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Nvidia faces Class Action Lawsuit over GTX 970 Memory Debacle
A while ago we already reported that a legal company was homing in on Nvidia die to the GTX 970 Memory Debacle. Over the weekend it has become clear that in the state of California owners of a GTX 970 have filed a class-action lawsuit in a US Court (District Court for the Northern District of California).
The lawsuit, titled "Andrew Ostrowsky (and others in similar situation) vs. NVIDIA Corporation and GIGABYTE Global Business Corporation," which is accusedof unfair, unlawful, and deceptive business practices, in three separate charges, and misleading advertising, demanding for Jury Trial. Nvidia markets the chip as having 4GB of performance-boosting video RAM, but some users have complained the chip falters after using 3.5GB of that allocation.
The lawsuit says the remaining half gigabyte runs 80 percent slower than it's supposed to. That can cause images to stutter on a high resolution screen and some games to perform poorly, the suit says.
It was filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California and names as defendants Nvidia and Giga-Byte Technology, which sells the GTX 970 in graphics cards. Nvidia declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday and Giga-Byte couldn't immediately be reached.
Responding to the issue last month, Nvidia acknowledged that the GTX 970 uses a different memory subsystem design than its higher-end GTX 980, but it said that difference has a negligible impact on performance.
Thursday's lawsuit seeks a jury trial and whatever damages apply under California law. It was filed on behalf of all consumers in the U.S. who bought graphics or video cards with the GTX 970. It will be up to the judge to decide whether the lawsuit can proceed as a class action. If you are eligible to be a Class member, find details of the law firms involved in the lawsuit document.
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CalculuS
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#5018025 Posted on: 02/22/2015 02:56 AM
Secretly I just hope this gets real big and nVidia loses some money so they learn their lesson.
Secretly I just hope this gets real big and nVidia loses some money so they learn their lesson.
Cyberdyne
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#5018026 Posted on: 02/22/2015 03:05 AM
I'm OK with it. It won't hurt their pocket at much at it will, and has, hurt their reputation. Even if NVidia wins the law suite. Doubt we will have incorrect reported specs in the future.
This slap on the wrist is better then simply rolling over and excepting it. You let them get away with something like this once and it easily turns into a slippery slope. The white lies get more and more bold.
I'm OK with it. It won't hurt their pocket at much at it will, and has, hurt their reputation. Even if NVidia wins the law suite. Doubt we will have incorrect reported specs in the future.
This slap on the wrist is better then simply rolling over and excepting it. You let them get away with something like this once and it easily turns into a slippery slope. The white lies get more and more bold.
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#5018027 Posted on: 02/22/2015 03:08 AM
Lawsuits like this are factored into business for companies as large as Nvidia. It's a non-issue for them, they'll have a budget in place for this sort of thing and I'm pretty damn sure it'll more than cover any costs, even if they lose.
Secretly I just hope this gets real big and nVidia loses some money so they learn their lesson.
Lawsuits like this are factored into business for companies as large as Nvidia. It's a non-issue for them, they'll have a budget in place for this sort of thing and I'm pretty damn sure it'll more than cover any costs, even if they lose.
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#5018028 Posted on: 02/22/2015 03:15 AM
lol, more inaccurate reporting. You can NOT, just walk into a court house and file a class-action lawsuit. You file a lawsuit and request "class-action status". Then you have to prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that what you're accusing the defendant of impacts a large number of people (not that it would be hard in this particular case) as well as preliminary evidence to support your claim of wrong-doing on the part of the defendant. Then the judge decides whether or not you've met the burden of proof and either approves or disapproves "class-action status".
California has some pretty strict laws....and they allow insanely high $ figure judgments. Doubt any of us will ever see any of it since the lawyers typically end up with most of the money.
lol, more inaccurate reporting. You can NOT, just walk into a court house and file a class-action lawsuit. You file a lawsuit and request "class-action status". Then you have to prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that what you're accusing the defendant of impacts a large number of people (not that it would be hard in this particular case) as well as preliminary evidence to support your claim of wrong-doing on the part of the defendant. Then the judge decides whether or not you've met the burden of proof and either approves or disapproves "class-action status".
Lawsuits like this are factored into business for companies as large as Nvidia. It's a non-issue for them, they'll have a budget in place for this sort of thing and I'm pretty damn sure it'll more than cover any costs, even if they lose.
California has some pretty strict laws....and they allow insanely high $ figure judgments. Doubt any of us will ever see any of it since the lawyers typically end up with most of the money.
