synthesis204

Anyone have any experience with their products? I'm always curious about the smaller gfx companies (see my PSU and GFX card). Sparkle has turned out to be great (comparable to EVGA), but I've never really heard anything about Zotac. Anyone had to RMA with them, get a MIR, etc?

blibbax

Zotac aren't that small anymore.

Their top of the line "AMP" videocards have quite a reputation, and you'll see plenty of reviews of Zotac products here on HH.

I won a Zotac 9800GTX+ here a couple of years ago. It runs a self contained water cooling setup (not unlike coolit or corsair solutions for CPUs) and has never given me a hint of trouble. The build quality is excellent. My only complaint would be with the noise of that cooler, but this is obviously not a characteristic that extends to their air cooled cooled products.

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synthesis204

I'm aware of the Amp series and how good they are, but that doesn't change the fact they don't have as large a presence as several other makers (in the US, at least; and see: EVGA, XFX, Sapphire, etc).

I would get an AMP! GTX 460 1GB version, but I've heard horror stories about their customer support (even if the card comes with lifetime warranty). Any opinions on that?

blibbax

I've never actually had to use their customer support in anger.

However, when I was looking at swapping the cooler for a large air cooler (see this thread) I messaged them to ask if the PCB was in any way non reference, or if there was anything I could do to make it quieter. Now that's the kind of customer help request I can see that it isn't important to prioritise, but nonetheless it was weeks ago and I've heard nothing.

Loads of big, famous hardware companies are like this, however, and I generally find that a good retailer is your best guarantee if anything goes wrong.

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synthesis204

I'm aware, which is why I counted MSI, Gigabyte, and ASUS out in the start. If I call the company, I don't want to have to deal with a series of struggles to get the help I need. From what I've heard, Palit and EVGA seem to be the only ones who can manage this (and BFG...sigh...why'd they have to go?).

blibbax

I didn't even know BFG had gone tbh.

I never use phone in customer service... so far all I know that's excellent with Zotac. I just don't like phone calls with people I don't know particularly well, not sure why. There's also the issue of the phone bill, of course.

If fast support from the company that actually made your card is a must have for you, then yes I guess you are limited to the two that you mentioned. Some etailers in the UK have their own brands of cards (normally rebranded Palit or Inno3d), and I've found in the past that this is an excellent way to get cheap, good cards with excellent support, but at the end of the day I've never had an issue with something like a graphics card that I've been unable to fix myself - only RAM, in fact, which is why I now stick to Corsair and Kingston.

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asedsa

You cant miss with Zotac, I have read many reviews about Zotac and speaking about graphic cards Zotac is not bad at all, specailly cooling system of cards.

Regards

synthesis204

I'm more concerned about warranty/customer support than performance. I'm probably going to end up getting and EVGA SC EE GTX 460 1GB, just because they're cheaper after MIR ($190) and I trust EVGA.

brainless_beginner

It's just a matter of trust IMO. Coz all major companies all have acceptable build quality. I've got Zotac. Nothing wrong with it. Obviously, the lesser support people need from a specific company, the better their products are. So you may go check their forums. But anyway, any company surely has a certain amount of badly assembled hw. Some say it's all about your karma what you'll get. lol

BTW EVGA also seems a good choice for me.

PS Good luck!

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