Question Do you ignore Nvidia GPUs because of it's data collection via GeForce Experience?

[klavs]

I've been wondering if people refuse to buy Nvidia GPUs because the GeForece Experience requires you to create an account and/or because of the data collection?

I myself would prefer an Nividia GPU but have decided to buy AMD this time, because I wont support surveillance. We are paying for the product, we are not getting it for free.

Previously I just didn't install GeForce Experience, and hoped for them to change their code of conduct, but I have decided to not buy their products anymore.

 

[Darkbreeze]

that doesn't add surveillance.

You're nucking futs if you think ANY of these companies don't have phone home features in their software if you use ANY of the optional crap. ALL the motherboard manufacturers have it in their optional utilties, like ASUS Armory Crate, Gigabyte control center, MSI Dragon, etc. NZXT CAM is one of the absolute worst. AMD is no better, or worse, in this regard, than anybody else. SO yes, it IS a moot point because nobody, not one person except maybe you, feels like this is a deal breaker when it is not even a requirement to use the hardware properly. And if you CHOOSE to use the optional features, LIKE GeForce experience, then you are CHOOSING to allow them to do that. Same as using CAM. Same as using Armory crate. Same as using your phone.

If you think ANYTHING you use surveils you even a fraction of as much as your phone does, even without any optional apps installed, then you are just hopeless. LOL.

 

[boju]

Data collection favors Nvidia users if want to use GE's services. Can turn it off anyhow.

https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/ans...-data-does-geforce-experience-send-to-nvidia?

 

[Darkbreeze]

GeForce experience is completely optional. You do NOT have to install it in order to install Nvidia drivers for any of their graphics cards, so that poll, and this question, are entirely moot. And it seems you KNEW that, which makes the question even less relevant.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I think we are done. If I want to actively try to be a consumer that doesn't support surveillance, I can chose to do that. You can support any activity you like, and I am not name calling you for it, nor strawmaning you.

Of course you can, but in order to do so you'd have to not use ANY software from any of these companies, except what the basic driver frameworks require. It's the same for motherboards, graphics cards and other hardware that offers optional features, and in some cases like NZXT CAM, not even optional. If you want to use ANY of their hardware that requires CAM, you WILL be sending them almost continuously monitored information.

But as far as having the right to choose between AMD and Nvidia, you absolutely have that right. It's simply a matter of choosing which of them you'd prefer to give your information too rather than choosing to not give it at all, unless of course, you choose to not give it to them by not using those features. And, my apologies, I was not trying to "call you names' as you put it. I was simply trying to make a point. But you are right, if you choose to use those features. In which case you are also choosing to be monitored in some way, mostly for marketing purposes.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Personally these days I prefer amd because nvidia seems money hungry and some of their products seem to be poor value for money. However if amd were nvidia they’d probably do the same as nvidia.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I buy the hardware that meets my requirements and wants.

 

[Darkbreeze]

And both those replies are way more valid than any consideration of the idea that somebody might not buy a card because of GeForce experience, when that isn't even a required component of using said device.

 

[klavs]

You're nucking futs

I think we are done. If I want to actively try to be a consumer that doesn't support surveillance, I can chose to do that. You can support any activity you like, and I am not name calling you for it, nor strawmaning you.

 

[hotaru.hino]

It is not optional, if I want to use the features it provides, and an alternate brand offers a similar alternative, that doesn't add surveillance.

So... use those alternatives instead?

I don't use GeForce Experience because it adds no value to the games I play:

• "Optimizing" my game settings? I'll set them to max quality and adjust to taste if it falls below say 50 FPS most of the time and it's not a CPU performance issue
• Automatic driver updates? They don't need to be up to date unless I'm playing a game that just came out
• Shadowplay? Windows has those features built in
• Ansel? It's a toy at best for me
• Freestyle? It doesn't add anything of value (why would I make my game sepia tone?)

Is NVIDIA holding a gun to your head and telling you you must use GeForce Experience or something?

 

[Tac 25]

voted "I don't care"

have three active pc here at home - a budget gaming pc, a backup pc, and dinosaur pc which also serves as backup storage. All have Nvidia gpu. All have Geforce Experience installed.

I use Geforce Experience to record gaming videos often, so it's a useful tool for me.

 

[mmtoller]

If you use an smartphone, you are already been under surveillance all the time. They know where you are exactly, they heard you actively through your mic, they know what are your desires, ambitious, behavior... They know everything. So, why bother?

 

[KyaraM]

It is not optional, if I want to use the features it provides, and an alternate brand offers a similar alternative, that doesn't add surveillance.

