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3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this)

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Muezick
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2015/07/07 11:58:17 (permalink)
To make a long story short, I bought a GTX 970 SSC back in February. I knew about the ridiculous 3.5gb claims at the time, but did it anyway, because I assumed what I later found to be correct that the card would intelligently store less used assets in the last .5gb of vram (Which was still faster than system ram). 

When I received my GTX 970 SSC, I tested it, and found there to be no problems when it went over 3.5gb of vram. I thought "Case closed, this is sensationalist journalism at its finest, and there's nothing wrong with the GTX 970." My card runs great.

Fast forward a few months. The DVI port on my GTX 970 SSC fails, EVGA support recommends I RMA it, so I pack it up and prepare it for shipping. Last month I bought another GTX 970 SSC, with intent to put it in another computer I'm building slowly. Being that it wasn't in use, and is the same exact graphics card (Make and Model) I expected no difference. I installed it, and went back to gaming, expecting I'd ship the other card later that night when my gf got home so we could go together.
 
Unfortunately, when I got in game, and started running around and playing, my vram went over 3.5gb and when it did, I started noticing tons of microstutters and frame drops, the game ran like crap, so much to the point that it would actually drop entire segments of data in the vram (I'd watch it go from 3.6gb of vram down to 3.3 or 3.4gb in an instant, just in an attempt to recover stability).
 
The game in question is Arkham Knight, but before you go off on how unstable and terribly optimized that game is, Understand that I am aware. On my original GTX 970 SSC the game ran well enough that I could play it, it would get as high as 3.8 or 3.9 gb of vram and never experience any stutters, or frame drops (I've put over 20 hours into the game so far on my original GTX 970, so I know what to expect concerning that games general problems). The only time the game ever had any problem was in the batmobile or when moving very quickly, fighting tons of enemies at once, etc. These are the areas where this game experiences poor optimization and poor performance, and even lowering the settings does not fix this problem.
 
 
My question is, does EVGA warranty RMA cards that experience these problems, or am I just boned with a glitched GTX 970 that seems unwilling to actually even use it's last .5gb of vram. I've already submitted a ticket to EVGA and I am awaiting their response. I only made this thread, because I'm curious if others have experienced a similar situation, where one GTX 970 clearly has properly functioning vram and another does not.
post edited by Muezick - 2015/07/07 15:19:00
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    Avenger411
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 12:01:33 (permalink)
    Hey,
     
    The card is answering to driver calls, so the card doesn't fill it's last .5gb vram by it's own. Maybe the new drivers have done something the 970 doesn't like. Have you tried an older driver ? the one from the GTAV release was a big success in terms of stability and crashes (had none for me). 
     
    Max
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    Muezick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 12:04:31 (permalink)
    It can't possibly be driver related, since I've ran both cards on the same driver, the most recent 353.38.
     
    I put my old GTX 970 SSC back into my system until I can get the other one straightened out. A burnt out DVI port is far less important than a card that's apparently gimped. I went back into my game and tested it, and it runs just as smooth as before, no frame drops, no stutters. Same drivers.
     
    Only thing that changed was the card. 
    #3
    EVGA_JacobF
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 12:20:54 (permalink)
    Actually there are a couple of bugs with Batman AK with SLI enabled. I would recommend trying some other games for now until they release their update that will focus on the below, including SLI fixes:
     
    Below is the list of the key areas where we are dedicating our resources to improve the experience for our loyal fans: 
  • Support for frame rates above 30FPS in the graphics settings menu 
  • Fix for low resolution texture bug 
  • Improve overall performance and framerate hitches 
  • Add more options to the graphics settings menu 
  • Improvements to hard drive streaming and hitches 
  • Address full screen rendering bug on gaming laptops 
  • Improvements to system memory and VRAM usage 
  • NVIDIA SLI bug fixes 
  • Enabling AMD Crossfire 
  • NVIDIA and AMD updated drivers


  • #4
    Muezick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 12:49:06 (permalink)
    Couple of things Jacob;
     
    I'm not using them in SLI. I don't know where you even got that idea from, except maybe from poor assumption because you saw two cards were in play. It's only ever been one card at a time.
     
