Graphics card manufacturer Nvidia agreed to a preliminary settlement that will resolve claims in a group of proposed class action lawsuits that center around allegations that the company misled consumers about the performance and storage capabilities of its product.
Nvidia says it will pay each buyer of the graphics card $30 and will pay an additional $1.3 million in attorneys’ fees, according to settlement documents.
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 initial proposed class action lawsuit in a series of lawsuits against Nvidia was filed in February 2015 and alleged that the company engaged in false advertising, deceptive business practice, unlawful is practices and violated California’s business law for unfair business practices.
The initial claim accused Nvidia of having a graphics card that operated on 3.5 GB but was advertised as operating with a full 4 GB of video access memory, plus another .5 GB that was separated from the rest of the memory.
Another proposed class action lawsuit in the series was filed the following month and also alleged similar claims about the gigabyte amounts and separation, saying the product was falsely advertised and negligently represented.
The recent settlement with Nvidia includes a total of 15 consumer class action lawsuits that were consolidated in Northern California as well is a pending action in San Diego, according to court documents.
In addition to the size of video access memory and its setup, the consumers also accused Nvidia of having 64 render output processors rather than the 56 that were advertised and of having smaller specialized memory cache than advertised.
The consumers claimed that overall, Nvidia omitted information that was important for buyers to understand as they made their purchases, causing potential Class Members to purchase products with lower functionality and capabilities than what was advertised.
Nvidia denied all allegations of wrongdoing, and both parties entered into the settlement and agreed upon the terms, believing them to be in the best interests of all parties involved.
Nvidia graphics cards cost approximately $350 and the anticipated $30 payout was calculated to represent a portion of the cost of the storage and performance capabilities the consumers thought they were obtaining in the purchase of the product, according to the proposed settlement.
Instructions on how to file a claim for the Nvidia class action settlement were not immediately available. Keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter for the latest updates. You can also “Follow” this case using your free Top Class Actions account to receive notifications when this article is updated.
The consumers are represented by Alan M. Mansfield of Whatley Kallas LLP and L. Timothy Fisher and Neal J. Deckant of Bursor & Fisher LLP.
The Nvidia Graphics Card False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Nvidia GTX 970 Graphics Chip Litigation, Case No. 4:15-cv-00760, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
UPDATE: The Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card class action settlement is now open! Click here to file a claim!
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March 24, 2023 | Open Lawsuits
74 thoughts onNvidia Settles Graphics Card False Advertising Class Action
UPDATE: The Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card class action settlement is now open! Click here to file a claim!
When will I actually be able to file a claim? It’s been a long while.
december 21st, not lying, case has to go through a couple more hearings, then lawyers get their money, then consumers get their gift cards.
For everyone who is wondering the case is appearing again before judge Phyllis J. Hamilton in the Northern California District Court on Wednesday, Aug 24 2016. Case: 4:15-cv-00760-PJH – In Re : Nvidia GTX 970 Graphics Chip Litigation, Motion for Settlement
So an actual system for getting refunds will “most likely” be set up after this date. (This is my own thought on this).
If you want to find things related to the case use the case number (4:15-cv-00760-PJH)
Yeah, there was an article online that said by the 28th, refunds will be available.
I fully agree
It should be replaced with 4gb model
When I bought the 970 card, I bought it for the top end performance not the low end. When I purchased mine I already had another NVIDIA 4GB DDR5 128 bit. Although the 970 is superior to what I had(hence the high price I paid) I am looking for that edge advantage at the top. Now I feel cheated, shortchanged and cannot achieve that extra top performance and want to replace it now(is garbage to me now). As applications, games, movies, VR etc. gets more demanding the 970 is not going to cut it and it and will stop being relevant sooner, I wanted that to be later rather than sooner.
Partial refund:
I don’t think the evaluation per megabyte is right and correct. If I never got what I supposed to due to false advertising, then simply either a full refund or an upgrade to what is equal is due.
Comments:
What I say to NVIDIA is; except your error gracefully, give consumers a chance and take back the 970. Offer to replace them with a higher model or give a 50% to 100% refunds so they can buy another one of your higher model cards. Or be a sore looser and loose market share and leave the bad taste in our mouths so we can bad mouth you from now on. I’m sure $30.00 and the garbage card will leave me with bad taste in my mouth.
$30 is an insult, in my opinion. The missing 500MB is 12.5% of the adevertised 4GB. I paid $350 for my 970, I should get at least $43.75, or 12.5% of $350.
