Friday, July 29th 2016

NVIDIA Settles Class-Action Lawsuit Over GTX 970 Memory

NVIDIA settled in a 2015 class-action lawsuit against it, for misrepresenting the amount of memory on GeForce GTX 970 graphics cards. The company has agreed to pay every buyer of the card USD $30 (per card), and also cover the legal fees of the class, amounting to $1.3 million. The company, however, did not specify how much money it has set aside for the payout, and whether it will compensate only those buyers who constitute the class (i.e. buyers in the U.S., since that's as far as the court's jurisdiction can reach), or the thousands of GTX 970 buyers worldwide.

"The settlement is fair and reasonable and falls within the range of possible approval," attorneys for the proposed Class said in the filing. "It is the product of extended arms-length negotiations between experienced attorneys familiar with the legal and factual issues of this case and all settlement class members are treated fairly under the terms of the settlement." The class alleged that NVIDIA falsified the amount of memory a GeForce GTX 970 GPU can really use, when an investigation found that it could only address 3.5 GB of it properly. NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang apologized to buyers about the issue and promised that it would never happen again.
Source: TopClassActions
Add your own comment

109 Comments on NVIDIA Settles Class-Action Lawsuit Over GTX 970 Memory

#51
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
ssdproWhy would seeing a previous-gen out of production series listed as EOL/legacy cause you to start rolling on the floor? If seeing that made you drop from your chair and start flopping around on the floor I think a trip to the family physician might be in order.
And I'm not sure why he's busting on the drivers. Maxwell 2 is 2 years old. You can only use software to squeeze so much performance out of the hardware limits. Once the hardware is "givin' it all she's got", that's it. There's no reason to keep putting out Maxwell optimizations after that. It would just be wasted expense.

If that's legacy drivers" then I'm all for it, because it means NVIDIA did everything it could to give me all the performance that my hardware could produce.
Posted on Reply
#52
FYFI13
Radeon lordWhen time of directx 12 comes you will see how fury x beat lovely gtx 1070
No need for Vega
When actual time of DX12 comes i will be using GTX 1270 ;-)
Posted on Reply
#53
$ReaPeR$
the54thvoidLet me quote the relevant part of your initial post and see if you can understand why you were being 'general' and therefore insulting many people (who pay for Nvidia products).



Perhaps you should type more slowly or read your posts before posting. You are certainly implying all people that buy Nvidia cards do so because of peer pressure and they have some form of phallus envy. Don't hide fro your own post and throw your hands in the air. Face your anger, face your demons and simply say, "sorry mate, I didn't mean to sound so petty."
ok, let me clarify since you dont seem to grasp the difference between enthusiasts and the general public. enthusiasts buy a product based on the reviews the specs and their needs, the general public buys a product because "marketing". im not sorry that i dont like that. but that also means that i wasnt talking about you or any of the people in this forum or enthusiast in general for that matter, because this forum is for enthusiasts and people that do their homework before they buy something. should i make that clarification every single time? isnt that redundant?
and in order to support my point: do you believe that the majority of people actually need a 700$ smartphone? i think not, they buy it because "its shiny" and "everyone has it". those are the people i meant, not you or me or the vast majority of the people in this forum.

now, i dont believe that you agree with the way nvidia operated in this case, so if you dont agree with the way a company is operating the only way to make them change is by boycotting their products, unless you literally have no other choice. anything else is pointless imo.
in the end everyone can do whatever they want with their money, just like everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Posted on Reply
#54
HumanSmoke
the54thvoidWho's more likely to shaft you? Right now - probably Nvidia because they can afford to. AMD can't afford to make big PR mistakes, they need to play safe but rest assured in the past they have shafted you. Where's @HumanSmoke? He's a factoid on the dubious history of each brand.
In the greater picture, both Nvidia and AMD play pretty clean in the corporate world. Nvidia have had a hand slap, but there's nothing to say AMD couldn't be hot water either over misrepresentation of Llano yields. Raja Koduri's assertion of Polaris being "months ahead" of Pascal some months back also reeks of short termism in righting AMD's financial outlook

