misiak

Scarlet-Tech

misiak
If they resolve memory allocation issues and give us some compensation, e.g. a copy of A+++ game or something like that I will be good. If the memory allocation is correct and application do not try to store data in that slow memory chunk then 3.5GB of memory is pretty good. If there are more vram demanding games 0.5GB will not save the word, then maybe we would need 6 or 8GB of vram. Most of the new games use up to 2GB and if there are too demanding games we can lower texture quality and we shall be good for some time. Nvidia just needs to ensure that 0.5GB block is not addressed by app until 3.5GB block is not full. But I think this is only possible to completely disable that part of slow memory, because apps will not be optimized to use normal vram and this "cache" partition.

 
Refer to this post:   as it will open up your mind about that extra .5gb of VRAM that is being accessed.  As I stated there, and everyone has essentially ignored, a flagship GPU is running at between 8-20 fps while a midrange can see better performance due to the extra 1gb of VRAM (.5gb cache and .5gb regular)  I am curious what peoples scores are, since that benchmark WILL push their ram further than 3gb.

Yes, but question is if it's better to have regular 3.5GB of memory or 3.5 + 0.5 because the apps treat this as regular 4GB... It's all about memory management and how the app access to it. For me, a great comparison would be to test these 3 cards in Firestrike Ultra to see potential framedrops and frametimes.
 
1. GTX 980 4GB
1. GTX 970 3.5GB + 0.5GB
3. GTX 780Ti 3GB
 
I could do that for 970, but unfortunately I don't have Firestrike Ultra.

Scarlet-Tech

Squall_Rinoa86
This.. I don't have Firestrike Ultra either so i'm SOL :X My 2nd 970 GTX FTW 2978 will be here tomorrow in the afternoon. Seeing all this issues makes me wish I held off on buying my 2nd..

Tests are already posted for Firestrike Ultra and 970 running FSU as a 5k.. The full 4gb of vram is utilized. You aren't SOL and your cards are fine.

There is also another update, they are going to fix the utilization in an update shortly, so even less problem.. Basically, the problem that was only a superficial problem is going to be OK.

The nvidia forum and now the 970 owners of this forum seem to be a lot like hypochondriacs.. "his card has a tiny issue so mine is worse than his..." doc says his card is fine, "well I can't test mine, so mine is going to die..."

Not trying to be a rude person here, but it was never an issue before someone else mentioned it, the the hypochondriac like symptoms appeared all over the forum.

Kully
So would keeping my 970 FTW+ be the better option if playing at 1080p? I would like to max out my games like Witcher 3/Project CARS (or as much as possible). Would upgrading to the 980 be a waste of money if I am going to play at 1080p?

Kully

Mikael_Wartooth

Kully
So would keeping my 970 FTW+ be the better option if playing at 1080p? I would like to max out my games like Witcher 3/Project CARS (or as much as possible). Would upgrading to the 980 be a waste of money if I am going to play at 1080p?

If you are staying in 1080 and don't plan on going to 1440 or 4k anytime soon the 970 is the best card you can buy for the money. 

I may end up buying a new monitor (going up to 1440) within the next year. 4K is definitely not an option, out of my price range.

misiak

Teemeister

Kully

Mikael_Wartooth

Kully
So would keeping my 970 FTW+ be the better option if playing at 1080p? I would like to max out my games like Witcher 3/Project CARS (or as much as possible). Would upgrading to the 980 be a waste of money if I am going to play at 1080p?

If you are staying in 1080 and don't plan on going to 1440 or 4k anytime soon the 970 is the best card you can buy for the money. 

I may end up buying a new monitor (going up to 1440) within the next year. 4K is definitely not an option, out of my price range.

For Witcher 3 a single 970 FTW+ won't cut it at 1440p with everything maxed out - but this has nothing to do with its VRAM limitation. At 1080p a 970 FTW+ might suffice.

