Home Gaming Nvidia to face Class action lawsuit over 970 flub

Nvidia to face Class action lawsuit over 970 flub

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41

Flub

We knew it was coming. After Nvidia misrepresented its otherwise excellent high-end beast, the GTX 970 as a 4GB card, and the subsequent realisation that it was in fact less powerful than the back of the box suggested we expected a class action lawsuit. Welp, here it is.

The proposed suit has been filed against both Nvidia for developing the card, and Gigabyte for producing its own variant of the 970. According to the claim, by “Andrew Ostrowski” that both companies partook in:

  • Unfair business practices.
  • Deceptive business practices.
  • Unlawful business practices.
  • Misleading advertising.

Here’s what the complaint states:

This is a nationwide class action brought on behalf of all consumers who purchased graphics or video card devices incorporating the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 graphics processing units “GPU” herinafter “GTX 970? or “GTX 970 devices” which were sold based on the misleading representation that the GTX 970 operates with a full 4GB of VRAM at GDDR5 (not a less performant 3.5GB with a less performant decoupled 0.5GB spillover), 64 ROPs (as opposed to 56 ROPs) and an L2 cache capacity of 2048KB (as opposed to 1792 KB) or omitted material facts to the contrary.

While this complaint is specifically against Nvidia and Gigabyte – because that’s the brand Ostrowski bought – other manufacturers can be dragged in to the affair as more people hop on the class action bandwagon.

As much as I think Nvidia’s GTX 970 is the current card to beat in regards to price to performance, and I hate class action lawsuits as they tend to be frivolous, I think there may actually be a case here. Nvidia’s admitted that it supplied incorrect specifications to initial reviewers – and whether it was intentional or a silly mistake as they claim is something that’ll be determined by the courts, I guess.

Last Updated: February 23, 2015

41 Comments

  1. Ranting Raptor

    February 23, 2015 at 10:05

    Something big that is going to be brought up in court is that nVidia did allow full refunds on cards that were purchased.

    If nVidia can prove they already took action to rectify their mistake through something like a full refund along with changing the market material etc to indicate the actual stats, the lawsuit won’t get very far.

    Yes, there is grounds but it is going to be very hard to prove that nVidia had melitious intent here or that they refused to correct their mistake.

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      February 23, 2015 at 10:08

      I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that it was an accident, but if they haven’t corrected their marketing materials since this came to light then they could be in trouble.

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        February 23, 2015 at 10:16

        Absolutely. If they haven’t recalled all unsold stock to fix the box details and have change their marketing campaigns then nVidia are going to feel it right in the money

        Reply

      • Captain JJ the crafter

        February 23, 2015 at 10:17

        I also lean towards giving them the benefit of the doubt actually.

        Reply

        • SlagywaG

          February 23, 2015 at 11:06

          An example needs to be made here… I fully agree with benefit of the doubt, but this needs to be taken seriously so it never happens again

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 23, 2015 at 11:25

            You’re right.

          • tangclown

            February 23, 2015 at 18:37

            This should be taken seriously. Hopefully this is seen as a simple mistake and people can just move on. But by no means should a court make an example of a person or an organization. Punishment should be proportional to the crime committed, not amplified to show others what not to do.

          • SlagywaG

            February 24, 2015 at 16:40

            I don’t think you make a simple mistake like that… You don’t build a car with only 3 wheels and a fourth wheel arch and say “sorry it was a mistake we didn’t put in the forth wheel.”

    • Admiral Chief

      February 23, 2015 at 10:24

      Where is that Spanish toothless dude video again?

      Reply

      • Captain JJ the crafter

        February 23, 2015 at 10:25

        My fiancé and I cried with laughter watching that thing.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief

          February 23, 2015 at 10:27

          Have you seen the one about The Order? Even better!

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 23, 2015 at 10:27

            Will have to check it out.

          • Admiral Chief

            February 23, 2015 at 10:37

            Dude, so funny!

            (also, longer, so you see some more epicness)

      • Hammersteyn

        February 23, 2015 at 10:26

        Everywhere

        Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        February 23, 2015 at 10:48

        HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

        HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

        Reply

    • donschneider

      February 23, 2015 at 18:39

      “Melitious” ? What the hell is it that you are trying to say ?

      Reply

      • Michael Conroy

        February 23, 2015 at 19:51

        He’s trying to say Malicious

        Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        February 23, 2015 at 19:52

        Wow… Long day

        malicious

        Reply

  2. Captain JJ the crafter

    February 23, 2015 at 10:15

    Green power
    -25%

    Reply

  3. Hammersteyn

    February 23, 2015 at 10:21

    Green Lantern movies
    XBOX reveal
    Proteas
    Now this.
    It’s hard to go green

    Reply

    • Kikmi

      February 23, 2015 at 10:23

      *dies*

      Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      February 23, 2015 at 10:23

      Too soon!

