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
Why would TPU manipulate results ?
I have more faith in TPU and its members giving me reliable info than any marketing or political points scoring exercise by fanboys from either camp.
Nvidia vs AMD ..........boring
Intel vs AMD ...........boring
As far as I know, all current generations, NVidia 700 and AMD R#-200s for the most part, can run DX12.Saw the news about that on Tweaktown.com. I don't feel optimistic that Samsung will continue to do business, produce 14 FF chips for NVidia after the current sue job. I'm not saying it isn't going to happen, I am saying that I feel it won't happen unless the case was settled, or the agreement to produce said 14 ff chips for NVidia was agreed before the patent infringement case. Of course money always talks. So it's possible if NVidia was paying Samsung more $$$, it could happen.You're mistaken. VRam isn't summed up together as one when you add an additional graphic card to your system. If you have 3 GTX 970s in SLI with 4 GBs VRam, it doesn't mean you have a total of 12 GBs VRam. It means that each GPU has a 4 GB VRam framebuffer, and that's dedicated to each GPU. 3.5 GBs VRam each if you want to be technical plus how much ROPs less per card than previously stated by the manufacture's specs. If you go 4k and you have a 3way SLI 970 setup, and 3.8 GBs VRam is needed in this hypothetical scenario, each card will try and access 3.8 GBs VRam to store information for the image that's being rendered and sent to the display device.
I've read on Tweaktown.com that AMD is making a claim, or hinting one that after DX12 aka Win10 is released, AMD may eventually make it where AMD Mantle will allow VRam, from each GPU, to be summed up as one. This hint was made next to the one about the GPU could also use CPU memory, eventually...
@ the post,
Worst case scenario, Nvidia could be faced with false advertisement for misleading their customers with a faulty product. Consumers could take that route. It be ironic if that were to happen after trying to sue Samsung and Qualcomm. Think about it. It's not surprising. First they came out with the GTX Titan-Z for $3,000 as a high end gaming card with 64bit floating point capabilities. Hoping for AMD to fail with the R9-295x Now they've pretty much mis-lead their consumer base, or claim ignorants to the truth about their product. For consumers, worst case scenario is you couldn't play any future PC Games with high textures, surround, or go 4k HD. A heavily modded Skyrim is a big no for GTX 970. So if this was an investment that's going to last you for the next 5 years, you're totally screwed on any future PC game that requires more VRam usage. You are crap out of luck. I know Star Citizens is possibly going to be one of those games.
I don't feel it's right that AMD owners should degrade themselves or toss dirt on NVidia, but in another point of view, NVidia had it coming from the AMD camp because they've pretty much pulled the same "QQ-cry-cry-cry" card about the Frame Time Variance issues with the GPU king of 2013 aka AMD 7990. AMD took it's punches and improved from their mistakes in their own way. Now if you ask me, did NVidia deserved it, and the answer is yes. Thank your consumers for that. It's basically a natural "eye for an eye" reaction from the AMD camp at NVidia. Is NVidia going to learn from this. I highly doubt it because a majority of the base has basically rolled over, or gave into the compromise that "oh it only an issue for the card is a piece of crap if I go above 3.5 GBs VRam Usage" comments. The reals message being sent to NVidia by consumers is I will pay more for less, but don't be truthful about it.
