Hardware Sugar (opens in new tab), a retailer in the Philippines, has shared the failure rates for the most popular hardware brands over its four-year operation. Although it’s a small sample size, it’s interesting to see which brands are returned more frequently. Aside from the relatively small sales area, also be aware that other factors, like user error, can impact this type of data. As such, treat it as interesting information and not an absolute.
Graphics cards had the highest failure rate out of all the hardware components, specifically those from Gigabyte. The retailer’s RMA data showed a 5% failure rate for Gigabyte-branded graphics cards. Graphics cards from MSI were seemingly more reliable, and only 1.5% of the sold units failed. However, Hardware Sugar sold 9.3% more Gigabyte graphics cards than MSI graphics cards, so that’s important to consider. Sadly, the retailer didn’t specifically reveal which models were more susceptible to failure. It would have also been appealing to determine whether Nvidia or AMD makes the best graphics cards.
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Sold | Failed | Failure Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphics Cards | Row 0 – Cell 1 | Row 0 – Cell 2 | Row 0 – Cell 3 |
| MSI | 129 | 2 | 1.5% |
| Gigabyte | 141 | 7 | 5% |
| Motherboards | Row 3 – Cell 1 | Row 3 – Cell 2 | Row 3 – Cell 3 |
| MSI | 470 | 10 | 2.4% |
| Gigabyte | 388 | 7 | 1.8% |
| Power Supplies | Row 6 – Cell 1 | Row 6 – Cell 2 | Row 6 – Cell 3 |
| Corsair | 451 | 1 | 0.22% |
| DeepCool | 46 | 0 | 0% |
| Cooler Master | 157 | 3 | 2% |
| Seasonic | 644 | 12 | 1.8 |
| Cooling | Row 11 – Cell 1 | Row 11 – Cell 2 | Row 11 – Cell 3 |
| NZXT | 154 | 6 | 4% |
| Corsair | 42 | 0 | 0% |
| DeepCool | 149 | 0 | 0% |
| RAM | Row 15 – Cell 1 | Row 15 – Cell 2 | Row 15 – Cell 3 |
| G.Skill | 601 | 4 | 0.66% |
| TeamGroup | 179 | 2 | 1% |
| NVMe SSDs | Row 18 – Cell 1 | Row 18 – Cell 2 | Row 18 – Cell 3 |
| Samsung | 257 | 0 | 0% |
| TeamGroup | 243 | 3 | 1.2% |
When it comes to motherboards, it was the other way around. MSI motherboards had a higher failure rate (2.4%) than Gigabyte motherboards (1.8%). But, again, we don’t get specific information on whether Intel or AMD motherboards required the highest rate of RMAs.
The information also reveals that Seasonic power supplies are very popular in the Philippines, beating big names like Corsair and Cooler Master. For reference, Hardware Sugar sold 42.8% more Seasonic units than Corsair. However, Corsair was the more reliable brand overall, with less than a 1% failure rate. Other vendors, such as Seasonic and Cooler Master, were at 1.8% and 2%, respectively.
On the other hand, cooling solutions from Corsair and DeepCool didn’t show any failure at the time of the retailer’s video. However, NZXT cooling products, which sold the most, had a 4% failure rate. We don’t know if that data is only for air cooling, liquid cooling, or both. We suspect the latter since CPU air coolers aren’t very prone to failures. A fan may prematurely die from time to time, but it’s not common to see a heatsink go bad.
Regarding memory, G.Skill was the preferred brand for DIY users and consumers in the Philippines. Hardware Sugar sold a whopping 235.8% more G.Skill memory kits than TeamGroup memory kits. Despite the enormous margin, G.Skill’s failure rate was just 0.66%.
Samsung and TeamGroup were the two more prevalent brands for high-speed NVMe storage. The sale numbers were close, but Samsung was the dependable manufacturer with zero RMAs. In contrast, TeamGroup units reflected a 1.2% failure rate.