Serious memory problems with the GTX 970 and the new GTX 960 for dotorov
The low speed of the last half gigabyte of GTX 970 memory is a feature.
GTX 970 and 980 video accelerators were launched simultaneously, and some preferred the younger model. This is a reasonable solution: it is about $ 200 cheaper, at the same time its technical characteristics and its performance indicators are not so different (it, for example, has the same amount of video memory), so the 970 easily “pulls” all modern toys. Until recently, there was almost no major flaw, but now there is at least one important disadvantage.
The card is loaded with 4 gigabytes of video memory, but recently users noticed that the eighth part of this volume is not functioning properly. Dissatisfied began to complain in many forums: “ Reddit ”, Overclock.net , Guru3D.com . With the help of benchmarks, it was quickly determined that when accessing the latest 500-700 megabytes of GTX 970 memory, performance drops significantly. The problem does not manifest itself on a more expensive and more powerful GTX 980, that is, it is not something related to the Maxwell architecture as a whole, but something specific for the 970. At least this was assumed before the official comment from nVidia.
Capacity drops from 150 GB / s to 19.88 GB / s
Because of this feature of work, not only indicators in synthetic tests, but also real productivity can fall. Users report significant video frame frame drawdowns when going beyond 3 GB.
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nVidia has already responded to this situation and clarified the problem. The answer boils down to the statement "this is not a bug, this is a feature." As mentioned above, the GTX 980 and GTX 970 are the same amount of video memory - 4 gigabytes. But there are implementation features due to the configuration of streaming multiprocessors: the memory is divided into two segments, the main fast 3.5 GB and the remaining 0.5 GB. Priority is given to the first part, but if the application uses more than 3.5 GB, then there will be noticeable performance drops in both the 980 and 970. At the same time, both models show approximately the same rate of drop in the frame rate per second. nVidia even illustrated it in the form of a tablet.
As you can see, both video accelerators have frame rate drops, but the GTX 970 has a slump above all by 1-3%. The problem with the latest 500 MB is manifested mainly by owners of 4K monitors or systems with multiple displays. It is unlikely that the wide consumer will be able to go beyond 3.5 GB. It seems that those who are faced with this unpleasant feature of the work, will have to accept the situation.
GTX 960
Also the GTX 960 video card was announced a few days ago. This is a more budget-based solution for the previous products of the nine-hundredth series. The target audience of the accelerator for $ 200 - players in MOBA-games, for example, Dota 2 and League of Legends. This is clearly visible on promotional materials and addressed issues: the video shows that there is no noise in LoL, since there is no work for them.
The GTX 960 is based on the GM206 video processor, which is the exact half of the GM204 with the same architecture and resource allocation. In general, the card is a half version of the GTX 980: it has 1024 CUDA cores instead of 2048 and 2 GB of GDDR5 memory instead of 4 GB. The memory bus width is only 128 bits, which is somewhat small for a modern card - even the $ 250 8800 GT from 2007 had a 256-bit bus.
GTX 970 and 980 video accelerators were launched simultaneously, and some preferred the younger model. This is a reasonable solution: it is about $ 200 cheaper, at the same time its technical characteristics and its performance indicators are not so different (it, for example, has the same amount of video memory), so the 970 easily “pulls” all modern toys. Until recently, there was almost no major flaw, but now there is at least one important disadvantage.
The card is loaded with 4 gigabytes of video memory, but recently users noticed that the eighth part of this volume is not functioning properly. Dissatisfied began to complain in many forums: “ Reddit ”, Overclock.net , Guru3D.com . With the help of benchmarks, it was quickly determined that when accessing the latest 500-700 megabytes of GTX 970 memory, performance drops significantly. The problem does not manifest itself on a more expensive and more powerful GTX 980, that is, it is not something related to the Maxwell architecture as a whole, but something specific for the 970. At least this was assumed before the official comment from nVidia.
Capacity drops from 150 GB / s to 19.88 GB / s
Because of this feature of work, not only indicators in synthetic tests, but also real productivity can fall. Users report significant video frame frame drawdowns when going beyond 3 GB.
')
nVidia has already responded to this situation and clarified the problem. The answer boils down to the statement "this is not a bug, this is a feature." As mentioned above, the GTX 980 and GTX 970 are the same amount of video memory - 4 gigabytes. But there are implementation features due to the configuration of streaming multiprocessors: the memory is divided into two segments, the main fast 3.5 GB and the remaining 0.5 GB. Priority is given to the first part, but if the application uses more than 3.5 GB, then there will be noticeable performance drops in both the 980 and 970. At the same time, both models show approximately the same rate of drop in the frame rate per second. nVidia even illustrated it in the form of a tablet.
| GTX 980 | GTX 970 | |
|---|---|---|
| Shadow of Mordor | ||
| Configuration <3.5GB = 2688x1512 Very High | 72 fps | 60 fps |
| Configuration> 3.5GB = 3456x1944 | 55 fps (−24%) | 45 fps (−25%) |
| Battlefield 4 | ||
| Configuration <3.5GB = 3840x2160 2xMSAA | 36 fps | 30 fps |
| Configuration> 3.5GB = 3840x2160 135% res | 19 fps (−47%) | 15 fps (−50%) |
| Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare | ||
| Configuration <3.5GB = 3840x2160 FSMAA T2x, Supersampling off | 82 fps | 71 fps |
| Configuration> 3.5GB = 3840x2160 FSMAA T2x, Supersampling on | 48 fps (−41%) | 40 fps (−44%) |
As you can see, both video accelerators have frame rate drops, but the GTX 970 has a slump above all by 1-3%. The problem with the latest 500 MB is manifested mainly by owners of 4K monitors or systems with multiple displays. It is unlikely that the wide consumer will be able to go beyond 3.5 GB. It seems that those who are faced with this unpleasant feature of the work, will have to accept the situation.
GTX 960
Also the GTX 960 video card was announced a few days ago. This is a more budget-based solution for the previous products of the nine-hundredth series. The target audience of the accelerator for $ 200 - players in MOBA-games, for example, Dota 2 and League of Legends. This is clearly visible on promotional materials and addressed issues: the video shows that there is no noise in LoL, since there is no work for them.
The GTX 960 is based on the GM206 video processor, which is the exact half of the GM204 with the same architecture and resource allocation. In general, the card is a half version of the GTX 980: it has 1024 CUDA cores instead of 2048 and 2 GB of GDDR5 memory instead of 4 GB. The memory bus width is only 128 bits, which is somewhat small for a modern card - even the $ 250 8800 GT from 2007 had a 256-bit bus.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/375867/
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