Sadly, I think NVidia consumers deserve better than this even if NVidia consumer's don't want to stand up for themselves. Say "hey, you sold me a faulty card, this isn't what I paid for when I purchased this product." Now a lot of members on this forum are going to make the argument that "oh when AMD R9-200 cards were throttling, AMD customers didn't cry to AMD about it, or the Frame Time Variance on 7000 series cards in Crossfire was crap" case, and you know what, I think those issues are less significant than NVidia covering up a drop in ROPs or lack of full direct memory access on the GTX 970. The reasoning for that is because AMD didn't really, intentionally mislead their consumers. R9-290x cards would go up to 1.0Ghz core clock until it started throttling because of the increased temperatures. AMD fixed its Frame Time Variance issues over time. In addition, AMD Catalyst Drivers (Both beta and WHQL) are not causing issues for AMD users as much as haters would believe. The question really isn't what NVidia consumers should say to counter-argument AMD consumers about the GTX 970 issues. NVidia consumers are either going to refund their cards, or stick with their purchase because it meets there needs or expectation. I think the best question NVidia consumers should ask is are you willing to let NVidia continue to provide you with a product that doesn't meet specs when they are suppose to have a track record, over AMD, of producing reliable, premium products. Are NVidia consumers paying $500, $600 for premium NVidia products in the future that don't live up to expectations anymore.... A lot of NVidia users saying this is acceptable behavior. It's acceptable for NVidia to live up to AMD's failed standards. It won't upset you so long as you don't know right...... Once you bought these faulty products, your locked until you buy more NVidia products down the line.
It really doesn't matter what this poll represents. The polls could be a misrepresentation of the truth, it could be the truth, but it doesn't represent the 100%, bigger picture.
Potaters
Gonna
Potate
The cult of NVIDIA is almost as bad as the cult of Apple. And they call themselves intelligent people....
But what you are trying to tell me reminds of the political situation the last 40 years in Greece that brought us where we are today. Two political parties both corrupted and their voters using as arguments, not how much better their political party is, but how much worst the other political party is. You put two voters, one from each political party in a table, and they both had FACTS that where proving that both parties where corrupted and bad choices. The result? Everyone can see it today. If today half of us excuse lies from one company and the other half excuse lies from the other company, in a duopoly, tomorrow we will be reading mostly lies on the specs. Believe me.
Increased VRAM ussage... :laugh:
So the fact that only 61% in the poll said that "Spec's don't matter" still poses a problem for Nvidia
Also, you didn't separate those actually in the market for a new GPU. Those not in the market for a new GPU are probably more likely to say they don't matter (plus it was the first answer in the poll, which always skews results).
Those actually in the market for a new GPU I would bet my paycheck that there would be more of those who are concerned or at a minimum "fence sitters".
I myself came close to pulling the trigger on a 970. The controversy caused me to pause, and I think I'll wait it out to see what AMD comes out with next year.
It depends how UT4 starts to become a most used game engine whore again as UT3 was.
Or... how fast this thing will pop in Xbone SDK and thus automatically ported to game engine and then to PC... So I think not that long really... might be even late this year...
Where's Crytek? He's quite silent like a partisan lately... I guess the money crisis lol kind of broke them down?
Remember me ads about smartphone with "8GB"... "what?! I have only 5.1GB.. my phone is defective..."
If the vote was somehow able to let only people who own the GTX 970, how different would the actual poll be? Who knows...
I don't see how the results were not expected, the card is still a decent card and that has not changed, just its value perspective and where it sits is now a bit off. People who bought 1 GTX 970 are probably not going to ever experience the problem at least until the point of upgrade down the line because the GPU's only have enough power to really run 1440p 60hz effectively. 1080p 120/144 with, or 1440p 60hz-144hz as well are hard enough to run as is (Well maybe not the 1080P option as much, and DSR is a different story) and its going to require 2+ cards to be effective as it is (Also including 4K 60hz) which just means use other options/go for the gold if you want to run them effectively. I don't see having 3.5gb as really a problem for this card, just being told it has more than it can run effectively as being the issue and honestly people should have a problem being told a lie. But you should not be forced to return a card your satisfied with as that makes no sense...
It is like buying a 1TB drive, expecting it to be 1000 GB, but in reality usable only 930 GB.
And that is exactly what happens and no one sues Seagate or WD... :rolleyes:
But, why don't you concentrate on the upcoming Radeon R9 380X which promises very significant performance improvements, low temperatures and high durability???
1. Many consumers are technically challenged
2. Many consumers don't mind be defrauded
3. Many consumers have no moral compass
4. Nvidia is unscrupulous
5. Nvidia intentionally deceived the sheeple
ah! whatever...