Wondering whether you should opt for Zotac of EVGA for your next PC component? We can help!
There are a lot of similarities between these two brands, but there are some notable reasons (and sometimes specific product offerings) that can make one the obvious choice over the other.
The short answer is that it’s generally accepted that EVGA customer support trumps Zotac’s in America, while Zotac support has the edge in Europe & Asian. It’s important to note that GPUs are the only product category in which these brands truly overlap.
That’s the way-too-short breakdown.
We’ll dive deep into the details to help you determine exactly which option makes the most sense for your PC.
P.S. – If you’re evaluating the component market and need some more help, we also recently fully covered EVGA vs Gigabyte & EVGA vs Nvidia.
Introduction
There are a surprising number of big names in the consumer computing space. It can be hard to keep track of which is which; some specialize in one or two types of products, some manufacture everything they sell in-house, and others buy, repackage, and resell products from just about every computing-related category.
Keeping it all straight becomes twice as hard when you add in variations in price, performance, reliability, and customer support across companies and product lines.
ZOTAC and EVGA are two of the bigger names in the market. Both offer a wide variety of products—some of which compete directly with the other’s—and both have years of experience and expertise under their belts.
The two companies are too big and their product offerings are too broad to adequately compare in a few sentences, so let’s break this thing down into a few different sections.
First up: A little background on both companies:
ZOTAC Background

ZOTAC (a portmanteau of “zone” and “tact”) is a Hong Kong-based computer hardware manufacturer that started operating back in 2006 as a subsidiary of PC Partner. They started building NVIDIA-based graphics cards back in 2007 and made a big splash in the market when they delivered the first factory overclocked GPU in 2008.
Not satisfied with GPU manufacturing, however, ZOTAC started branching out in 2015 by building their own Steam Machines (the NEN), and followed it up by entering the Mini PC market in 2016. Since then ZOTAC has continued to develop its product lines and expanded their presence with the ZOTAC Gaming brand, under which they’ve released a series of gaming PCs and mini desktops.
ZOTAC is a private company that doesn’t disclose a lot of information, so it’s hard to get many insights on its size, corporate structure, or financials, but the data they make public suggests that they’re a relatively small organization. They have four offices outside of Hong Kong (Japan, South Korea, America, and Germany), and their products are manufactured by PC Partner’s Chinese factories…and that’s about all we know.
EVGA Background

EVGA is a California-based computer hardware company that’s been in business since 1999. They made their name producing NVIDIA-based graphics cards—including a range of factory overclocked models—and NVIDIA reference designed motherboards, but they quickly expanded to building Intel chipset-based motherboards (starting with the X58 SLI motherboard in 2009).
EVGA was one of the first companies to build motherboards capable of accommodating up to four GPUs in SLI, as well as GPUs capable of running in 4-way SLI. EVGA wasn’t satisfied with just GPUs and motherboards, however, and has spent the last decade dedicating its efforts to conquering as much of the computer hardware program as possible.
Since 2010 EVGA has broadened its reach into components like power supplies, liquid coolers, and computer cases, accessories like gaming mice and keyboards, and even premade tablet computers and gaming laptops. And though not all of their endeavors have been quite as successful as their graphics cards and motherboards, EVGA continues to evolve its business and expand its lineup.
EVGA is also a private company, but its publicly available information suggests its size and scope is larger than ZOTAC’s. It isn’t a subsidiary of a larger entity (unlike ZOTAC and PC Partner), it has eight different locations compared to ZOTAC’s four, and it has at least 250 employees. It doesn’t make the details of where it manufactures and sources its products public, but it’s probably safe to assume most of its products come from China and Taiwan.
Comparing Product Lines
EVGA and ZOTAC both sell NVIDIA-based GPUs, but that’s the only product category where the two firms’ offerings overlap.
This makes doing a giant product-to-product comparison impossible, so the rest of this article will be split into a few different sections: comparing the firms’ GPU tech, breaking down the other products each firm offers, and, finally, going into intangible factors like reputation and quality of customer service.
