It has been a rough week for Nvidia, after a hidden design flaw in the GTX 970 revealed how the manufacturer was cutting costs by handicapping some of the card’s memory. Shortly after that, Nvidia revealed that some of the listed specs for the card were incorrect too, which would’ve tipped consumers off about the design cutback far sooner. They’re rightly offering refunds, but AMD isn’t wasting any time on capitalizing.
Yesterday Nvidia’s main opposition posted an advert for their R9 290 series, which blatantly took shots at the GTX 970’s inability to deliver the same performance across all 4GB of memory. It was cheeky and deservingly so, but AMD has now gone a step further. They’re trying to steal some of the market back following the fiasco, offering discounts to anyone who returns their GTX 970.
AMD’s Roy Taylor announced on Twitter yesterday that anyone who returned their GTX 970 would receive a discount on AMD cards. Although there aren’t any specifics, Roy invites anyone in this particular situation to email them.
Anyone returning their GTX970 and wanting a great deal on a Radeon with a full 4GB please let us know. @NVIDIAGeForce @stoakley
— Roy@AMD (@amd_roy) January 28, 2015
It’s a clever move by AMD to make the most of this short-term crisis Nvidia is currently facing, even if the entire thing seems a little blown out of proportion. Many forget that all of the GTX 970’s reviews were conducted with this memory issue present – and despite not knowing about it, it was unanimously decided that the 970 was Nvidia’s greatest card in a long time. This memory issue doesn’t change that at all.
However, Nvidia has no right to lie to consumers, which is why I think their refund policy is fair. Don’t think you’re getting what you paid for? Then return the card and be done with it. But if you’re like me and still consider the GTX 970 to be Nvidia’s best offering at the moment, then by all means keep it. That’s especially true of you’re not playing on anything above 1080p as well.
But I am glad that AMD is making the most of this debacle, because it means that Nvidia won’t try pull something like this in the future. It’s all about damage control for them now, and so far I think they’ve tackled it correctly. Let’s just hope the refund process isn’t a whole other nightmare.
Last Updated: January 30, 2015
Tosh MA
January 30, 2015 at 10:11
“We know our product isn’t as good, but we’ll capitalise on our competitor’s minor mishap to try get more people to buy. If they regret it, well we’re not giving refunds, so HA!”
Lothy
January 30, 2015 at 10:36
“We know our product isn’t as good, but we’ll capitalise on our competitor’s minor mishap”
hahahaha suuuuuuuure their cards aren’t good… CPUs yes, gfx no. Its always a race between the 2 manufacturers and there isn’t a clear winner. As soon as 1 team gets 1st place, the next gen comes out and they win never ending.
I wont lie I am an AMD fanboi, but u wont see me saying either card is better then the other. They are so closely tied. So it really just comes down to personal preference.
Tosh MA
January 30, 2015 at 10:47
Honestly, Nvidia have AMD beat at the moment. No doubt. A few generations ago it was AMD that deserved your money. So while I agree on some of your points, it’s not up to personal preference. Being objective, you’d have to jump to either manufacturer, depending on who’s best at that time, when you upgrade.
Gerhard Davids
January 30, 2015 at 10:57
I gotta agree. This is not like sport. I will not support team X because whatever. I’ve jumped ship as soon as one is better. At the moment that is just NVidia. I loved my radeons back in college days but those days are over and now is the time of kings.
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
January 30, 2015 at 11:29
THIS
I am solidly Team green at the moment but that’s because when I upgraded the 560Ti was the best card in its range for price at the time. When it’s time for me to upgrade again I will do the same exercise of
1) Decide on GFX card price budget
2) See which card performs the absolute best within that budget amount.
That all being said… It’s so much fun teasing the opposition!
Tosh MA
January 30, 2015 at 11:34
To your last point: hell yes it is 😀
UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy
January 30, 2015 at 10:11
Meh… Not one of these companies can say they have never had issues.
Do research -> find the card you like -> play games
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
January 30, 2015 at 11:39
This is the thing. Just buy what’s best for your pocket vs performance.
HairyEwok
January 30, 2015 at 10:14
And now we wait for AMD to contact Nando’s for some clever advertising on this.
