[SOLVED] Has anyone else noticed a national power supply shortage?

[NoFaultius]

I bought a fractal 760p 8 months ago and it just became defective this week causing random restarts. I went to buy a 800 - 850 W platinum or titanium rated power supply and they were all sold out. I mean, sold out on Amazon, newegg, microcenter, really sold out. I wound up buying a 850W gold rated supply from newegg business. Is this new?

 

[COLGeek]

It is a by-product of COVID-19 impacts on trade and the economy.

 

[Ralston18]

Agree with @COLGeek.

With so many people now working from home (WFH) , kids doing home schooling, and college kids doing more classes online there is an overall increase in demand for more computers, peripherals, components, and related supplies.

A family cannot simply or easily share just one or two computers....

Many other items in short supply or unavailable.

Does not take much of a story or even some rumor to cause a run on any given item....

 

[NoFaultius]

Agree with @COLGeek.

With so many people now working from home (WFH) , kids doing home schooling, and college kids doing more classes online there is an overall increase in demand for more computers, peripherals, components, and related supplies.

A family cannot simply or easily share just one or two computers....

Many other items in short supply or unavailable.

Does not take much of a story or even some rumor to cause a run on any given item....

and @COLGeek

What do you think of my choice?
1 x ( USD$172.42 ) Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG850 Gold, 850W Fully Modular, Full-Bridge LLC and DC to DC Converter Design, Full Japanese Caps, Zero RPM Manager, Compacted Size 140mm, 10 Year Warranty

i9 9900k liquid cooled with 2080ti also liquid cooled, Asus ROG strix 390X, 2 NVME M2s, 1 SSD, some RGB lighting and a NZXT fan control unit. 5 fans.

 

[jonnyguru]

I bought a fractal 760p 8 months ago and it just became defective this week causing random restarts. I went to buy a 800 - 850 W platinum or titanium rated power supply and they were all sold out. I mean, sold out on Amazon, newegg, microcenter, really sold out. I wound up buying a 850W gold rated supply from newegg business. Is this new?

View: https://youtu.be/0whCHfejM18

 

[Ralston18]

Not familiar with the Antec product.

Just FYI as a starter read regarding PSU's:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

Jayztwocents did a vid and mentioned it that he noticed it about Jan -Feb.
At my local Micro Center there is choice's upto 599w and a big gap to 1300watts
1 was 1600watts and was $559.

 

[jonnyguru]

Jayztwocents did a vid and mentioned it that he noticed it about Jan -Feb.

Then he's a liar.

COVID-19 happened during and after CNY (end of Jan, beginning of Feb), but not before.

Manufacturers anticipate the lack of manufacturing capabilities during CNY and therefore stock up what's called "VMI" (vendor managed inventory) which is a buffer that can be used to fulfill manufacturing short comings.

The shortage happened AFTER COVID-19 hit and factories weren't able to get back to work after CNY and the VMI dried up.

Seriously, everything you need to know is in the GamersNexus video. I can vouch for all of it.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

Not trying to pit 1 persons word against another.
But yep there is a shortage and till it lets up psu's in certain wattage ranges may hold a premium price regardless of quality.

 

[jonnyguru]

Not trying to pit 1 persons word against another.
But yep there is a shortage and till it lets up psu's in certain wattage ranges may hold a premium price regardless of quality.

The reputable dealers (Newegg, Amazon, Microcenter, Best Buy) aren't price gouging. But the 3rd party sellers you have to be careful with. If you see it available on Newegg, Amazon, etc., make sure it's sold by Newegg, Amazon, etc.

 

[Math Geek]

stock seems to come and go. i just built a pc and could not find much of anything. when i finally ordered a psu (not my first choice but a decent unit overall) 2 days later a bunch was back in stock. of course a few days after that when i needed another unit, i could not find anything again.

so stock is coming in though slowly and in small quantities. looks like checking 4 times a day on numerous is your best bet. order as soon as it's in stock.

as others have noted, newegg, amazon and a few others are not price gouging. though do be sure they are the sellers and not some random 3rd party seller.

 

[jonnyguru]

stock seems to come and go. i just built a pc and could not find much of anything. when i finally ordered a psu (not my first choice but a decent unit overall) 2 days later a bunch was back in stock. of course a few days after that when i needed another unit, i could not find anything again.

so stock is coming in though slowly and in small quantities. looks like checking 4 times a day on numerous is your best bet. order as soon as it's in stock.

as others have noted, newegg, amazon and a few others are not price gouging. though do be sure they are the sellers and not some random 3rd party seller.

It's going to.

As stated in the GamersNexus video I posted, you can only get so much space on a cargo ship for containers. So only a handful containers can make it to port from China. These containers go quickly.