GPU Comparisons

700 Series
Both companies’ 700-series cards perform very similarly, though ZOTAC’s 710s do tend to run a bit slower than EVGA’s. ZOTAC is the only one of the two that carries the 730 line—and fifteen different versions of it, at that—but it’s hard to imagine many gamers opting for such underpowered cards, so not much needs to be said about them.
EVGA:
- GeForce GT 710 – Three Versions
- Clock Speed: 954MHz
- Memory: 1 – 2GB DDR3
- Memory Clock Speed: 1800MHz
ZOTAC:
- GeForce GT 710 – Five Versions
- Clock Speed: 902MHz
- Memory: 1 – 2GB DDR3
- Memory Clock Speed: 1600MHz
- GeForce GT 730 – Fifteen Versions
- Clock Speed: 700 – 954MHz
- Memory:
- DDR3: 1 – 4GB
- DDR5: 1 – 4GB
- Memory Clock Speed:
- DDR3: 1066 – 1800MHz
- DDR5: 5010MHz
10 Series
ZOTAC seems to have the edge when it comes to the GeForce 10 Series. EVGA doesn’t offer the GTX 1050 Ti, and though it has two more GT 1030 variants than ZOTAC, the additional variants don’t offer much in the way of extra performance, connectivity, or reliability. EVGA’s GT 1030s boast slightly higher performance than ZOTACs, though the increases are marginal, at best.
The one thing that EVGA has over ZOTAC in the GeForce 10 Series category is that it offers both passive and fan-cooled GT 1030s (ZOTAC only offers fan-cooled GT 1030s and GTX 1050s), but it’s hard to tell how much users would benefit from the option of a passively cooled GPU.
EVGA:
- GeForce GT 1030 – Four Versions
- Base Clock Speed: 1189 – 1290MHz
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1430 – 1544MHz
- Memory:
- DDR5: 2GB
- SDDR4: 2GB
- Memory Clock Speed: DDR5: 6008MHz | SDDR4: 2100MHz | SDDR4: 2100MHz
- Cooling Options: Passive | Heat Sink and Fan
ZOTAC:
- GeForce GT 1030 – Two Versions
- Base Clock Speed: 1227MHz
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1468MHz
- Memory: 2GB DDR5
- Memory Clock Speed: 6000MHz
- Cooling Options: Heat Sink and Fan
- GeForce GTX 1050 Ti – Two Versions
- Base Clock Speed: 1303 – 1392MHz
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1417 – 1506MHz
- Memory: 4GB DDR5
- Memory Clock Speed: 7000MHz
- Cooling Options: Single Fan | Dual Fan
16 Series
EVGA and ZOTAC are almost evenly matched in the GeForce 16 Series. EVGA narrowly edges out ZOTAC in variety—5 models, 16 versions versus 5 models, 14 versions—and its GPUs tend to have slightly higher boosted clock speeds, but ZOTAC’s larger variety of cooling options (including the advanced IceStorm 2.0 system) make their GPUs roughly equal to EVGA’s.
ZOTAC’s random decision to measure their memory’s clock speed in Gbps instead of MHz makes it difficult to compare the two, but neither company has an advantage in terms of memory type or amount.
Since they’re so similar in terms of capabilities, form factors, and versatility, you might want to consult user reviews before opting for either a ZOTAC or an EVGA GPU from the GeForce 16 Series.
