AMD and Intel motherboard prices skyrocket past surging inflation rates thanks to 35-40% ASP increases

[Redaktion]

There has been a stark reminder posted of just how much AMD and Intel motherboards have gone up over the last couple of years in terms of average selling price (ASP). Data taken from a major European retailer reveals that average prices of MSI, Gigabyte, and ASRock boards have skyrocketed beyond the ongoing inflation surge that began in 2021.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-and-Intel-motherboard-prices-skyrocket-past-surging-inflation-rates-thanks-to-35-40-ASP-increases.704029.0.html

[Mr Majestyk]

Reap what you sow. PC sales at all time lows says it all. I hope AMD and Intel and well the whole industry continues to suffer huge declines in sales.

[L]

@Mr Majestyk
Thank you for the in-depth analysis of the market over the last few years and an "accurate" conclusion.

For everyone else:
Due to supply chain issues and semiconductor demand prices of manufacturing have risen for almost every component. There is no magic way they can be lowered over the short term.

[RobertJasiek]

After the GPU increase, the motherboard increase is the second reason why I have not built a new desktop yet.

[kek]

People here seem to forget that AM4 boards were "cheap" because they were already being done like for a third year, if not more. Now that AM5 has arrived, they act surprised when boards are really expensive.

Intel boards more or less kept its price until Raptor Lake arrived, but if you look around, you can find deals on those Alder Lake boards. ASRock seems to be the one that lowers their price first, followed by MSI. Asus is the most expensive one based on my last build done just a few weeks ago and I would advice to avoid them.

I picked up an ASRock Z690 DDR5 Steel Legend for ~210, which was way more than what I had in mind (120-150), but after using it for a while, I think it was worth it. You can turn off the RGB, the design doesnt screams gaming and has ton of useful I/O, including Wi-Fi & Bios Flashback support.

As for the GPU, I went for an used RTX 3060 off from eBay. It wasn't used in mining (it's the LHR Hardware revised version) and for 200$, I can't honestly complain at all. I paid that much for an used 1650 on 2021, in the middle of the GPU shortage.

Now, with all that being said, I wonder when budget AM5 boards will arrive. Even B760M boards are starting to go down in price by now...

[RobertJasiek]

People here seem to forget that AM4 boards were "cheap" because they were already being done like for a third year, if not more. Now that AM5 has arrived, they act surprised when boards are really expensive.

This is clear but currently mainboard manufacturers exaggerate prices beyond, partly far beyond, what must be necessary.

I picked up an ASRock Z690 DDR5 Steel Legend for ~210,

This is a price level I would consider ok for a DDR5 medium feature board. However, my preferred boards still hang around €250 ~ €430, depending on the model design rather than the features. It is also the first time that I consider the basic features (such as USB ports) to be sufficient. Suitable DDR4 boards were around €165 but slightly lacking in features (such as too few USB-C ports). New tech, DDR5 or PCIe 5, costs something. The more complete basics are worth, say, €20. But the current price difference generation to generation of at least €85 is exaggerated.

If it were the only surcharge, I might swallow it. But GPU, mainboard, PSU, coolers etc. all with surcharges and retailer price games add up too much for my taste.

As for the GPU, I went for an used RTX 3060 off from eBay. [...] for 200$

Also reasonable but something unavailable for me because 3080 is a very different price level in the German used market - way too high to risk that. $200 one can write off if the GPU is bad but $650 is not easily written off. Buying new makes more sense in Germany for mid or upper tier.

[Anonymousgg]

Now, with all that being said, I wonder when budget AM5 boards will arrive. Even B760M boards are starting to go down in price by now...

There's been a wave of A620 news in the past couple of days, so pretty soon. Then it's just a matter of B650 going to reasonable prices, depending on your definition.

[Tufttugger]

Keep in mind that boards with DDR5 and maybe PCIe 5 require much more engineering and materials. It will take time for the costs to come down as new tech and motherboard requirements are worked out and ramp in volume. Of course manufacturers also take the opportunity to jack up prices too...

[NikoB]

Why has no one written that the official inflation is a complete lie and cannot be compared with the real one observed by people everywhere in the economy?

If the false Fed claims about 8%, then the real 16%. People, a lot of people write about 20% in
USA.

The situation is approximately the same in Western, and even worse, in Eastern Europe. Not to mention developing countries, where everything is even worse.

When I bought an MSI board in 2009 for Intel, it cost about $160. This was a board with 2 RJ45, a bunch of ports and 8 SATA. Everything was covered entirely with radiators. It still holds Linfield overclocked by 42% for 14 years. Not a single BSOD caused by the board.

I doubt that current motherboards for $300-350 can withstand so much and such overclocking... They are definitely not worth it.

[ArsLoginName]

When I bought an MSI board in 2009 for Intel, it cost about $160. This was a board with 2 RJ45, a bunch of ports and 8 SATA. Everything was covered entirely with radiators. It still holds Linfield overclocked by 42% for 14 years. Not a single BSOD caused by the board.

