Gigabyte Sells HD 5670 512 MB HyperMemory Card as 1 GB

[btarunr]

Gigabyte is allegedly into dubious marketing schemes once again. A disgruntled user in East Asia who picked up the company's GV-R567HM-1GI graphics card was shocked to find half the "advertised" memory available to him. The GV-R567HM-1GI is an ATI Radeon HD 5670 based graphics card that physically has only 512 MB of GDDR5 memory, yet advertises on its box and labels that the card provides 1 GB GDDR5 memory with ATI HyperMemory technology. The "HyperMemory" part is very inconspicuous and nowhere on the front box is the actual memory amount mentioned.

For the uninitiated, HyperMemory technology is an age-old technique used by ATI usually on its lowest-end SKUs, to increase the amount of memory available to the GPU, by sharing a fixed amount of memory from the system's main memory. NVIDIA has an identical technology called TurboCache. The allegation here is not entirely that of false marketing, but dubious marketing practices. For starters, the card is a GV-567D5-512I that is rebadged, next, the actual memory amount is not mentioned on the front of the box, making it difficult for unsuspecting buyers who don't know what HyperMemory is, to determine the actual memory, and third, there is pure false marketing involved in calling "512 MB GDDR5 + 512 MB system shared" as "1 GB GDDR5", there's no DDR5 PC memory standard. AMD's guidelines (refer pg. 14) are clear on the matter of dealing with HyperMemory branding. If you come across this card priced close to 1 GB models, you're definitely not signing up for a "1 GB GDDR5 card".



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[dr emulator (madmax)]

what
shame on you gigabyte:shadedshu

 

[Mussels]

... ouch. very ouch.

this wont go well.

 

[Flanker]

man, this crap is getting old

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Thanks for the news - and the warning.

I absolutely appal such practices. Shame on gigabyte. I will avoid their products... any product. I will not feed the hand that practices such skulduggery and tries to make suckers out of customers. (And the supply chain. I'm sure there are many small business PC shops that will think they have bought a better product to stock at a good price only to find out they have been ripped off... and to move stock... they then have to rip off their customers too. Horrible).

 

[caleb]

Well it does say HM inside model name and "HM to 1GB" in memory description which informs you of it and the card is "DDR5".

Gigabyte Product page also says :
"HyperMemory to 1GB (on board GDDR5 512MB) and 128-bit memory interface "

Asian boy needs to read product specs not try to decrypt box labels.

 

[pantherx12]

Well it does say HM inside model name and "HM to 1GB" in memory description which informs you of it and the card is "DDR5".

Gigabyte Product page also says :
"HyperMemory to 1GB (on board GDDR5 512MB) and 128-bit memory interface "

Asian boy needs to read product specs not try to decrypt box labels.

I disagree, if I picked up that box I'd of thought it was a 1gig card except I know about hyper/turbo memory tech : /

1gb should not be on that card at all.

Potential should not be advertised in such a way its misleading.

Imagine if motherboard manufacturers said their mobos have 8gb of ram or 16gb etc because that's what you COULD have.
You'd be fuming.

 

[Mussels]

if they say its a 1GB DDR5 card, it needs to have 1GB of DDR5 on it.

 

[caleb]

Well the fact is they don't say it has it but you decrypt a label in that way.
FYC : http://www.gigabyte.com/search/search.aspx?kw=GV-R567HM-1GI

 

[Mussels]

Well the fact is they don't say it has it but you decrypt a label in that way.
FYC : http://www.gigabyte.com/search/search.aspx?kw=GV-R567HM-1GI

that says 1GB DDR5

it has 512MB of DDR5


the 1GB is false on its own, and its misleading to think its 1GB of DDR5 as well.

since you want to take a liberal approach to reading it, it could mean 1GB of DDR5 with hypermemory on top of that, for even more ram.

