• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Class Action Lawsuit Filed against NVIDIA over GTX 970 Memory Issue

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,241 (7.55/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
We haven't heard the last of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 970 memory allocation controversy, not by a long shot. Owners of the card, after having compiled technical information and details over weeks, filed a class-action lawsuit in a US Court (District Court for the Northern District of California). The lawsuit, titled "Andrew Ostrowsky (and others in similar situation) vs. NVIDIA Corporation and GIGABYTE Global Business Corporation," accuses the defendants of unfair, unlawful, and deceptive business practices, in three separate charges, and misleading advertising, demanding for Jury Trial.

The lawsuit goes on to read that the amount in controversy exceeds US $5 million, and encompasses over 100 Class members, meeting the minimal diversity clause, with the plantiff and numerous Class members being citizens of different states than the defendants. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of misleading buyers of the GeForce GTX 970 graphics cards with memory amount (being 3.5 GB with a 0.5 GB "spillover," and not the advertised 4 GB), ROP count being 56 and not 64 (as communicated to the media at launch, and to buyers through them); and L2 cache amount being 1.75 MB and not 2 MB. If you are eligible to be a Class member, find details of the law firms involved in the lawsuit document.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,241 (7.55/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
Sadly $5m is nothing to nvidia.

It meets a clause of controversy amount being >$5m, the actual controversy amount is not $5m. It will be a lot more.
 

FordGT90Concept

"I go fast!1!11!1!"
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
26,259 (4.46/day)
Location
IA, USA
System Name BY-2021
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (65w eco profile)
Motherboard MSI B550 Gaming Plus
Cooling Scythe Mugen (rev 5)
Memory 2 x Kingston HyperX DDR4-3200 32 GiB
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
Storage Samsung 980 Pro, Seagate Exos X20 TB 7200 RPM
Display(s) Nixeus NX-EDG274K (3840x2160@144 DP) + Samsung SyncMaster 906BW (1440x900@60 HDMI-DVI)
Case Coolermaster HAF 932 w/ USB 3.0 5.25" bay + USB 3.2 (A+C) 3.5" bay
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1150, Micca OriGen+
Power Supply Enermax Platimax 850w
Mouse Nixeus REVEL-X
Keyboard Tesoro Excalibur
Software Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Faster than the tortoise; slower than the hare.
Called it! It will be interesting to see if it exceeds the $18 million settlement NVIDIA paid out for mobile chips. I suspect not because this issue was discovered quickly and discreet cards have much lower sales numbers than integrated chips.

I wonder what OEMs are doing because they've been bearing the brunt of NVIDIA's screw up. They should be getting a much larger settlement than this class action.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 30, 2008
Messages
1,768 (0.30/day)
System Name Lailalo
Processor Ryzen 9 5900X Boosts to 4.95Ghz
Motherboard Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WIFI
Cooling Noctua
Memory 32GB DDR4 3200 Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s) XFX 7900XT 20GB
Storage Samsung 970 Pro Plus 1TB, Crucial 1TB MX500 SSD, Segate 3TB
Display(s) LG Ultrawide 29in @ 2560x1080
Case Coolermaster Storm Sniper
Power Supply XPG 1000W
Mouse G602
Keyboard G510s
Software Windows 10 Pro / Windows 10 Home
AMD marketing team party in 3...2...
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Messages
2,785 (0.58/day)
Location
New Zealand
System Name MoneySink
Processor 2600K @ 4.8
Motherboard P8Z77-V
Cooling AC NexXxos XT45 360, RayStorm, D5T+XSPC tank, Tygon R-3603, Bitspower
Memory 16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600C8
Video Card(s) GTX 780 SLI (EVGA SC ACX + Giga GHz Ed.)
Storage Kingston HyperX SSD (128) OS, WD RE4 (1TB), RE2 (1TB), Cav. Black (2 x 500GB), Red (4TB)
Display(s) Achieva Shimian QH270-IPSMS (2560x1440) S-IPS
Case NZXT Switch 810
Audio Device(s) onboard Realtek yawn edition
Power Supply Seasonic X-1050
Software Win8.1 Pro
Benchmark Scores 3.5 litres of Pale Ale in 18 minutes.
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Messages
133 (0.04/day)
Location
PA
$5m is not a big number for nv, but the public praise will decrease hardly. That is the point.
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
4,556 (0.91/day)
This whole issue has been blown out of proportions. By the same logic Intel should also be sued for not telling its customers of X99 platform about not all the 10 sata ports can be used in raid.


