nVidia to pay up for GTX 970 memory problem

Chester Copperpot

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Nvidia to pay out $30 to every buyer of the GTX 970 in class-action lawsuit settlement | PCGamesN

Nvidia are in hot water with the law and it's going to be extremely costly for the company. The hardware manufacturers marketed their GTX 970 series of GPUs as having 4GB of video access memory, despite only 3.5GB being actually available. Now it's time to pay for that deception, and with it being one of the most popular modern GPUs, they'll definitely pay.

What GPU will you be using to power our list of upcoming PC games?

Nvidia have agreed to a preliminary settlement that will resolve claims in a group of proposed class action lawsuits on the matter. The settlement has Nividia paying out $1.3 million in attorneys’ fees and the company also promises to pay each buyer of the GTX 970 card $30.

Additionally, there will not be a cap on the total amount Nvidia would pay consumers.

“The settlement is fair and reasonable and falls within the range of possible approval,” attorneys for the proposed Class said in the filing, via Top Class Actions. “It is the product of extended arms-length negotiations between experienced attorneys familiar with the legal and factual issues of this case and all settlement class members are treated fairly under the terms of the settlement.”

The case dates back to 2015 when the initial class action was proposed. According to court documents, the recent settlement with Nvidia includes a total of 15 consumer class action lawsuits that were consolidated in Northern California as well is a pending action in San Diego.

If you bought a 970 like me, you're entitled to $30. That figure was calculated as the value of the 0.5GB you're missing in proportion to the total cost. Details on how to claim are not available currently, but we will update when they are.
 

Chester Copperpot

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Well, let's see if this works out since I bought a 970 and it only has 3.5 GB available IIRC.

It's an architectural issue so every 970 has this issue. So if you have a 970, get your free tank of gas.

Oooh I have a 970. I didn't even know about this since I only run one monitor at 1080 right now anyway.

It really only presents itself when going over 1440p and ultra setting in most games. 4K will definitely make the issue appear. But fuck it, as mentioned above, do it anyway.
 

ragingclue

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It really only presents itself when going over 1440p and ultra setting in most games. 4K will definitely make the issue appear. But fuck it, as mentioned above, do it anyway.

Yup. I think I'll still be fine when I add a 1440 to the setup but no skin off nVidia's back if I get my free lunch.

I guess my question is, what motivated them to lie about it? What did they have to gain and who thought they'd actually get this past people?
 

muskie

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Just to clarify since reading some of the comments I feel some people are confused.

There is not 3.5GB of memory when they claimed 4GB. There is 4GB of memory integrated into the card.

With that said, the 3.5GB is very fast high end GDDR5. They chose to use a lesser performing memory for the remaining .5GB. The issue is when the GPU demands the use of more than 3.5GB (When doing 1440p or 4K or 1080p with many filters) the performance when sharing two memory pools, with one at a much lower speed, is terrible.

TL;DR - They aren't lying by saying there is 4GB of memory in the card, they just mislead people into thinking it was all high performing and not 3.5GB of fast and .5GB of junk.
 

Chester Copperpot

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I've read a couple theories. One being that the remaining 512MB was permanently "reserved" so, yes it has 4GB, as soon as you went over 3.5, the game/application crashed due to not having enough VRAM. I've also heard your explanation of the "slower" VRAM where the game suddenly crawls to a halt.

Either way, there's only 3.5GB AVAILABLE (as the article points out) of the VRAM rated at the speed and performance of what nVidia claimed. Hence the lawsuit.
 

TCG Member 5219

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I filled out the required form back in November. Chances are, we won't see that money ever.

Waiting on 1080 prices to drop as did the 970's from $600 to $300.

Just get a 1070. Those are boss for everything including 1440p @144hz. If you want to do 4K or ultrawide 4k then you will need more than a single 1080. Settings cranked ofcourse. I could run 4k easily on my 1070 rigs when I brought settings down from ultra to high. 60fps was achievable. But for my next rig, its going to be a Titan XP or nothing. Unless some magical 1080ti comes out anytime soon. Im getting the itch again to piece together another rig. 4k@60 on ultra for everything or bust.
 

Grabber

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Just get a 1070. Those are boss for everything including 1440p @144hz. If you want to do 4K or ultrawide 4k then you will need more than a single 1080. Settings cranked ofcourse. I could run 4k easily on my 1070 rigs when I brought settings down from ultra to high. 60fps was achievable. But for my next rig, its going to be a Titan XP or nothing. Unless some magical 1080ti comes out anytime soon. Im getting the itch again to piece together another rig. 4k@60 on ultra for everything or bust.

Debating it.

My 970 can run 1080 in almost any game, but, I want more dedicated memory. Sometimes I run two games at one on a single display. When I first go it, it handled it without issue. Now, the frames start to lag a bit.

Biggest concern is my PSU. I dread the day I need to replace it. Once it goes out, my PC will probably sit forever. LOL
 

bikrboy128

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i'm curious as to how this was actually discovered.

some in game monitor software displays how much vram is being used. iirc people noticed big performance/crashing issues with more than 3.5gb vram being used.

shitty thing for nvidia to do since it's a great card otherwise. at least they are "stepping up to the plate" and issuing refunds.
 
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