Manufacturers roll out firmware updates for GeForce GTX 1070 due to memory Issue
If you own a GeForce GTX 1070, you might want to pay attention to this news-item as you could be effected. There have been some problems reported with certain GeForce GTX 1070 cards.
After further investigation it became apparant that the issues like flickering and poor memory overclocking results on the memory sub-system are graphics memory related. GeForce GTX 1070 cards fitted with Samsung memory do not have any issues, however some manufacturers have or switched towards Micron chips, and these are the culprit of the reported issues. Especially during overclocking of the graphics memory problems will appear fast with bad results like checkerboard patterns. The problem is was found in the the speed of the voltage adjustment from the low power idle P-States to support the memory voltage requirements under load. If you can keep the idle voltage above 0.800V before you apply the overclock you never see the issue.
Some users also have reported that at default configuration they noticed the occasional odd issue like flickering or experiencing graphical artifacts. Multiple brands are and could be effected. Right now most of them are working on (or already issuing) a BIOS firmware update for the graphics cards, these BIOS updates likely increase the voltage level of the GDDR5 memory. Mind you that this only effects GeForce GTX 1070 graphics cards fitted with Micron based GDDR5 memory.
I've been doing some rounds at the manufacturers with the following info (we'll update as feedback gets in). A number of manufacturers is or have been working on VBIOS updates:
- EVGA: updates download here
- Gainward: updates download here (select card -> BIOS download)
- Palit: updates download here (select card -> download)
- MSI : Updates downloads available (check for proper card model!)
- Gigabyte: F11_Beta Update downloads available (check for proper card model!)
- ASUS downloads available (check for proper card model!)
- Inno3D: did not reply
- KFA2/Galaxy: did not reply
- PNY: did not reply
- Zotac: no info available on website - update should be out
The most easy way to check what brand of memory your GeForce GTX 1070 is using is to download GPU-Z and read out the memory type (click thumbnail below for an example). The reality is that Micron’s GDDR5 memory chips shouldn’t really be any weaker opposed to what the Samsung ICs are doing. All cards we tested here ate Guru3D.com got Samsung memory. It however is not uncommon for manufacturers to switch to another brand of memory, as they purchase them in SMT batches and yes, a selection in price is made but should not effect performance. Due to the fact that our samples have Samsung memory we have not been able to verify any instability.
Have you noticed any issues with your GTX 1070? If so, let us know in the comments of this news-itsem.
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Senior Member
Posts: 11573
Joined: 2010-12-27
Hello there everyone, sorry for the incoming wall of text.
I bought this graphics card (GeForce Gigabyte GTX 1070 G1 8gb) on August 30th (for $430) when I was in USA, along with a motherboard (Gigabyte z170x k3 gaming), a CPU (i7 6700k 4.00ghz), an SSD (samsung 250gb) and a fan for the CPU (Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO). I came back home in Europe (Republic of Macedonia) on October 13th and completed the PC until October 20th. It has 750w power supply, 2x 8gb 2133mhz ram, 24" benq zowie monitor (60hz refresh rate i think, but the monitor does not play a role here in this situation).
So, not more than 2 weeks later of playing games on it (not many tho, Battlefield 1 mostly and World of Warcraft) I got a screen freeze during a match on Battlefield 1. I had to restart the PC because nothing would work (no task manager, nothing). After that I got a screen saying "Recovery, windows could not start properly" and I had to click advanced or whatever there was showing (I will upload images of it as well as of the other stuff I got). I tried booting in safe mode and rollbacked the driver, that time I was using 375.70 and I rollbacked to 375.63 and it worked fine again. Couple more days later I started getting weird flashing while playing the game, like white flashes when taking a picture with a camera. At first they were a few and slow and disappeared after a while but the next day they appeared again but this time in greater number and a lot faster, if I had epilepsy or whoever with epilepsy looked at the screen would die I think, but again they disappeared after short while. The next match I got a screen freeze and a DirectX error saying "GetDeviceRemovedReason" (will upload a picture of it too, with both, last and the driver that worked). Tried loading the game again, started all good but after 5 minutes of playing I started getting those artifacts (if that's what they are called, I am kinda newbie when it comes that much of explaining and English is not my native language, sorry) and I got the error again but this time the artifacts continued on the desktop, internet browsers, literally everywhere and with everything I am doing and occasionally I am getting black screens that are like 4-5 seconds long. I tried numerous troubleshooting options. Used DDU to remove all drivers, tried like 5-6 different drivers, still the same (of course tried the latest too (375.95), changing monitor, changing HDMI cable, PCI slot, resolution, monitor refresh rate and then I came upon this post. I haven't tweaked anyhow the GPU, no overclocking, nothing, using it just how it came from the box and no, its not factory OC'd. Downloaded the GPU-Z utility to find out I have Micron chip, so I downloaded the BIOS update from gigabyte site, ran it, finished successfully and according to Xtreme Gaming Engine it is updated to F11 but the problem still persists, I still get the artifacts everywhere and I cannot launch a game, not even Heaven Benchmark. According to GPU-Z, my GPU temp is not more than 30 degrees C and as far as I can remember when I could load the Heaven benchmark it was 71 degrees C max. I really don't know what is the cause of this, I am desperate for a solution to this problem

I am sorry that I cannot post any pictures as I need at least 5 posts to be able to post links and pictures. If someone is wants me to send him the pictures I will do it anyhow he wants.