If you're looking for a continuous record of company disdain for its own customers - price fixing, bribery, disregard for upholding warranties, false claims regarding component fit-out, then two companies stand head and shoulders above the rest - Samsung and LG (whom AMD are currently suing incidentally). Regardless of the penalties, fines, and judgments that amass against these two gigantic chaebols I have yet to see any effort on a tech forum to boycott Samsung and LG products - particularly monitors, where both have an ongoing record of screwing their customer base.
Posted on Reply
#55
Vayra86
bugBottom line, you buy the card based on some high-level specifications. It's absurd to expect the manufacturer to justify every transistor included and every design decision taken.
Again, this does not mean I'd like to see another 970 anytime soon. It's been tried, customers were pretty disappointed. The card sold because it was solid, but it still wasn't that sat well with customers.
Y'know I never said the GTX 970 is bad value for money - it's just a card that will show its limits and Nvidia knew about this and kept it behind closed doors. That is all. It's a good thing it came out, it's a good thing it caused a shitstorm, and it's a good thing there is compensation on it. Will it happen again? Of course - but so far the 1000 isn't showing signs.
Posted on Reply
#56
Alduin
FYFI13When actual time of DX12 comes i will be using GTX 1270 ;-)
And i will using rx 680 which has better directx 12 performance
Posted on Reply
#57
bogami
Awful stupid solution. They grabbed the money will not come to last consumers. It would be better to establish a consumer protection group for which he would be independent and control the products in this field. This is neither the first nor the last Fuckap. See the latest products that are made! As they have done in the garage . Are harvested and then prices increased .We expect more .
Posted on Reply
#58
Ruru
S.T.A.R.S.
They should release a bios which disables the slow memory and thus the card would be a true 3.5GBB/224bit card.
Posted on Reply
#59
FYFI13
EarthDogAnd when that time comes (talking DX12 market saturation or at least closing in on it), we will be two generations ahead where we are now and nobody would give a hoot about those cards.

Good call man. :pimp:
Well, it came from @RadeonLord :D
Posted on Reply
#60
Nucleoprotein
@bug
But this is not real 64ROP because 1070 can't use full 64 pixels per cycle (can be set, but will not use 64 pixels) and is limited to 48 pixels per cycle so it limits its pixel filtrate to same level as 1060, even articles states this as it looses much performance because of that. So this IMHO is another NVIDIA lie, same as GTX970 VRAM lie - they should mention this limitation in official specifications !

PS: Pixel filtrate is very important for some apps like emulators.
Posted on Reply
#61
FYFI13
Radeon lordAnd i will using rx 680 which has better directx 12 performance
I just can't stop :D Go catch a Pokemon :D

@Nucleoprotein GTX 1070 performance levels are fantastic and only Radeon Lords give a damn about pixels per clock. Join the man above in Pokemon search.
Posted on Reply
#62
the54thvoid
Super Intoxicated Moderator
Nucleoprotein@bug
But this is not real 64ROP because 1070 can't use full 64 pixels per cycle (can be set, but will not use 64 pixels) and is limited to 48 pixels per cycle so it limits its pixel filtrate to same level as 1060, even articles states this as it looses much performance because of that. So this IMHO is another NVIDIA lie, same as GTX970 VRAM lie - they should mention this limitation in official specifications !

PS: Pixel filtrate is very important for some apps like emulators.
ROPS are not available to the PR branding. Retail samples withhold a lot of tech info. You cannot call out the company if the product you buy contains the parts advertised.
It's the tech review sites that feed you that info. And sometimes they get it wrong. The simple approach is that you read reviews for the overall performance (ie GTX970 had glowing reviews across the board) and you buy a product (which does not provide the underlying technical details).

The memory claim, though really insignificant to its actual performance (listen to real owners, not AMD fanboys) WAS misleading. So the pay out is justified IMO.

