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

Sem · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:49

setter said:
Good luck with that, rare as hens teeth on here. And those that are available on auction are going for pretty high money.

I actually sold one of my 780s DC2s for more than it cost me new over a year ago

seriously

MasterOC · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:50

Gibbo said:
I can also announce already that anyone with a KFA/Galax card, this also includes the Infinity card can return the card if the customer wishes, because again our customers are kings.

Please bear in mind the following:
• There is no issue with the 970 product, this is by design from NVIDIA in the 970 GPU
• There is approx. £150 delta in the price of the 970 vs. the 980
• There is only a 3% performance delta of the 970 vs. the 980

In short the 970 remains the amazing product it has always being, nothing has changed, stuttering issues are an issue across all GPU's and drivers will of course be released in the future to help remedy such issues across all GPU's.

Some performance stats:
In order to try and assist further we have included some performance data below so that you can see actual testing results between the GTX 970 and the GTX 980.

Shadows of Mordor: GTX 980 GTX970
<3.5GB settings: 2688x1512 Very High 72FPS 60FPS
>3.5GB settings: 3456x1944 Very High 55FPS (24%) 45FPS (-25%)
Relative performance difference: 1%

Battlefield 4:
<3.5GB settings: 3840x2160 2xMSAA 36FS 30FPS
>3.5GB settings: 3840x2160 135% res. 19FPS (-47%) 15FPS (-50%)
Relative performance difference: 3%

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare:
<3.5GB settings: 3840x2160 FSMAA T2x, SS off 82FPS 71FPS
>3.5GB settings: 3840x2160 FSMAA T2x, SS on 48FPS (-41%) 40FPS (-44%)

As you can see above the relative performance difference varies from 1% in Shadows of Mordor, to 3% in Battlefield 4 or Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The performance differences between a 970 and 980 in the above examples remain a constant 15-19%, regardless of memory usage.

I hope that the above information helps clarify the performance from the GTX 970. Please let us know if you do want to continue with a step-up on your product for the higher performing GTX 980 card, and we'll get that option opened up for you.

Still if you wish to return your Galax/KFA2/OcUK 970 you can still do so, please contact our returns for the procedure.

thank you! You sir are the absolute boss

Smok3y · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:50

What about the Inno3d cards Gibbo? Any news on those? I'm hoping these won't be a problem with them being a lesser known brand?

Gibbo · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:50

jwilliamson47 said:
If a refund or credit note is done, Gibbo deserves lots of haribo!

I am on a diet.

jwilliamson47 · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:51

Hoping I can return my Gigabyte ones. Thought they would be giving a quicker response given their UK RMA location.

Gibbo · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:51

Kipz said:
So what exactly entails about the EVGA "upgrade program"? Is it a discounted 980 or just you pay the difference?

Contact EVGA, they will talk you through the process.

~>Dg<~ · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:51

gibbo what if you keep the card ?

ironmysox · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:51

Manook said:
Same here but I think im SOOL. Bought a Rog Swift monitor with my 970s and as far as I know ULMB will only work with NVidia on this particular screen. Kinda forces me to stick with NV.

Same boat as me. I cannot afford to change screens so If I am able to change I am tied to Nvidia. I had the chance to try a 290x on my Swift earlier today and it's a bit of a nightmare. Could not get 144HZ at all, flickering on desktop etc.

jwilliamson47 · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:52

Gibbo said:
I am on a diet.

The diet starts tomorrow... for the next 2 months

Gibbo · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:52

~>Dg<~ said:
what will be the option if you keep the card ? any rebate refund ?

Nope, the card is working great and still represents great value for money, only OcUK and EVGA are giving its customers more options, because we put our customers first.

~>Dg<~ · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:53

guess someones just lost a lot of revenue.

LoadsaMoney · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:54

Doesn't make sense to me, if theres nothing wrong with the 970s, and thats how they were designed, then what are they fixing, when there is nothing to be fixed, and why are they not telling everyone whos kicking up a fuss about crippling performance when going over 3.5GB to do one ?

jwilliamson47 · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:54

I think expectations have to be reasonable. A refund or step up programme to a current 980 price is perfectly fine.

Awahwah · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:55

Gibbo said:
I can also announce already that anyone with a KFA/Galax card, this also includes the Infinity card can return the card if the customer wishes, because again our customers are kings.

