Nvidia Settles GTX 970 Lawsuit, Will Refund Every Purchaser $30

[ffronw]

Nvidia Settles GTX 970 Lawsuit, Will Refund Every Purchaser $30

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1339/1339212.jpgIf you bought a GTX 970 for your PC, you're going to be eligible for a $30 refund.

If you follow the world of PC gaming hardware, you know all about the legal trouble Nvidia has had over the advertisement of the GTX 970. Despite the card's success, there were some issues in how Nvidia marketed it, chief among them, their claim that the card had 4 GB of RAM.

Instead, the card hard a 3.5 GB block of memory, and a separate, slower 512 MB block. Other disputed claims include the advertised 64 render output processors (actually 56) and the claimed 2,048 KB L2 cache (actually 1,792).

Rather than take the case all the way and chance a judgment that they didn't like, Nvidia has negotiated a settlement. This settlement will deal with 15 class-action lawsuits consolidated in Northern California, as well a pending action in San Diego. As is typical in these cases, Nvidia's settlement includes them denying all allegations of any wrongdoing.

Both sides in the action have agreed to the settlement, but it is still provisional at this point, which means you can't file your claim just yet. Furthermore, the odds are that this will only apply to US purchasers, since it's a US court case.

The bottom line is that anyone who purchased a GTX 970 will be eligible for a $30 refund from Nvidia. The details on how to claim it are not yet available, but we'll keep on eye on the situation, and pass on the details once they become available.

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[Worgen]

Guess I get 30 bucks, neat.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

That's cool. I like Nvidia cards but marketing the 970 has a true 4gb wasn't cool at all. Hope a lot of 970 owners become aware of this.

 

[major_chaos]

The really stupid thing about this is that the 970 was still great bang for the buck unless you were part of the tiny market that plays at resolutions over 1080 (and those people were probably running dual 980s anyway) so they lied for no reason and now its come back to bite them in the ass.

 

[Rednog]

The really stupid thing about this is that the 970 was still great bang for the buck unless you were part of the tiny market that plays at resolutions over 1080 (and those people were probably running dual 980s anyway) so they lied for no reason and now its come back to bite them in the ass.

Yup. I really don't know why they made this decision.
The market was super clear, when the 970s and 980s were announced the big 144hz gsync monitors were out. The average person got the 970s while those aiming for 144hz gsync went for the 980s.

 

[90sgamer]

I hope its $30 per card, per person. The 979 was a popular sli setup.

 

[RaikuFA]

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

 

[sneakypenguin]

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

Literally graphics cards nowdays are plug and play. If your case is open it might take you 15 seconds maybe 30 if you take your time. Snap into PCI slot plug in the powercable, and your done.

 

[ffronw]

I hope its $30 per card, per person. The 979 was a popular sli setup.

Me too. I have three of the things.

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

....wha? It took me longer to type this than it does to install a video card these days.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

....wha? It took me longer to type this than it does to install a video card these days.

I think it's because while a lot of people might use computers, they don't tend to take them apart or chop and change parts nearly as often.
I've been using this laptop for the last 3 years now and I don't think I even popped open the hood, never really had a need to.
Least on the hardware side, Windows 8.1/10 on the other hand... XcX

 

[RaikuFA]

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

Literally graphics cards nowdays are plug and play. If your case is open it might take you 15 seconds maybe 30 if you take your time. Snap into PCI slot plug in the powercable, and your done.

Doesn't that break the warranty though? If it breaks a few days later no one will repair it without handing out huge sums of money.

 

[LegoDudeGuy]

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

Literally graphics cards nowdays are plug and play. If your case is open it might take you 15 seconds maybe 30 if you take your time. Snap into PCI slot plug in the powercable, and your done.

Doesn't that break the warranty though? If it breaks a few days later no one will repair it without handing out huge sums of money.

No, it won't break warranty, installing parts yourself never has.

You can only break your warrenty if you intentionally take it apart and fiddle with the card itself, as far as I know.

 

[Zio_IV]

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

Video cards are arguably the simplest computer components to install, aside from RAM. Remove current card (just flip a latch and pull it out), literally shove new one in, take one single piece of cabling and connect the card to the power supply. 20-30 seconds of effort. If you can plug a 3DS/smartphone/iPad/whatever into its respective charger, you can install a video card. Only difference is you need to take out/put in a couple of easy-to-reach thumbscrews, hence why it's 20 seconds and not 5.

OT: I still find the 30 dollar refund an amusing response to basically being caught lying about a 300 dollar piece of gear. "Denying allegations", my left foot. Regardless of how minor or major one considers the slight to be, Nvidia flat-out lied. Seems like the sort of thing that should be scrutinized further than just letting them end it with a "Whoops. Here, have some lunch money. You'll get over it."

Though I suppose I should also give a wag of the finger to the people who are just up and accepting this comically-small bribe and riding it out. You understandably cry foul after finding out that your product specs were deceptive, and then just shrug and take your 30 dollars after putting Nvidia in a situation that might force them to better reflect on their marketing practices? Why even file a lawsuit in the first place if all it takes for you to be satisfied is basically a coupon for a combo pizza and 2-liter at Pizza Hut?

Idunno, maybe there's a piece of info I'm not being made aware of here, but this just seems like a comedy sideshow...on both sides.

 

[Zydrate]

I actually have a 970 now... but not going to trouble myself over a refund. It runs all current games, an upgrade from my laughable "220" on my last computer where Assassin's Creed looked like:

So honestly, no complaints.

