Nvidia to pay each GTX 970 owner $30 over memory controversy

[Scorpus]

More than a year and a half ago, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 was the subject of a major controversy concerning its memory subsystem. Enthusiasts discovered that the graphics card, which was advertised as having 4 GB of memory, actually only had 3.5 GB of high-performance GDDR5 and a further 512 MB of performance-limited GDDR5.

There was a lot of discussion at the time about whether the two-tiered memory subsystem was actually a performance issue in games. Despite Nvidia claiming it made no difference, users who bought the GTX 970 weren't happy, and filed multiple class-action lawsuits against the company alleging false advertising and deceptive business practice.

Earlier this week, Nvidia agreed to settle a total of 15 class-action lawsuits for undisclosed terms. However, Nvidia has publicly agreed to pay $30 to every person who purchased a GTX 970, and cover $1.3 million in legal fees.

This is only a preliminary settlement, so a court still needs to approve the terms before buyers can start claiming their $30. Nvidia has indicated they will not cap the total amount they will pay to consumers.

When users can begin filing their claims, we'll be sure to let you know. It's not clear at this stage whether those who purchased a GTX 970 outside of the United States will be able claim their $30, as the lawsuits were filed and settled in California.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/65771-gtx-970-owners-30-dollar-settlement.html

 

[treetops]

Sweet gimme my 30$.

 

[davislane1]

Sweet gimme my 30$.

I'll take $30 as well. Gonna use it for a 1070.

 

[Evernessince]

Is there a place we can go to claim this yet? Bout time buying that 970 paid me back a little.

 

[texasrattler]

Is there a place we can go to claim this yet? Bout time buying that 970 paid me back a little.

Court has yet to approve anything so no you cannot file a claim yet.

Glad I never invested in the 970. Came close but I had my doubts about that card and it's memory.
Real happy about the 1070 though. Badass card.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Is there a place we can go to claim this yet? Bout time buying that 970 paid me back a little.

"When users can begin filing their claims, we'll be sure to let you know. It's not clear at this stage whether those who purchased a GTX 970 outside of the United States will be able claim their $30, as the lawsuits were filed and settled in California."

Reading is hard....

 

[Steve]

Sweet gimme my 30$.

I'll take $30 as well. Gonna use it for a 1070.

haha exactly. I estimate at least 90% of those who get $30 back will use it to buy a new Pascal graphics card

It is basically an incentive that makes you feel good about the green team and well the timing worked out nicely since the 1070 offers a nice upgrade.

 

[Evernessince]

"When users can begin filing their claims, we'll be sure to let you know. It's not clear at this stage whether those who purchased a GTX 970 outside of the United States will be able claim their $30, as the lawsuits were filed and settled in California."

Reading is hard....

And trolling is easy. Instead of just ignoring it or helping you decided you would grace the internet with yet another negative comment. Good job.

 

[DaveBG]

Well deserved. Lying should be punished.

 

[Evernessince]

haha exactly. I estimate at least 90% of those who get $30 back will use it to buy a new Pascal graphics card

It is basically an incentive that makes you feel good about the green team and well the timing worked out nicely since the 1070 offers a nice upgrade.

Yep, that or a used 980 Ti. I've seen them going for under $400.

 

[Experimentongod]

I'm in Europe, if they don't fork the $30 here it's fine, I'll just refund the whole card under warranty with Amazon.

 

[mantissteam]

I bought an asus strix 970 and already got a $88 refund on it from amazon while still keeping the card
I feel its fair that card was sold as 4GB but never once I saw the memory go past 3.5 in games

 

[Daithi]

I bought an asus strix 970 and already got a $88 refund on it from amazon while still keeping the card
I feel its fair that card was sold as 4GB but never once I saw the memory go past 3.5 in games

Well that was the idea and it was what tipped off people there was something wrong in the first place, people found it was clinging on to 3.5gb usage for dear life and only tipped over in extreme cases.

 

[poohbear]

Ah man, wish this was also outside of USA! We paid more Nvidia cards than US customers (hardware is cheaper in USA than anywhere else in the world!)

 

[Adhmuz]

And trolling is easy. Instead of just ignoring it or helping you decided you would grace the internet with yet another negative comment. Good job.