I would agree but COD:AW is first game where you can have problems with 970 because this 3.5GB limitations. I've tried it and yes, it stutter once more than 3.5GB is utilized... So if Witcher will be ram hungry we are in trouble to enjoy the game on ultra settings because of this. And more game will follow. And I'm talking about 1080p. People playing in 2K could have even bigger issues.

Stephenk291

Teemeister

misiak

Teemeister

Kully

Mikael_Wartooth

Kully
So would keeping my 970 FTW+ be the better option if playing at 1080p? I would like to max out my games like Witcher 3/Project CARS (or as much as possible). Would upgrading to the 980 be a waste of money if I am going to play at 1080p?

If you are staying in 1080 and don't plan on going to 1440 or 4k anytime soon the 970 is the best card you can buy for the money. 

I may end up buying a new monitor (going up to 1440) within the next year. 4K is definitely not an option, out of my price range.

For Witcher 3 a single 970 FTW+ won't cut it at 1440p with everything maxed out - but this has nothing to do with its VRAM limitation. At 1080p a 970 FTW+ might suffice.

I would agree but COD:AW is first game where you can have problems with 970 because this 3.5GB limitations. I've tried it and yes, it stutter once more than 3.5GB is utilized... So if Witcher will be ram hungry we are in trouble to enjoy the game on ultra settings because of this. And more game will follow. And I'm talking about 1080p. People playing in 2K could have even bigger issues.

And that's why Nvidia must address this issue quickly and properly. If they screw this up, I for one will not buy an Nvidia product again (and I believe I'm not the only one).

I still get a kick out of this whole thing. Had this not been blown up and disclosed NOBODY would have any complaints outside of coil whine about the card. Nvidia is addressing the issue properly at this point, sure it's taken them some time but its going to be resolved. They've already offered on their forums to help people attempt to get refunds for their purchases which I can only imagine will cost them $$ and even vendors are helping customers out.
 
Enough with the witch hunt attitude already. There isn't much of an alternative to nvidia considering AMD is pretty much dead in the water until they release something else.

matthewdg1973
Would a standard 980 be enough?

ubbb69
Scarlet, here is my problem with how you rationalize this. I am currently over $800 in video cards, $1000 into monitor, and a brand new system built around them. I am on my third card with my fourth in the mail. I had no clue why my games stuttered, dropped fps, and overall ran poorly. Evga has blamed my psu, which i changed. They have blamed my motherboard which some good friends stopped me from having to change. They brought me their cards over to test and things ran great. Tested 980, sli 980, x290, crossfire x290, and x295. All ran great on my system. Evga sent a new card which did the same as the first. I bought a new style ssc as i wait for a stepup on my other ssc. Issue is still there. Now i have 2 ssc cards and i have no clue as what to do. I can turn down settings and run them non sli? I can take the one card back if my other gets here before the 30 days. I had to buy the 2nd card becouse i do not have onboard graphics. So i will be stuck playing at settings lower then i should be capable of until nvidia fixes their issues. So tell me how you would feel if you had the same issues with the 780's you run. Would you feel like you should wait around for a fix or would you be a little mad? I know the situation is blown out of proportion but for the ones affected by this playing the games that actually push the new hardware it is not a fun situation to be in. 
 
 Evga has offered to let me stepup the card that is curently in the stepup process. They did not have to do this but they have. To me that says a lot about them. But that puts me in the same boat of do i keep this 2nd card i have and take the loss on it after i step up again? Or do i return it then buy another when i start the stepup process again? By the time i am done no matter what i will have an extra $100 into shipping then the card is worth. I was excited about running sli for the first time, and i do not have the xtra to sli on the 980 platform. I am at a loss right now truthfully. I am not cought up on the 3.5 to 4 issue. I am cought up on when i have time to sit down and enjoy my gaming time it is constant frustration at glitchy play. If i were promised a fix in a timely manner then i would probably stick with sli. But who know when it will be fixed or if it will. I am sorry to rant man but for me right now it is an issue and i am frustrated.

misiak

matthewdg1973

misiak

matthewdg1973
Would a standard 980 be enough?