AMD marketing team party in 3...2...
AMD is also being sued for lying about Llano platform.
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Messages
2,785 (0.58/day)
Location
New Zealand
System Name MoneySink
Processor 2600K @ 4.8
Motherboard P8Z77-V
Cooling AC NexXxos XT45 360, RayStorm, D5T+XSPC tank, Tygon R-3603, Bitspower
Memory 16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600C8
Video Card(s) GTX 780 SLI (EVGA SC ACX + Giga GHz Ed.)
Storage Kingston HyperX SSD (128) OS, WD RE4 (1TB), RE2 (1TB), Cav. Black (2 x 500GB), Red (4TB)
Display(s) Achieva Shimian QH270-IPSMS (2560x1440) S-IPS
Case NZXT Switch 810
Audio Device(s) onboard Realtek yawn edition
Power Supply Seasonic X-1050
Software Win8.1 Pro
Benchmark Scores 3.5 litres of Pale Ale in 18 minutes.
This whole issue has been blown out of proportions. By the same logic Intel should also be sued for not telling its customers of X99 platform about not all the 10 sata ports can be used in raid.
You just made some ambulance chasers very happy.
I guess the starting point will be reimbursement of hardware cost + pain and suffering settlement + lawyers fees.....call it an even $10million per claimant.
AMD is also being sued for lying about Llano platform.
And just to show how speedy the justice system is, twelve months on and they're still at the arguing over fine print stage.

@btarunr
There was actually a second suit filed (Santiago v. Nvidia and Asus) at the same court.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 29, 2011
Messages
217 (0.05/day)
Location
Ottawa, Canada
System Name Current Rig
Processor Intel 12700K@5.1GHz
Motherboard MSI Pro Z790-P
Cooling Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer II 360mm
Memory 2x16GB DDR5-6000 G.Skill Trident Z RGB
Video Card(s) MSI Gaming X Trio 6800 16GB
Storage 1TB SSD
Case Cooler Master Storm Striker
Power Supply Antec True Power 750w
Keyboard IBM Model 'M"
I want to see nVidia fry.
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
4,290 (1.11/day)
Location
Texas
System Name SnowFire / The Reinforcer
Processor i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2
Motherboard Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720)
Cooling RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock
Memory Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb
Video Card(s) GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector)
Storage Samsung 970 1tb NVME and 2tb HDD x4 RAID 5 / 300gb x8 RAID 5
Display(s) Acer XG270HU, Samsung G7 Odyssey (1440p 240hz)
Case Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case
Audio Device(s) Realtec ALC1150 (On board)
Power Supply Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Logitech G19S
Software Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016
We all saw this coming, heard about it a little while ago and now we just have to wait a good long while to happen.

I am with the others as the oems are the ones facing the brunt currently on this more than anything so they need to benefit from this if any significant amount of money is to be had. The rest of the people just need to return the card if they are not happy.
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
4,556 (0.91/day)
You just made some ambulance chasers very happy.
I guess the starting point will be reimbursement of hardware cost + pain and suffering settlement + lawyers fees.....call it an even $10million per claimant.

And just to show how speedy the justice system is, twelve months on and they're still at the arguing over fine print stage.

@btarunr
There was actually a second suit filed (Santiago v. Nvidia and Asus) at the same court.
I still think its ridiculous, that video card has 4gigs of RAM. GPU even can address the entire memory, its just some architectural design choices which limit the addressing to last small section to a slower speed. After going through all the press release I don't think nvidia lied about anything apart from not being clear about design choices. Although thanks to this whole fiasco I have been able to get a 970 at insanely cheap price. In India Msi GTX 970 retails for INR35000(~US$520) and I got the same barely used from US for half the price.
 

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,241 (7.55/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
I want to see nVidia fry.