    Secondly, if you read my post clearly, you'd understand that I've played Arkham Knight on my original 970 SSC just fine. Only the second one experiences issues when going over 3.5gb of vram. 
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    EVGATech_ChrisB
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 14:50:08 (permalink)
    I apologize for any confusion.  Please understand that two GTX 970 cards would not behave any differently if they are both working as intended.  I also stand by recommending to try a different game or benchmark to test with and see if this continues, but we can of course help with warranty if you believe that the problem is with the card.
     
    http://www.evga.com/about/contactus/



    #6
    the_Scarlet_one
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 14:59:17 (permalink)
    Muezick
    Couple of things Jacob;
     
    I'm not using them in SLI. I don't know where you even got that idea from, except maybe from poor assumption because you saw two cards were in play. It's only ever been one card at a time.
     
    Secondly, if you read my post clearly, you'd understand that I've played Arkham Knight on my original 970 SSC just fine. Only the second one experiences issues when going over 3.5gb of vram. 




     
    You will find that if you ever mention you have two cards, that you instantly SLI them whether you clearly state the one card has already been sent back for RMA or that one is a 560 and the other is a 980ti..  I am not sure where people read past the part that you state that you removed the one and installed the other, and that the issue came up, but it happens often in these forums.  
     
    Since they are both the same card, have you verified if any of the other ports on the Original 970 work?  If so, could you open GPU-z, verify the BIOS and VRAM Type (Hynix, Samsung, Elpida), and then save it.
     
    remove the original card and install the second card.. Verify the same information.  If the memory is the same, but the Bios is difference, maybe flash the original card bios onto the new card to see if it corrects the usage of the VRAM.
    #7
    Muezick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 15:03:30 (permalink)
    Hey it's okay. I know I probably came off as angry or crass, but careful reading would've avoided his poor assumptions. I also admit that maybe I wasn't as clear as I could've been. No harm either way I hope. 
     
    Are there any games you might recommend to benchmark with? Arkham Knight is the only game I have that pushes the vram usage over 3.5gb. I would have to buy  an entirely new game in order to test it out otherwise. Is there any way to force a game to run at 4k resolution even if you are stuck at 1080p?
     
    I mean, I would be happy to test further. I agree that since the Cards are literally identical, except the ASIC quality, they should perform the same, but I'm telling you guys, my old GTX 970 ran Batman Arkham Knight fine, the new one I bought last month just doesn't. It makes me wanna hang onto that older GTX 970 even though I have another separate RMA open for it currently, I don't want to give it away over a bad DVI port, if it means I'll be taking a chance at receiving another GTX 970 that has this 3.5gb Vram issue. The fact that some 970s have the issue and others don't definitely lends credence to both sides of the argument. I honestly used to believe the various evidence around the internet that supported the idea that when using more than 3.5gb of vram, the GTX 970 would begin to fail in various ways was faked (Or greatly exaggerated). Now having seen it first hand, AND also having seen a GTX 970 that does not fail in various ways when over 3.5gb of vram, leads me to believe it's random for some reason. I honestly don't understand it, all I can do is report on what I've seen. Clearly not all GTX 970 GPUs are created equal. 
    #8
    EVGA_JacobF
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 15:32:36 (permalink)
    Sorry I misunderstood that you have a single card.
     
    For other games to look at that use a lot more framebuffer, try GTAV or Witcher if you have them. I cannot see any reason why one card would give significantly better performance than another identical card.


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    Sylous
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 15:40:06 (permalink)
    You can force 4k DSR on almost any game using either GeForce Experience or Nvidia Control Panel. I just tried it on Crysis 3 and my vRAM usage went from 1724 (1080p) to 2276 (4k) so I am guessing if you do that on GTAV or Witcher 3 your vRAM will reach 4GB.

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    Muezick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 16:24:44 (permalink)
    Scarlet-Tech
    Since they are both the same card, have you verified if any of the other ports on the Original 970 work?  If so, could you open GPU-z, verify the BIOS and VRAM Type (Hynix, Samsung, Elpida), and then save it.
     
    remove the original card and install the second card.. Verify the same information.  If the memory is the same, but the Bios is difference, maybe flash the original card bios onto the new card to see if it corrects the usage of the VRAM.




