Nvidia has settled a number of lawsuits for false advertising, which accused the graphics card maker of selling the last-generation GTX 970 as a card with 4GB of video memory, which in actuality it only had 3.5GB of accessible VRAM. Although we don't know what the final settlement figure will be, we do know that if you purchased a GTX 970 you should be applicable for a $30 pay out by Nvidia.
No word yet on how to claim that money, but we expect details to come out in the next few days. Chances are you will need to have purchased it before the news of the RAM issue came to light, but that may not be the case.
What is known for sure though, is that Nvidia will be paying out a lot to its customers, as well as $1.3 million in legal fees to all of those who brought lawsuits against it and had to pay for legal fees to make the case.
Ultimately Nvidia admitted that it did miss sell the graphics cards as 4GB versions, when in actuality only 3.5GB was accessible. However it did not admit this as a deliberate deception and instead described it as a miss-communication between its engineering and marketing departments.
Considering the technical nature of graphics card technology and an ever ongoing push to sell hardware based on bigger and bigger numbers, you can see how that might happen. But it's no excuse to hoodwink consumers, so it's good to see those who may have been negatively affected will get some recompense.
[Thanks TopClass]
Image source: Nvidia, Wikimedia
