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

Bonjour · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:30

Ker-ching.

Tonester0011 · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:33

easyrider said:
I would not have bought the card if I new of this issue...the specs had no mention of the .5gb section of the total 4gb....

I bought the card based on specs..I never bought into a gimped card...regardless of performance...I wanted an upgrade path...

I'm gaming at 1080p at the mo....so it's not an issue..the 970 flies and I love it...but this will not be the case after spending 600 plus on a 1440p panel in March...I want the best performance I can to run this monitor and I would not have bought a card in December with 3.5 gb of Ram and a slower 500mb section...

Surely you bought the card because of the performance, and what the reviews showed it could do. The specs are somewhat irrelevant compared to performance.

The performance is still the same, and reviewers would have done 1440/1600 benchmarks. I'm currently on 1440 and the 970 is fine, but i'm not foolish enough to crank settings too high as i want smooth gameplay.

james.miller · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:36

Kaapstad said:
They way dual card memory is speced on the box is exactly the same as the GTX 970, it is all there but no explanation is given to how it is used.

It is a point I've stayed away from but it's true nonetheless. Obviously dual GPUs currently duplicate the memory across both GPUs so the frame buffer is half the size of the physical amount of ram. you could mistake a 295x2 for having the same logical amount of ram as an 8gb 290x. We all know it doesnt of course, but maybe that's the difference, the fact that people already know and accept it.....

triss · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:38

Question for those like Boom who will never buy Nvidia again.
If the next gen cards from AMD are terrible or if AMD was to fold would you give up gaming?
I dont like what Nvidia did here, but with only two vendors in this gpu game i wont stop buying from one if it has the price/performance/features i want.

andybird123 · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:39

You say "we all know" but it is pretty much a weekly occurence that the question gets asked, and for every person that does ask how many go ahead an make that assumption without asking.

Mal X · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:39

Kaapstad said:
2gb but the card is not really suitable for anything other than 1080p

no it aint, 2GB is way too low for 1080p with everything maxed out

TheRealDeal · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:40

Tonester0011 said:
Surely you bought the card because of the performance, and what the reviews showed it could do. The specs are somewhat irrelevant compared to performance.

The performance is still the same, and reviewers would have done 1440/1600 benchmarks. I'm currently on 1440 and the 970 is fine, but i'm not foolish enough to crank settings too high as i want smooth gameplay.

As games usually need more ram as time goes on then the lie becomes more of an issue. Sure the Gpu grunt is still the same but the vram that people thought they were getting has changed due to the lie. It's not really hard to grasp. You buy more hardware than me so it might not be such a big issue to you. i bought my current card knowing the exact specs and i am happy it will last me a good while. I get the feeling for some the gtx970 is not going to last as long as the users thought or for some sli-ing ain't as good an option as it once was. People basically feel cheated by Nvidia as i would do if AMD lied about the 290.

Kaapstad · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:42

I own a couple of these cards and I could argue that I have been misled by false advertising.

On the front of the box

It states that it has 2gb of VRAM
It does not state that it is a dual GPU card.

This means that if I am not tech savvy I could make the mistake of thinking I am buying a single GPU card with 2gb available to the core.

I could also miss the fact that CF is required to get the most out of both cores.

I could also buy a product that is totally unsuitable for the case I have because of the dual cores, this card uses more watts than a 290X. :eek:

As a non tech savvy consumer I find the front of the box totally misleading.

Kaapstad · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:46

Mal X said:
no it aint, 2GB is way too low for 1080p with everything maxed out

I would like to see you max anything much out with a GTX 960 @1080p with the GPU grunt available.

You need 2 x GTX 980s in SLI to max out Crysis 3 @1080p and get over 60 fps.

Mei · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:46

altho i think thats also a little shady to the tech n00bs i could so pwn u on that argument kaap

TheRealDeal · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:46

Kaapstad said:
I own a couple of these cards and I could argue that I have been misled by false advertising.

On the front of the box

It states that it has 2gb of VRAM
It does not state that it is a dual GPU card.

This means that if I am not tech savvy I could make the mistake of thinking I am buying a single GPU card with 2gb available to the core.

I could also miss the fact that CF is required to get the most out of both cores.

