Is Zotac still a really good brand?
Posted by Distinct-Incident115@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 49 comments
Incase you didn't, Zotac is one of those brands where they make GPU's, kinda like other brands. I also heard that there more a little more affordable than any other brands like PNY. Example is the 5070 Ti, which, while still overpriced, is a little more affordable, in this case being $979.99 (nearly $980.00).
However, at Micro Center, when asked an employee which GPU brands are better, one of them said "Anything but the Zotac", and I was like "oh ok". Months later, I asked why they think Zotac is a not a good GPU brand, and according to an employee in a statement
"The primary reason I don't like the Zotac cards is that Zotac is spectacularly unhelpful when it comes to their insurance service. They have an obnoxious tendency to ghost you while they have your card. The cards themselves are fine; it's just that Zotac's service is abysmal even by the already low standards of GPU warranty replacements".
"The easy solution to this is to buy our replacement plan; that way you go through us rather than going through Zotac, which means you also get to get a replacement card immediately rather than waiting four months".
"We can discuss it further when you come in for the card".
Do you all think that's accurate or not? Cause I'm sure some people are gonna disagree what they employee says in the same vein about Seasonic being a better brand, due to them thinking that the people who work at a tech store are not experts, but rather, just sellers.
Crazygoldfish899@reddit
I’ve had 3 zotac gpus. No issues
skylinestar1986@reddit
4 months for Zotac RMA? Other brands are not much better. MY PNY RMA took 3 months.
thecaramelbandit@reddit
Zotac has always been looked down on. Not sure why. I've had great experiences with them and their products are high quality IMO.
I'd just ignore the guy. It's just some "common knowledge" that is bunk.
littleemp@reddit
That reputation is only because they don't spend nearly enough on marketing to differentiate.
People think that Asus ROG is somehow superior quality and customer service have fallen for the marketing lie.
JirachiWishmaker@reddit
Asus's customer service is hot garbage, but the Astral cards are certainly the best 5080s/5090s, with the MSI Suprim and Gigabyte Aorus Master being very close seconds.
Now, if you wanna argue that paying a 80% premium over MSRP for a 15% boost in performance after cranking up the clock speed is in no way worth the money unless you just like the way the card looks, I'm not gonna disagree with you.
Coolman_Rosso@reddit
Didn't Gigabyte use thermal putty in their 9000 and 5000 series cards that caused them to "sweat" under load?
JirachiWishmaker@reddit
That was a first production round issue, afaik it was fixed.
littleemp@reddit
The cooler and the power delivery are definitely exceeding spec, but the implication is typically that other vendors are putting subpar cards, which is not the case.
Coolman_Rosso@reddit
Their fans have a bad rep, their designs are oblong and no frills for the most part (which is either good or bad depending on who you ask), and their cards trade blows with the MSI Ventus line for "runs hotter and louder" than competing cards. Not really a dealbreaker if a card runs a few degrees hotter than the competition unless your case has like the worst ventilation imaginable
PseudoElite@reddit
I don't know about high quality. I had a Zotac and it was "fine." Ran a bit hot and fans were loud.
I'd say they are middle of the road, but YMMV.
bri_breazy@reddit
I think most GPU manufacturers are known for shit warranties/service
drewts86@reddit
RIP EVGA. They actually had decent customer service. And yes, I know they’re not DEAD dead, but it’s not the same since they left the GPU market.
plasticmanufacturing@reddit
I have been out of the modern gaming pc world for a bit. EVGA dropped the GPU line? That is tragic.
drewts86@reddit
Yeah after the bitcoin mining crunch that peaked around the Nvidia 2000 series causing massive card inflation, Nvidia started to put the squeeze on their board partners because they wanted a bigger cut of the profits. This in turn left smaller margins for their board partners and EVGA decided it was no longer worth it and the 3000 series cards were their last.
plasticmanufacturing@reddit
Damn, thanks for the info.
jonstoppable@reddit
Didn't they also have an upgrade program ? Solid customer service , indeed
drewts86@reddit
Yep. They also had a service center where they did out-of-warranty repairs on GPUs. You had to pay for the repair, but it was still better than trashing a card because it was busted and had an expired warranty.
diecastbeatdown@reddit
Still running my EVGA 2070 XC Ultra in my main rig and gaming everyday since launch.
ColossalBlues@reddit
Zotac is fine. The Microcenter guy was trying to help you if you had to go down that road through RMA, but it is probably unlikely. I will say the Microcenter warranty has helped me on a couple of occasions if that helps.
The-Choo-Choo-Shoe@reddit
Was never a good brand imo, their cooler designs were always awful, their cards will always sag the most because they have nothing supporting the weight of the cooler.
plasticmanufacturing@reddit
I find it absolutely bonkers that it is not industry standard to either a) ensure the card doesnt sag, or b) includes support hardware.
Tofu-DregProject@reddit
S9me years ago, I built three PCs with Zotac main boards and graphics. They all failed within 3 years. I'll never touch Zotac again.
Kil0Cowboy@reddit
I’ve never even considered buying Zotac cause I hate the name. Yes, I am vibe based shopping for Pc parts 😂.
digitalgoodtime@reddit
Is that the allergy medicine?
Distinct-Incident115@reddit (OP)
What? What are you talking about?
platinumarks@reddit
I'm guessing it's attempting to be a joke about Zyrtec
atonyatlaw@reddit
I'm going to completely disagree with that employee.