EVGA:
- GeForce GTX 1650 – Six Versions
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1605 – 1860MHz
- Memory: GDDR5: 4GB | GDDR6: 4GB
- Memory Clock Speed: GDDR5: 8000MHz | GDDR6: 12000MHz
- Cooling Options: Heat Sink and Fan | Dual Fan
- GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER – Two Versions
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1725 – 1755MHz
- Memory: 4GB DDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 12000MHz
- Cooling Options: Dual Fan
- GeForce GTX 1660 – Two Versions
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1785 – 1830MHz
- Memory: 6GB GDDR5
- Memory Clock Speed: 8000MHz
- Cooling Options: Single Fan | Dual Fan
- GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER – Three Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1785 – 1830MHz
- Memory: 6GB DDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 14000MHz
- Cooling Options: Single Fan | Dual Fan
- GeForce GTX 1660 Ti – Three Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1770 – 1860MHz
- Memory: 6GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 12000MHz
- Cooling Options:
- Dual Fan
- Dual Hydro Dynamic Bearing Fans
ZOTAC:
- GeForce GTX 1650 – Six Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1590 – 1725MHz
- Memory: GDDR5: 4GB | GDDR6: 4GB
- Memory Clock Speed: GDDR5: 8Gbps | GDDR6: 12Gbps
- Cooling Options: Heat Sink and 90mm Single Fan | 40mm Twin Fan | 70mm Twin Fan
- GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER – One Version
- Boost Clock Speed: 1725MHz
- Memory: 4GB DDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 12Gbps
- Cooling Options: Dual Fan
- GeForce GTX 1660 – Three Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1785 – 1845MHz
- Memory: 6GB GDDR5
- Memory Clock Speed: 8Gbps
- Cooling Options: Dual Fan | IceStorm 2.0
- GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER – Two Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1785 – 1845MHz
- Memory: 6GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 14Gbps
- Cooling Options: Dual Fans | 90mm Dual Fans +_IceStorm 2.0
- GeForce GTX 1660 Ti – Two Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1770 – 1860 MHz
- Memory: 6GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 12Gbps
- Cooling Options: Optimized Dual Offset Fans | IceStorm 2.0
20 Series
There’s no contest here. EVGA’s single GeForce RTX 2060 model is no match for ZOTAC’s RTX 2060 models in terms of performance, memory, or cooling options, and ZOTAC’s much wider slate of GeForce 20 Series GPUs only adds insult to injury. The 16 and 20 Series are where we really start seeing ZOTAC’s expertise in fan-based cooling come into its own with big, actively controlled fans and the IceStorm 2.0 system, not to mention the inclusion of the Freeze Fan Stop feature that makes fans run more quietly and more efficiently.
EVGA:
- GeForce RTX 2060 – One Version
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1680MHz
- Memory: 6GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 14000MHz
- Cooling Options: Heat Sink and Fan
ZOTAC:
- GeForce RTX 2060 – Six Versions
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1650 – 1830MHz
- Memory: GDDR6: 6 – 12GB
- Memory Clock Speed: 14Gbps
- Cooling Options:
- Three Actively Controlled 90mm Fans + IceStorm 2.0
- Dual Fans + IceStorm 2.0
- GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER – Three Versions
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1650 – 1710MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 14Gbps
- Cooling Options:
- Dual Fans + IceStorm 2.0
- Three Actively Controlled 90mm Fans + IceStorm 2.0
- GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER – Four Versions
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1770 – 1830MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 14Gbps
- Cooling Options:
- Two 90mm Fans
- Two Actively Controlled 90mm Fans + IceStorm 2.0
- Three Actively Controlled 90mm Fans + IceStorm 2.0
- GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER – Four Versions
- Boosted Clock Speed: 1815 – 1875MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 15.5Gbps
- Cooling Options:
- Two Actively Controlled 90mm Fans + IceStorm 2.0
- Two Actively Controlled 100mm Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop
- Three Actively Controlled 90mm Fans + IceStorm 2.0
- Three Actively Controlled 90mm Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop
30 Series
This is another close one. EVGA and ZOTAC offer roughly the same number of models and versions of the GeForce 30 Series GPUs, and there aren’t many differences between the firms’ competing lines. Both firms’ GPUs are very comparable in terms of clock speed, memory type/amount (and presumably memory clock speed), and both firms offer GPUs in very similar form factors and configurations. There’s just one tangible thing that gives the winner, EVGA, the edge: Cooling options.
ZOTAC’s cooling systems reached their full potential in the 20 Series, with very few, improvements making their way to the 30 Series. EVGA, on the other hand, went all in on advanced cooling technology with their 30 Series GPUs. Their array of hybrid and liquid cooling solutions provide a level of heat management that ZOTAC can’t hope to match (aside from one or two Waterblock-cooled models), which can have serious performance and longevity implications for higher-end GPUs like the 30 Series.
