What is ACTUALLY going on with 970s?

[Britanian]

Hey all,

 

What is ACTUALLY goin on with the GTX 970s ffrom Nvidia, i hear that it is a VRAM problem and that the last 700mb isn't working but can someone just give me a straight answer. Some are saying that there isn't a problem and that this happens on all cards. Please only answer if you know exactly what is happening, what Nvidia plan on doing about and how long it will take.

 

Thnx in adavance,

Brit,

[FloRolf]

this:

http://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-Responds-GTX-970-35GB-Memory-Issue

Edit: If you can't figure it out, this issue is no issue.

[TheEatenCookie]

Delta Color Compression.....

[C0LL0SS0S]

There is a little problem with the VRam, ofc it gets overhyped without anyone even really knowing whats the problem, because the problem is like not as big as the hype so the hype would be gone and so it gets pushed, basically it is the Internet so yeah

[Britanian]

this:

http://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-Responds-GTX-970-35GB-Memory-Issue

Edit: If you can't figure it out, this issue is no issue.

Sooooo..... It would only affect me if im gaming at higher than 1920x1080?? right? I would be ok to run games at high to ultra at 1080p?

[Justhavocman]

There is a little problem with the VRam, ofc it gets overhyped without anyone even really knowing whats the problem, because the problem is like not as big as the hype so the hype would be gone and so it gets pushed, basically it is the Internet so yeah

For us gaming at 1440p where the times we hit the 4GB cap is not few , it's a real problem , going over the 3.5GB causes fps loss and stutters , so i'd say it's a real problem and Nvidia should address it accordingly instead of making excuses.

[zappian]

For us gaming at 1440p where the times we hit the 4GB cap is not few , it's a real problem , going over the 3.5GB causes fps loss and stutters , so i'd say it's a real problem and Nvidia should address it accordingly instead of making excuses.

 

They have said its a issue of the cards arquitecture since its split into two modules a 3.5 one and a smaller albeit faster 0.5 module.

 

I think they cant fix it at all , basiclly the 970 isnt a "true" 4 GB card like the 980.

 

Quote from nvidia:

 

The GeForce GTX 970 is equipped with 4GB of dedicated graphics memory. However the 970 has a different configuration of SMs than the 980, and fewer crossbar resources to the memory system. To optimally manage memory traffic in this configuration, we segment graphics memory into a 3.5GB section and a 0.5GB section. The GPU has higher priority access to the 3.5GB section. When a game needs less than 3.5GB of video memory per draw command then it will only access the first partition, and 3rd party applications that measure memory usage will report 3.5GB of memory in use on GTX 970, but may report more for GTX 980 if there is more memory used by other commands. When a game requires more than 3.5GB of memory then we use both segments.

We understand there have been some questions about how the GTX 970 will perform when it accesses the 0.5GB memory segment. The best way to test that is to look at game performance. Compare a GTX 980 to a 970 on a game that uses less than 3.5GB. Then turn up the settings so the game needs more than 3.5GB and compare 980 and 970 performance again.

On GTX 980, Shadows of Mordor drops about 24% on GTX 980 and 25% on GTX 970, a 1% difference. On Battlefield 4, the drop is 47% on GTX 980 and 50% on GTX 970, a 3% difference. On CoD: AW, the drop is 41% on GTX 980 and 44% on GTX 970, a 3% difference. As you can see, there is very little change in the performance of the GTX 970 relative to GTX 980 on these games when it is using the 0.5GB segment. 

 

Then they go on listing performance numbers without accounting frame variance , and try unsuccessfully to smooth over the situation.

[zappian]

Its the Green team. Hardware defects are super trivial.

 

But for Red team, someone fucks up his driver installation and you can vow never to buy their stuff again.

 

A thousand times this .

 

Nvidia lie to the faces of customers and you people dont care, but if AMD has one bad batch of drivers it game over.

[Justhavocman]

They have said its a issue of the cards arquitecture since its split into two modules a 3.5 one and a smaller albeit faster 0.5 module.

 

I think they cant fix it at all , basiclly the 970 isnt a "true" 4 GB card.

They marketed it as one and so i expected it to perform as one , claiming otherwise 4-5 months after it's release is bad company practice and i would refrain from purchasing Nvidia cards in the future unless they do something to fix their mess. I'm actually switching to red side from now on.

[FloRolf]

Sooooo..... It would only affect me if im gaming at higher than 1920x1080?? right? I would be ok to run games at high to ultra at 1080p?

did you read the article?

You can clearly see that going from under 3.5gb vram usage to over 3.5gb vram usage results in 1-3% performance difference between the 980 (which does NOT have this issue) and the 970.

So bascially you are fine in every scenario under 4gb.

[zappian]

They marketed it as one and so i expected it to perform as one , claiming otherwise 4-5 months after it's release is bad company practice and i would refrain from purchasing Nvidia cards in the future unless they do something to fix their mess. I'm actually switching to red side from now on.

 

It was indeed dishonest from their part , they knew this from the get go.

 

First the 960 flopped hard then this ,nvidia is dropping the ball.

 

To quote gabe newell:

 

[Justhavocman]

It was indeed dishonest from their part , they knew this from the get go.

 

First the 960 flopped hard then this ,nvidia is dropping the ball.

 

To quote gabe newell:

 

 

Quote well ...quoted?  

 

I'd say everyone should stay off Nvidia for a little while , let them know we mean business

[ZeroPlasm]

I wouldn't call this a small issue. Lots of people will say "Oh, the 970 is a 1080p card, and no 1080p games would ever need more than 3.5GB of VRAM blah blah blah". I call BS. 

