News Motherboard Shipments Plummet by Ten Million Units in 2022: Report

[Admin]

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and ASRock saw motherboard shipments drop by around 10 million in 2022, claims an IT industry journal.

Motherboard Shipments Plummet by Ten Million Units in 2022: Report : Read more

 

[COLGeek]

Given the costs to build a system, with all the price gouging and supply chain issues, does this really come as a surprise? Especially in light of global inflation and the increased cost of living?

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

I still say it's more the fact that Zen 3 and Intel 10th gen and newer aren't slow enough to justify replacing your core system. Even if current generation parts cost the same as the previous generation, AMD especially, that's still a lot of money to pour in for a small gain, which for most cases is no noticeable gain.

 

[InvalidError]

Given the costs to build a system, with all the price gouging and supply chain issues, does this really come as a surprise? Especially in light of global inflation and the increased cost of living?

The biggest factor is the 60+ million sales bubble from COVID. That is ~60 million out-of-cycle upgrades that won't be happening again within the next 3-10 years.

Of course, wall-to-wall $50-200 price increases on motherboards, CPUs and GPUs as average people's disposable income falls through the floor cracks don't help.

 

[bit_user]

Articles like this really feel like salt in the wound to someone who's been waiting most of 2022 for two specific motherboards to come (back) into stock. Granted, they're fairly specialty boards, but still seems pretty ridiculous.

• Supermicro X13SAE
• ASRock Rack X570D4U-2L2T

The Supermicro finally achieved good availability sometime in Q4 2022, but then I was stuck waiting for ECC DDR5 UDIMMs, which I couldn't find until January. So, I'm finally unblocked on that upgrade and plan to commence imminently. Now, I'm just waiting to see if the announced Alder Lake price cuts affect the retail boxed CPU I want, but I'll probably pull the trigger within the next month. That was actually the lower-priority upgrade, which is why I still haven't done it.

Meanwhile, the ASRock Rack board hasn't come back into stock pretty much at all, in more than a year! My hopes were briefly boosted when they announced a version with a Broadcom MAC, the X570D4U-2L2T/BCM, but even that version cannot be found.

Since the base X570D4U is easier to find, I really wonder if it's just something weird going on with the 10 gigabit MAC market. Looking at 10 gigabit NIC prices seems to confirm that pricing is still elevated for whatever reason. Any thoughts about why? Could these be largely manufactured in fabs now being hit with sanctions?

BTW, the X13SAE's fastest network port is only 2.5 Gbps, so I don't mean to include it in the discussion of 10 gigabit parts. However, its availability indeed seemed to lag that of some other W680 chipset boards, for whatever reason.

 

[bit_user]

I still say it's more the fact that Zen 3 and Intel 10th gen and newer aren't slow enough to justify replacing your core system. Even if current generation parts cost the same as the previous generation, AMD especially, that's still a lot of money to pour in for a small gain, which for most cases is no noticeable gain.

I already corrected you on this at least once before. The 7950X gets a multi-application average benefit of 45% better multithreaded performance than its predecessor, while the 7600X is about 35% faster than its predecessor. These are pretty astonishing single-generation improvements, for CPUs with the same core/thread count.

Now, if you're talking about FPS, then sure. But, anyone using a slower GPU and/or higher resolution tends not to be very CPU-limited, anyhow. So, I think this really isn't about lack of improvements by AMD or Intel. Rather, it's more about single-generation upgrades generally not making much sense for most people.

 

[RichardtST]

Sure, everyone buying a new system in 2020/2021 had a lot to do with the current slump. But so does the fact that the latest technology costs twice as much for virtually no performance increase at all. Look at DDR5. It's crap. Look at pcie5 NVME drives. More crap. And the motherboards... OMG. Huge pile of crap for ungodly prices. And don't even get me started on GPUS. Beyond crap for absolutely stupid prices.

Nah, the biggest factor in the current slump is that the big manufacturers simply got too full of themselves and jacked up the prices so high that we all balked. What you're seeing right now is a great big "NOPE" from the people. Get your products down into the realm of the reasonably sane or take the hit.

Good news though, is that pcie4, AM4, and DDR4 are all dirt cheap. This part makes me happy. Ain't nothing wrong at all with gen4. I've been busy upgrading every computer I can find at home and the office.

And no. I absolutely refuse to spend $1000 on a graphics card. I'll go buy a console and slap it on my bigscreen before that ever happens. $350 for your dang graphics card. Take it or leave it.

 

[lmcnabney]

While some other component pricing is up a bit (I'm looking at YOU AMD for requiring DDR5 and PCIe5 function and complexity for RAM and boards) a builder can still build a rock-solid PC at reasonable prices with a single exception.