If that is your reasoning, I got bad news for you... very, very bad news. Fun fact, anonymous data about what games you play and the hardware you have are the most harmless pieces of info that are sent out to third parties. And will certainly alao be collected by AMD. Especially since they are mainly used to improve drivers and can be opted out.

NVIDIA Corporation Privacy Policy

NVIDIA is committed to respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy applies to our world-wide family of NVIDIA-operated websites, apps, and products.

www.nvidia.com

Oh, and on the topic of AMD not collecting data...

https://community.amd.com/t5/driver...settings-collect-about-my-computer/td-p/84473

And from AMD directly:

https://www.amd.com/en/legal/privacy.html

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is one of the most naive takes I have seen lately...

 

[AdmiralDonut]

Data collection favors Nvidia users if want to use GE's services. Can turn it off anyhow.

https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3188/~/what-data-does-geforce-experience-send-to-nvidia?

I didn't know this. That'll make my wife happy. She wanted to try the ANSEL stuff, but didn't want any data collection, and now she doesn't have to.

 

[KyaraM]

If you know you can disable data collection then I really don't get your issue. AMD does it, too, so that argument is completely moot. Also, I'm in Europe, too, so I know it is illegal. Doesn't change that you aren't forced and can deactivate it, no matter where you are. I don't really use Experience either so I don't really get that issue, too. It feels pretty silly to me to get worked up about any of this and avoid Nvidia because of data collection, as said in the thread title. It's your main point here and people tell you it makes no sense.

 

[DSzymborski]

A poll in a forum thread is hardly going to be scientific in any meaningful way. And of course people are going to discuss it; the purpose of the forum is discussion.

And people said you said you were being forced because you previously said "it's not optional." It's fairly binary; either you're forced to install GeForce experience or you're not.

Optional, is, of course correct. You purchased a product that was offered and if you did not like the associated conditions for using the product's features, you had a 30-day window to return the item.

After buying a GPU, Nvidia offers you an additional service contract, one that provides special tools above and beyond the basic functionality of the product. They then request, as consideration, the ability to use your data in return for the additional special tools that you did not purchase otherwise. Then, if you choose to accept those conditions, to explicitly give your assent to them after reading the User Agreement they present to you prior to using those special tools.

All the elements of a contract between two freely consenting parties are here: offer, consideration, acceptance, mutuality, and legality. It's optional. These special tools are not required for the functioning of the GPU which you did purchase. These are separate transactions as they offered you an additional product to enhance your enjoyment from the product your purchased already.

Am I necessarily crazy about the conditions? Not really. I'd prefer to have an option where I pay an equivalent fee to my data, but they're certainly optional.

 

[klavs]

And people said you said you were being forced because you previously said "it's not optional." It's fairly binary; either you're forced to install GeForce experience or you're not.

Thank you. That was a mistake / badly worded. Being forced to create an account and be online while using it, is not optional (last I checked). I figured the choices I created for the vote showed that I know installing it is a choice.

 

[KyaraM]

So AMD forces you to be registered and online to use the equivalent to GE? The vote was not created with the intention to debate anything. I naively assumed people would vote and state their reason, like I did, and not make strawman arguments based on assumptions.



The point was to see how people vote, which to me shows something that I will not discuss on these forums, ie. politics. If you want a hint you can search for 'political ponerology", but I strongly suggest we only debate it privately, if you want to do that.



What assumptions are you making? What did I explicitly write to cause these assumptions?

You wrote: "I myself would prefer an Nividia GPU but have decided to buy AMD this time, because I wont support surveillance. We are paying for the product, we are not getting it for free."
This literally says that you switched to AMD because Nvidia is collecting data, with the implication that AMD doesn't. Because, why make this your main reason if AMD does it, too? That would only be an argument if you believed they didn't, which is kinda naive as shown in my first post above. It's not an strawman argument. It's not an assumption. It is literally what you yourself said is your reason.

About Geforce Experience, again, it is fully optional to you. Don't like it, don't get it, end of story. It'snot even hard to create a dummy email for it or anything. In all honesty, since I'm not using any of its crap anyways, I actually like being able to choose not to install it. I don't care about needing an account. But this wasn't exactly your main point from how you hade the poll, but tacked on to the surveillance argument.

 

[klavs]

Thank you for the feedback.

You wrote: "I myself would prefer an Nividia GPU but have decided to buy AMD this time, because I wont support surveillance. This literally says that you switched to AMD because Nvidia is collecting data, with the implication that AMD doesn't.

