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

fs123 · 2 Feb 2015 at 15:49

RavenXXX2 said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgObJcJhKoc

970 does not look smooth at all compared to the 980, even though it's low FPS you can see the micro stutters on the 970.

That's how it played on my 970. Very stuttery especially when turning left or right. It would be interesting to see how it plays on the 290X.

RavenXXX2 · 2 Feb 2015 at 15:50

ED209 said:
just watched it and you can see the 970 stuttering

Looks like Nvidia have driver optimized it to just use the 3.5GB of Vram?

Calin Banc · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:08

http://i.imgur.com/UBEVQqw.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7vsjK7p.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Lrzlnpj.jpghttp:...ris_vorontsov_from_enbseries_has_a_theory_on/

Conclusion: The only difference between all of these runs at different RAM and GPU memory speeds is the last number in the DDR test which when at a RAM clock of 800Mhz is lower than at 1600MHz, all the other numbers are almost the same. Surprisingly, overclocking the 970 made absolutely no change to any of the numbers which is very strange to say the least. I'd expected to reach more than ~155GB/s at an overclock of 800MHz to the GPU memory (7000Mhz to 7800MHz), but apparently it changed nothing. Maybe it's an issue with the benchmark or maybe it's the card, who knows.

Tomorrow, I Might try the memory dump test, MSI Kombustor benchmark and filling RAM up to 8gb and running a benchmark on the 970. It's 6:30am here where I live, so I'll be going to sleep now.

I urge everyone with a 970 to do these tests and post back the results. We need more than just 1 person doing these benchmarks.

edit #2: I just tried the AIDA64 RAM stress test which filled up the RAM to almost full 8gb. I tried running Nai's benchmark while the RAM was almost full, but my screen went black halfway through and Nvidia's driver crashed. So, there's that... If anyone knows any other programs that fill up the RAM, let me know.

edit #3: I just tried disabling pagefile and games constantly crashed or absolutely never reached over 3.3-3.5GB of VRAM (SoM, Far Cry 4). Try it yourself.

So, the "new" word around is that it actually has only 3,5GB vRAM, the last 0,5 "being" system RAM or at least depending heavily on it. :confused:

Bonjour · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:15

But surely someone would have noticed if the last 512MB chip was physically missing?

crinkleshoes · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:16

easyrider said:
Just watched a video in Far cry 4 970GTX at 2160 V the 980 and the stutter on the 970 was dreadful

ED209 said:
just watched it and you can see the 970 stuttering

RavenXXX2 said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgObJcJhKoc

970 does not look smooth at all compared to the 980, even though it's low FPS you can see the micro stutters on the 970.

Exactly the kind of thing I'm seeing too... it gets sooooo much worse when you push above 3.5GB!

I've already taken a comparison of 3.4GB vs 3.6GB in FC4... I will be exchanging my cards, I'll grab some videos when the 980s make it to me.

So far I have a stock response from my retailer (foreign, otherwise I would have used OCUK) stating they want to charge me about 15% to take them back... but it seems like just a stock "OK, we'll take back your cards if they're untouched" response rather than one more tailored to the issue at hand... I am pushing them and waiting on a response.

naujoks · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:24

grimm said:
I wouldn't accept any stuttering at all with that setup unless I was sure it was caused by the game and not the card(s).

I never expected the two sub £300 cards to run 4k at full details without any stuttering. Even though that video of Far Cry 4 showed some stuttering, it's far from being an unholy stuttering mess.

Loque · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:30

naujoks said:
I never expected the two sub £300 cards to run 4k at full details without any stuttering. Even though that video of Far Cry 4 showed some stuttering, it's far from being an unholy stuttering mess.

That's true, but at the end of the day, when you spend 600 quid on your GPU's alone, you don't want to have to deal with any kind of stuttering. I didn't pay 600 quid for GPU's with asterix next to their name.

Harlequin · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:30

naujoks said:
I never expected the two sub £300 cards to run 4k at full details without any stuttering. Even though that video of Far Cry 4 showed some stuttering, it's far from being an unholy stuttering mess.

so you drop £600 on video cards and they don't work as expected? what in your opinion then do you need to spend on getting it to work to your level?

