Home Gaming Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang issues a statement about GTX 970 memory issue

Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang issues a statement about GTX 970 memory issue

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65

Jen

Nvidia’s still caught in a bit of a brouhaha over alleged misrepresentation of the mighty GTX 970’s specifications. They could now be facing a class-action lawsuit as a result. Nvidia’s uberboss, Jen-Hsun Huang has released a statement to address the issue. Perhaps a little later than it ideally should have been, it does however put an end to speculation and hearsay over the card’s segmented memory.

“Hey everyone,

Some of you are disappointed that we didn’t clearly describe the segmented memory of GeForce GTX 970 when we launched it. I can see why, so let me address it.

We invented a new memory architecture in Maxwell. This new capability was created so that reduced-configurations of Maxwell can have a larger framebuffer – i.e., so that GTX 970 is not limited to 3GB, and can have an additional 1GB.

GTX 970 is a 4GB card. However, the upper 512MB of the additional 1GB is segmented and has reduced bandwidth. This is a good design because we were able to add an additional 1GB for GTX 970 and our software engineers can keep less frequently used data in the 512MB segment.

Unfortunately, we failed to communicate this internally to our marketing team, and externally to reviewers at launch.

Since then, Jonah Alben, our senior vice president of hardware engineering, provided a technical description of the design, which was captured well by several editors. Here’s one example from The Tech Report.

Instead of being excited that we invented a way to increase memory of the GTX 970 from 3GB to 4GB, some were disappointed that we didn’t better describe the segmented nature of the architecture for that last 1GB of memory.

This is understandable. But, let me be clear: Our only intention was to create the best GPU for you. We wanted GTX 970 to have 4GB of memory, as games are using more memory than ever.

The 4GB of memory on GTX 970 is used and useful to achieve the performance you are enjoying. And as ever, our engineers will continue to enhance game performance that you can regularly download using GeForce Experience.

This new feature of Maxwell should have been clearly detailed from the beginning.

We won’t let this happen again. We’ll do a better job next time.”

NvidiaBug

Essentially, he apologies for misleading consumers, stating that it was never the intention – and that it shan’t happen again. It’s not a bug though. It’s a feature! Despite the class-leading GTX 970 being one of the most powerful consumer level cards available and this memory revelation not changing the benchmarks that made people buy the card in the first place,  I think people have a right to be annoyed, and feel like they were cheated. Especially as Huang doesn’t even factor the lower number of ROPS and L2 cache in his apology. It’s not just the segmented memory that has people up in arms. The GTX 970 may be the best bang for your buck right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that consumers were mislead.

Last Updated: February 25, 2015

65 Comments

  1. Blood Emperor Trevor

    February 25, 2015 at 11:39

    They sure have a lot to say about the memory, and nothing about the other stuff. That explanapology must be stored in their lesser-used segmented memory.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      February 25, 2015 at 11:44

      So you’ll forgive them for being a little slow then?

      Reply

      • Blood Emperor Trevor

        February 25, 2015 at 11:45

        Of course not, it’s about ethics in video game hardware manufacturing.

        Reply

        • Pariah

          February 25, 2015 at 11:47

          I’m sorry. I saw “ethics” and “video game” in the same sentence. Now I can’t take you seriously.

          Reply

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            February 25, 2015 at 11:49

            😀

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 25, 2015 at 11:53

            Imagine if he threw “Ubisoft” in there too.
            Then we’ve got the makings of a Ripley’s Believe it or Not episode.

  2. Ranting Raptor

    February 25, 2015 at 11:54

    The segmented memory is a good idea… Less the fact that the memory is slower. It shouldn’t be slower.

    I love my green but I feel they are seriously doing their image no good.

    That being said…. The card still performs the same as it always has since before the revelation of the memory etc. So… meh

    Reply

    • GalacticLordCaptainAwesomeness

      February 25, 2015 at 11:55

      Untill you hit the 3.5GB mark… then your Ferrari turns into a fiat 500

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        February 25, 2015 at 12:20

        Again, no it doesn’t. It still performs pretty much the same as all other cards in its price range once it hits that mark. The benchmarks haven’t changed even for 4K benches.