However,to truly make it right, I believe nVIDIA should have to give everyone who purchased a 970 what they paid for; a GPU that meets the advertised specifications.
Or, better yet, a GTX1070.
Also, when someone applies for the $30, what do you happens to the personally identifiable information I am sure will be required for those persons to submit? Can you say Data Mining?
nVIDIA makes a good product, to be sure. But does that entitle them to be total scumbags? Apparently so..
Most people are asking for the rebate on retailers such as Amazon. Does anyone have update on it?
Nvidia will try to be lowkey about this, hopefully this website can tell us how to claim it. Nvidia got what they deserved.
I own an Asus chipset of same card with Strix and Overclock edition, 4GB written and shows on pc as well. Do i get a claim on that 30 dollars as well, or is it for Nvidia’s own built cards only?
OK, now, have you ever seen a gtx970 made by nvidia????? hmmm, no. Every card sold has a MANUFACTURE name on the BOX that it came in. It is like Intel Inside a computer, Intel did not make the computer, some other manufacturer did and it has Intel chips. Well, it has nvidia designed chips, thats it.
My one friend got the new AMD RX 480 4GB card. Come to find out they sent him a 8GB card with only 4GB unlocked. He did what any smart person would do get a driver that allowed it to unlock all 8. Thus he saved $40 buying the 4GB card. Looks like nVidia takes and AMD gives haha!
you people are funny…………….lool
:)
How do I cash in please?
mayheamk go to the bottom of this page and click on CONTACT :)
Does this apply to cards that are only manufactured by Nvidia or also other brand GTX 970 cards?
What? Nvidia are the only ones making GTX970 cards, and GTX cards in general
Ever heard of EVGA, ASUS or MSI? Nividia only makes the reference card there are a lot of GTX manufactures.
All the gpus are made by NVidia. The other companies buy NVidia 970’s and build the pcb. He’s right, you’re wrong.
It applies to any Graphics card that use 970 GPU regardless of the brand.
Can I get the 30 dollars if I say I’m going to get the card? Or maybe a discount card??
I can imagine it would be easier for Nvidia to change the labelling and the published specification on the card, which will absolve them from liability with regard to any new bought cards. Hopefully they would lower the RRP from this point also, so the card should be $30 cheaper on the market. However, the settlement will not bind Nvidia to future pricing so that part will be up to them! Finally, I would recommend checking out the 10 series cards, possibly the 1060 or 70. essentially the claim is that these cards deliver far more bang for buck – you might find the entry level 1060 will match a 970 on performance, although I am not sure.
If you bought that card in Europe are you also entitled to this money?
Or only USA residents will be recompensated and rest of the world can suck it?
NICE!!!
Lol that name. Btw if youre in eu do you still get paid or is it us only.. because if thats the case eu should sue nvidia as well. Because money money money money money.
Does anyone know how to claim the money yet?
nope
I bought two EVGA 970 SC-2974 does it mean I should get $60? :o
Yup.
Yes! The lawyers are Vindicated and get their 1.3 million! Yea! Oh and also consumers get two free pizzas worth of compensation, good job.
dude, free pizza tho!
Who wrote this article? As another comment pointed out: “accused Nvidia of having 64 render output processors rather than the 56 that were advertised”
Swap those numbers, 64 was the advertised amount but the cards had 56.
And “Graphics card manufacturer Nvidia agreed to a preliminary settlement that will resolve claims in a group of proposed class action lawsuits that center around allegations that the company misled consumers about the performance and storage capabilities of its product.”…. storage? You mean memory? The equivalent to: ‘yeah my computer has 2TB worth of memory’, ‘no way dude! mine only can store 16gb’ *facepalm*
Nvidia encouraged people to buy as many as three cards per computer. I bought multiple cards, do I only get thirty bucks?
Is this going to be in the EU too? Because topclassactions.com is not available in the EU.
Well it said “All consumers who purchased a GTX 970” so i would hope so, either way European classaction lawsuits has this lawsuit to go by, and Nvidia can’t go and sell a false product in USA and also Europe and then only pay the Americans.
So lets see where it leads to.
well if nobody sued in the EU they are not forced by law to pay up.
Class Action Lawsuits aren’t really a thing in the EU; if I understand it correctly, people have to actively join them rather than get added automatically.
The court papers say United States specifically.