 

[werez]

ill just quote what you can find on Gigabyte website :

* The entire materials provided herein are for reference only. GIGABYTE reserves the right to modify or revise the content at anytime without prior notice.
that said .. go figure .

" Integrated with the first 1GB GDDR5 memory and 128-bit memory interface "

 

[pantherx12]

Well the fact is they don't say it has it but you decrypt a label in that way.
FYC : http://www.gigabyte.com/search/search.aspx?kw=GV-R567HM-1GI

"1gb ddr5"

Says it right on the box.

Means it should have 1gb ddr5 onboard.

 

[mdsx1950]

This card seems to be having a better Texture and Pixel fillrate than an HD 5750.

 

[caleb]

Does it also have a fancy robot inside like on the box ? No. That's why we don't treat boxes as product specifications. I agree the box is lame but all PC Hardware boxes are lame and you can find a "marketing plot" on them.

But come on he was "shocked to find half the "advertised" memory available to him" If you're dumb enough to buy a piece of hardware based on a colorful box without reading its hardware specification.... Whats next ? Expecting to run Crysis maxed in full HD on a 30bucks card because the box had a screenshot of it ?

 

[Mussels]

Does it also have a fancy robot inside like on the box ? No. That's why we don't treat boxes as product specifications. I agree the box is lame but all PC Hardware boxes are lame and you can find a "marketing plot" on them.

But come on he was "shocked to find half the "advertised" memory available to him" If you're dumb enough to buy a piece of hardware based on a colorful box without reading its hardware specification.... Whats next ? Expecting to run Crysis maxed in full HD on a 30bucks card because the box had a screenshot of it ?

its hardware specification is 1024MB (1GB) + hypermemory.

not 512MB + hypermemory.

do you work for these guys? did you make the box art?

 

[caleb]

I see 512MB on gigabyte page ? Where do you see it says 1GB ?

PS.Yeah I'm a sexy secretary and I draw these all day.

 

[de.das.dude]

^ you are a gigabyte secretary?? shame on you...

 

[Mussels]

I see 512MB on gigabyte page ? Where do you see it says 1GB ?

PS.Yeah I'm a sexy secretary and I draw these all day.

you go into a store, you look at the box... not the website.

 

[pantherx12]

I see 512MB on gigabyte page ? Where do you see it says 1GB ?

PS.Yeah I'm a sexy secretary and I draw these all day.

Or hell, look at the pictures posted up there *points*

It clearly states 1gb GDDR5 memory. ( when it should state 512mb ram 1gb with turbomemory!) or something.

Which it is not, that's misleading and illegal in this country.

Gigabyte would be required to provide a 1gb card or a full product refund if they sold that here with that box art.

 

[de.das.dude]

why refund!! he should be given a 1GB card! thats what he paid for and that what he should get.

 

[pantherx12]

why refund!! he should be given a 1GB card! thats what he paid for and that what he should get.

Because due to the misleading nature of the product you may not be happy to deal with gigabyte any-more, so get money back instead.

 

[wolf]

one could read the box as saying...

-HYPER MEMORY 1GB
-GDDR5

saying that hyper memory makes up 1gb total, and that the card features GDDR5

having said that it most obviously reads as 1GB GDDR5, which the card doesnt have, this label can't be misinterprested, and it's the one I look for when wanting to purchase a specific Gigabyte card;

someone should get fired for this one Giga.

 

[GENTLEMEN]

He deserves a free replacement. Something along the lines of HD5670 1GB (actual, not maximum, not HM, not shared). And someone at Gigabyte's box-art (or labeling) department has got a bit of explaining to do if this don't get fixed.

 

[avatar_raq]

Practices like that and poor costumer support make me hate Gigabyte.
I hate gigabyte inspite of the fact their mobos are getting better lately.

 

[ron732]

The part number under the sticker on the PCB clearly indicates that Gigabyte had intended to sell the GPU as having 512MB of memory. How is the sticker on the PCB and the graphics on the box not misleading?