    Original GTX 970 SSC
     

    New GTX 970 SSC
     
    So there are some differences. Different Memory Modules, and Different BIOS.
     
    How tricky is flashing new BIOS onto one of these guys? I think I read some where there is a failsafe switch on the card so if the BIOS flash fails, you can default to factory very easily. Is that right? Actually, do you have any advice on where I might find a solid guide on doing that? As for the other ports, I have three displays, I put a secondary display on the DVI and put my main display on an HDMI and this solved the problem I was having with the original 970. The third display is on DisplayPort. I was going to RMA it any way because I don't want a 970 with a bad DVI port, but now I kinda wanna hang onto it, haha. I can get by not having DVI as my main display if it means having a card with fully functional vram.
     
    Side Note: while I had the newer GTX 970 in to screen shot the GPU-z profile, I opened up Arkham Knight again and played around with it. it's a very subtle thing, but once it gets over 3.5gb of vram usage, there are these tiny micro stutters in the frames. The Frame rate itself doesn't even go down really, it just looks super jittery. When I got my older card back in, I repeated and found a smoother game play experience. It was hard to nail down, given the nature of how awful Arkham Knight as a port is, so i really wish there were another way I could test this.
     
    EVGA_JacobF
    Sorry I misunderstood that you have a single card.
     
    For other games to look at that use a lot more framebuffer, try GTAV or Witcher if you have them. I cannot see any reason why one card would give significantly better performance than another identical card.



    Really, it's okay. I apologise for coming across as crass as I did, I probably could've done a better job of explaining myself in the first place. No harm, no fowl.

    As for your suggestions. The Witcher 3 uses an unusually low amount of vram, so I don't think that will work. (Source). and GTAV isn't a game I'd want to own. How ever, I have a friend who has Assassin's Creed Unity on steam and I'm going to try talking him into sharing his games list with me. We'll see. Sadly, I'm afraid I might run into the same issues with that game as with Batman AK. Though I have read a recent patch fixed a lot of what was wrong with AC: Unity. I'm gonna give it a shot.
     
     
    Sylous
    You can force 4k DSR on almost any game using either GeForce Experience or Nvidia Control Panel. I just tried it on Crysis 3 and my vRAM usage went from 1724 (1080p) to 2276 (4k) so I am guessing if you do that on GTAV or Witcher 3 your vRAM will reach 4GB.



    This is good news. I will give this a try with Dragon Age: Inquisition. I might just splurge a little and buy Shadows of Mordor too, since I understand a GTX 970 can run that game at 4k with playable frame rates, but it eats up every last bit of vram a 970 has. (Source)
    post edited by Muezick - 2015/07/07 16:27:12
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    talkischeap
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 16:44:09 (permalink)
     
    Muezick
     
    Side Note: while I had the newer GTX 970 in to screen shot the GPU-z profile, I opened up Arkham Knight again and played around with it. it's a very subtle thing, but once it gets over 3.5gb of vram usage, there are these tiny micro stutters in the frames. The Frame rate itself doesn't even go down really, it just looks super jittery. When I got my older card back in, I repeated and found a smoother game play experience. It was hard to nail down, given the nature of how awful Arkham Knight as a port is, so i really wish there were another way I could test this.

     
    You are describing the Vram issue to the T that I experienced with my 970's before I traded up (I had 2 MSI Gaming 4G 970's).  It is very subtle which is why most 970 owners are so adamant that there isn't a problem and that those that complain about it are full of you know what.  This is because it is so subtle and they don't know what it is to play a game without the issue.   Sounds like you have discovered this :)  Good luck with it.
     
    To clarify because i'm curious:)   The Samsung RAM and older BIOS gives you the better experience?
    post edited by talkischeap - 2015/07/07 16:46:16

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    Muezick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 17:01:15 (permalink)
    talkischeap 
    To clarify because i'm curious:)   The Samsung RAM and older BIOS gives you the better experience?



    Yep. The Samsung RAM with the older BIOS offers better performance. There's no Microstutter whatsoever, even when above 3.5gb of vram. 
     
    I am strongly considering stepping up to 980, I wanted to buy a 980 Ti, but I don't think Maxwell is worth it. Was hoping to wait until Pascal to dump a truckload of money on a video card (Die shrink so exciting!). I'm gonna try RMAing the newer 970 first, to see if the one they send back is a better card. 
     