Because, why make this your main reason if AMD does it, too?

Does AMD force you to create an account and be online to use their tool too?

About Geforce Experience, again, it is fully optional to you. Don't like it, don't get it, end of story.

If you read the alternatives that I created for the vote you can see that I was aware of this, before anyone had created a reply. Which is why I didn't understand why people write that it's optional, implying that I did not already know.

It'snot even hard to create a dummy email for it or anything. In all honesty, since I'm not using any of its crap anyways, I actually like being able to choose not to install it. I don't care about needing an account. But this wasn't exactly your main point from how you hade the poll, but tacked on to the surveillance argument.

If you want to discuss politics / monitoring / surveillance feel free to DM me. Discussing politics here is counter productive IMO. Being online is, as you have implied yourself, being surveilled.

 

[KyaraM]

Thank you for the feedback.





Does AMD force you to create an account and be online to use their tool too?



If you read the alternatives that I created for the vote you can see that I was aware of this, before anyone had created a reply. Which is why I didn't understand why people write that it's optional, implying that I did not already know.



If you want to discuss politics / monitoring / surveillance feel free to DM me. Discussing politics here is counter productive IMO. Being online is, as you have implied yourself, being surveilled.

I don't know and I frankly don't even care. Don't want it, don't use it, and that is the very last thing I say about it. Having to have an account doesn't even have anything to do with your surveillance bs. And no, I'm not interested in discussing this further. Hope you enjoy your AMD card that is also monitoring you, as well as your smart phone, smart TV, ISP, and whoever else provides services to you through a paid service with data logging on top of the fees.

 

[klavs]

Hope you enjoy your AMD card that is also monitoring you

How can it monitor me when I am offline and restore an image every time I boot? How can the smart devices that I do not own, for obvious reasons, monitor me?

I've got hardware that has neve been online, there is hardware that I have chosen to live without. Your opinion is that you don't care / surveillance is ok / everybody does it so why fight it, and I respect those opinions.

 

[KyaraM]

How can it monitor me when I am offline and restore an image every time I boot? How can the smart devices that I do not own, for obvious reasons, monitor me?

I've got hardware that has neve been online, there is hardware that I have chosen to live without. Your opinion is that you don't care / surveillance is ok / everybody does it so why fight it, and I respect those opinions.

No, that is NOT my opinion, at all, don't put words in my mouth. It's simply reality, and the fact that you are even talking to me right now tells me that you do go online somehow anyways. And if you aren't even online... why the heck is any of this an issue for you? It makes no sense! Well, whatever. Bye.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Besides which, I've NEVER had to create an Nvidia account, for anything. Not for using GeForce experience. Not for downloading drivers. Not for using their products OR software. Nothing. Ever. So, not sure where you got that idea, but you can move that one to the "nope" box along with the rest of the premise you've presented here. It's simply not true. And no, AMD does not "make" you create an account either, for doing any of that. Using their software or drivers. If you do that, you do it willingly and it is completely optional.

 

[iTRiP]

I for one haven't been ignoring either of the gpu manufacturers, I always browse around when new releases are being made.

Money for hardware with drivers that always work in every situation or application, and with that above and beyond hardware specifications far beyond what was previously utilized.

And surely when something that outshines what I currently run, then it will be bought, and then one should find a way to incorporate it into your daily pc activities smoothly until the next is to be had, not because it becomes unlikable, brakes or fails in any other way.

Just as an example: My current GPU has 2048bit (tech mumble jumbo) but the point being is I don't see any newer gpu releases that come even close to this, this might be a moot point I am making here, but since it's just an example of what one should be looking at you should understand quite well, what really would sell in my opinion is better hardware with better capabilities.

I totally understand that some architecture differs too how other architecture operates and such things such bus width might not have any measure in a latest iteration of gpu, The only hardware that I can currently see that one would get with a new gpu is a ton of memory, and a little higher clocks, nothing really outshining yet.

And when it comes to surveillance or data collection, I could not give a damn, Sure don't know why anybody cares so much about that, everybody everywhere knows all they require about everybody else already, and such has it been forever since it was invented, no point in trying to fight that witch just you so happen to have just discovered!

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Both companies are going to monitor to a point, however I don't think AMD requires an account, so perhaps theirs is a bit more anonymous. As I said before, these days nvidia doesn't seem to provide a great value for money in my opinion anyway. But that said, if you are that worried about them collecting data, you can probably also try to figure out which port they use to communicate and block it using windows firewall or the firewall in your router.