The GPU.
Nvidia (and to a lesser extent AMD) are strangling the goose that lays the golden eggs by willingly sacrificing volume for margin. This can work in the short term, but the long term impact is the return to consoles. Even PC fanbois will eventually realize that they are getting screwed when it will cost around two grand to exceed the capabilities of a $500 console.

 

[bit_user]

the latest technology costs twice as much for virtually no performance increase at all. Look at DDR5. It's crap.

No, not if you're doing heavily-multithreaded work.

​

Source: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1704...hybrid-performance-brings-hybrid-complexity/8​

​

So, that works out to 31.3% faster SPEC2017int and 37.4% faster SPEC2017fp. In Raptor Lake, the differences are surely even further amplified, but they didn't repeat the same test.

People use these CPUs for more than gaming, you know? But, for the casual gamers, DDR5 is quite likely a boon for iGPU performance. You'd need a big iGPU which makes it harder to test, since those only shipped in the BGA laptop-oriented processors. Did any Alder lake 96 EU mobile parts ship in laptops with (LP)DDR4?

And don't even get me started on GPUS.

Don't worry, I won't.

Nah, the biggest factor in the current slump is that the big manufacturers simply got too full of themselves and jacked up the prices so high that we all balked. What you're seeing right now is a great big "NOPE" from the people. Get your products down into the realm of the reasonably sane or take the hit.

Sounds like wishful thinking, IMO. Sure, prices have had some effect on suppressing purchasing, but I wouldn't say that's the biggest.

I think the biggest factors are that most upgrades happened back in 2020-2021 and the economic downturn/uncertainty. The latter had two effects: to put off anyone still in the market for an upgrade and to turn off the taps on corporate spending.

 

[bit_user]

The GPU.
Nvidia (and to a lesser extent AMD) are strangling the goose that lays the golden eggs by willingly sacrificing volume for margin. This can work in the short term, but the long term impact is the return to consoles. Even PC fanbois will eventually realize that they are getting screwed when it will cost around two grand to exceed the capabilities of a $500 console.

GPU prices are trending below MSRP, unless you insist on buying the latest generation.

Also, I'm not sure where you get this figure of $2k to surpass a $500 console. The iGPU in the latest XBox Series X is a little more powerful than PS5's, and it's approximately equal to a RX 6750 XT that's selling for $410 new. On the CPU front, you can easily surpass it with a $200 5700G. If you then spend another $390 on AM4 mobo, case, powersupply, and RAM, you can build a comparable machine for $1k.

I shouldn't have to spell this out, but where PCs get exciting is that $540 will buy you a new RX 6800 XT that handily beats a XBox Series X, should you happen to already have a PC with a decent enough CPU.

 

[InvalidError]

I already corrected you on this at least once before. The 7950X gets a multi-application average benefit of 45% better multithreaded performance than its predecessor, while the 7600X is about 35% faster than its predecessor. These are pretty astonishing single-generation improvements, for CPUs with the same core/thread count.

I upgraded from an i5-3470 to an i5-11400. The new i5 is ~2.5X as fast yet in most day-to-day tasks, the difference feels practically nil and an additional 50% on top of practically nothing would be meaningless.

I think the point he was making is that for most people, there is little to no benefit to upgrading, especially for people who are already on new-ish stuff. Normal people don't do all that much time-sensitive compute-intenstive stuff and for what little they may do, they don't mind either waiting a bit or doing something else in the meantime. Most of my friends and family don't even own or use PCs anymore, they do most of their stuff on their smartphone.

 

[bit_user]

I upgraded from an i5-3470 to an i5-11400. The new i5 is ~2.5X as fast yet in most day-to-day tasks, the difference feels practically nil and an additional 50% on top of practically nothing would be meaningless.

So, I'll refer back to what I said up in post #6:

"anyone using a slower GPU and/or higher resolution tends not to be very CPU-limited, anyhow. ... single-generation upgrades generally not making much sense for most people."​

And that was something of an understatement. If you're doing web-browsing, that tends not to be very CPU bottlenecked. Especially with ad filtering. But, I typically use Firefox without any special ad-blocking and it's perfectly usable on a Sandybridge with integrated graphics (as long as I'm vigilant for any open tabs consuming undue amounts of CPU/RAM).

I think the point he was making is that for most people, there is little to no benefit to upgrading, especially for people who are already on new-ish stuff.

There were better ways to phrase that, if that's what was intended. I'm not convinced it was, which is why I bothered to respond.