 

Games do use more than 3.5GB of VRAM. COD:AW in my case stutters when VRAM usage goes above 3.5GB and that is pretty annoying as it is a pretty fast paced game and the last thing I need is stuttering. Frame timings and FPS are different things altogether so even though my game can run at 90FPS no problem, stuttering is definitely noticeable. 

 

So when NVIDIA released their charts and whatnots on the issue, they proved nothing at all. Yes, the game runs at X FPS, but frame times might not be consistent.

 

I swapped out my 970 for my older 7970 which only has 3GB of VRAM, frame rates are lower but I do not experience the stuttering that I was experiencing on my 970.

 

I really hope the issue can be resolved with a firmware update, this is my first time going with NVIDIA and I really hope that it is not my last.

[zappian]

Quote well ...quoted?

 

I'd say everyone should stay off Nvidia for a little while , let them know we mean business

´

I have never been a fan of their business practises , they are dishonest and petty .

 

They use dirty tricks to get over AMD on the gpu market and dont play fair at all.

 

This just proves im right.

[zappian]

I wouldn't call this a small issue. Lots of people will say "Oh, the 970 is a 1080p card, and no 1080p games would ever need more than 3.5GB of VRAM blah blah blah". I call BS. 

 

Games do use more than 3.5GB of VRAM. COD:AW in my case stutters when VRAM usage goes above 3.5GB and that is pretty annoying as it is a pretty fast paced game and the last thing I need is stuttering. Frame timings and FPS are different things altogether so even though my game can run at 90FPS no problem, stuttering is definitely noticeable. 

 

So when NVIDIA released their charts and whatnots on the issue, they proved nothing at all. Yes, the game runs at X FPS, but frame times might not be consistent.

 

I swapped out my 970 for my older 7970 which only has 3GB of VRAM, frame rates are lower but I do not experience the stuttering that I was experiencing on my 970.

 

I really hope the issue can be resolved with a firmware update, this is my first time going with NVIDIA and I really hope that it is not my last.

 

Yeah nvidia tried to quell the situation saying the fps over 3.5 GB usage were almost the same as the 980.

 

Yeah thats all fine and good but where are the frame variance stats?

 

I dont think nvidia can fix this with a fimware update anymore , its an architectural hardware issue of how the card was designed.

 

Thats highly unlikely.

[Nup]

´

I have never been a fan of their business practises , they are dishonest and petty .

 

They use dirty tricks to get over AMD on the gpu market and dont play fair at all.

 

This just proves im right.

 

I was always under the impression that the tech industry was quite forward and had little bullshit, when it came to the actual manufacturing of products like these.

 

Then again I haven't been around very long

[zappian]

I was always under the impression that the tech industry was quite forward and had little bullshit, when it came to the actual manufacturing of products like these.

 

Then again I haven't been around very long

 

Gameworks fucks AMD in the ass consisntently.

 

[Nup]

*cough* A 770 beats a 290 in most game works titles *cough*

 

Hahah alright, you have a point  

[zappian]

Hahah alright, you have a point

 

Finanly found the benchmark i was looking for.

 

This was the situation at launch , kinda of absurd...

[Guest]

this:

http://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-Responds-GTX-970-35GB-Memory-Issue

Edit: If you can't figure it out, this issue is no issue.

 

Nvidias testing methodology here is complete bs. They're changing a bunch of variables at once and they just show raw FPS figures, this is in no way a proper test for the issue. We have a raw benchmark that specifically tests the VRAM, we have quite a few people reporting issues while gaming, it is an issue.

 

The last .5GB of VRAM are effectively useless on the 970, a card that was advertised as a 4GB GPU. Stop defending this kind of behaviour, especially if you like Nvidia GPUs you should be furious right now. First we found out that the 970s performed worse in high-res gaming than they should in comparison to a 980 and now this. And don't even get started with "you won't notice it while gaming!" because that doesn't matter. Think about SLI 970 owners, they will eventually need more than 3.5GB of VRAM. Think about people playing at high resolutions, they will notice it sooner or later. It is a severe issue for many people, and they have every right to be pissed off right now.

 

Obviously we don't have all the information yet, but dismissing it and saying that it's "just the internet being the internet" doesn't help. Investigate, keep the pressure on Nvidia and make sure that they don't get away with it if it turns out to be true.

[Nup]

-snip-

 

Finanly found the benchmark i was looking for.

 

This was the situation at launch , kinda of absurd...

 

damn, ok, well that settles that, as you said. Shame  

[Dabombinable]

Maybe its just a large percentage of cards affected? Because no matter what I through at my 970, I can utilize the full 4GB.

[ZeroPlasm]

I was always under the impression that the tech industry was quite forward and had little bullshit, when it came to the actual manufacturing of products like these.

 

Then again I haven't been around very long

 

It was a little while ago but I remembered NVIDIA stealing lots of confidential info from AMD, not cool.

[zappian]

It was a little while ago but I remembered NVIDIA stealing lots of confidential info from AMD, not cool.

 

They are assholes , nvidia is the king of anti consumer practices.

[ZeroPlasm]

Maybe its just a large percentage of cards affected? Because no matter what I through at my 970, I can utilize the full 4GB.

 

What did you throw on your 970? Synthetic benchmarks are useless, you must play a game that is pretty VRAM heavy. I like to use COD:AW as an example because it uses more than 3.5GB of VRAM and the constant running around and boosting everywhere really makes the stuttering quite obvious.