Nvidia’s paying the price for the GeForce GTX 970’s memory controversy—literally. The GTX 970 refund website is now live after Nvidia agreed to pay GTX 970 owners $30 each to settle a class action lawsuit.
The false advertising lawsuit stemmed from a pair of hardware inconsistencies that prompted a not-quite-apology from Nvidia’s CEO. The most obvious is the GeForce GTX 970’s notorious 4GB RAM allotment, which Nvidia split into a full-speed 3.5GB segment as well as a drastically slower 512MB segment without telling customers. The company also erroneously claimed the card had 64 render output units while in reality it had just 56.
Both of those could affect performance—though the GTX 970 was still a kick-ass graphics card with an incredibly compelling price tag. That combo led to the GTX 970 being dubbed the people’s champion, and it’s far and away the most popular card with Steam users. Now all those users are eligible for a $30 settlement, which makes the GTX 970 seem like an even better buy in retrospect.
Further reading: The best graphics cards
Well, some of those users. You’re eligible only if you purchased a GeForce GTX 970 graphics card from Nvidia, its add-in card partners (like EVGA and Asus), or an authorized retailer between September 1, 2014 and August 24, 2016, and only in the U.S. You might also be eligible if you purchased a desktop computer with a GTX 970 from an authorized retailer in that time frame.
Don’t dilly-dally if you’re eligible. You must file a claim by November 8 if you plan on cashing in. The court is expected to approve the settlement in December.
The impact on you at home: As always, you’ll need to prove that you actually bought a GTX 970 before Nvidia sends you a check. You can do so in the usual ways—with a receipt, a credit card statement, a purchase order, etc—but the settlement also supports an easier verification method: Your device ID. Between that and the ability to file a claim online, you could register for a refund in no time.
To find your GTX 970’s device ID, simply fire up the Nvidia Control Panel, click System Information in the lower-left corner, and look for the Device ID listing in the default Display tab. It should be the second from the bottom.