Wednesday, February 4th 2015
Specs Don't Matter: TechPowerUp Poll on GTX 970 Controversy
In the thick of the GeForce GTX 970 memory controversy, last Thursday (29/01), TechPowerUp asked its readers on its front-page poll, if the developments of the week affected the way they looked at the card. The results are in, and our readers gave a big thumbs-up to the card, despite the controversy surrounding its specs.
In one week since the poll went up, and at the time of writing, 7,312 readers cast their votes. A majority of 61.4 percent (4,486 votes) says that the specs of the GTX 970 don't matter, as long as they're getting the kind of performance on tap, for its $329.99 price. A sizable minority of 21.2 percent (1,553 votes) are unhappy with NVIDIA, and said they won't buy the GTX 970, because NVIDIA lied about its specs. 9.3 percent had no plans to buy the GTX 970 to begin with. Interestingly, only 5.1 percent of the respondents are fence-sitters, and waiting for things to clear up. What's even more interesting is that the lowest number of respondents, at 3 percent (219 votes), said that they're returning their GTX 970 cards on grounds of false-marketing. The poll data can be accessed here.
In one week since the poll went up, and at the time of writing, 7,312 readers cast their votes. A majority of 61.4 percent (4,486 votes) says that the specs of the GTX 970 don't matter, as long as they're getting the kind of performance on tap, for its $329.99 price. A sizable minority of 21.2 percent (1,553 votes) are unhappy with NVIDIA, and said they won't buy the GTX 970, because NVIDIA lied about its specs. 9.3 percent had no plans to buy the GTX 970 to begin with. Interestingly, only 5.1 percent of the respondents are fence-sitters, and waiting for things to clear up. What's even more interesting is that the lowest number of respondents, at 3 percent (219 votes), said that they're returning their GTX 970 cards on grounds of false-marketing. The poll data can be accessed here.
143 Comments on Specs Don't Matter: TechPowerUp Poll on GTX 970 Controversy
Also, if somebody wants to randomise their IP address just so they can vote in a poll on a random front page forum post multiple times, well, let 'em. I highly doubt anybody did however.
I'll also go ahead and note that 7000 people doesn't exactly represent the entire market of GPU buyers across the world. So, you know, don't read too much into it.
nVidia apologists vs 24/7 PMS AMD fanboys.
European Union lend money to Greece - we won't return debt.
Even when this issue first broke, these guys were saying there is no issue and Nvidia would be vindicated.
Anyone who is OK with misreporting specs is a MORON and has no credibility , morals or common decency.
With the GTX 970, you get to find out 4 months after launch day that what you bought isn't exactly what nVidia and the reviewers everywhere and the spec-sheet said you were getting. Nobody, not from the press community, and certainly not the customers, knew anything about it until a few enthusiasts noticed something strange and looked into it. But nVidia knew. Those ROPs didn't disable themselves, after all. And they sure as hell don't just use a random number generator to divine what specs they should use for the cut-down versions of their cards.
After all, at the end of the day, do you know what matters most? You can easily get a custom cooled R9 290/290X that will exhibit none of the problems the stock versions did. But you're never going to be able to get a GTX 970 that's everything nVidia said it was at launch day.
I believe in using facts, not rumour to support any logical discussion where I state an opinion.
Given Nvidia could be lying about the processes that led to this issue, we can't know the truth. Only Nvidia does, therefore I can't have any genuine opinion on that. All I know is the card isn't suitable for a very small % of users. As long as people are allowed to return cards, its actually okay.
Further, Nvidia should do something about the 512mb memory usage and pursue that avenue. If not, perhaps those angry enough can consult the lawyers.
Should Nvidia address this issue formally? Of course they should.
It doesn't detract from the red mist and some green, that has descended into a rabble of noise though.
The issue isn't closed and it will hurt Nvidia, hopefully they will do something but we'll have to wait and see.
As for AMD, its fair to bring them in as they have misled in the past (bulldozer cores, dysfunctional crossfire, throttling etc) but they were caught out as soon as most things released. I personally ditched AMD after my not so awesome £1000 hd7970 water cooled crossfire let down. It was just as bad for me that so much investment was broken (to my eyes) in most dx9 titles. They never fully fixed dx9 crossfire, enough time progressed that dx10 was prevalent.
Both teams are dishonest but yes, as an Nvidia owner I agree Nvidia are worse.
Anyway, I can't be bothered posting anymore because the terrible merry go round of these spurious posts with more emotion than fact are wasting my precious hours.
BTW, only solution is a sticker for all 970 retail boxes that can be plastered over the 4gb text that reads, "3.5". And driver work to eliminate that problematic half Meg.
Throttling was spotted from the beginning, a simple better cooler was fixing it, but yes they should have used a better cooler. As for the Crossfire, yes, that was a real problem. No excuses there. ABSOLUTELY NO excuses there, and No, I haven't had a crossfire to have a reason to be upset. It was just a huge mistake in their part. What you call emotion, it could be a fact. What you call a fact it could be emotion. For someone else it could be the other way around. Driver work is going to be difficult to fix hardware specification, in the same way that the "Wonder Driver" in the end didn't transformed the DX11 in DX12.
lololo
But that's fine, I can still bamboozle people by using the word pezaz and feel good about my knowledge of shoddy language.
He is after all a machine made of silicon and only purports to use hookers. Those hookers are in fact fembots, delivering nano tech every Friday night via a coupling process we would perceive as vulgar sexual acts.
Or not.
Basically shit happens - and AMD haven't been immune. Remember when AMD got caught falsely advertising that its flagship card had functioning hardware UVD ? No? Nor does anyone else, because the issue was largely hand waved away thanks to the card being less than popular. In the same time frame, AMD deliberately misled with their fictitious processor and bogus benchmarking. Somewhat higher profile, but largely excused by AMD fans because of their underdog status. The fact that in all probability you don't remember either just goes to show how quickly bad behaviour slips from the public consciousness. If that's too long ago, how about AMD and Nvidia's price fixing judgement, or the LCD panel price fixing scandal. In the end, the next shiny thing on the shelves trumps social conscience for the most part. If this sounds cynical, its because thisand worse, happens time and time again.
Overclockers UK and Caseking accept returned GTX 970