 

[TheMann]

That's cool. I like Nvidia cards but marketing the 970 has a true 4gb wasn't cool at all. Hope a lot of 970 owners become aware of this.

What I heard is that the cause of this misrepresentation was due to a miscommunication between nVidia's engineering and marketing department. Engineering tried to explain it was 4 GB but designed to be 3.5 GB with a 512 MB overflow contingency. Marketing just heard the "4 GB" part and slapped that on the box. I don't know if this is true but they claim they didn't intend to false advertise. One can choose to believe that or not.

The really stupid thing about this is that the 970 was still great bang for the buck

Absolutely! The price point for the 970 was unbelievable for what you got. This is why I chose to get one. It was much cheaper than the 980 and still had damn good performance. I probably wont get a refund since I bought a Zotac non-reference card, but it suits me just fine. Haven't bought a game yet I couldn't play on ultra with a decent frame rate. 3.5 GB is just fine for me but if there are people out there that absolutely require 4 GB for their machine, they have every right to be pissed. Of course, they probably should've gotten a 980.

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

Steps to installing a new GPU:
1. Open computer.
2. Remove bracket holding old GPU in place (a screwdriver should work and some don't even require that).
3. Unplug power cables.
4. Remove old GPU from PCI slot.
5. Insert new GPU into PCI slot.
6. Plug power cables into new GPU.
7. Reattach bracket.
8. Enjoy.

This took me about 5 minutes. It's really not hard at all.

 

[RaikuFA]

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

Literally graphics cards nowdays are plug and play. If your case is open it might take you 15 seconds maybe 30 if you take your time. Snap into PCI slot plug in the powercable, and your done.

Doesn't that break the warranty though? If it breaks a few days later no one will repair it without handing out huge sums of money.

No, it won't break warranty, installing parts yourself never has.

You can only break your warrenty if you intentionally take it apart and fiddle with the card itself, as far as I know.

I meant with the computer itself. Dosent opening the computer void the warranty and you have to pay out of pocket to repair it?

 

[Trunkage]

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

Literally graphics cards nowdays are plug and play. If your case is open it might take you 15 seconds maybe 30 if you take your time. Snap into PCI slot plug in the powercable, and your done.

Doesn't that break the warranty though? If it breaks a few days later no one will repair it without handing out huge sums of money.

No, it won't break warranty, installing parts yourself never has.

You can only break your warrenty if you intentionally take it apart and fiddle with the card itself, as far as I know.

I think it might be different if you had a premade system but I remember that being a thing 10 years ago. I don't think they even do that now.

These companies aren't Apple

 

[Trunkage]

That's cool. I like Nvidia cards but marketing the 970 has a true 4gb wasn't cool at all. Hope a lot of 970 owners become aware of this.

What I heard is that the cause of this misrepresentation was due to a miscommunication between nVidia's engineering and marketing department. Engineering tried to explain it was 4 GB but designed to be 3.5 GB with a 512 MB overflow contingency. Marketing just heard the "4 GB" part and slapped that on the box. I don't know if this is true but they claim they didn't intend to false advertise. One can choose to believe that or not.

The really stupid thing about this is that the 970 was still great bang for the buck

Absolutely! The price point for the 970 was unbelievable for what you got. This is why I chose to get one. It was much cheaper than the 980 and still had damn good performance. I probably wont get a refund since I bought a Zotac non-reference card, but it suits me just fine. Haven't bought a game yet I couldn't play on ultra with a decent frame rate. 3.5 GB is just fine for me but if there are people out there that absolutely require 4 GB for their machine, they have every right to be pissed. Of course, they probably should've gotten a 980.

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

Steps to installing a new GPU:
1. Open computer.
2. Remove bracket holding old GPU in place (a screwdriver should work and some don't even require that).
3. Unplug power cables.
4. Remove old GPU from PCI slot.
5. Insert new GPU into PCI slot.
6. Plug power cables into new GPU.
7. Reattach bracket.
8. Enjoy.

This took me about 5 minutes. It's really not hard at all.

Some people might not know what a GPU is or that you can separate it from the motherboard.

Just YouTube it. That's where I get all my handyman hints.

 

[RaikuFA]

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

Literally graphics cards nowdays are plug and play. If your case is open it might take you 15 seconds maybe 30 if you take your time. Snap into PCI slot plug in the powercable, and your done.

Doesn't that break the warranty though? If it breaks a few days later no one will repair it without handing out huge sums of money.

No, it won't break warranty, installing parts yourself never has.

You can only break your warrenty if you intentionally take it apart and fiddle with the card itself, as far as I know.

I think it might be different if you had a premade system but I remember that being a thing 10 years ago. I don't think they even do that now.

These companies aren't Apple

Its not the companies that you should worry about, its the people who fix computers.

 

[direkiller]

$30 for a what... $400 graphics card? Then you gotta pay someone to install it unless you were born with a silicon spoon in your mouth. Not worth it.

Literally graphics cards nowdays are plug and play. If your case is open it might take you 15 seconds maybe 30 if you take your time. Snap into PCI slot plug in the powercable, and your done.

Doesn't that break the warranty though? If it breaks a few days later no one will repair it without handing out huge sums of money.

Nope.

Part sellers are typically 30-60 days standard retail return policy.

GPU's are limited warranty for one to three if you register them with the chip manufacturer. These typically require you to pay for shipping, to there place before you get a refurbished version of the same card.

non-factory overclocking dose not even void the warranty on GPUs from any of the major brands, only something along the lines of clear physical abuse(broken in half, falls in a blender, dog ate it) gets the card rejected.