I could also buy a product that is totally unsuitable for the case I have because of the dual cores, this card uses more watts than a 290X.

As a non tech savvy consumer I find the front of the box totally misleading.

All the info was there on release so your point is mute. The same can't be said for the gtx970.You could be a tech guru and if you were not an Nvidia engineer you would still not have known any different but we could all tell how the 5970 vram was allocated. Basically no facts on the 5970 were hidden.

melmac · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:47

james.miller said:
It should be about the performance.

nVidia get it wrong/lied in the tech specs to reviewers, then didnt correct it when the review came out or any time after that until these events.

These specs cause issues for some people, almost completely in relation to SLi. I've seen reports of single cards stuttering but it's always been in games that other cards struggle with as well. ie, not the best evidence.

whether the card has 64 rops or 56 or 32 makes no different to me - my card performs the same regardless. same as it did in the reviews which is why i bought it in the first place. all this stuff about nVidia lying, it's going too far.

Why does it bother you so much? People feel that they have been lied to and don't want it to happen again. They are voting with their wallet and returning the cards. It's a point of principle for these individuals not the performance.

If you are happy with your card keep it, this thread isn't for you, it's for those people that aren't happy with the misreported specifications and the slow .5 GB of vram. For some people the first issue is the main reason for feeling hard done by, the second does affect sli configurations and could possibly affect single card situations in future.

old gamer · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:48

your right there kapp all these dual cards have advertised they have x amount of ram but only 50% of it can ever be used

Kaapstad · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:49

TheRealDeal said:
All the info was there on release so your point is mute. The same can't be said for the gtx970.

So where does it say on the front of the box that it is a dual GPU card as this is it's most important feature.

My point stands.

Mal X · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:49

Perfect_Chaos said:
Yep this is what i might do, but i'll probably get rid of it when the 390/390x's come. Won't be giving Nvidia money again any time soon.

yea smart boy

i'm not too bothered about the 390X............more like the 400X, which is due out summer 2016

The 380X is much more powerful than the 970, so this will be perfect for 1080p Crossfire

the 970 would have been fine with 6GB RAM that worked, because mine are mega powerful even without the Overclock :eek:

....
so there's still at least an extra 15fps to add if i want it....

Mei · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:50

dont agree with him it will set off my nerd rage!

TheRealDeal · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:52

Kaapstad said:
So where does it say on the front of the box that it is a dual GPU card as this is it's most important feature.

My point stands.

Google the model number and you shall find out. Only fools buy something without finding out the facts first. Any review would tell you it's a dual card. Did reviewers know anything about the split memory of the gtx970. Your point falls down flat in comparison. Seriously though it can't be compared as for anyone buying the info is there to be found which was not there for the gtx970. Amd never lied and the same for Nvidia with there dual cards. I did have to explain this to a guy that has 2 x gtx690m as he thought he had 8gb but because the info is available online i was able to tell him how much vram he really has.

tommybhoy · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:54

Kaapstad said:
As a non tech savvy consumer I find the front of the box totally misleading.

Difference being the non tech savvy's your talking about don't know Nlieia's 970's have been rumbled.

The one's having an issue with ramgate are tech savvy, monumental difference and why I originally said it's a **** comparison, but you are entitled basing your opinion as a valid comparison.

Bottom line-if a single Nlieia partner(PCPer/Anand etc) were to have stated the 970 had a 192 bus in their review, Nlieia would have been all over them like an STD remedy to fix their mistake.

james.miller · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:56

melmac said:
Why does it bother you so much? People feel that they have been lied to and don't want it to happen again. They are voting with their wallet and returning the cards. It's a point of principle for these individuals not the performance.

It bothers me because people are lying about the performance of the card (single card). Then other people believe the lies, then it snowballs. I've said enough times people are more entitled to send their cards back if they want to so quite why I'm back here having this discussion again I dont know.

If you are happy with your card keep it, this thread isn't for you, it's for those people that aren't happy with the misreported specifications and the slow .5 GB of vram. For some people the first issue is the main reason for feeling hard done by, the second does affect sli configurations and could possibly affect single card situations in future.

It absolutely is for me as, unlike a lot of people in this thread, i actually own one.

tommybhoy · 1 Feb 2015 at 20:58

Then other people believe the lies, then it snowballs into mugged sales.