970gtx memory issues is enough to not buy it?

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RommelKorp

RommelKorp

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Feb 6, 2014
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Hello everyone, i am about to buy one of this cards (The Gigabyte Windforce) and looking at the news recently with my understanding in graphics, the fact that you can´t use more than 3.5 Gb of VRAM without loosing performance is a deal killer. Please correct me if i am wrong i had read that right now only games that require more than 3.5gb or resolutions above 1440p causes framedrops and stutter issues.

I have to tell you that i was upgrading the rig of my gf, from a 280x (already sold it ) to this card, i just ordered it but not payed for it, she will be playing at 1080p right now if i buy it.

So, the question is: Should i wait for another model or be confident that the "driver" (i know that the problems solved by firmware are very limitated when hardware is the issue) will make some kind of denial of the slower 0.5gb for not cause this framedrops and issues?

What should i do ?

not buying the card ?

been confident that at 1080p it will not cause me problems at gaming in the next years?

here are the specs of her machine only if its usefull

Mother: M5A97 R 2.0
Proccesor: AMD 8320
RAM: FURY 16 GB 1600MHZ
VIDEO: Currently nothing... 280x sold
PSU: 600w bronze plus certification

Thanks for your reply !

EDIT: NVIDIA WILL NOT MAKE AN EFFORT TO SOLVE IT VIA DRIVER, NEGLECTS THE EMPLOYEE DECLARATION

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2876802/nvidia-plans-geforce-gtx-970-driver-update-for-memory-performance-concerns.html

Here is the article talking about driver for improve this problem:
http://www.pcgamer.com/nvidia-working-on-driver-update-to-address-gtx-970-issues/
 
Solution
-Lone-
Unless they can somehow make 1080p look better than it is now and makes GPU work harder for it, no way you would need more than 3GB of VRAM for 1080p. If you are going to game at 1080p for the next few years and I can guarantee you that you won't need more than that. The only time you would need more than that is if you are planning to move up to 4k, 3.5GB is still enough for 1440p, so you have nothing to worry about 1080p in the future. Also, like anort said above, the benchmarks are still the same even if they lied about its specs, so it is still a very good card to have for 1080p. You'll have no problem with gaming at 1080p with ultra settings.
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3.5GB of VRAM is plenty for 1080p, I think even 2GB of it is plenty for 1080p ultra. So I'd say get it if you game at 1080p or 1440p. I don't think you'll need close to 4GB unless you game at 4k or something. So yes, I think you should buy it since it is still a very good card for 1080p.
 
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^ Agreed. My 3GB GTX 780 can max every game at 1920 x 1080 and the GTX 970 is still the best card for the price. The memory issue changes nothing except on paper. All those benchmarks are still the same.
 
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Thanks for the quick reply, and sorry for bother you but can you tell me that in the near future the games wont require more than 3.5gb at 1080p ? In my country its an expensive card, and i was scared reading all kind of stuff about this card and the problem.

I have an 780Ghz Edition right now and i agree with you, i dont have problems but my concern is in the future itself

And since Nvidia claims to be working on the issue (new firmware) in your experience, what is to be expected ?
 
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Thanks, actually i have a 3GB GTX 780Ghz i know that is an amazing card but if you are serious about the changes will be only in the paper that means that at 1080p the games in..lets say 2 years will not require more than 3.5 Gb of VRAM ?

And refering to those bench...are you aware of a bench that measure the amount of frame drops during game in one of this cards ? (970 gtx)
 
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Unless they can somehow make 1080p look better than it is now and makes GPU work harder for it, no way you would need more than 3GB of VRAM for 1080p. If you are going to game at 1080p for the next few years and I can guarantee you that you won't need more than that. The only time you would need more than that is if you are planning to move up to 4k, 3.5GB is still enough for 1440p, so you have nothing to worry about 1080p in the future. Also, like anort said above, the benchmarks are still the same even if they lied about its specs, so it is still a very good card to have for 1080p. You'll have no problem with gaming at 1080p with ultra settings.
 
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Solution
If you have a GTX 780 then getting a GTX 970 is not really an upgrade. The 2 cards are very similar in performance and although the 970 is faster it's not enough faster to be worth upgrading. The 970 and 980 were aimed at owners of the GTX 680 and older cards. Big Maxwell ( maybe called 980 Ti ) will be aimed at replacing the Titan/ GTX 780 and 780 Ti. Your FX 8320 is going to bottleneck any high end cards anyway making them perform even more closely. You need that CPU at ~4.5Ghz or better.
 
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Sorry for not picking yours man i saw it too late :c thanks for the link !!!
 
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My cpu is already at 4.5 ghz (Frio OCK )
And man the 970GTX is for my GF my rig is the one with the 780Ghz (im not planning to upgrade)

Anyway thank you for your reply !

 
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No problem.

I think it outlines how insignificant this "issue" is. It still performs within the expected % of a 980 even when using over 3.5gb vram.
 
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You goof and set your status as Ancient? 😀 I think you can change it back. If not the Senior mods or Kevin can do it for you.
 
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Yes, but as an non expert user i panicked about it.

Thanks to this awesome community!! Always providing quick and good answers I will buy it 😀 it arrives tomorrow
 
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I will buy it then :) thank you for your time !
 
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You aren't the only one. Doesn't help that many "tech experts" are making the matter worse by spreading ill informed opinions about it.
 
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As an aside to the main conversation (I agree with the others that the 970 is still a great card to get), I just thought I should note that you might want to be a little careful about guaranteeing that... 😉

There's a small but growing number of games that already use more than 3GB of VRAM at ultra settings at 1080p. This is all down to the growing trend of games offering extremely high texture quality settings, a trend likely connected to development for the current consoles, as the only thing they're not short of is VRAM!

Other than requiring a lot of VRAM, these settings often have a negligible impact on performance, so we're talking about perfectly playable settings at 1080p that just happen to use a lot of VRAM. Shadow of Mordor for instance, at 1080p ultra settings (with the ultra textures installed), still averages more than 60 FPS with a GTX 970, even while using just over 3.5 GB of VRAM.

It's difficult to say whether the trend for extreme quality textures will continue moving into the future (likely yes, seeing as significant VRAM is one of the few things the consoles have going for them), but either way, you might want to rethink your guarantee moving forward :)
 
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To be fair, unless you absolutly MUST max out all texture settings and super sampling etc, 3gb is more than enough for 1080p a decent settings.
 
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I agree with you personally, RobCrezz; I certainly have no problem with lowering a few settings to get playable framerates out of my equipment (I have to with my aging 670!). But it seems there are an awful lot of people who treat graphic settings as an all or nothing situation. I'm always amazed by the sheer number of people I encounter, both online and in the real world, who seem obsessed with having everything (bar AA) maxed out, almost as if the very idea of having to lower some settings is a personal insult against them and their equipment. It's an expensive attitude to have!
 
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Yep, and many settings seem to have hardly any improvement visually, but hit performance hard.

Im in a similar situation with my 680 - Can still get great 1440p performance (or 1080p), you just need to be sensible with the graphical options. Many people on here would tell you that a 680 is totally unsuitable for 1440p, but it actually does very well if you are not trying to max everything out.
 
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