You may recall that a few days ago, we reported on an issue regarding the advertised memory onboard NVIDIA GTX 970 GPUs. In a nutshell, the memory advertised was 4GBs, but only 3.5GBs on it ran at full speed. Any attempts to access the remaining 512MBs by the GPU, would result in a massive performance drop in certain circumstances, which included high resolutions and large textures. While the initial outcry even resulted in a US petition for NVIDIA to provide refunds for the affected GPUs, it appears that the number of people dissatisfied with the performance of the affected GPUs is less than five percent overseas.
The master debaters at Game Debate have found out that the initial demand for returns reported by NVIDIA GPU partners in the European market, where consumer protection laws are more strict than North American ones, are less than five percent. At the retail level, CaseKing and Overclockers UK are reporting that they are seeing around a 1 – 2% demand for refunds. Both of which are standing out by giving consumers an option to return their GTX 970 based GPUs by the end of February for a refund. That means that there is still time for these numbers to climb, as the awareness of the issue starts to take hold.
While the laws in Europe are very much in favour of the consumer, it appears that retailers in North America are passing the buck, and making customers deal with the card manufacturers directly as noted in this thread from NVIDIA’s GeForce Forum regarding the people’s experience with NewEgg. The information on NCIX Forums was a little more upfront, but also said that you’re basically dealing with whoever branded your GPU.
This situation is unfortunate for everyone involved, especially the end user. Keeping the GPU, to avoid what looks like a hassle-ridden return, only signals to NVIDIA and its partners that the issue isn’t an issue. While returning the card, will also make it impossible for some users, to enjoy the games that they love to play, as most users typically sell their old GPUs, to finance the purchase of the new one.
If you were an owner of an NVIDIA GTX 970 based GPU what would you do? Would you hang on to it and enjoy your games till an issue comes up? Or would you return it now, and switch to an AMD R9 290X, or upgrade to the GTX 980, which doesn’t have the issue? Let’s hear your thoughts on this!
Source: Game Debate