They will get this money right back when I turn around and buy a 1070. Bye does the 1070 really have 8gb or is it 7.5gb?? ;)
It would be 6/8 GB
Surely it would be 7/8 GB
yes
I guess they did not procrastinate long. Talking about procrastination, I’ve been struggling with mine for the last 10 years and read countless books and self help methods. Here is what I’m having best results with. First of all, procrastination bulldozer method has worked wonders for me. I highly recommend you apply it. Secondly, whenever you have a task that takes less than 5 minutes to do, do it right away. No delays. I’m really starting to take control of my life now.
Talking about disconnected….!
lol
Her brain was procrastinating. Her fingers were way ahead of her brain.
Oh.
Will us Canadians who were taken in by their 4gb claim be able to claim this 30 dollars?
“Nvidia says it will pay each buyer of the graphics card $30”
More like $60 for us Canadians at the current exchange rate amiright?
$2.5 million in a few months, you should wait to file a claim.
“accused Nvidia of having 64 render output processors rather than the 56 that were advertised”
Swap those numbers, 64 was the advertised amount but the cards had 56.
i want my 30 euro back , how we can reclame them and who are going to pay us back?
This was an law suit in the U.S. I doubt it has any relevance to European countries.
European purchases from Amazon, and NewEgg (amongst other retailers), are being given a 20% refund on their PURCHASE price. However it’s only paid out when customers ask for it.
I knew full well that it had “only” 3.5gb when I got it. It is STILL a great deal for the price I paid. I don’t feel like I need the cash. The card has been everything I was looking for and more. Rock solid, stable, powerful.
but free money
You seem a little angry.
I am happy with mine as well and I didn’t know about the 3.5gb issue, but $30 is $30.
“We won’t let this happen again. We’ll do a better job next time.
Jen-Hsun”
This will milk that much back with upcoming GTX series, maybe they already are with FE.
Just so everyone knows; the false advertisement here isn’t about “970 only has 3.5GB” – the lawsuit attempts to say the 512MB is not “GDDR5”, however that’s simply not true, it is GDDR5 memory, just that Nvidia sliced off the L2 cache to 512MB of that (which is part of what makes a 970 a 970, rather than a 980). It’s akin to plugging your system memory in a configuration that does not take advantage of DDR transfer; your memory isn’t suddenly no longer DDR (the label on the box will still call it DDR4 memory).
The real false-advertisement and the case that Nvidia loses this on is the advertised number of ROPs and the total L2 cache size, which was revealed when Nvidia attempted to explain why their 4GB of memory had a slower 512MB section.
The ROPs were spec’d at 64 but are in reality 56 and the L2 cache capacity was spec’d at 2048KB but in reality is 1792KB.
hate to tell you, but slicing off l2 cache makes it no longer ddr5, as they no longer meet the specifications of it. Its like saying a v8 is still a v8 when there are no spark plugs, or fuel lines going to 2 of the pistons. If i sold that as a v8 without mentioning this, it would be misleading.
$1.3 million in attorneys’ fees, according to settlement documents….. The real winners are the attorneys and NVidia who despites that settlement has already raked in hundreds of millions no doubt from their false advertising . The consumer, the working guy who saved up for the video card lost… TRUMP 2016
Serious question
How?
If a only a few percent of 970 buyers claim the payout, the amount Nvidia has to pay will dwarf the lawyers fees. Less than 44,000 people have to make a claim for the payouts to exceed the lawyers’ fees, and MILLIONS of GTX 970s were sold.
Also, it’s not as if the GTX 970 is a poor product which offers a bad value proposition. Nvidia did mislead their customers and should absolutely be held to account for their deceptive marketing, but it’s not a scam on the level of, say, Trump University.
Be right back guys, deleting my emails like a Clinton supporter.
Clinton’s E-mails didn’t bilk people of of tens of thousands of dollars, It sounds like it is time to indict Donald Trump of “Thrift by deception” and “Mail fraud”. far worst then having e-mails coming up missing.
Wait, deleting emails meant people were swindled of their money? I’m confused. Oh never mind, no confusion, that’s because there is no relevance in your reply.
It’s sad that you honestly believe that Trump will fix this. I hope your ‘entitled’ life turns out to be everything you hoped you would get without having to work for it.
well i bought it before i knew it only had 3.5gb and when i heard of it i felt ripped off and playing skyrim with a shit ton of mods the performance drops off
Heart touching?
I used it for rendering, and can assure you it has 4GB.
It doesn’t. It has 3.5 GB of usable VRAM.