Please bear in mind the following:
• There is no issue with the 970 product, this is by design from NVIDIA in the 970 GPU
• There is approx. £150 delta in the price of the 970 vs. the 980
• There is only a 3% performance delta of the 970 vs. the 980

In short the 970 remains the amazing product it has always being, nothing has changed, stuttering issues are an issue across all GPU's and drivers will of course be released in the future to help remedy such issues across all GPU's.

Some performance stats:
In order to try and assist further we have included some performance data below so that you can see actual testing results between the GTX 970 and the GTX 980.

Shadows of Mordor: GTX 980 GTX970
<3.5GB settings: 2688x1512 Very High 72FPS 60FPS
>3.5GB settings: 3456x1944 Very High 55FPS (24%) 45FPS (-25%)
Relative performance difference: 1%

Battlefield 4:
<3.5GB settings: 3840x2160 2xMSAA 36FS 30FPS
>3.5GB settings: 3840x2160 135% res. 19FPS (-47%) 15FPS (-50%)
Relative performance difference: 3%

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare:
<3.5GB settings: 3840x2160 FSMAA T2x, SS off 82FPS 71FPS
>3.5GB settings: 3840x2160 FSMAA T2x, SS on 48FPS (-41%) 40FPS (-44%)

As you can see above the relative performance difference varies from 1% in Shadows of Mordor, to 3% in Battlefield 4 or Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The performance differences between a 970 and 980 in the above examples remain a constant 15-19%, regardless of memory usage.

I hope that the above information helps clarify the performance from the GTX 970. Please let us know if you do want to continue with a step-up on your product for the higher performing GTX 980 card, and we'll get that option opened up for you.

Still if you wish to return your Galax/KFA2/OcUK 970 you can still do so, please contact our returns for the procedure.

Gibbo,

You may remember my posts latish last night. My Infinity Card is on it's way back to you guys as we speak (I had an existing RMA prior to this info breaking).

It is my intention to go with a GTX980 and you may remember me asking you about the Best Card to OC. To save a refund then buying new, can I just pay the difference to what ever GTX980 I pick?

F.Y.I RMA RMA274295

Thanks in advance.

james.miller · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:56

Marine-RX179 said:
Because of this, a 970 with 3.5GB on a proper 256-bit bus would had been likely a superior, faster and trouble-free card comparing to the 970 "4GB" card we got right now. However for the sake call it a "4GB card" to not sell themself short comparing to the 290 series, they did in a way which caused more problems and performance issues than it's worth.

Really, Nvidia should have just sold the 970 with a proper 256-bit bus with 3.5GB memory and be done with it, not this stitched together memory and memory interface...

it wouldnt have been a 256bit bus if it only had 7 memory modules, it would have been 224bit.

~>Dg<~ · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:56

thats the point. yes its better than a 290. but...its still not we were told when we brought it.

so a refund or rebate should be a offer.

others get a full refund fair enough but what do i get if i keep it just the nvidia bs reply and thanks for shopping with us.

mrmyers1985 · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:56

Any word on the Asus strix 970. I bought it from another retailer but wanted to know if nvidia had told companys that they could accept returns on the cards.

Thanks

Aurhinius · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:56

Pity nvidia have no 8GB options so that us Gsync owners can use it. None readily available before anyone says anything about Titan's :-)

980 8GB required - Keep bashing on about it Gibbo

Gibbo · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:57

Awahwah said:
Gibbo,

You may remember my posts latish last night. My Infinity Card is on it's way back to you guys as we speak (I had an existing RMA prior to this info breaking).

It is my intention to go with a GTX980 and you may remember me asking you about the Best Card to OC. To save a refund then buying new, can I just pay the difference to what ever GTX980 I pick?

F.Y.I RMA RMA274295

Thanks in advance.

Check with returns mate, I have no understanding on how they deal with upgrades etc.

nightrider1470 · 29 Jan 2015 at 12:57

shatpank81 said:
Nvidia (unofficial response)
"We know people are angry at us, we get it!
So as a gesture of goodwill we will be compensating people with a free copy of Ubisoft's new title 'The Division'..
I hope you are all happy with this, although saying that, The Division is a very graphic hungry game and you will need a graphic card with a minimum of 4gb!.

Ooooops"

lol