Even the best graphics cards can fail sometimes. Digitec Galaxus AG (via TechEpiphany), one of the largest Swiss online IT providers, openly shares its statistics on which graphics card vendor has the highest failure rates and the time it takes to process a warranty claim.
It's important to remember that the collected data is limited to Digitec Galaxus AG's sales. Therefore, the data does not portray the number of cases globally. For obvious reasons, Digitec Galaxus AG doesn't fully divulge the total amount of units sold. Sadly, that also means we don't have the whole panorama for the charts. For example, a lower value of failure rates doesn't necessarily mean the brand is better than the competition if it only represents a small portion of the global sales. According to Digitec Galaxus AG, the compiled information corresponds to brands that have sold at least 300 units over the last two years. The company also didn't specify whether the data is based solely on gaming graphics cards or also included professional graphics cards.
The charts reveal that Gainward has the lowest number of defective graphics cards, with a 0.4% RMA rate. Gainward, which has belonged to Palit since 2005, is largely unknown outside the European market. Meanwhile, Palit is in third place on the chart with 0.8%.
Companies such as Lenovo and HP rank second and sixth place. They don't sell graphics cards individually. However, they are prebuilt system vendors that sometimes make their own graphics cards or leverage units from other brands. That's probably why Digitec Galaxus AG included Lenovo and HP charts. Furthermore, the Swiss store sells some standalone Lenovo- and HP-branded graphics cards, but they're mainly professional SKUs.
The statistics show that AMD graphics cards are in eighth place with a failure rate of 1.4%. Since AMD doesn't make graphics cards, Digitec Galaxus AG is likely referring to the reference models, now more commonly known as MBA (Made By AMD). PC Partner, who also makes products for Sapphire, Dell, or Samsung, is the vendor that manufactures AMD reference graphics cards. Curiously, Zotac, a PC Partner subsidiary, has a 1.8% failure rate.
PowerColor is seemingly the best AMD partner, with a defective rate of 1.2%. Sapphire has the most significant RMA rates, with a 2.5% share, out of the three AMD-exclusive AIB partners. XFX was close behind with 2%.
Inno3D (0.9%) appears to be the best Nvidia partner. Of course, the company has a strong presence in Europe but is little known in the U.S. market. Meanwhile, EVGA, which no longer makes graphics cards, sits in 12th place with a 1.8% RMA rate. Regarding the other big-name brands, Asus and MSI are tied at the eighth position with 1.4% defective rates, while Gigabyte (1.9%) and ASRock (2.1%) are at 14th and 16th, respectively.
Digitec Galaxus AG also recorded the manufacturer warranty case duration, considering when the graphics card gets to the service center until it returns to the customer. In this aspect, Gigabyte is the worst vendor regarding RMA times, as it takes 17 working days to complete the RMA process. Meanwhile, ASRock and Palit RMA service is top-notch, requiring two working days.