 
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Messages
2,785 (0.58/day)
Location
New Zealand
System Name MoneySink
Processor 2600K @ 4.8
Motherboard P8Z77-V
Cooling AC NexXxos XT45 360, RayStorm, D5T+XSPC tank, Tygon R-3603, Bitspower
Memory 16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600C8
Video Card(s) GTX 780 SLI (EVGA SC ACX + Giga GHz Ed.)
Storage Kingston HyperX SSD (128) OS, WD RE4 (1TB), RE2 (1TB), Cav. Black (2 x 500GB), Red (4TB)
Display(s) Achieva Shimian QH270-IPSMS (2560x1440) S-IPS
Case NZXT Switch 810
Audio Device(s) onboard Realtek yawn edition
Power Supply Seasonic X-1050
Software Win8.1 Pro
Benchmark Scores 3.5 litres of Pale Ale in 18 minutes.
I still think its ridiculous, that video card has 4gigs of RAM. GPU even can address the entire memory, its just some architectural design choices which limit the addressing to last small section to a slower speed.
This is a tech forum, so whatever the story certain vendors names get the full total war treatment. If you compare this story to any other similar issue, the name Nvidia will have it beat hands down as a hot topic.
Quick comparison: Over 500 posts over three GTX 970 threads here, and 20 posts on the Samsung 840/840 EVO issue (which has been a saga as long as the GTX 970 has been available for sale, and still front page news at virtually every other tech site) One piece of hardware doesn't deliver on the promise for a small minority of users, the other piece of hardware gives you less performance every time you use it (and Samsung haven't even acknowledged the issue with non-EVO parts AFAIK) for what is likely an equal or larger number of users.
After going through all the press release I don't think nvidia lied about anything apart from not being clear about design choices.
Well, set your alarm clock for next year, and we'll see if a District Court agrees with you....then of course the lawyers will want another bite of the cherry and appeal to the Supreme Court regardless of who wins.
Although thanks to this whole fiasco I have been able to get a 970 at insanely cheap price. In India Msi GTX 970 retails for INR35000(~US$520) and I got the same barely used from US for half the price.
Silver lining FTW.
 
Joined
Apr 19, 2012
Messages
12,062 (2.62/day)
Location
Gypsyland, UK
System Name HP Omen 17
Processor i7 7700HQ
Memory 16GB 2400Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s) GTX 1060
Storage Samsung SM961 256GB + HGST 1TB
Display(s) 1080p IPS G-SYNC 75Hz
Audio Device(s) Bang & Olufsen
Power Supply 230W
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD+
Software Win 10 Pro
The pentium 4 lawsuit took over a decade, and random people who applied got $15 back at the end of last year. I'm sure they felt liberated.

I don't think anything interesting is going to happen for some time.
 
Joined
Jul 19, 2008
Messages
1,180 (0.20/day)
Location
Australia
Processor Intel i7 4790K
Motherboard Asus Z97 Deluxe
Cooling Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120
Memory Corsair Dominator 1866Mhz 4X4GB
Video Card(s) Asus R290X
Storage Samsung 850 Pro SSD 256GB/Samsung 840 Evo SSD 1TB
Display(s) Samsung S23A950D
Case Corsair 850D
Audio Device(s) Onboard Realtek
Power Supply Corsair AX850
Mouse Logitech G502
Keyboard Logitech G710+
Software Windows 10 x64
Nvidia have already said people can return 970's for refund. No need to wait for years to see some action. People are returning them already, and they're being resold already for half price.

Bad business decision to pull this stunt.
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
4,556 (0.91/day)
This is a tech forum, so whatever the story certain vendors names get the full total war treatment. If you compare this story to any other similar issue, the name Nvidia will have it beat hands down as a hot topic.
Quick comparison: Over 500 posts over three GTX 970 threads here, and 20 posts on the Samsung 840/840 EVO issue (which has been a saga as long as the GTX 970 has been available for sale, and still front page news at virtually every other tech site) One piece of hardware doesn't deliver on the promise for a small minority of users, the other piece of hardware gives you less performance every time you use it (and Samsung haven't even acknowledged the issue with non-EVO parts AFAIK) for what is likely an equal or larger number of users.
Its not just the 840(non-evo) but also their OEM 840 drives who haven't received any kind of updates. Unusually I own X99 based PC, couple of 840 EVO ssds and GTX 970 and I still don't have any problems with the issues blown out of proportions on forums. Except for GTX 970, I have a workstation in my office running on X99 and each of the PCs have Samsung 840 EVO (with older firmware and no update installed yet) ssds and so far the performance of these have been satisfactory.
 

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!
Supporter
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
Messages
9,594 (2.46/day)
Location
Washington, USA
System Name Veral
Processor 7800x3D
Motherboard x670e Asus Crosshair Hero
Cooling Corsair H150i RGB Elite
Memory 2x32 Corsair Dominator
Video Card(s) Powercolor 7900XTX Red Devil
Storage Crucial P5 Plus 1TB, Samsung 980 1TB, Teamgroup MP34 4TB
Display(s) Acer Nitro XZ342CK Pbmiiphx, 2x AOC 2425W, AOC I1601FWUX
Case Fractal Design Meshify Lite 2
Audio Device(s) Blue Yeti + SteelSeries Arctis 5 / Samsung HW-T550
Power Supply Corsair HX850
Mouse Corsair Nightsword
Keyboard Corsair K55
VR HMD HP Reverb G2
Software Windows 11 Professional
Benchmark Scores PEBCAK
I still want one.