Was there not also a class action suit filed against AMD for misrepresentation of how many cores in Bulldozer?
Posted on Reply
#63
Alduin
@Nucleoprotein GTX 1070 performance levels are fantastic and only Radeon Lords give a damn about pixels per clock. Join the man above in Pokemon search.[/QUOTE]
whatever you say.
Not complicated, what Nvidia did to Directx 11 The same is going to happen
With directx 12 by another company.
I think it 's good to respect each other's comments
Posted on Reply
#64
Nucleoprotein
FYFI13I just can't stop :D Go catch a Pokemon :D

@Nucleoprotein GTX 1070 performance levels are fantastic and only Radeon Lords give a damn about pixels per clock. Join the man above in Pokemon search.
ie. you are happy NVIDIA GeForce and Apple iPhone user ? Amazing :)
Posted on Reply
#65
FYFI13
Nucleoproteinie. you are happy NVIDIA GeForce and Apple iPhone user ? Amazing :)
Where did you get iFruit from? :-D Google Nexus 5 + Cyanogen Mod here.
Posted on Reply
#66
Xzibit
the54thvoidROPS are not available to the PR branding. Retail samples withhold a lot of tech info. You cannot call out the company if the product you buy contains the parts advertised.
It's the tech review sites that feed you that info. And sometimes they get it wrong.
Nvidia feeds the info to the tech site through the reviewers guide. Its not that the tech sites got it wrong, it's that they were handed wrong information from the beginning from Nvidia.



EDIT: Made it bigger so rtwjunkie can see it.
Posted on Reply
#67
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
XzibitNvidia feeds the info to the tech site through the reviewers guide. Its not that the tech sites got it wrong, it's that they were handed wrong information from the beginning from Nvidia.
it doesn't matter. It's not Information released to buyers, so it therefore not something consumers can sue them over. ROPS is never on the side of the box.
Posted on Reply
#68
Xzibit
rtwjunkieit doesn't matter. It's not Information released to buyers, so it therefore not something consumers can sue them over. ROPS is never on the side of the box.
I dont believe i was making such a statement. I highlighted what I was replying to. To make it clear.
Posted on Reply
#69
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
XzibitI dont believe i was making such a statement. I highlighted what I was replying to. To make it clear.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see anything highlighted. What I do see different are the ROPS, which was the meat of the54thvoid's post.
Posted on Reply
#70
Xzibit
rtwjunkieMaybe it's just me, but I don't see anything highlighted. What I do see different are the ROPS, which was the meat of the54thvoid's post.
Thats correct.

I was pointing out that in that instance the tech sites didn't get it wrong. They were reporting the information that was given to them by Nvidia which turned out to be wrong. You can't blame the tech sites for giving the public bad information if they themselves are being handed bad information.

HARDOCP - NVIDIA Maxwell GPU GeForce GTX 980 Video Card Review (They post the reviewers guide which has the technical information that reviewers go by and is repeated to the public)
Posted on Reply
#71
the54thvoid
Super Intoxicated Moderator
XzibitThats correct.

I was pointing out that in that instance the tech sites didn't get it wrong. They were reporting the information that was given to them by Nvidia which turned out to be wrong. You can't blame the tech sites for giving the public bad information if they themselves are being handed bad information.

HARDOCP - NVIDIA Maxwell GPU GeForce GTX 980 Video Card Review (They post the reviewers guide which has the technical information that reviewers go by and is repeated to the public)
No, my point was this isn't released on boxing (retail). Tech review sites are not the PR and marketing wing. They shine a light on and review things.
My initial post was to refute ROPS as a misleading selling point when the retail box does not mention it.
Posted on Reply
#72
Reppie
How do I get me money If I live the middle east boyo?
Posted on Reply
#73
dont whant to set it"'
its just next gen phisx,coughcg ,phisical lie,cough tesselation factors of whatever when it was a workaround a proble milkd for 1up-ing fanboy an potential fanboys and to look better in reviews ,some tech one might as from crippeld harvested chip.
Posted on Reply
#75
the54thvoid
Super Intoxicated Moderator
EarthDogWhat? Wow...
It made sense to me. But then I'm currently on LSD, methadone, cannabis and Strong IPA.

Only one of those is true. And I don't understand...
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
Dec 22nd, 2024 08:22 EST change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts