NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB or 3GB ?? huh?

[Deathlayer]

Well guys sorry for asking so many questions about this card but I'm really confuse here.IS GTX 970 has 3GB,3.5GB or 4GB because when I go to their website and the specification,It says 4GB .......

[hawkeye]

3.5 fast memory plus 0.5 slow memory

There might be a replacement coming out soon, maybe June. Nvidia has stopped making the chips for the card, so once existing stocks of chips are gone, that's it.

[Deathlayer]

3.5 + 0.5 = 4 ohhh yeah...... Yeah NVIDIA now discontinued GTX 900 series.Hoping for GTX1000 series or GT1000 series with new pascal chips? Maybe

[Bad 💀 Motha]

How is it discontinued? PASCAL GPUs are not even out yet.

If aiming for 1080p and decent FPS, GTX 970 is fine there.
Above 1080p; then u want to look at a 980 or 980 Ti

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

Originally posted by PapaGator4:

Well guys sorry for asking so many questions about this card but I'm really confuse here.IS GTX 970 has 3GB,3.5GB or 4GB because when I go to their website and the specification,It says 4GB .......

It have 4 GB of RAM but 1/8 of it run at 1/7 the speed or something such.

It's so long since I read about it but it's a somewhat limited version of the same GPU used in the GTX 980 and obviously there's too little of something to run the last part quickly.

It definitely have 4 GB of VRAM.
It can use all 4 GB of VRAM.
It is a 4 GB card.

But the last 1/2 GB is much slower and as such you likely don't even want to use it (unless it could be used for something where the slow speed doesn't matter and it's not used much but is better than nothing.)
It have more than 3 GB of fast RAM and I would assume that the drivers try to set things up so that they avoids using the last half GB to not become affected by issues from it.

Performance-vise the R9 390 is just fine and you can get those with 8 GB of VRAM so if it's a problem for you consider that (if you're buying now.)
If you already own a GTX 970 don't worry about it.
If you're in the market for a new graphics card and can wait then wait ~2 months and get the next generation of cards instead.

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

Originally posted by Bad-Motha:

If aiming for 1080p and decent FPS, GTX 970 is fine there.
Above 1080p; then u want to look at a 980 or 980 Ti

If the new cards where to be called 1060, 1070, 1080 which they may not be then the 1060 is likely decent for 1080p too and the 1070 and 1080 for higher resolutions (or frame-rates.)

[Deathlayer]

Or maybe 4K? 8K?

[banzaigtv]

A GTX 970 is basically a gimped GTX 980 in which 7/8 of the GPU memory bandwidth is severed. A GTX 980 is recommended for the latest games even on 1080p due to the higher VRAM usage. It uses the full GM204 chip without compromising any VRAM bandwidth, CUDA cores, etc., but at a higher price premium. But if you cannot spend $500 on a new GPU, the GTX 970 is fine.

Games run considerably better on a GTX 980 at higher resolutions, whether you're using a 1440p / 2160p monitor or using DSR. I know this because I own both cards.

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

If "recommendations" for more VRAM and higher spec is all that matters then why not "recommend" the GTX 980Ti or Titan X instead than the 980? Surely they are more capable and have even more VRAM.

The 970 is a fine card. If the VRAM curiousity is bothering you too much get the R9 390.