So you troll the troll?...

I really hope that people outside the US can get in on this settlement, but I certainly won't hold my breath for it. On a purchase I made a year and a half ago I won't be too upset about not getting $30 back, the card has treated me great it's whole life and will continue to do so, it was easily one of my best GPU purchases in the last 5 years. I have no reason to be bitter about it, and as I've said in previous comments, DX12 seems to make use of all 4GB of VRAM, also some DX11 games as well. The rest of the games don't show any noticeable loss of performance not having that extra 512MB either. Just another typical Cali lawsuit over spilled milk, although Nvidia should have changed the specs after they got caught to depict the reality of the situation.

 

[Evernessince]

So you troll the troll?...

I really hope that people outside the US can get in on this settlement, but I certainly won't hold my breath for it. On a purchase I made a year and a half ago I won't be too upset about not getting $30 back, the card has treated me great it's whole life and will continue to do so, it was easily one of my best GPU purchases in the last 5 years. I have no reason to be bitter about it, and as I've said in previous comments, DX12 seems to make use of all 4GB of VRAM, also some DX11 games as well. The rest of the games don't show any noticeable loss of performance not having that extra 512MB either. Just another typical Cali lawsuit over spilled milk, although Nvidia should have changed the specs after they got caught to depict the reality of the situation.

And what part of my comment was trolling? Unless you are sitting there reading everything with an angry voice, I don't see it. If my comment was trolling than your "So you troll the troll" comment is on the same level. You can sit here and argue bevities with me but I think you are misreading the tone.

 

[CaptainTom]

And trolling is easy. Instead of just ignoring it or helping you decided you would grace the internet with yet another negative comment. Good job.

So you troll the troll?...

I really hope that people outside the US can get in on this settlement, but I certainly won't hold my breath for it. On a purchase I made a year and a half ago I won't be too upset about not getting $30 back, the card has treated me great it's whole life and will continue to do so, it was easily one of my best GPU purchases in the last 5 years. I have no reason to be bitter about it, and as I've said in previous comments, DX12 seems to make use of all 4GB of VRAM, also some DX11 games as well. The rest of the games don't show any noticeable loss of performance not having that extra 512MB either. Just another typical Cali lawsuit over spilled milk, although Nvidia should have changed the specs after they got caught to depict the reality of the situation.

Look you can make the argument that "It didn't effect you" all you want, but it is a fact that Nvidia intentionally received it's customers. Objectively - companies that break laws should pay a price. Lmao I cannot believe the Stockholm syndrome going on here...

 

[Chesterfried]

I bought an asus strix 970 and already got a $88 refund on it from amazon while still keeping the card
I feel its fair that card was sold as 4GB but never once I saw the memory go past 3.5 in games

Maxed GTAV does it for me, but with the right settings the 970 still made for a fantastic experience.

 

[Chesterfried]

Sweet gimme my 30$.

I'll take $30 as well. Gonna use it for a 1070.

Hard to turn down free money. The 970 is still great for 1080p gaming though, so I'll probably just hold out until the 1170 is launched next year.

 

[BrianMontanye]

In 1080p and a gtx 1080, I have yet to see more than 3.6 GB of used memory on that card. Granted, I am at 1080p and not 2/4k. I have run some pretty games though, Witcher 3, NBA2k16, Rainbow 6 siege. All run smoothly with max graphics enabled, never over 3.6gb. They deserve to be reprimanded though, misleading advertising is akin to lying in my book. Glad you guys are getting the 30$ refund.

 

[poohbear]

I bought an asus strix 970 and already got a $88 refund on it from amazon while still keeping the card
I feel its fair that card was sold as 4GB but never once I saw the memory go past 3.5 in games

Never once? How old are the games urr playing? Xcom2 & shadows of mordor use 3.9-4gb everytime I play them.

 

[LNCPapa]

Hmmm - I have 3 970s... That could put a decent dent in a 1080 even though I've never had any problems with any of my 970s.

 

[DAOWAce]

Rare that a settlement pays out more than $2.. good on NVIDIA, no doubt they're fine with it knowing people will use it to buy their next generation GPUs.. and have more than enough money with the FE overcharging they're doing with Pascal.