    If they send me back the same card, with a shrug, I'm gonna go nuts.
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    evh19781984
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 17:07:37 (permalink)
    just curious other than batman how does that newer 970 do in  other Vram heavy games?
    I know you said acted up on batman but i was wondering how it is on any other game that would need over 3.5g vram?
     I do believe your original 970 with the DVI problem is a better card and you should hang onto it 
    Would upping the memory clock do anything to help the newer 970 perform more like the older one?
     
    post edited by evh19781984 - 2015/07/07 17:12:43
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    Muezick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 17:19:17 (permalink)
    evh19781984
    just curious other than batman how does that newer 970 do in  other Vram heavy games?
    I know you said acted up on batman but i was wondering how it is on any other game that would need over 3.5g vram?
     I do believe your original 970 with the DVI problem is a better card and you should hang onto it 
    Would upping the memory clock do anything to help the newer 970 perform more like the older one?
     

     
    I would be surprised if increasing the memory clock did any good, but I admit I am new to Overclocking GPUs, so I can't be sure.
     
    I have not yet tested my newer 970 on higher vram usage games. Arkham Knight is only game I currently own that uses more than 3.5gb of Vram. I am trying to get my hands on games like Shadows of Mordor or Assassins Creed Unity, but I'm in a bit of a financial low swing right now, and can't exactly afford to buy a brand new 60 dollar game. (I am actually gonna have to wait till next week to even ship this card back, in the event of an RMA acceptance XD)
     
    I am going to try forcing a few of my higher end games to run at 4k res, but that may not be accurate, because I am still running a 1080p monitor. Was going to try Dragon Age Inquisition first, but at maxed out settings, it still uses only 2gb of vram.
     
    I really would like to find a game where this microstutter is easy to identify, so when I do RMA it, I can point the engineers who inspect the card towards the exact situation where I was able to produce microstutter reliably. I am sort of terrified of them running a basic battery of tests on it, finding no problems, and then sending me the exact same card back.
    #15
    talkischeap
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 18:37:43 (permalink)
    Muezick
    talkischeap 
    To clarify because i'm curious:)   The Samsung RAM and older BIOS gives you the better experience?



    Yep. The Samsung RAM with the older BIOS offers better performance. There's no Microstutter whatsoever, even when above 3.5gb of vram. 
     
    I am strongly considering stepping up to 980, I wanted to buy a 980 Ti, but I don't think Maxwell is worth it. Was hoping to wait until Pascal to dump a truckload of money on a video card (Die shrink so exciting!). I'm gonna try RMAing the newer 970 first, to see if the one they send back is a better card. 
     
    If they send me back the same card, with a shrug, I'm gonna go nuts.




     
    When i returned both of my 970's i got a 980 FTW and a 500gb SSD with the cash.  I was happier with my single 980 than i was with my 970's in SLI.   I have since stepped up from the 980ftw to a 980 Ti and it's in another class by iteself.  I can't even tell it's in my rig.  So quiet and cool.

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    Sajin
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 19:25:09 (permalink)
    Interesting. Looks like the elpida vram is making things worse. You can use this guide to flash your card to see if it's the vbios causing the problem. The guide provided is for when only one card is inserted into the system so make sure only one card is inside the system when performing commands.
    #17
    the_real_maverick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 19:37:27 (permalink)
    When I found out about the vram stuff, I sold my 970 and went to a 290,...not because I was having issues per se, but because I didn't like the marketing that was behind it. The 290 has been a great card @ 1440 for the time being until the next generation Nvidia card.  May want to consider a temporary switch if you keep having performance issues.

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    #18
    Muezick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/07 21:48:28 (permalink)
    Alright.
     
    I got ahold of AC Unity. The most recent patch must have done wonders for that game because it's incredibly stable. I installed my newer GTX 970, the one with the newer BIOS and Elpida ram modules, and loaded up AC: Unity. Maxed out every setting I had and ran it at 1440 DSR. I was only getting about 25 fps, but it was 25 fps solid, the Vram was steady between 3.8 and 3.9, just a hair away from maxing the card out entirely.
     
