Nvidia GTX 970 mod upgrades to 8GB VRAM, matches GTX 1060 in performance

In a nutshell: A modder recently upgraded an 11-year-old Nvidia GTX 970 from 4GB to 8GB VRAM to see if the additional memory could improve its performance. The modified card not only outpaced the original model but also outperformed a stock GTX 1060 with 6GB of VRAM in some benchmarks. Brazilian hardware modder Paulo Gomes modified an Asus Strix GTX 970 for his experiment. To boost VRAM, he removed the original 512MB, 7 Gbps GDDR5 modules and replaced them with 1GB, 8 Gbps chips. He also added a resistor to ensure the GPU recognized the higher-density memory. The additional memory showed a marked improvement in the Unigine Superposition 8K benchmark. In its original 4GB form, the card scored just 866 points, while the modded unit reached 1,576 – slightly ahead of the 1,575 scored by a GTX 1060. Once Gomes finished working on the modified card, he handed it over to YouTuber Peperaio Hardware, who tested it against a stock Gigabyte Windforce GTX 970 4GB in several games to see if the a ... Read full article.