        Reply

        • Charl van der Merwe

          February 25, 2015 at 14:52

          Exactly right,Its like people are retarded ?

          Reply

          • Ranting Raptor

            February 25, 2015 at 14:59

            Not retarded. Just… I dunno. I guess I can understand people are angry. They absolutely are allowed to be. But the card still is exactly the same as the one that was tested by reviewers

          • Charl van der Merwe

            February 25, 2015 at 15:09

            I Know, people saw the benchmarks, they know exactly how it performed. they bought it.they found out the last 500 meg of memory is slower but it still performs on par with other cards at 4k, one of the reasons you bought it, and now you you get upset because of the way they designed it.

            Its still the same as it performed before, the reason why you bought it??The best part is people getting upset that don’t own and will not own 4k monitors in the next 4 years.

            That is something really special 😉

    • Pariah

      February 25, 2015 at 11:55

      56 words. 56 / 8 = 7.

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        February 25, 2015 at 11:57

        Really? Did you actually count or are you making shiz up?

        Reply

        • Pariah

          February 25, 2015 at 11:58

          Who are you talking to? Admiral Chief?

          Reply

          • Ranting Raptor

            February 25, 2015 at 12:19

            huh? no. Asking you lol. You said 56 words 0_o

          • Lothy

            February 25, 2015 at 12:22

            are we reading the same article?

            Allow me to snip out the important part “However, the upper 512MB of the additional 1GB is segmented and has reduced bandwidth”

            Please take note of the key word *clears throat” REDUCED as stated by the Nvidia’s uberboss

          • Ranting Raptor

            February 25, 2015 at 12:31

            Ok not to be nasty but can you bloody read? READ my comment

            “The segmented memory is a good idea… Less the fact that the memory is slower. It shouldn’t be slower.”

            I clearly state that I believe the memory shouldn’t be slower.

            Then I go on to say “I love my green but I feel they are seriously doing their image no good.” Clearly indicating I see how they are damaging their name by these design choices.

            Then I say “That being said…. The card still performs the same as it always has since before the revelation of the memory etc. So… meh”

            Now let’s make one thing very clear. The benchmarks have not MAGICALLY bloody changed. Reviewers weren’t given models with full 4GB of memory and sudenly the cards being sold are now gimped. No. They were given cards that were gimped and never explained how the memory architecture works.

            ALL reviews said that the 4K benchmarks were on par with all other cards in the same price brand and that they were surprised because the card performs so well sub 4K comparitively. IT WAS PICKED UP that 4K was an issue.

            Now everyone knows why. The benchmarks HAVE NOT CHANGED.

            Yes the bloody memory is gimped. I’m not a fucking idiot. I can read.

            Troll

          • Lothy

            February 25, 2015 at 12:38

            u seem upset?

            Ok look jokes aside, judging by ur insane defence of the card I can only assume that u own a 970 and frankly if I was in ur shoes I don’t know what I would do.
            Also remember this are the interwebz, take everything with a pinch of salt 😉

          • Ranting Raptor

            February 25, 2015 at 13:20

            I don’t actually. I’m just saying the benchmarks haven’t changed. That’s all. The card still performs exactly like it did before the memory revelation.

            If you bought the card because of how it could perform… Then why are you upset if it can still perform exactly the same with less than you thought it had? Seriously.

            I completely understand the 500mb is a slower memory allocation.

            It will take time for the 500mb to be utilised correctly. Offloading windows desktop rendering to it etc.

            The design choice is actually smart. It’s dumb that the memory is slower though.

            But the fact is, the card performs exactly like promised. The benchmarks have not changed. All reviewers said that the 4K benches were not what they were expecting. They all said the moment the card needs 4GB of memory it doesn’t do as splendidly as it does below 4GB. People KNEW this before the revelation of the memory. Nothing has changed.

          • Pariah

            February 25, 2015 at 12:30

            Yes, and who’s the one who actually points out, every time, when Admiral Chief doesn’t count?