Crucio · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:31

Gibbo said:
Still refusing at present!
To you the customer it does not matter, OcUK has decided to cover cost for the brands which don't step up and support us.

Really surprised by Gigabyte there. One of the reason I picked them for my 970 was due to all the good stories I read about their customer service, for them to not step up when so many other brands have is extremely disappointing.

I was considering sending mine back, but now would feel horrible to know it might come out of oc's pocket when all you have done is provide a perfect service.

Tonester0011 · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:36

Harlequin said:
so you drop £600 on video cards and they don't work as expected? what in your opinion then do you need to spend on getting it to work to your level?

What's the price got to do it?
If you want max details then even my dog knows a 970 won't cut the mustard @4k.
There's a compromise in everything you buy, get a couple of 970s and want to play @4k turn settings down.

Legend · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:37

naujoks said:
I never expected the two sub £300 cards to run 4k at full details without any stuttering. Even though that video of Far Cry 4 showed some stuttering, it's far from being an unholy stuttering mess.

Well, that's the thing, with 290X 8GB cards in Crossfire, which can now be had for under £300 each (just), you can run 4K smoothly. So it's a bit of a fail if the 970 stumbles before it even gets there, as many are reporting.

TheRealDeal · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:37

Harlequin said:
so you drop £600 on video cards and they don't work as expected? what in your opinion then do you need to spend on getting it to work to your level?

£400 on a couple of 290 pcs+ or £600 on a pair of msi 290x 8gb cards should see him working good. £800 on a pair of gtx980's. Keep the gtx970's below 3.5gb of ram should also work.

setter · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:39

Yup, if you want decent fps at 4k, the barest minimum for me would be a pair of 8gb 290's or the old 6gb nvidia titans.

Mal X · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:41

what it also does is to load in the trees at close range, why aren't they there a mile away !!!!!.....but mine also did :-

1.....strange shadows and blocks appearing all over the place
2......twitchy stuff in the corner of your vision
3......stuttery join marks as you move the mouse around

solution :- Delete it

FC3 has this stuff too but only slightly, but a game like Dishonored/Metro is perfect

i dont think this is the GPU............because this looks like a game that was released far too early without anyone checking it for faults

yea' this makes the most sense doesn't it

because you only have to see how bad Uplay is as well.

FC4 is also a very annoying game to play if you decide to walk everywhere, so if you do delete it, i guarantee you wont miss it

Harlequin · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:42

Tonester0011 said:
What's the price got to do it?
If you want max details then even my dog knows a 970 won't cut the mustard @4k.
There's a compromise in everything you buy, get a couple of 970s and want to play @4k turn settings down.

then tbh your dog is stupid

2 x GTX 970 plays bioshock infinite perfectly well @ 4k and 60fps at max details as it does starcraft 2 , wow (even 1 card gets over 60fps at 4k) , tomb raider , batman AO ....

it depends on the games you play to how the cards perform

RavenXXX2 · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:43

It's the game? so why is the 980 not a stutter mess.

Harlequin · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:45

setter said:
Yup, if you want decent fps at 4k, the barest minimum for me would be a pair of 8gb 290's or the old 6gb nvidia titans.

again it depends on the games you play - civ:be for example you get 40fps @4k with 1 card and nearly 75fps with SLI

Bonjour · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:50

FC3 was a stuttery mess on crossfired 290s as well. I put it down to the game.

Well, maybe not a 'mess', but nowhere near as smooth as a well coded game like Tomb Raider for example.

Gregster · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:51

RavenXXX2 said:
It's the game? so why is the 980 not a stutter mess.

Depends on where you look. Plenty of people reporting stutter on a 980, a 970, a 290X, a 290, a Titan Black etc in different games. Hell, I get stutter in Elite Dangerous when I get near to a planet...Faulty Titan memory ya think?

Mal X · 2 Feb 2015 at 16:52

setter said:
Yup, if you want decent fps at 4k, the barest minimum for me would be a pair of 8gb 290's or the old 6gb nvidia titans.

yes, i would recommend this for 1080p as well..... i wouldn't fool around doing this in 1/2 measures anymore.... save yourself the grief, spend a bit more and get a monster or two inside your rig.