I doubt that current motherboards for $300-350 can withstand so much and such overclocking... They are definitely not worth it.

Back then, overclocking was a thing. Today, whether it is Alder Lake/Raptor Lake or Zen 4, the top end processors already come almost overclocked to their limits for standard air and water cooling. Hence their extremely high TDP's. Good quality motherboards will be able to handle them at stock rated speeds for years.

[Mr Majestyk]

@Mr Majestyk
Thank you for the in-depth analysis of the market over the last few years and an "accurate" conclusion.

For everyone else:
Due to supply chain issues and semiconductor demand prices of manufacturing have risen for almost every component. There is no magic way they can be lowered over the short term.

Ah what excuse can we hide behind today I wonder? I'm surprised you didn't mention the Ukraine war and covid. > 70% of inflation is due to companies profiteering and hiding behind a multitude of excuses where many of those issues have greatly eased.

[NikoB]

Back then, overclocking was a thing. Today, whether it is Alder Lake/Raptor Lake or Zen 4, the top end processors already come almost overclocked to their limits for standard air and water cooling. Hence their extremely high TDP's. Good quality motherboards will be able to handle them at stock rated speeds for years.

As I already wrote, the difference between i7 Raptor for laptops with exactly the same consumption as my overclocked i5 Linnfield by 42% is only 3.5 times in AIDA64 Cpu Queen test and only 4.5 times in desktop ones.

Compare the performance difference between a 1995 and 2009 processors and between 2009 and 2023...

After 14 years, is this all that Intel and AMD can offer buyers? RIP x86.

[NikoB]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Ukraine war and covid. > 70% of inflation is due to companies profiteering and hiding behind a multitude of excuses where many of those issues have greatly eased.

This is a complex problem. Capitalists always profit, without any moral considerations, when possible - on their employees, on buyers, especially if the antitrust authorities pretend that everything is fine, and monopolies or oligopolistic collusion reign everywhere. Most of them, about which the classic remark of the English civil activist Thomas Dunning was written long ago and which was borrowed by Karl Max in his Capital.

But here the big blame lies with the financial mafia and the power they bought in the bud in the US/EU and other "developed" countries that continue to print fiat candy wrappers in huge volumes, saving their filthy asses from the gallows, the guillotine and the electric chair.

Now, in view of the criminal Covid scam that killed millions of people around the world, the only purpose of which was to create and test the foundations of digital concentration camps at the macro level, how much the population will be ready to give up their rights and how really stupid they are (the tests were, in general, successful) - they were joined by a mass of accomplices who understand that if these scoundrels (financial mafia) fall under the distribution, then sane citizens will take care of them, including pharmaceutical companies and people in white coats who have become hired killers in all countries at once, summing up. This is such a huge problem that no one will solve it at the level of the global division of labor and the rapid growth in the nominal cost of labor and raw materials, wherever possible - where the sellers of this are ways to twist the arms of those who need it all to create a product or service and sell or resell.

The old world has come to an end, it is purposefully lowered into controlled chaos, where ordinary citizens must constantly be in a state where they have no time to think about anything other than animal survival - long live, first, the Weimar Republic, and then the war of all against all, while superfluous part of the population in all countries will not physically disappear to the pleasure of these strata, who really want to avoid responsibility for everything they have done. But it was the people themselves who chose the politicians who allowed all this, so the majority should blame themselves for what will soon happen to them.

This is a short but detailed part of the answer, why everything is bad and will only get worse. And no "AI" will save them (the population). Rather, all these systems will only bring the digital concentration camp closer.

So PC hardware prices are just another manifestation of global trends of growing stagflation and the impoverishment of significant sections of the former "middle class" against the backdrop of the destruction of global chains of division of labor, the growth of protectionism and attempts to create local self-sufficient production (obviously unprofitable) for greater control over key technologies, raw materials, goods and services for the population in anticipation of a big slaughter on the planet. We, humanity, can no longer avoid it, so it is better to live the last years in at least some rich life and pleasure. That is why many set off  in breaking bad. The smarter a person is, the more fully he understands where everything is going and how everything will end.

[NikoB]

I read a lot of people's thoughts before the First World War and the Second World War - it's amazing how similar the thoughts of those smart people are with the description of the pre-war situation and understanding of the picture of the world to come .. But they could not stop all this in any way. And now you can't stop. Moloch of fate is rapidly gaining momentum, because humanity has driven itself into this situation over the past 78 years, not solving a significant part of the problems in a civilized way, when it was still possible without a new meat grinder for resources and plots of land, with a strong will among citizens and those chosen by them politicians.

[Eric Emerson]

This article is misleading.  The motherboards I bought in 2020 are the same price in 2023.  My main computer I built in 2020 for $1,300 could be replaced for less than $1,000 today.  That's deflation, which hasn't changed in decades.