You have surely been tempted at some point to switch from PC to Intel’s new one. You walked into your favorite shopping website, looked at processor prices, and then went to motherboards to find out how much they cost firsthand. The surprise will have been more or less depending on your level of information, but in any case you will have noticed that the Z690 motherboard price have soared. Today, we know the reasons, which have their logic.
It’s the perfect storm and maybe Intel’s biggest mistake in Alder Lake as an architecture, but on the other hand, it was impossible to predict what was going to happen there. barely two years ago. There isn’t a lot of science or simple explanation for this maelstrom of bullish prices, it’s just an accumulation of things, a sum of prices that keep the platform from reaching more users. What are the factors behind the increase in unit cost?
Z690 motherboard price: the socket
The exclusive report to which the colleagues at TechPowerUp had access clearly indicates that the big surprise of this platform in terms of price is undoubtedly the socket and the CPU retention mechanism. The cost was multiplied by 4 going from LGA 1200 to LGA 1700, where the former would cost around $ 5, while the latter would be $ 20 and in high volume orders it could drop between $ 10 and $ 15, so at least it would triple the price for the major manufacturers.
What one might think was the most bullish factor in this component, like PCB, turned out to be one of the least affected. So, the report says that although they are better designed and contain better materials or layers, the average cost would only have increased by an average of $ 2. As we say, the model in question marks whether the rise is larger or smaller, while in those with DDR5 they also mark the percentage difference with their Z590 counterparts.
Therefore, it is understood that in low-end models with DDR4 the cost is very similar and in high-end models it would have increased by a few dollars more.
The power phases and their circuit, out of control
What has increased the most in general are the power phases and their energetic conception, since as we well know we have gone from DrMOS an SPS. The report states that this added to the shortage causes the prices of Z690 motherboards in this section to double compared to the Z590. Finally, there is a series of surveys which also affect to a lesser extent, such as the PCIe 5.0 slots (New machines are needed and need to be profitable on the basis of a higher price per installation), an increase in the price of capacitors and resistors and, in a climax, problems with overall logistics.
The evolution of logistics and delivery times resulted in a greater expense on the part of the manufacturers, which would have transferred it to the current plates. As if that wasn’t enough and apparently there are unfounded rumors about a possible Z690 motherboard prices increase in 2022, although the factors for this are not clarified.