          • Ranting Raptor

            February 25, 2015 at 12:32

            I’m so confused now 0_o

  3. Matthew Holliday

    February 25, 2015 at 11:54

    this cards been eating at my resolve.
    but the $330 in the US vs the R5400 min for them here is a pretty significant price difference

    Reply

  4. Lothy

    February 25, 2015 at 12:04

    “GTX 970 is a 4GB card. However, the upper 512MB of the additional 1GB is segmented and has reduced bandwidth. This is a good design because we were able to add an additional 1GB”
    BMW call centre, customer complaints department
    “Morning sir, how can we help you today”
    “Oh you own the new 4 series BMW, beautiful car! What seems to be the problem”
    he”A yes the spare tyre. Well according to the technical specs that were released just today, we provided to room for the correct sized tyre but the design team came out with a new better tyre that only comes in 13″s ”
    “Yes I understand that 13″ is a lot smaller that the tyres that came with the car. But our design team assures us this is a feature”
    Is it me or are they digging themselves a deeper hole???

    Reply

    • GalacticLordCaptainAwesomeness

      February 25, 2015 at 12:07

      Nots Man, BMW drivers carent count hey.
      if dey says it cans make my Beemer faster then it can bru

      Reply

      • Lothy

        February 25, 2015 at 12:07

        sounds legit

        Reply

      • Captain JJ the crafter

        February 25, 2015 at 12:13

        Like a wing wiff flames on.

        Reply

        • Lothy

          February 25, 2015 at 12:14

          go faster stripes are real! Never knock them!

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 25, 2015 at 12:15

            XD

          • Greylingad

            February 25, 2015 at 12:15

            This sticker on the windshield adds 10 bhp!

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            February 25, 2015 at 12:22

            A Man U sticker or a Liverpool sticker? Because the latter will make you come second when dicing.

          • Lothy

            February 25, 2015 at 12:22

            in this case Notts county

          • Greylingad

            February 25, 2015 at 12:26

            Nope, a Brembo braking systems sticker….

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 25, 2015 at 12:27

            A “DRM” sticker would stop me faster.

          • Greylingad

            February 25, 2015 at 12:32

            Bwaaaahaaaaaahaaaa!! “Uplay makes you stop dead in your tracks”, “for taking the Steam out of your Steam” or even ” the “Origin”al crash test dummy”

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 25, 2015 at 12:34

            Haha. With an EA sticker the car probably won’t start until it’s been “updated”. Then they’ll bring out a new model of the car even before they fix yours.

          • Greylingad

            February 25, 2015 at 12:39

            ^^ This is the most accurate description of a gaming publisher I have ever encountered…O.o….

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 25, 2015 at 12:40

            😀

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            February 25, 2015 at 12:40

            If it has an EA sticker you know it’s a rental.

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 25, 2015 at 12:40

            Haha

          • Greylingad

            February 25, 2015 at 12:49

            Hmmmm…. a rental vehicle is the only car in the world that can have grandparents doing doughnuts in the local supermarkets’ parking area, it is also the fastest vehicle in the world and comes with an instant repair option….all of this at the lowered price of three hundred and forty thousand eight hundred and four dollars a minute….

          • Captain JJ the crafter

            February 25, 2015 at 12:16

            I hear if you put ten helium balloons in your car’s boot it makes it lighter on petrol.

    • Pariah

      February 25, 2015 at 12:07

      It’s more accurate to say: “The initial design didn’t allow for a spare tire in the boot, but we reduced the boot size a little and were able to include one, so now you have space for the spare tire.”

      Reply

      • Lothy

        February 25, 2015 at 12:12

        agh I dunno. They should just say we stuffed up and leave it at that. It seems like they goin through the 7 stages of denial. To say we gave u 1gb extra but at the cost of 512mb doesn’t make any logical sense, AT ALL!