I'm not going to be playing at 4k, nor do I feel the need to max every single game that has SSAO or whatever else. I can still get two, run at triple 1080p surround and be fine.
 

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast
Supporter
Joined
Jul 25, 2008
Messages
13,995 (2.35/day)
Location
Louisiana
Processor Core i9-9900k
Motherboard ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 6
Cooling All air: 2x140mm Fractal exhaust; 3x 140mm Cougar Intake; Enermax ETS-T50 Black CPU cooler
Memory 32GB (2x16) Mushkin Redline DDR-4 3200
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX 4070 Ti Super OC 16GB
Storage 1x 1TB MX500 (OS); 2x 6TB WD Black; 1x 2TB MX500; 1x 1TB BX500 SSD; 1x 6TB WD Blue storage (eSATA)
Display(s) Infievo 27" 165Hz @ 2560 x 1440
Case Fractal Design Define R4 Black -windowed
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster Z
Power Supply Seasonic Focus GX-1000 Gold
Mouse Coolermaster Sentinel III (large palm grip!)
Keyboard Logitech G610 Orion mechanical (Cherry Brown switches)
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Start10 & Fences 3.0 installed)
Ah, the great America, where people sue anyone and everyone for anything. Must be integral part of living there.

That would indeed be the impression the world gets, unfortunately.

You'll be happy to know that REALITY IS DIFFERENT from the headline grabbing news stories.

People going to work, going home, raising kids...it's much like anywhere. In fact, I don't think I know one single person ever in my life that sued someone.
 
Last edited:

64K

Joined
Mar 13, 2014
Messages
6,773 (1.73/day)
Processor i7 7700k
Motherboard MSI Z270 SLI Plus
Cooling CM Hyper 212 EVO
Memory 2 x 8 GB Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s) Temporary MSI RTX 4070 Super
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB and WD Black 4TB
Display(s) Temporary Viewsonic 4K 60 Hz
Case Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply EVGA SuperNova 850 W Gold
Mouse Logitech G502
Keyboard Logitech G105
Software Windows 10
The 100 in that lawsuit is nothing. There are over 9,000 signers of the petition to get a refund from Nvidia and that's probably not all that will jump in on a class action suit if they think they can get a few $$$ out of it. After the legal fees in courts all over the USA and whatever else Nvidia has to pay to all of those claimants, I can't believe it wouldn't be less expensive for them to just make a quick settlement and send the lawyers home.

btw here's the petition if your interested

https://www.change.org/p/nvidia-refund-for-gtx-970
 
Joined
Jan 31, 2012
Messages
2,648 (0.57/day)
Location
East Europe
System Name PLAHI
Processor I5-10400
Motherboard MSI MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS
Cooling 120 AIO
Memory 32GB Corsair LPX 2400 Mhz DDR4 CL14
Video Card(s) PNY QUADRO RTX A2000
Storage Intel 670P 512GB
Display(s) Philips 288E2A 28" 4K + 22" LG 1080p
Case Silverstone Raven 03 (RV03)
Audio Device(s) Creative Soundblaster Z
Power Supply Fractal Design IntegraM 650W
Mouse Logitech Triathlon
Keyboard REDRAGON MITRA
Software Windows 11 Home x 64
Ah, the great America, where people sue anyone and everyone for anything. Must be integral part of living there.

+1, You beat me to it. I was about to say the same thing.
 

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
28,473 (4.10/day)
Location
Indiana, USA
Processor Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory 32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s) RTX 2070 Super
Storage 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s) Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s) Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
Meh, it will be a long drawn out process, nVidia will likely settle just to finally cut the lawyer's fees, and by the time everyone gets their $10 we'll be 4 GPU generations down the road...
 
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
Messages
703 (0.14/day)
Location
Pensacola, FL, USA, Earth
Meh, it will be a long drawn out process, nVidia will likely settle just to finally cut the lawyer's fees, and by the time everyone gets their $10 we'll be 4 GPU generations down the road...
It's a matter of principles not money... :laugh:
 
Top