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News Micron memory switch causes headaches for GTX 1070 owners

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Gareth Halfacree, 21 Oct 2016.

  1. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Gareth Halfacree, 21 Oct 2016
    #1
  2. Hustler

    Hustler Minimodder

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    This seems to be a rather cynical practice when it comes to GPU launches.

    The first batch of cards always have the better Samsung memory, presumably for higher overclocks when they get reviewed by sites such as Bit Tech, then a month or so into production they switch to the cheaper brands such as Micron & Hynix.

    I have two 970's in my rig, purchased two months apart, the first came with Samsung memory, the second Hynix chips, which is about 10% thirstier on power and in higher temps, Don't get me wrong they're both stable when overclocked but there is a price to be paid.

    It's a complete lottery
     
    Hustler, 21 Oct 2016
    #2
  3. mstrmind5

    mstrmind5 What's a Dremel?

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    Agree with the above poster. Sadly, I can't see it changing any time soon. It's no coincidence that Nvidia cards tend to be the main culprits in dubious practices, even if it's not always Nvidia themselves doing the deed.
    The only thing that might have any effect is if AMD can seriously compete. Stil hoping for this, but it has to happen soon.
     
    mstrmind5, 22 Oct 2016
    #3
  4. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    Gigabyte were doing some dirty stuff like this. Releasing mobos, then playing "Musical VRMs" and releasing different revs with less power phases.
     
    Vault-Tec, 22 Oct 2016
    #4
  5. LennyRhys

    LennyRhys Fan Fan

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    Exactly the case with my UD7 Rev 2.0 - it has fewer CPU power phases than the original UD7, but it doesn't appear to have any effect on performance or stability (it's all swings and roundabouts with X58 stuff as I could get the exact same overclock stability from the bottom-feeding X58-USB3 motherboard).

    Still, if Nvidia's switch to Micron is fixable with a simple firmware patch, I don't see this being a big problem in the long run. It would be dubious if Nvidia made changes that irreparably affected the performance of the cards, but thankfully that's not the case. :)
     
    LennyRhys, 22 Oct 2016
    #5
  6. VaLkyR-Assassin

    VaLkyR-Assassin Minimodder

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    Just noticed my EVGA GTX 1060 has Micron memory, yet in the review I saw of that same card, it had Samsung. Pretty naughty to change memory supplies just to purposely get better review results.
     
    VaLkyR-Assassin, 22 Oct 2016
    #6
  7. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    Been this way for a long time. Very few people will ever notice as the cards stock speed is easily obtainable and the pre Overclocked versions mostly still ship with the Samsung Memory.
     
    rollo, 23 Oct 2016
    #7
  8. SinxarKnights

    SinxarKnights Minimodder

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    Yeah I got the Asus Strix GTX 1070 Gaming OC. Every reviewer sample that shows GPU-Z has Samsung, everybody else has Micron.
     
    SinxarKnights, 23 Oct 2016
    #8
  9. Hustler

    Hustler Minimodder

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    The really annoying part is when you come to sell the cards on.

    All the predictable 'Which memory chips does it have?' questions, 'not Samsung, will you take £50 less then?':rolleyes:
     
    Hustler, 23 Oct 2016
    #9
  10. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    Hang on, didn't AMD do this with the 290 as well? I could swear I got asked all of those questions when I came to sell mine.
     
    Vault-Tec, 23 Oct 2016
    #10
  11. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    I have been selling gpus second hand for a while, And have never once been asked what memory chips the gpu has. Even on this forum I have never once saw anyone ask what memory chips a GPU has.

    Guess also its a easy way for the likes of Asus and company to save some money on the bills of materials.
     
    rollo, 23 Oct 2016
    #11
  12. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    Does it though? Don't get me wrong I'm not condoning such behavior but do such changes after release effect performance, cooling, and/or power. The majority of reviews come out when a product is released (understandably) and there seems little evidence on how changes after release effect things.
     
    Corky42, 24 Oct 2016
    #12
  13. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    The way I see it, there are two factors at play here: there's what the manufacturers reckon they're doing, and there's what you lot reckon they're doing.

    The manufacturers say that when they switch from Samsung to Micron (or Manufacturer A to Manufacturer B) they're doing so simply 'cos it's cheaper for what should be identically-specified memory. This is standard practice: you never sole-source your components, 'cos if your sole source hikes the price you're screwed. Heck, the Sinclair ZX81 came with either one 1KB or two 512B memory chips depending on what Sinclair could get his hands on for the best price; this ain't nothing new, and so long as the memory chips are truly spec-for-spec identical then nobody should care.

    What you lot have observed, though, is something different: manufacturers are always (allegedly, I've done precisely zero research here and am just summarising my understanding of your complaints) releasing cards with Samsung memory then switching to Micron later. If Micron's cheaper for the same spec, why not launch with Micron memory? The accusation: because they're not spec-for-spec identical, and launching with Samsung memory skews the reviews because the Samsung memory is simply better than the Micron memory.

    It's an interesting one, that. The theory makes sense, but at the same time it seems like an odd way to spend cash and engineering time: if all manufacturers used Micron, one manufacturer could push their card to the top of the launch-day-review charts by using Samsung instead; as all manufacturers use Samsung, there's no real benefit to doing so as the whatever-percent performance boost you gain is shared by your competitors. That said, we could be looking at a prisoner's dilemma: the first company to launch with inferior memory would end up at the bottom of the charts.

    Should be an easy one to prove or disprove, this: look up what memory manufacturer launch-day graphics cards used, look up what memory manufacturer they're using now. If it's always Samsung and Micron in that order, that's suspicious; if it's always Samsung and Micron in that order and it turns out that, when the launch cards were being manufactured, Micron was mostly or always cheaper than Samsung, then that's damning.
     
    Gareth Halfacree, 24 Oct 2016
    #13
  14. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Anything that sits in the grey area that can get a better reviews is done.
     
    Guest-16, 25 Oct 2016
    #14
  15. LordPyrinc

    LordPyrinc Legomaniac

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    In this case, I guess I'm glad that I went with the Founders Edition cards. Both showing Samsung memory. Both the March 2017 GameReady drivers are crap though. Every time I tried to start my computer from sleep mode, it would crash and reset. Back to the 378.66 February drivers for now until NVidia fixes the issue.
     
    LordPyrinc, 22 Mar 2017
    #15
  16. Wakka

    Wakka Yo, eat this, ya?

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    Does that mean that the next generation of Intel CPU's will be hand delivered by lingerie models who will massage you while benchmarking??:naughty:
     
    Wakka, 22 Mar 2017
    #16
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