With 3 monitors at 1080p you are going to play in 4K. Actually, for 4K gaming R9 290X is better choice. Definitely do not buy 970. Single 980? It depends what framerate you want to achieve and what games you want to play. If you want to have 60fps, single would not be enough to play games like AC:U or FC4 and upcoming wither 3 and GTA5 in ultra settings, you would need to lower settings to get that, If you OK with 30fps you will be good also with single 980. Simply for 4K gamming SLI is needed now if you want to enjoy...

my 3 monitor surround dreams are crushed :( Guess it will be single monitor gaming for me and use the other one for monitoring and such.

I'm sorry for that dude but the word is not yet ready for quality 4K gaming until you have really lot of money... It's not worth of it for now, let's wait until 4K is standard and there is powerful hardware capable to handle it. This time will come in couple of years, I remember when I played 640x480 EGA which was a standard with less than 30 fps and I was happy and would never imagine we can play in HD, QHD and even UHD once in near feature :) But now I'm older and need quality in any aspect. Especially nowadays when everything is ****ty and crippled.

Brightmist

Scarlet-Tech

ubbb69
Scarlet, here is my problem with how you rationalize this. I am currently over $800 in video cards, $1000 into monitor, and a brand new system built around them. I am on my third card with my fourth in the mail. I had no clue why my games stuttered, dropped fps, and overall ran poorly. Evga has blamed my psu, which i changed. They have blamed my motherboard which some good friends stopped me from having to change. They brought me their cards over to test and things ran great. Tested 980, sli 980, x290, crossfire x290, and x295. All ran great on my system. Evga sent a new card which did the same as the first. I bought a new style ssc as i wait for a stepup on my other ssc. Issue is still there. Now i have 2 ssc cards and i have no clue as what to do. I can turn down settings and run them non sli? I can take the one card back if my other gets here before the 30 days. I had to buy the 2nd card becouse i do not have onboard graphics. So i will be stuck playing at settings lower then i should be capable of until nvidia fixes their issues. So tell me how you would feel if you had the same issues with the 780's you run. Would you feel like you should wait around for a fix or would you be a little mad? I know the situation is blown out of proportion but for the ones affected by this playing the games that actually push the new hardware it is not a fun situation to be in. 
 
 Evga has offered to let me stepup the card that is curently in the stepup process. They did not have to do this but they have. To me that says a lot about them. But that puts me in the same boat of do i keep this 2nd card i have and take the loss on it after i step up again? Or do i return it then buy another when i start the stepup process again? By the time i am done no matter what i will have an extra $100 into shipping then the card is worth. I was excited about running sli for the first time, and i do not have the xtra to sli on the 980 platform. I am at a loss right now truthfully. I am not cought up on the 3.5 to 4 issue. I am cought up on when i have time to sit down and enjoy my gaming time it is constant frustration at glitchy play. If i were promised a fix in a timely manner then i would probably stick with sli. But who know when it will be fixed or if it will. I am sorry to rant man but for me right now it is an issue and i am frustrated.

 
This is the thing.. EVGA is helping their customers.. but look at how many people are here complaining that admit that they haven't had a single issue.. they see bad things from others so their HAS to be bad as well.  That is the issue, not when you are actually experiencing the problem.  Your case is justified while many are not.

It doesn't matter if people are having problems or not, EVGA & nVidia have sold these cards using false ads basically cheating people out of their money.
 
They should atleast be doing partial refunds (like Amazon does) or offer gift cards or any other kind of compensation. Not everyone has the money or the means to step-up to a higher priced card nor people want to spend any more money on an untrustworthy company.

Brightmist
That is between EVGA & nVidia. 
EVGA sold me this card without doing the proper QA, they've got my money.
They're responsible and that's just about it.