    I couldn't see very much stuttering like I had before with Batman AK. No frame drops, but it still stutters a little (If only a little). God this game is gorgeous. Out of curiosity, I loaded up Batman AK again, and ran around. There was some stuttering, but it wasn't as bad as before. I'm running the newer 970 now and I'm gonna play around in AC: Unity some more, if only because of how pretty this game is, hehe. Gonna see if I notice any stuttering.

    I really hate this problem, because it seems so intermittent, and I hate it even more because I don't notice it at all on my older GTX 970. Not once have I ever seen anything resembling frame drops, or stuttering like I have on the newer one. But I'm still having trouble reproducing the problem with regular reliability, so now that I'm actually looking for it, and trying to cause it, it's much more scarce. I want to be able to tell them when I RMA it, I can write a note saying "Do this exactly to reproduce the problem".  You'd think the moment it hit 3.5+ vram it would start, but it isn't. So maybe this problem isn't what I think it is. I know I'm not going crazy, I know what I saw...

    I just don't want to send in the card and them find nothing wrong with it.
     
     
    #19
    stalinx20
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 05:11:29 (permalink)
    disregard.
    post edited by stalinx20 - 2015/07/08 05:46:18

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    #20
    Muezick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 05:46:10 (permalink)
    stalinx20
    For what it's worth, if you're going to run 1440p, you might want to consider 2 970s, not 1. 1 card alone, running 1440p with everything maxed puts a heavy burden on 1 970. It's not the VRAM that's the problem, but the lack of power to drive the monitor.
     
    Don't let people fool you into believing that the VRAM is going to be a problem. Trust me, I had these cards already. I stepped up to the 980s because I wanted a little more power.



    I know, I know. In general I've always regarded the 3.5gb of vram "problem" to be a joke. I have no intention of running these cards individually at anything but 1080p and 60hz.

    I was pushing games to higher DSR because I was trying to certifiably identify if my newer gtx 970 had a serious problem with video memory. But so far all I've really confirmed is the 970 doesn't really have the power to match it's 4gb of video memory because yes I run short on power long before I cap out the vram with this card.

    Heh, I'm actually tempted to go buy an SLI bridge, actually SLI them, and test again. I feel like I'm going crazy. Like the problem was only present in my newer 970 at first and has now gradually gotten better for no reason. Like I had to break it in first or something. Lol.
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    stalinx20
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 05:48:29 (permalink)
    Muezick
    stalinx20
    For what it's worth, if you're going to run 1440p, you might want to consider 2 970s, not 1. 1 card alone, running 1440p with everything maxed puts a heavy burden on 1 970. It's not the VRAM that's the problem, but the lack of power to drive the monitor.
     
    Don't let people fool you into believing that the VRAM is going to be a problem. Trust me, I had these cards already. I stepped up to the 980s because I wanted a little more power.



    I know, I know. In general I've always regarded the 3.5gb of vram "problem" to be a joke. I have no intention of running these cards individually at anything but 1080p and 60hz.

    I was pushing games to higher DSR because I was trying to certifiably identify if my newer gtx 970 had a serious problem with video memory. But so far all I've really confirmed is the 970 doesn't really have the power to match it's 4gb of video memory because yes I run short on power long before I cap out the vram with this card.

    Heh, I'm actually tempted to go buy an SLI bridge, actually SLI them, and test again. I feel like I'm going crazy. Like the problem was only present in my newer 970 at first and has now gradually gotten better for no reason. Like I had to break it in first or something. Lol.

    I'll admit when I tried a higher resolution I did get the skipping motion.

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    #22
    CoercionShaman
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 06:03:24 (permalink)
    I am always thrilled when I get the Samsung memory.  On my GTX 780s that I had, my card with the Samsung memory always did better.  I have read many threads that said the same thing after the fact where people complained that that their new cards pulled down performance of the Samsung cards.

    What use is knowledge if there is no understanding?~Stobaeus
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    Muezick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 06:05:16 (permalink)
    CoercionShaman
    I am always thrilled when I get the Samsung memory.  On my GTX 780s that I had, my card with the Samsung memory always did better.  I have read many threads that said the same thing after the fact where people complained that that their new cards pulled down performance of the Samsung cards.