      Reply

      • Sgt. M

        February 23, 2015 at 10:31

        It’s never too soon

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          February 23, 2015 at 10:33

          Yes it is. When in my first two minutes of watching the cricket I saw Faf nearly get run out TWICE on the same run, I knew my time was better spent playing games. O_o

          Reply

    • Captain JJ the crafter

      February 23, 2015 at 10:25

      lol

      Reply

    • Darren Peach

      February 23, 2015 at 11:14

      Dude, I am still mourning yesterday.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        February 23, 2015 at 11:25

        We all are, hopefully this is the last fumble.

        Reply

        • Darren Peach

          February 23, 2015 at 11:35

          Why do they go through this every friggen time ? I get serious anxiety in World cup years.

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            February 23, 2015 at 11:39

            Same here. We probably have the strongest squad ever at the world cup. Save for two or three players.

          • Skyblue

            February 24, 2015 at 21:06

            Just chill bro, lest the Hatred flow again

    • Skyblue

      February 24, 2015 at 21:07

      Nice!

      Reply

  4. Kikmi

    February 23, 2015 at 10:22

    Its a bit late to claim accidental though Geoff. This should have been a press release on day 1. Not after all the videos proving the disparity between marketing and IRL came to light. I love team green but they done fucked up and now must suffer the consequences thereof.

    Reply

  5. Admiral Chief

    February 23, 2015 at 10:27

  6. Greylingad

    February 23, 2015 at 10:28

    I have a GTX 970 and it is magbrilliatificent!! Am I upset about the stupid 4GB issue, yes, of course, does it change the card, or it’s performance? No… it doesn’t… As a matter of fact, Hell, I’m impressed, the card actually performs bloody well (like a 4GB card) under normal circumstances. With nVidia offering full refunds, I doubt that anyone will get far with this type of lawsuit… And I simply don’t see the point about getting more upset about it, especially if it involves going up against one of the biggest card manufacturers in the world….

    Reply

    • GalacticLordCaptainAwesomeness

      February 23, 2015 at 10:43

      I say power to the people… True, they offered full refunds, and have taken steps to correct the marketing material, ONLY AFTER people started complaining, and this was made a big deal of.

      The fact is, they misrepresented the card.

      Then when the issue was brought up, it was a case of “mmh I dunno, we are looking into this ”

      “We are still looking into this and will have an update as soon as possible,” said NVidia community liaison ManuelG on the GeForce forums.” – http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/nvidias-gtx970-has-a-rather-serious-memory-allocation-bug/
      In a company this size, there is never just one Marketing person, checking the press statements, and approving the printing etc.
      It is one thing for the 3.5GB/4GB issue (with the slower memory), but what about the L2 Cache and ROP’s?
      It reminds me of a naughty kid (or a Juju /SARS), trying to hide his mistake from others, and when he gets caught all you hear is “ahh, my bad ne” and all should be forgiven…

      Reply

      • Greylingad

        February 23, 2015 at 10:51

        Hahaha!! That is true, I believe that the question at hand is whether they did this intentionally, meaning that if represented as a 4GB card with 2048KB of L2 cache and 64ROPs, was truly the case or not? And yes, it would be great if someone could sue the living daylights out of them, whether that would change anything for someone with a GTX 970 is a completely different story in itself…

        Reply

  7. Darren Peach

    February 23, 2015 at 11:17

    I still want a refund for that FX card I bought all those years ago. I hopw these folks at least get their money back.

    Reply

  8. Wyzak

    February 23, 2015 at 13:22

    Now give me a free game dammit 😀 Disclaimer : Loving my 970 and you’ll have to take it from my dead hands!

    Reply

  9. Lothy

    February 23, 2015 at 13:42

    Look I cant help but laugh at this… Not because its Nvidia, but more the extend ppl will go. They agreed to a full refund, but some dude has an axe to grind now.

    Reply

  10. CoyoteMan50

    February 23, 2015 at 15:53

    Like NVidia or some other PC board add on is like they describe it?
    Oh grow up! You must live inside an I-7 processor.
    I have always had NVidia cards and of course I am aware they aren’t as advertised. What computer or add on device is?

    Reply

  11. Guest

    February 23, 2015 at 17:49

    Hadley . I see what you mean… Virginia `s rep0rt is surprising, on saturday I got a brand new Alfa Romeo from having made $6825 this – 4 weeks past and-in excess of, $10 thousand last-month . without a doubt it is the most-financially rewarding I’ve ever had . I started this three months/ago and immediately began to bring in more than $79.. p/h .

    pop over to this site…_ SEE THIS LINK

    Reply

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