Lardus-Resident Perve
January 30, 2015 at 10:17
Here, at Nandos, you get the WHOLE chicken from the same chicken and all the pieces are properly connected…eh, guess there is a reason I am not in comedy or advertising
Hammersteyn
January 30, 2015 at 10:15
Nvidia gamers be like
http://www.legitreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/I0FoKMw.gif
Ghost In The Rift
January 30, 2015 at 10:18
LOL thats well done!!!
Give this man a ……..???
Tosh MA
January 30, 2015 at 10:19
AMD gamers be like
http://runeatrepeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/its-too-hot.gif
Ghost In The Rift
January 30, 2015 at 10:21
Hmmm, that’s a slap in the face, but it is to be expected when you make simple mistakes.
b1nd3r
January 30, 2015 at 10:21
Would still take a 970 over anything amd >.<
Tosh MA
January 30, 2015 at 10:22
Honestly, I’d even settle for a 960 over anything AMD. :/
Spathi
January 30, 2015 at 10:25
Let me guess, you like Apple too? 😛
Tosh MA
January 30, 2015 at 10:25
I’m a fan of Nvidia, not a blunt-force trauma patient.
Spathi
January 30, 2015 at 10:27
I really don’t give a damn about either, I just go where there is bang for my buck. Currently, it seems that the 970GTX gives the best bang by far.
b1nd3r
January 30, 2015 at 10:34
apple??? oh you mean that retards anonymous unfriendly overpriced tech? Thought u ment the fruit dog! forgot the tech was more household now. but no. fuck apple
Ross Woofels Mason
January 30, 2015 at 10:27
Bwahaha, AMD better just hope they don’t screw up like this at all in the near future. Otherwise Nvidia will have a field day with them, stay humble =p.
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
January 30, 2015 at 10:27
I’d just like to point out that the 970 is still cheaper than the R9290 (Unless the discount is a full R1000) and still performs the same as the R9290… Just saying
Spathi
January 30, 2015 at 10:29
Actually, looking at the Tom’s Hardware charts now, it even outperforms the R9290x in some of the benchmarks…
Spaffy
January 30, 2015 at 11:05
Link?
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
January 30, 2015 at 11:27
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2015-vga-charts/compare,3664.html?prod%5B7266%5D=on&prod%5B7202%5D=on
Spathi
January 30, 2015 at 11:47
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2015-vga-charts/02-Unigine-Heaven-1080p,3665.html
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
January 30, 2015 at 11:23
I put it down to system vaiations. One test it’s better then next it loses. But each time by a handful of frames only. So same performance really
Migs
January 30, 2015 at 11:05
So, how does that perform in nvidia card terms?
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
January 30, 2015 at 11:23
What do you mean?
Migs
January 30, 2015 at 11:48
How does the AMD Radeon R9290 perform in comparison to the Nvidia Graphics Card line up? Radeon R9290 means nothing to me when I have nothing to compare it to.
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
January 30, 2015 at 12:47
The 970 performs on par (and in some cases better by a tiny margin) than the R 9290 and is about R1000 cheaper. As I said in my first post.
Migs
January 30, 2015 at 12:56
I see. Only saw the price point you mentioned, somehow missed the performance as well. Thank you.
Raptor Rants A Lot:Original #7
January 30, 2015 at 13:24
No worries 🙂
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 30, 2015 at 10:39
Ouch. The 4GB means 4GB thing was amusing, this is a touch nasty.
Deceased
January 30, 2015 at 10:42
Can we do a:
“Don’t support PhysX, RX 300 series is coming”?
HvR
January 30, 2015 at 11:37
Nvidia cards needed top replace before my next upgrade cycle: 0
Radeons I needed to replace before my next upgrade cycle : 2
For some reason my history of gaming rigs that performed the best with the lest amount of issues was when I paired a AMD CPU with Nvidia card.
Josh Morland
January 30, 2015 at 13:53
Hitler reacts to the GTX 970 is live!
Weanerdog
January 30, 2015 at 14:15
Much ado about nothing if you ask me.
Darren Peach
February 2, 2015 at 11:06
Reminds me of the ill fated FX series of cards from Nvidia.