EVGA:
- GeForce RTX 3060 – Two Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1777 – 1882MHz
- Memory: 12GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 15000MHz
- Cooling Options: Dual Fan
- GeForce RTX 3060 Ti – Three Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1710 – 1800MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 14000MHz
- Cooling Options: Dual Fan | iCX3 Cooling with Three Fans + Heatsink
- GeForce RTX 3070 – Four Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1725 – 1810MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 14000MHz
- Cooling Options: iCX3 Cooling with Three Fans
- GeForce RTX 3070 Ti – Three Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1770 – 1860MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6X
- Memory Clock Speed: 19000MHz
- Cooling Options: iCX3 Cooling with Three Fans
- GeForce RTX 3080 – Nine Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1710 – 1800MHz
- Memory: 10GB GDDR6X
- Memory Clock Speed: 19000MHz
- Cooling Options: Hybrid Water and Single Fan | Waterblock Cooling | iCX3 Cooling with Three Fans
- GeForce RTX 3080 Ti – Six Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1665 – 1800MHz
- Memory: 12GB GDDR6X
- Memory Clock Speed: 19000MHz
- Cooling Options: Hybrid Water and Single Fan | Waterblock Cooling | iCX3 Cooling with Three Fans
- GeForce RTX 3090 – One Version
- Boost Clock Speed: 1725MHz
- Memory: 24GB GDDR6X
- Memory Clock Speed: 19500MHz
- Cooling Options: Hybrid Water and Single Fan
ZOTAC:
- GeForce RTX 3050 – Two Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1777 – 1807MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 14Gbps
- Cooling Options: IceStorm 2.0 with Two Fans
- GeForce RTX 3060 – Three Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1777 – 1867MHz
- Memory: 12GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 15Gbps
- Cooling Options: Two Actively Controlled Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop
- GeForce RTX 3060 Ti – Five Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1665 – 1755MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 14Gbps
- Cooling Options: Two Actively Controlled Fans + IceStorm 2.0 | Two Actively Controlled Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop
- GeForce RTX 3070 – Eight Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1725 – 1785MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory Clock Speed: 14Gbps
- Cooling Options: Two Actively Controlled Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop
- GeForce RTX 3070 Ti – Four Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1770 – 1890MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6X
- Memory Bandwidth: 19Gbps
- Cooling Options: Three Actively Controlled Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop
- GeForce RTX 3080 – Eight Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1710 – 1770MHz
- Memory: 10GB GDDR6X
- Memory Clock Speed: 19Gbps
- Cooling Options: Three Actively Controlled Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop
- GeForce RTX 3080 Ti – Five Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1665 – 1785MHz
- Memory: 12GB GDDR6X
- Memory Clock Speed: 19Gbps
- Cooling Options: Three Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop | Three Actively Controlled Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop | ArcticStorm Waterblock
- GeForce RTX 3090 – Five Versions
- Boost Clock Speed: 1695 – 1815MHz
- Memory: 24GB GDDR6X
- Memory Clock Speed: 19.5Gbps
- Cooling Options: Three Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop | Three Actively Controlled Fans + IceStorm 2.0 + Freeze Fan Stop | ArcticStorm Waterblock
Customer Service & Final Recommendations
ZOTAC and EVGA’s GPUs are very similar, with advantages only coming in the form of increased selection and better cooling systems. User reviews place the firms’ GPUs at pretty much the same level in terms of performance, satisfaction, and reliability, which obviously doesn’t make it any easier to decide between the two.
There is one factor that EVGA has going for it in the American market: Customer service.
EVGA’s approach to customer service is universally applauded by users across the country, and it isn’t hard to see why. Their courteous American support staff are quick to respond to complaints without any language barriers or time differences, and users report consistently quick turnarounds and fair resolutions to their issues.
Here’s a link to EVGA’s warranty info.
ZOTAC’s support staff is good too—and usually preferred by European and Asian customers—but they just aren’t as responsive or easy to deal with for American users.
And here’s a link to Zotac’s warranty info.