        Reply

        • Greylingad

          February 25, 2015 at 12:13

          Unless they actually meant 512 MB… and not 1 GB…

          Reply

    • Greylingad

      February 25, 2015 at 12:12

      hehehe, “Yes sir, the new M4 did come with a standard fitted V10 motor, only, the last two cylinders had to be reshaped and eventually ended up running slower and uhm… well in general not doing much except maybe sit there and smile, we felt it necessary that a vehicle needed more…things… I mean, does it really matter if they make it faster? No of course not! Only race drivers and morons drive fast! Uhm sorry sir, please don’t hang up, I’m so sorry, what I actually meant is that if you’d like to trade the car in for say the M6 we’ll be happy to oblige…”

      Reply

      • Lothy

        February 25, 2015 at 12:13

        LOL much better put! Well done!

        Reply

      • Pieter Kruger

        February 25, 2015 at 15:29

        But it still does 255km/h as advertised…..

        Reply

    • Captain JJ the crafter

      February 25, 2015 at 12:14

      Sounds like BMW has caught whiff of the DLC trend.

      Reply

      • Lothy

        February 25, 2015 at 12:19

        HAHA and the only way to get the full “potential” is to buy a season pass.

        Reply

  5. Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

    February 25, 2015 at 12:37

    This is all fun and all but I want an explanation why game devs have to pay them to use GameWorX (better known as the stuff that includes PhysX) AND then make sure it only supports THEIR cards. I mean come on … even though they will never ever ever use MANTLE they can and have the rights to be able to use it and also mantle is FREE to devs.

    Go Team RED!

    Reply

    • FoxOneZA

      February 25, 2015 at 14:16

      If there wasn’t Mantle, there wouldn’t have been a push to DX12.

      Reply

    • HvR

      February 25, 2015 at 15:22

      That is probably a very in debt discussion with each dev to know why but as someone who has paid R12k for single set of hardware interface dev tools and licenses (nothing to do with Nvidia or GPU though) is that the paid for/licensed product is worth ten times as much in pain and time saved versus a free product.

      Reply

      • Pieter Kruger

        February 25, 2015 at 15:27

        You mean “in depth”, in debt discussions is what Sony holds! ????

        Reply

        • HvR

          February 25, 2015 at 15:37

          Sorrie parrtykeer slat die plattelandse afrikaans deur en fok daardie ingelse th heeltemal op.

          Reply

      • Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

        February 25, 2015 at 16:35

        I will have to disagree with you on that one as both Frostbite and Cryengine are crossing over almost completely to mantle in their next iterations (frostbite 4 is technically already there once the bugs are fully ironed out). Although Mantle might be free AMD is spending massive amounts of resources into it to the benefit of devs who use it. And let us not forget the indie company deving a whole new engine based on MANTLE called Nitrous and can be seen in action here.

        Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      February 25, 2015 at 15:29

      To paraphrase Jim Sterling, thank god for AMD. I’d hate to imagine the price gouging in the gaming world with only Nvidia.

      Reply

  6. Greylingad

    February 25, 2015 at 13:04

    As much as I love nVidia, yes I own a GTX 970 and yes it still performs absolutely brilliantly, they’ve made a big mistake with this, yes, they are avoiding the questions about the ROPS and the L2 cache, the fact of the matter is still that it’s an amazing card… You’ll probably find that the main reason for them scuttling about as they are is because they still don’t know how a mistake like this slipped in, whether it be a lead engineer making a copy paste error and never actually updating the doc, well then so be it, I’m pretty sure that they’ve learnt from their mistakes. And before someone hates me for this comment, I have owned numerous Radeon cards as well and my love for the red team is still the same, especially with their stab at nvidia

    Reply

  7. Charl van der Merwe

    February 25, 2015 at 13:25

    Lol what a joke, the card has exemplary performance, it has been tested and benchmarked on MANY websites, tried and tested and proven stellar performance at 1080 and 1440p, beating it’s competitors at the price band in everyway. Thats the reason why everyone buys it. A few high end tests on 4k games have revealed this issue and everyone is up in arms crying blue murder about how their GTX970 can’t perform the best at 4k resolution on monitors that 99.5% of GTX 970 owners Don’t actually own!

    Oh how scandalous! lol

    Reply

  8. Wyzak

    February 25, 2015 at 13:26

    Still loving my 970.

    Reply

  9. geel slang

    February 25, 2015 at 14:52

    Im in the market for a new card the next month or so, still looks like the best card to get.

    Reply

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