About Colorful and Inno3D products

P

Pimpom

Forerunner
I'm not a gamer and have only a broad general idea of the GPU market. I just do some research when it's time to buy one, mostly for others.

I've long noticed that products by brands like Colorful and Inno3D are usually cheaper than those of the big names like EVGA, Gigabyte, Asus, MSI, Zotac, Galax, etc. What kind of reputation have these two brands earned for themselves over the years?

I'm more interested in things like stability, durability, thermals, etc. than in differences of 1 or 2% in performance.
 
They have terrible built quality full aluminium heatsinks with copper pipes that aren't even copper, I had multiple GPUs from both companies and they start to rust within a year or two. they also use sub standard chinese capacitors. Inno3d is marginally better than colorful in some of their product line
 
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Evga is gone
Tldr tier S and A global makers like asus msi gigabyte invest in overall better build and thermal solutions offering long term reliability - that's what you pay for- a reputation built over years on global place . Notice they are usually Taiwan based

Many chinese origin makers are aggressive on pricing and will skimp on overall build - not compromise but offer just enough to meet pricing with okay reliability . Vrms less sturdy, thinner aluminum in thermal , cheaper fans etc

Just like psus you have tiers in gpubmakers from top S /A to C grade with some product lines from same mfg ending in various tiers.
 
The quality of their shrouds is of a lower quality, with generally worse cooling, overall.

Some higher-tier Colorful models are decent.
 
I have a Colorful iGame 5070 Ti ultra w OC and let me tell you the build quality is great, card remains very cool and never goes beyond 65 degrees while gaming on stock settings(ambient temp currently is 40 degrees). On my particular card the LED lighting and software is great. Although lower end cards might compromise on quality but my card runs great in every aspect and has great silicon quality, I currently have it UV'ed to 850mV at 2700 mhz without any stability issues and the card temp hovers around 60 degrees while gaming with power draw around 200 watts(original card TDP is 300W).
Can have a look here
 
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el_diablo said:
I have a Colorful iGame 5070 Ti ultra w OC and let me tell you the build quality is great, card remains very cool and never goes beyond 65 degrees while gaming on stock settings(ambient temp currently is 40 degrees). On my particular card the LED lighting and software is great. Although lower end cards might compromise on quality but my card runs great in every aspect and has great silicon quality, I currently have it UV'ed to 850mV at 2700 mhz without any stability issues and the card temp hovers around 60 degrees while gaming with power draw around 200 watts( original card TDP is 300W).
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Agreed, I've heard the higher - tier Colorful cards are pretty decent. Inno3D, pretty meh all across.
 
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I think at the lower end, zotac is the only one even to be considered since it gives a 5 yr warranty. However I've heard a few horror stories on zotac (but then I've heard those on more expensive brands too)

P.s. i have a zotac 3070 oc running for past 4.5 years, without any issues.
 
My friend had a Inno3D 2070S. When new, its I/O bracket had a small dent. After 4 years, without repasting, its temp started getting close to 85C. Another friend had a Galax 3080, one of its fan stopped working & it took close to 1 month to get it repaired.

I myself purchased a Zotac 3070 later on, now even after 3 years, its temps are great w/o repasting (friend is using it now), temps around 70-75C.

I generally ask people to avoid Colorful, Inno3D & Galax unless its way cheaper than other brands.
 
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Personally this is how I view the gpu makers

Tier godlike - Asia rog or tuf / giga aorus /msi sputum stuff
Tier 1 : xfx , giga or msi non above tier
Tier 2 : zotac , sapphire , power color (mid)
Tier 3 : galax inno3d colorful yeston

It’s a shame xfx stopped nvidia and evga went bust / some really good cards with build quality . Not sure if gainward and His are still around - though more in tier 2 and 3 intel some awesome coolers on their cards back in the day.
 
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Foxhound said:
Personally this is how I view the gpu makers

Tier godlike - Asia rog or tuf / giga aorus /msi sputum stuff
Tier 1 : xfx , giga or msi non above tier
Tier 2 : zotac , sapphire , power color (mid)
Tier 3 : galax inno3d colorful yeston

It’s a shame xfx stopped nvidia and evga went bust / some really good cards with build quality . Not sure if gainward and His are still around - though more in tier 2 and 3 intel some awesome coolers on their cards back in the day.
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Gainward is still around, but HIS isn't, AFAIK.
 
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i am in dying need for a gpu. as i am currently using a asus 970, bought in 2016 from erodov. majority of used cards sold here are from those brands you mention. i dont even click on them. tbh i dont even trust zotac for that matter.
 
Foxhound said:
Oh no ! Man they the best looking coolers for ati cards
Sorry to go off topic ....
Pfft I just remembered the likes of BFG tech , leadtek, chaintek on nvdia and diamond and club3d on ati side . Ode to fallen !
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Man, the aesthetics of those cards, those days..

I had an XFX 8800GT Alpha Dog Edition. It looks could kill...
Here's an old pic of my XFX 4890:

1.png
 
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My son is still using a 700W XFX PSU that I bought used so long ago that I'm not sure from where. It might have been from Digit. I tell my son to clean the insides now and then and I check its condition every few years. The caps are still in good condition.
 
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Pimpom said:
My son is still using a 700W XFX PSU that I bought used so long ago that I'm not sure from where. It might have been from Digit. I tell my son to clean the insides now and then and I check its condition every few years. The caps are still in good condition.
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It's most probably a seasonic which explains it's long life
 
Thanks for the inputs, guys. Keep 'em coming.
From all that's been said so far, no one seems to know of graphics cards by these low-tier companies that actually suffered a catastrophic failure.
 
Pimpom said:
Thanks for the inputs, guys. Keep 'em coming.
From all that's been said so far, no one seems to know of graphics cards by these low-tier companies that actually suffered a catastrophic failure.
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My Zotac 1050 died after 5.5 years. ( It worked for few hours after heating in microwave :) )
Cant blame zotac though, we have very high humidity in Mumbai and back then i never cleaned dust. Lots of oxidation damage on that board.

Dunno if a better card would have done better.
 
Dont buy ASUS cause their service is atrocious. Had RTX 3050 with component failure after just just 1 half years of use.

It took me 3 months of endless email's to get my warranty claim sorted. Had to wite to the head of the company threatening to sue him to get it resolved.
 
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