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#5018030 Posted on: 02/22/2015 03:31 AM
Win or lose, financial repercussions will be tiny.
The biggest thing Nvidia stands to lose, they have already lost - reputation.
From the best product in years, to one that leaves bitter taste in the mouth - who the hell does that?
Answer: Nvidia's marketing
Win or lose, financial repercussions will be tiny.
The biggest thing Nvidia stands to lose, they have already lost - reputation.
From the best product in years, to one that leaves bitter taste in the mouth - who the hell does that?
Answer: Nvidia's marketing
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#5018036 Posted on: 02/22/2015 03:59 AM
California has some pretty strict laws....and they allow insanely high $ figure judgments. Doubt any of us will ever see any of it since the lawyers typically end up with most of the money.
It's federal court in California, federal law
California has some pretty strict laws....and they allow insanely high $ figure judgments. Doubt any of us will ever see any of it since the lawyers typically end up with most of the money.
It's federal court in California, federal law
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#5018042 Posted on: 02/22/2015 04:13 AM
It has to be filed in a US District Court because California state courts don't have any authority outside of California.
It's federal court in California, federal law
It has to be filed in a US District Court because California state courts don't have any authority outside of California.
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#5018057 Posted on: 02/22/2015 05:39 AM
Doesn't Nvidia reside in California? also the lawyer is a GTX 970 owner if I recall correctly so hopefully he doesn't take a huge chuck.
It has to be filed in a US District Court because California state courts don't have any authority outside of California.
Doesn't Nvidia reside in California? also the lawyer is a GTX 970 owner if I recall correctly so hopefully he doesn't take a huge chuck.
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#5018060 Posted on: 02/22/2015 06:21 AM
NVidia does, yes. Gigabyte, however, does not. Class-action suits affect people outside of California. For people like me, NVidia couldn't be forced to abide by an order from a California judge because I'm on the other side of the country where a California judge has no authority.
Doesn't Nvidia reside in California? also the lawyer is a GTX 970 owner if I recall correctly so hopefully he doesn't take a huge chuck.
NVidia does, yes. Gigabyte, however, does not. Class-action suits affect people outside of California. For people like me, NVidia couldn't be forced to abide by an order from a California judge because I'm on the other side of the country where a California judge has no authority.
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#5018070 Posted on: 02/22/2015 08:21 AM
nVidia can walk in, take GTX 980 & GTX 970, plug them into normal PC, and prove beyond doubt, that both cards can access data in memory at same peak speed 224GB/s.
Well, it is not technically possible. Filling and then reading entire 4GB of vRAM on GTX 970 takes at least twice as much time as on GTX 980.
nVidia can walk in, take GTX 980 & GTX 970, plug them into normal PC, and prove beyond doubt, that both cards can access data in memory at same peak speed 224GB/s.
Well, it is not technically possible. Filling and then reading entire 4GB of vRAM on GTX 970 takes at least twice as much time as on GTX 980.
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#5018079 Posted on: 02/22/2015 10:27 AM
This law suit won't go anywhere. You can access 4GB of VRAM and the only specs that have changed are the ROPs and L2 cache size, both of which aren't actually advertised outside of review sites.
This law suit won't go anywhere. You can access 4GB of VRAM and the only specs that have changed are the ROPs and L2 cache size, both of which aren't actually advertised outside of review sites.
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#5018080 Posted on: 02/22/2015 10:27 AM
This lawsuit is just a waste of time for customers. Lawyers will fill their pockets, and GTX 970 owners will maybe get a 15 dollar cheque in the mail in 2 years. All of this could have been avoided if an official statement had been given, as well as the option of giving all 970 owners a refund. It would have been a much better solution.
This lawsuit is just a waste of time for customers. Lawyers will fill their pockets, and GTX 970 owners will maybe get a 15 dollar cheque in the mail in 2 years. All of this could have been avoided if an official statement had been given, as well as the option of giving all 970 owners a refund. It would have been a much better solution.
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#5018085 Posted on: 02/22/2015 11:27 AM
4gb means 4gb :d
4gb means 4gb :d
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#5018109 Posted on: 02/22/2015 01:25 PM
They wont lose any money over it, they are making more, as everyones sending their 970s back, plus more cash, for their 980s.
Secretly I just hope this gets real big and nVidia loses some money so they learn their lesson.
They wont lose any money over it, they are making more, as everyones sending their 970s back, plus more cash, for their 980s.
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California is one of those states where if you fart in public, you can be sued for emotional distress. So I fully expect this lawsuit to go all the way.