:43

Legend said:
You are bang wrong with that statement. I hope they can fix it too, but if it's hardware and unfixable, I don't think you're aware how serious this is. A 12.5% (or more) reduction in memory that you paid for? Are you seriously saying no-one has a case? Come on. Your iPhone example is absurd and has no similarity to this whatsoever.

of course it does, it's a perfect comparison. people were complaining because their 16gb iphones only had somewhere 11gb of free storage, as an example. Rightly so too, that takes the mickey somewhat. So yes perfect comparison wto your argument, but that doesn't matter anyway since you can use 4gb. The question here is why does performance tank over 3.6gb, not why cant we use it all. You seem to be ignoring this.

4071mb usage on a 970. sorry, uninteresting screenshot but it gets the point across. Ignore the framerate though, not a good example to use to show the effect of going over 3.6gb as i had to run some ridiculous settings in that game to get the memory usage, like running at 5120x2160 with 4xAA and 4xSSAA.

I'll sell you an 8GB card then. I'll stick some 8GB RAM chips on there, but you can't use them. You want your money back? Sorry, the RAM is on there, you don't have a case, goodbye. Ridiculous. The fact the card has 4GB is irrelevant if you can't use 4GB.

a 50% reduction in available memory is not the same as performance tanking when you fill the last 10% - it's actually quite a bit worse, 'bit like my iPhone example.

I'm not banging on about lawsuits, or suggesting such a drastic course of action (I actually think that would be mad), I merely made the point that it wouldn't be surprising, if this turns out to be an unfixable issue (not that I think it will)... and such an action would cost Nvidia millions. I am not demanding anything, but I am VERY MUCH of the view, and not alone in this, that you should get what you pay for.

Well you've certainly made that point enough times then. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/search.php?searchid=21503365

Maybe you're OK with getting less though, which is your prerogative of course.

Not at all, hope they fix it.

Huntyz · 24 Jan 2015 at 08:50

In Shadow of Mordor maxed out at 4k with no AA my cards are using the full amount of ram it looks like and the gpu-mem clocks/usage seems to be up there too.

Its perfectly playable but if this is a problem with all 970s im thinking of returning these and getting 2 980s

Screenshot

Also using nais benchmark it would crapout after 3GB but i wasnt using the IGP.

Dirk Diggler · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:00

The iPhone comparison is not valid here. All the storage was available and functional, it was just being used by the OS.

In this case, it appears the missing vram isn't available and isn't being used by other system resources. Functionality is also affected with frame drops.

No comparison at all.

james.miller · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:11

lol.

String said:
The iPhone comparison is not valid here. All the storage was available and functional, it was just being used by the OS.

So it wasn't available for use then

In this case, it appears the missing vram isn't available and isn't being used by other system resources. Functionality is also affected with frame drops.

No comparison at all.

Both Huntyz and i posted screenshots showing > 4000mb usage. But yep, it's totally unavailable.

the performance tanking issue is the only issue here, not how much of the advertised ram is available. That silly argument needs to be put to bed.

Cooper · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:18

Wakes up this morning and still sees the flames of this nerd rage nonsense being fanned.

Mei · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:20

so all iphones should come with 22.somethingGB chips to allow for the OS? by that same reasoning nvidia should use 4.5gb chips to offset whatever is affecting theirs then

that debate is even too crazy for me!

Vertigo · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:23

Legend said:
You are bang wrong with that statement. I hope they can fix it too, but if it's hardware and unfixable, I don't think you're aware how serious this is.

And I don't think you're aware how much you're overreacting!

Give it a rest with all the shouting and screaming about legalities and lawsuits and give NVidia a chance to respond. They may fix it, they may not. They may offer refunds/replacements, they may not. Until they've had a chance to respond your comments are utterly pointless.

If they end up making an official statement saying they're not going to do anything about it, then we can start talking about legal remedies but, until then, wind your neck in.

kitch9 · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:47

I know I created this thread but the content of them always is the same and this is textbook lol.

You have those in denial.

The purchase justifiers try to explain why the problem wouldn't be that bad if confirmed.

Then there's the armchair software engineers doubting the method of measurement.

The law suit guys.

The impatient refund guys.

And the buying a competing product guys who enjoy the situation a bit too much.

eyetrip · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:47

While I agree that many are over-reacting, and we need to give nvidia some time to respond, I also think it is important that people make a noise.

If there is indeed some kind of actual hardware issue, and people just keep quiet and suck it up, the chances of it being ignored go up.

If people make a noise, put people off buying the cards, it motivates the likes of Nvidia to actually look into it. Even then there is no guarantee...

I think anyone who thinks 970 owners are overreacting, and don't own one themselves, should just stay out of this thread. You have nothing to contribute really.

I will continue waiting patiently for now for a response from Nvidia, and hopefully it won't take too long.

Am still hoping that any potential issue will be sorted either by firmware or driver. We'll see.

BuToNz · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:49

So many people in this thread saying "I can't use all the 4GB".

YES you can - performance drops in the last 12.5%.

Geeman1979 · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:49

kitch9 said:
I know I created this thread but the content of them always is the same and this is textbook lol.

You have those in denial.

The purchase justifiers try to explain why the problem wouldn't be that bad if confirmed.

Then there's the armchair software engineers doubting the method of measurement.

The law suit guys.

The impatient refund guys.

And the buying a competing product guys who enjoy the situation a bit too much.

Surprised?

Nothing new...

Stanners · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:50

The idiots posting in this thread, the 970 has 4gb of ram and 4gb is available. There is no law suit to be had and people need to grow up. And those spouting this rubbish, could you point me to where Nvidia guarantee memory usage performance?

Now if it is a hardware problem that the performance tanks above a certain usage that is just going to be extremely embarrassing for nvidia.
Now I am in no way defending Nvidia if this is correct, but I am not sure what could be done, apart from voting with your feet and buying AMD in the future.

RichardH754 · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:58

I get the same performance stutter on my 980s when nearly all the vram is being used on certain games!
Its the first thing I noticed since sidegrading and buying them from 780tis

james.miller · 24 Jan 2015 at 10:00

kitch9 said:
I know I created this thread but the content of them always is the same and this is textbook lol.

You have those in denial.

The purchase justifiers try to explain why the problem wouldn't be that bad if confirmed.

Then there's the armchair software engineers doubting the method of measurement.

The law suit guys.

The impatient refund guys.

And the buying a competing product guys who enjoy the situation a bit too much.

dont forget the sterotyping OP

Anyway,

kitch9 · 24 Jan 2015 at 10:05

Stanners said:
The idiots posting in this thread, the 970 has 4gb of ram and 4gb is available. There is no law suit to be had and people need to grow up. And those spouting this rubbish, could you point me to where Nvidia guarantee memory usage performance?

Now if it is a hardware problem that the performance tanks above a certain usage that is just going to be extremely embarrassing for nvidia.
Now I am in no way defending Nvidia if this is correct, but I am not sure what could be done, apart from voting with your feet and buying AMD in the future.

Wow.

Nvidia advertise memory performance on every card they ever make and have made.

james.miller · 24 Jan 2015 at 10:11

oh heres a better screenshot

kitch9 · 24 Jan 2015 at 10:12

james.miller said:
dont forget the sterotyping OP

Anyway,

There's always one denying their denial too lol.

IPhone dude? Really?