Doomslayer
New member
How can i find out if i have the 3.5GB & 500Mb one cause the programs i use it only said 4GB
GTX 970 3,5GB + 0,5GB with 56 ROP and less cache than advertised.
- Thread starter agent_x007
- Start date
How can i find out if i have the 3.5GB & 500Mb one cause the programs i use it only said 4GB
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
They all do. Software just reads what the GPUs bios says.. which 4GB of vram. It doesn't specify if it is split
They are ALL 3.5gb and 500mb partition.
It is because the final L2 is disabled on the 970 cards. What this means is that the DRAM, and memory controller that would have handled the last L2 has to share the 7th L2. On kepler cards they would have disabled the entire cluster so the L2 and MC would have been disabled. However in this case this sharing of the 7th L2 is what is causing the drop.
The 4gb memory is basically 3.5gb used by the first 7 memory controllers and then 500mb for the last mem controller
Now considering that reviewers on many websites including this one has tested the bejesus out of these cards and not noticed this, shows that there really isnt a problem. Its pretty much a 3.5gb card with an extra 500mb layer. If you really want to check, search for a german coder named Nai who has a vrambandwidthtest.
It is because the final L2 is disabled on the 970 cards. What this means is that the DRAM, and memory controller that would have handled the last L2 has to share the 7th L2. On kepler cards they would have disabled the entire cluster so the L2 and MC would have been disabled. However in this case this sharing of the 7th L2 is what is causing the drop.
The 4gb memory is basically 3.5gb used by the first 7 memory controllers and then 500mb for the last mem controller
Now considering that reviewers on many websites including this one has tested the bejesus out of these cards and not noticed this, shows that there really isnt a problem. Its pretty much a 3.5gb card with an extra 500mb layer. If you really want to check, search for a german coder named Nai who has a vrambandwidthtest.
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Doomslayer
New member
In TTL's reviews of the 970, I'm sure he never said anything about it, I would have thought, if Tom thought it was going to be an issue i'm sure he would have said something
steverebo
New member
Nvidia have been very clever with their drivers and tuned them to make sure on benchmarks and bench test games the card only operates within the first 3.5gb of vram.
It's only when end users started to notice the stuttering and frame rate drops in particular games that nvidia came clean
It's only when end users started to notice the stuttering and frame rate drops in particular games that nvidia came clean
Exactly. He never said it because there isnt an issue. It was how Nvidia addressed the memory controller while having 1 disabled L2.
And anyway, the only reason it was found was because of the bandwidth test of the last 500mb. in fact it is pretty much 3.2gb onwards that is affected because of the allocated memory used by Windows Aero. Aero uses 300mb if i remember correctly.
Nvidia have given you a 4gb 970 card that uses... all 4gb. It is just that the last 500mb suffers due to the sharing of the 7th L2. Very few games will use up all the memory, but there are some such as Shadows of Mordor that are quite hungry. When TTL of OC3D or Hilbert of Guru3D reviews a card like these, and provides us with bench results in gaming and does not report an issue then I trust their findings. Nvidia will never get fined or see a day in court over this. The card works and you actually have been given the specs that you paid for
I agree. They were very naughty here. But really they did nothing wrong with the design to be honest. I guess it was cheaper to produce a 980 and disable an L2 rather than change the architecture for a 970 card. Personally I can't see why they didnt just disable the entire L2/MC cluster and call this a 3.5gb card for transparency. And maybe throw in a 500mb L3 layer as mentioned on another site.
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Doomslayer
New member
You are forgetting a modded to the eye balls Skyrim dude, But i agreed
Very true. Forgot about modded games.
Doomslayer
New member
Some modded games shouldn't be an issue, Something like ETS 2 shouldn't be any issues with a game like that
steverebo
New member
I completely agree, this card should have been marketed as a 3.5gb card. The main issue is nvidia and their shady marketing tactics
"Hey let's wait till we have sold hundreds of thousands of units and lined our pockets with gold and then when people start to notice a problem tell them, actually the product you bought isn't actually what we said it was"
It's absolutely disgraceful and I hope the EU trading commission rip em a new one.
I doubt EU trading commission will do anything. In the end you do have a card that has 4gb and also uses up all 4gb. Nothing in the specs states that the last 500mb bandwidth will drop to 10-25gb/s. as opposed to the 175-196gb/s for the 3.5gb memory partition. It's very poor form by Nvidia but I guess they have their asses covered.
steverebo
New member
Your right about the amount the vram technically yes it has 4gb but they did falsely advertise the memory bandwidth and amount of Rops the card has which is why they are on damage control.
They claim it was a miscommunication between the engineering team and marketing team. Hmm likely story
They claim it was a miscommunication between the engineering team and marketing team. Hmm likely story
Yeah, bad thing now is that we have to prove that it was miscommunication. They could also argue that they sent a tonne of cards out for review and no one even contemplated this issue until recently which could even back up their statement of miscommunication.
For TTL and all other reviewers for future cards. It would be nice to have a benchmark for bandwidth per memory cluster in reviews from now on. This has been an interesting topic thats for sure.
steverebo
New member
I think they are bang to rights on the false advertising as their own marketing team advertised the cards with one set of specs when in fact they were another and they had ample opportunity to correct the reviewers who are given the marketing material from nvidia and their own marketing team but chose not to.
No matter how hard you ague you cannot justify the 5 month period that had passed before nvidia came clean about the true specifications.
Ignorance is not an excuse in law and the actions where dishonest and unethical
No matter how hard you ague you cannot justify the 5 month period that had passed before nvidia came clean about the true specifications.
Ignorance is not an excuse in law and the actions where dishonest and unethical
I completely agree. But taking on these huge corporations is often difficult. I wonder if a hefty fine would shake up the market overall and push up AMD prices as well as CPU costs etc. There would have to be a knock on effect somewhere.
steverebo
New member
with the way nvidia have acted I honestly think nvidia knew the risks and knew what they were doing and calculated the maximum fine they would receive would not outweigh the profits. At one point 970's were out of stock everywhere.
Another thing they might do is give consumers some kind of compensation like a free game download or something petty and claim "look we were wrong we have come clean and compensated our customers"
Another thing they might do is give consumers some kind of compensation like a free game download or something petty and claim "look we were wrong we have come clean and compensated our customers"
Doomslayer
New member
Well it would have to be World Wide then IMO
Companies wont come clean about shit like this because it will affect Stock value. They will hide it and risk the damages later.
Doomslayer
New member
That is true, I think we will just have to put up with it and wait and see what they will do with the "1000 or 1100" series cards
steverebo
New member
Now nvidia have come clean they are on major damage limitation.
I wonder how they will deal with it and how they will address the angry consumers as most people including myself bought these cards for high res gaming and future proofing.
This is the true test for nvidia, how they deal with this mistake will show what kind of company they truly are.
this is also now an opportunity for anyone who was refused an RMA for their coil whine to get a refund on the grounds of product not as described as the memory bandwidth on the side of the box is completely wrong
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