    This just lends credence to what I thought originally. I may RMA this card with Elpida vram just to gamble for another one with Samsung vram.
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    stalinx20
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 06:10:34 (permalink)
    I have no comment about the Elpida. One of the cards has Samsung, and the other has Elpida. I can't really see the "bottleneck", and both cards are clocked at the overclock I chose. Maybe my eyes don't see it, i don't know. Haven't seen anything crazy other than Witcher 3 crashing when I go too high on the overclock, even with drivers being stable and all, so I just lowered them a bit, and now everything is "fine".

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    #25
    CoercionShaman
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 06:13:56 (permalink)
    Muezick
    CoercionShaman
    I am always thrilled when I get the Samsung memory.  On my GTX 780s that I had, my card with the Samsung memory always did better.  I have read many threads that said the same thing after the fact where people complained that that their new cards pulled down performance of the Samsung cards.



    This just lends credence to what I thought originally. I may RMA this card with Elpida vram just to gamble for another one with Samsung vram.




    I don't know with any certainty, but it has always seemed that the Samsung was used until it wasn't available in bulk at the time.  After that, you typically start to see the Hynix and Elpida memory appear depending on their given stock.  Odds are, this late in the game for the 970, you may not see another Samsung card.  If so, you are very lucky to have caught one still sitting on the shelf unless the other memory goes low and Samsung is available to the vendor again.
     
    Hard to say if you aren't the one ordering for the PCB builders.

    What use is knowledge if there is no understanding?~Stobaeus
    #26
    CoercionShaman
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 06:19:26 (permalink)
    stalinx20
    I have no comment about the Elpida. One of the cards has Samsung, and the other has Elpida. I can't really see the "bottleneck", and both cards are clocked at the overclock I chose. Maybe my eyes don't see it, i don't know. Haven't seen anything crazy other than Witcher 3 crashing when I go too high on the overclock, even with drivers being stable and all, so I just lowered them a bit, and now everything is "fine".




    I could only 'see' it in high usage situations or in the benchmark numbers, to be clear.  I guess that his situation would be high usage.

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    #27
    stalinx20
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 06:30:20 (permalink)
    CoercionShaman
    stalinx20
    I have no comment about the Elpida. One of the cards has Samsung, and the other has Elpida. I can't really see the "bottleneck", and both cards are clocked at the overclock I chose. Maybe my eyes don't see it, i don't know. Haven't seen anything crazy other than Witcher 3 crashing when I go too high on the overclock, even with drivers being stable and all, so I just lowered them a bit, and now everything is "fine".




    I could only 'see' it in high usage situations or in the benchmark numbers, to be clear.  I guess that his situation would be high usage.


    Maybe he should consider a 3rd 970...?

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    #28
    Muezick
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 06:35:52 (permalink)
    No, I'm not going to be using these cards in SLI, ever.
     
    CoercionShaman
    Muezick
    CoercionShaman
    I am always thrilled when I get the Samsung memory.  On my GTX 780s that I had, my card with the Samsung memory always did better.  I have read many threads that said the same thing after the fact where people complained that that their new cards pulled down performance of the Samsung cards.



    This just lends credence to what I thought originally. I may RMA this card with Elpida vram just to gamble for another one with Samsung vram.


    I don't know with any certainty, but it has always seemed that the Samsung was used until it wasn't available in bulk at the time.  After that, you typically start to see the Hynix and Elpida memory appear depending on their given stock.  Odds are, this late in the game for the 970, you may not see another Samsung card.  If so, you are very lucky to have caught one still sitting on the shelf unless the other memory goes low and Samsung is available to the vendor again.
     
    Hard to say if you aren't the one ordering for the PCB builders.



    Thanks for the tip. I'm not entirely convinced I shouldn't just throw my hands up and deal with it as is. Because as is, the problem is more like a non-issue. It's something that could come up, but in all likelihood, probably won't. 
    #29
    un4givn85
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    Re: 3.5GB of vram on GTX 970 SSC (I can't believe I'm writing this) 2015/07/08 07:00:12 (permalink)
    to add relative information to the conversation, both of my 970 ssc+'s have the samsung ram and i have not noticed any stutters with high vram usage whether im using one or two cards
     
    the only difference between my cards is a slightly different bios and one requires just a bit more voltage to achieve the same clocks as the other

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