I have no brand loyalty to anyone, but I have had nothing but exceptional experiences with ZOTAC customer service. I had a 3070ti arrive with a fan that was DOA. They immediately sent me a new card and did not make me send the one I already had back first. I was able to continue to use the machine until the new card arrived, swap, and send back the failure card with no issues.
SinisterPixel@reddit
Tbh it sounds like the employee was just trying to upsell you to the replacement plan. For what it's worth, in my many years of PC building, the GPU has always been one of the most reliable parts of my build. Zotac's warranty may not be the greatest, but realistically, are you expecting you'll need to replace it?
stealthraccoon@reddit
My zotac 1060 6gb amp still doing fine.
zabbenw@reddit
Don't Zotac give you 5 year warranty as standard, not 3 years? I thought they were supposed to be decent.
Significant_Fill6992@reddit
I only ever bought one zotac card and it was a beast. 980ti but I also bought it 10 years ago so I don't know if they are as good now
NiteVision4k@reddit
I had a Zotac 30 series, and recently upgraded to a Zotac 5070ti. I've had nothing but good experiences with this brand. I even wrote their customer support with a question and they responded right away.
pscoldfire@reddit
Dude was trying to sell you a replacement plan.
kpdinferno@reddit
Zotac is one of largest GPU makers and I never owned them so I can’t tell you due to no experience with Zotac but I know they are moving to new places, that’s probably why their warranty service takes some time.
I remember in 2017 when Micro Center employee told me to not buy any Corsair products.
I asked other employee why I was told and he said “well, they are expensive.”
I think there are just some employees who are on strike against certain brands.
I got Corsair Dominator sticks for free when I bought motherboard from eBay and I think Corsair Dominator is great.
CivilChaos@reddit
There's a reason brands like Zotac are cheaper. It's not a good idea to fork out $1k for GPU and if something goes wrong,the customer service (from Zotac) may be unreliable.
InfiniteLight07@reddit
Almost all the GPUs are good. Its the customer service from the brand.
Steeze-God@reddit
I'm never touching Zotac, last AIB on earth, and I'd look for a FE.
Hopeful_Butterfly302@reddit
I've had a Zotac 5070ti for about a year now. Working great so far. They also seem to be the only company that makes a "low profile" 5070ti (and by low profile I mean 2 pcie slots instead of 2.5 or 3), which is what I needed for my build.
zarco92@reddit
They all suck. Choose your poison.
Awfulfange@reddit
Zotac and PNY always get a bad rap. I've owned multiple pny cards with no issues. In fact, most of them overclocked very well!
I assume the same.thing goes for Zotac.
sunkist1147@reddit
Fwiw I have a zotac 5070ti and love it for the lack of RGB and it's been performing flawlessly with no issues since my build in January.
According-Dog-7288@reddit
Even far back as like 2010 I Herd this too ....bad build quality and long returns bad rma . I got a 3070ti in 2021 its been flawless even survived smoke damage when my apt caught fire my warranty is up in August hope it last another 3 years seen 3080s died on this form sometimes they got and upgrade
DaedalusRaistlin@reddit
My 3060 Ti by Zotac is still going strong after some 5 years or whenever they first released. I bought it the same day it came out.
Moved it to my new AM5 machine and it's maxing out around 72C, though I did underclock it by 100Mhz to save a bit of heat in games that max out the gpu.
I'd definitely buy another one.
PokerLawyer75@reddit
He's partly right, and partly full of crap. Obviously, he's trying to sell you on the extended warranty for the video card. And if you're only doing a video card, that's....on the fence.
However, I will say I had a Zotac in my older Ryzen that I replaced 3 years ago. Never had a problem with it but did need to contact them on a driver issue one time. And they were very slow to respond to email. No phone tech support avilable on their website.
That being said, a lot of companies are shitty, especially with service and warranties. I can give you 2 decades of issues with Asus, and try to avoid them if there's alternatives. But...they answer the phone when you call.
I had a MSI laptop that they actually provided real phone support, and my only issue with them was fighting with them over bad LCD substrate that was a latent factory defect they tried to label as accidental drop damage. But...they answer the phone.
So far no problems with my AMD or Powercolor video cards, which at the time were better values than the nVidia 4-series.
No_Spare1827@reddit
well Zotac isn't as well known mainly cuz their cards never look as cool but they also don't make as much stuff as the other brands, Like ASUS they make everything GPUs, motherboard, monitors, and even laptops same with MSI and gigabyte Asrock is getting there as well. So they aren't as famous but yeah they make decent quality items.
And PNY is slept on they make The Nvidia founders editions so if they are good enough for Nvidia then Id say they are a good pick
But all the brands have pretty mid customer support, especially ASUS and their recent line if BS these last 2 years
machinationstudio@reddit
The main reason to get a Zotac was for smaller single fan cards for itx builds.
They seem to not have made those for newer cards.
theresmoretolife2@reddit
All brands have bad and good models. I haven’t had any issues with the few ZOTAC cards I’ve used in various builds.
zman6116@reddit
Zotac and PNY have a reputation of being cheap cards. They are generally fine however starting around the 40 series generation. I did hear of warranty failures that were higher in 20 & 30 series. No manufacturer is perfect however, so it kinda doesn’t matter as much. All cores come from Nvidia anyways
f1rstx@reddit
there is no bad brands on the market