NVIDIA Settles GTX 970 Class-Action Lawsuit

NVIDIA’s unusual solution to the GTX 970’s memory configuration where 0.5GB of the 4GB cluster was on a different pipeline resulting in much slower bandwidth caused a great deal of controversy. Originally, the GTX 970 was listed as a 4GB product with the full bandwidth you’d expect on a traditional memory arrangement and this was also relayed to reviewers. Of course, this information was misleading and communicated in a poor way. For example, the GTX 970 features 56 ROPs not 64 and has 1.75MB of level 2 cache instead of 2MB. In reality, this didn’t make a huge difference in performance although some early testing suggested when the 3.5GB limit was reached, the lower memory bandwidth would cause awful stuttering. These concerns eventually subsided though as drivers improved the situation. Whether NVIDIA’s marketing team made a mistake, or you feel something else occurred is down to user interpretation. Given the age of this controversy, I didn’t expect anything more to happen. However, NVIDIA has acknowledged the original specification breached advertising rules and has settled a class action lawsuit. According to TopClassAction and originally posted on VideoCardz, NVIDIA will pay $30 in compensation to consumers who bought a GTX 970:

“The overall settlement amount was not publicly disclosed within court papers, however Nvidia agreed to pay all consumers who purchased the GTX 970 graphics card and indicated there would not be a cap on the total amount it would pay consumers.”

“The settlement is fair and reasonable and falls within the range of possible approval,” attorneys for the proposed Class said in the filing. “It is the product of extended arms-length negotiations between experienced attorneys familiar with the legal and factual issues of this case and all settlement class members are treated fairly under the terms of the settlement.”

The company also committed to paying all legal fees surrounding this matter. Unfortunately, the report is lacking a lot of information and it’s unknown if the compensation only applies to the US market, and how consumers can instigate the financial process. I’m sure all will be revealed in due course, but this is a mistake NVIDIA is unlikely to make again. I’d be interested to see if there’s a time-frame, or requirement to show proof of purchase to obtain the money.

Does this lawsuit settle the GTX 970 3.5/4GB RAM issue, and do you think it was overblown by the media?