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

Thesnipergecko · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:16

I take it there's no 970/980 8GB announcement coming out anytime soon?

wellibob · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:16

I'm still wondering if there is a bois update that'll unlock the 980 potential in the 970. Reindeers skating on ice to meat loaf is more likely it seems. I like many have not taken this too seriously but reading more and more is making more livid.

thesmokingman · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:17

I just got done chatting with Amazon US, I tried to pass the relevant news links to the csr to get him/her to pass it on up the ranks. Hopefully someone reads them. Anyways, they sent me a label to send back my 970 for full refund and it was purchased on 9-28-14 lol.

Gibbo · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:18

Thesnipergecko said:
I take it there's no 970/980 8GB announcement coming out anytime soon?

Being asking for 980 8GB's since October, still no green light from NVIDIA.

A 970 with 8GB is pointless, its a mid-range card, it can't do 4k and we'd not advice it as such.

When customers ask us for 4k, our recommendation is always 2-3 290X 8GB in crossfire, its the best for it.

Then next best is 2-4 980 4GB or 1-2 295 X2.

Titan Black and TitanZ were also good choices but those are now gone. But 970 is not a card we'd recommend for 4k and never have, simply as it lacks GPU horsepower.

ironmysox · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:18

thesmokingman said:
I just got done chatting with Amazon US, I tried to pass the relevant news links to the csr to get him/her to pass it on up the ranks. Hopefully someone reads them. Anyways, they sent me a label to send back my 970 for full refund and it was purchased on 9-28-14 lol.

Amazon Uk are equally as helpful. They have refunded me in the past BEFORE I have sent the item back. I don't use them for PC components though

wellibob · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:21

Can I ask what's available to give me 970 sli (minus borked memory issues) equalling performance using a 750w psu please.

setter · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:24

jwilliamson47 said:
Best replacement solution for 970 sli owners? Perhaps a 295x2?

But some customers will still be out of pocket as they might need to buy a new 850w+ psu to run a 295x2. Quite a lot of people who went sli, did so in part due to the very low power requirements.

Skree · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:24

Gibbo said:
I want to give my customers a solution by end of play tomorrow, it is what I am pushing very hard for and determined to get it.

If a driver resolves it then awesome, but if not possible I want a happy outcome for OcUK customers, working on it guys and will have more updates tomorrow.

(quote snipped to save thread space)

Thanks for your work on our behalf Gibbo. I have one of the ocuk reference design cards on preorder and haven't cancelled it because I was waiting for a response from You or, well, tomorrow morning, frankly. As for action - an upgrade to ocuk's reference design 980 would be nice

Gibbo · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:24

wellibob said:
Can I ask what's available to give me 970 sli (minus borked memory issues) equalling performance using a 750w psu please.

290X/295 X2 similar performance but also have stuttering issues in some games, due to crossfire. Crossfire works best on X79/X99 platforms where stutter is less of an issue.

Or 980 SLI.

RavenXXX2 · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:25

If 980 SLI is OK for 4k then 970 SLI is, 980s are not that faster especially if you clock the 970s.

Of course the 980 has the advantage in the ram department what with the 970s gimped ram.

Midlife Crisis · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:25

Credit would be a good option as most will want another card, but with the correct memory access

Gibbo · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:26

Skree said:
(quote snipped to save thread space)

Thanks for your work on our behalf Gibbo. I have one of the ocuk reference design cards on preorder and haven't cancelled it because I was waiting for a response from You or, well, tomorrow morning, frankly. As for action - an upgrade to ocuk's reference design 980 would be nice

Well you either want the faster card or you don't, as you order is not shipped you can change it at any time.

But the 970 card which won all those reviews and has being raved about for months, is still that same excellent card, nothing has changed in the way it has performed since day one. So you only need to upgrade if you now feel a 970 is not powerful enough for you.

wellibob · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:28

Gibbo said:
290X/295 X2 similar performance but also have stuttering issues in some games, due to crossfire. Crossfire works best on X79/X99 platforms where stutter is less of an issue.

Or 980 SLI.

Thanks Gibbo. I'm not expecting miracles but 2 x 980 is going to cost 260 more than what I've already paid out. Amd leaves me with psu issue's. I'm at a loss what's best tbh. I really appreciate your advice btw.

Gibbo · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:28

RavenXXX2 said:
If 980 SLI is OK for 4k then 970 SLI is, 980s are not that faster especially if you clock the 970s.

Of course the 980 has the advantage in the ram department what with the 970s gimped ram.

They are a lot quicker.

I've ragged enough 970 and 980's to know the 980 is a far more powerful card.

I've clocked the hell out of a 970 and only then it tends to offer similar/same performance to a stock 980 at 1080P, but once you clock the 980 it pulls well ahead of a 970.

In SLI this becomes even more apparent and 970's can only do upto tri-SLI, only 980's can do quad SLI.

So the performance of the 980 is a lot more, even at 1080P.

dessimpson · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:29

setter said:
But some customers will still be out of pocket as they might need to buy a new 850w+ psu to run a 295x2. Quite a lot of people who went sli, did so in part due to the very low power requirements.

I bought a 1000w EVGA PSU at the same time as my two 970's.
Guess I'll be ok to upgrade but that means my super wide monitor will have to wait if I can't power it and my 1440p with the 970's

jwilliamson47 · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:29

Can the 290x 8gb utilize the memory or is it wasted... I game at 1440p

Mal X · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:32

jwilliamson47 said:
Best replacement solution for 970 sli owners? Perhaps a 295x2?

yea but you're gonna need to be bloody quick... no later than next wednesday

what about the 380X ? yea that'll screw up everything because that's not due for another 3 months............AND NOT NOW......damn it

so i've no idea what to suggest because it looks like you'll be upgrading twice in a year............. unless you have a spare card at home, i'd be tempted to get a refund as soon as possible and get a 2nd hand 290x that'll keep you going until the 380X comes out....

or give the 380X a miss and make crossfire 290X last till next year.......which is dead easy on 1080p

Huntyz · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:32

To be fair my 970s have been good at 4k but then you get into high vram games (3.5+) and it does stutter.

I'd take credit and buy 2-3 980s

(g-sync monitor)

Gibbo · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:32

jwilliamson47 said:
Can the 290x 8gb utilize the memory or is it wasted... I game at 1440p

8GB is really only for 4k resolutions to be honest. At your resolution any game using more than 4GB is literally a handful of games or games with extensive mods such as texture packs etc.

99% of the games on the market 4GB is more than enough for upto 1440P resolutions.

4k is the killer on VRAM and even 4GB is not enough then, hence why we try to stick to the 290X 8GB in crossfire on X99 platforms as the best recommended gaming 4k platform is money permits.

Gibbo · 28 Jan 2015 at 18:33

Huntyz said:
To be fair my 970s have been good at 4k but then you get into high vram games (3.5+) and it does stutter.

I'd take credit and buy 2-3 980s (g-sync monitor)

980's run out of memory at 4k, you have to tweak the settings to get optimal smooth experience in some games.

There are games already using over 6GB of RAM at 4k resolutions.