And again, sorry for the wall of text guys, hope someone reads it.
Have you tried testing the card in another PC to rule out if it's an issue with another component?
or you could also try removing 1070 and test iGPU
Junior Member
Posts: 5
Joined: 2016-11-25
Have you tried testing the card in another PC to rule out if it's an issue with another component?
or you could also try removing 1070 and test iGPU
Right now I am using the iGPU and it works just fine. Tomorrow I will try it out on another PC and will come back to tell you what happened.
Senior Member
Posts: 11573
Joined: 2010-12-27
If 1070 has issues in another PC well you know it's a faulty card.
Junior Member
Posts: 5
Joined: 2016-11-25
Gave it to a friend now, I will be back later with the results.
Junior Member
Posts: 5
Joined: 2016-11-25
Hello there everyone, sorry for the incoming wall of text.
I bought this graphics card (GeForce Gigabyte GTX 1070 G1 8gb) on August 30th (for $430) when I was in USA, along with a motherboard (Gigabyte z170x k3 gaming), a CPU (i7 6700k 4.00ghz), an SSD (samsung 250gb) and a fan for the CPU (Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO). I came back home in Europe (Republic of Macedonia) on October 13th and completed the PC until October 20th. It has 750w power supply, 2x 8gb 2133mhz ram, 24" benq zowie monitor (60hz refresh rate i think, but the monitor does not play a role here in this situation).
So, not more than 2 weeks later of playing games on it (not many tho, Battlefield 1 mostly and World of Warcraft) I got a screen freeze during a match on Battlefield 1. I had to restart the PC because nothing would work (no task manager, nothing). After that I got a screen saying "Recovery, windows could not start properly" and I had to click advanced or whatever there was showing (I will upload images of it as well as of the other stuff I got). I tried booting in safe mode and rollbacked the driver, that time I was using 375.70 and I rollbacked to 375.63 and it worked fine again. Couple more days later I started getting weird flashing while playing the game, like white flashes when taking a picture with a camera. At first they were a few and slow and disappeared after a while but the next day they appeared again but this time in greater number and a lot faster, if I had epilepsy or whoever with epilepsy looked at the screen would die I think, but again they disappeared after short while. The next match I got a screen freeze and a DirectX error saying "GetDeviceRemovedReason" (will upload a picture of it too, with both, last and the driver that worked). Tried loading the game again, started all good but after 5 minutes of playing I started getting those artifacts (if that's what they are called, I am kinda newbie when it comes that much of explaining and English is not my native language, sorry) and I got the error again but this time the artifacts continued on the desktop, internet browsers, literally everywhere and with everything I am doing and occasionally I am getting black screens that are like 4-5 seconds long. I tried numerous troubleshooting options. Used DDU to remove all drivers, tried like 5-6 different drivers, still the same (of course tried the latest too (375.95), changing monitor, changing HDMI cable, PCI slot, resolution, monitor refresh rate and then I came upon this post. I haven't tweaked anyhow the GPU, no overclocking, nothing, using it just how it came from the box and no, its not factory OC'd. Downloaded the GPU-Z utility to find out I have Micron chip, so I downloaded the BIOS update from gigabyte site, ran it, finished successfully and according to Xtreme Gaming Engine it is updated to F11 but the problem still persists, I still get the artifacts everywhere and I cannot launch a game, not even Heaven Benchmark. According to GPU-Z, my GPU temp is not more than 30 degrees C and as far as I can remember when I could load the Heaven benchmark it was 71 degrees C max. I really don't know what is the cause of this, I am desperate for a solution to this problem
I am sorry that I cannot post any pictures as I need at least 5 posts to be able to post links and pictures. If someone is wants me to send him the pictures I will do it anyhow he wants.
And again, sorry for the wall of text guys, hope someone reads it.