 

[PlaneInTheSky]

I'll buy a new mobo when all USB ports are at least 3.1. We have more than 2 USB-C ports. And we have at least 10Gbit/s ethernet.

The current mobo are overpriced, half-assed and already outdated.

$200-$300 for mobo that still use USB 2.0, that still only have 1 USB-C and still only 2.5Gbit/s ethernet?

No thanks, I don't like getting ripped off. The amount of cheap components and connectors in mobo is ridiculous..

These mobo makers are putting chips and components in their mobo that are often more than a decade old.

$300 Asus mobo with USB2.0. f you mobo makers.

 

[kerberos_20]

im still on x370, no reason going further with am4, the only reason for upgrading mobo would be usb4 which was supposed to be in x570...but welll...it moved to x670...and with those prices, heat issues and such, ill just hold on a bit more

 

[Sleepy_Hollowed]

I'll buy a new mobo when all USB ports are at least 3.1. We have more than 2 USB-C ports. And we have at least 10Gbit/s ethernet.

The current mobo are overpriced, half-assed and already outdated.

$200-$300 for mobo that still use USB 2.0, that still only have 1 USB-C and still only 2.5Gbit/s ethernet?

No thanks, I don't like getting ripped off. The amount of cheap components and connectors in mobo is ridiculous..

These mobo makers are putting chips and components in their mobo that are often more than a decade old.

That's cool and all, but 10 GB ethernet on mainstream mainboards require that something other than the local intranet is used for high bandwidth content, like say, most customers having over 2.5 Gbps at the ISP, and that's not happening for a while.

That's only because gamerz(tm) for the longest time, though that's the only speed that matters.

 

[dennphill]

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and ASRock saw motherboard shipments drop by around 10 million in 2022, claims an IT industry journal.

Motherboard Shipments Plummet by Ten Million Units in 2022: Report : Read more

Well, for one I can comment that I am not buying (have not bought) a new motherboard - and ALSO this relates to a very recent Tom's article regarding CPU purchases also plummeting recently - because both prices are too high and there is a dearth or mATX offerings (in my case)! Really, it has been a waste of time the past few months waiting for mATX motherboards for Ryzen 7000s from usual manufacturers and then seeing the crippled offerings of mATX B650s boards is truly depressing. Bad enough going to the AM5 socket requires me to buy a new board, new RAM to support the new processors, etc. OMHO here. My plan: wait a bit and see if 5800X3Ds drops a few more bucks, buy one, and just WAIT OUT this generation in protest. Take that Intel and AMD...and ASUS, ASRock, MSI, Gigabyte, et alia. Read and heed the comments posted here and elsewhere!

 

[PlaneInTheSky]

That's cool and all, but 10 GB ethernet on mainstream mainboards require that something other than the local intranet is used for high bandwidth content, like say, most customers having over 2.5 Gbps at the ISP, and that's not happening for a while.

That's only because gamerz(tm) for the longest time, though that's the only speed that matters.

You know how old 10Gbit/s over ethernet is? It has been used for over 20 years.

When consumers pay $300 for a mobo. The bare minimum, should be a 10Gbit/s switch.

Taiwanese mobo makers are making cheap outdated crap. Stuffing old ethernet chips and old USB2.0 chips in there, and are asking premium prices.

If this market collapses, I say good. Maybe we can finally get more than 1 USB-C port.

 

[bit_user]

That's cool and all, but 10 GB ethernet on mainstream mainboards require that something other than the local intranet is used for high bandwidth content, like say, most customers having over 2.5 Gbps at the ISP, and that's not happening for a while.

Yeah, 10 gigabit won't be mainstream for at least a while, if ever. It's definitely a pro/workstation feature, although it's somewhat surprising that it's not even a baseline feature of most workstation/server boards. The only reason I can see for that is something weird is going on with the market or manufacture of 10 Gigabit parts.

You can actually find cable modems with a 2.5 Gbps port, FWIW.

You know how old 10Gbit/s over ethernet is? It has been used for over 20 years.

Yeah, that's why it's so frustrating it hasn't happened. Back in 2019, it looked like we were finally getting there, but the trend hasn't returned since the pandemic.

BTW, 10 Gigabit over twisted-pair copper is a bit newer, only being standardized in 2006. Traditionally, 10GBase-T NICs use significantly more power than SFP+ NICs, I think like about 7 W per port, as compared with about 3 W. I don't know if that's still true, but it would be a reason some might prefer 2.5 or 5 Gbps, if they don't need 10 Gbps. That, and the lower speeds provide better compatibility with legacy cabling.

The bare minimum, should be a 10Gbit/s switch.

Have you looked at 10 Gbps switch prices, lately?

 

[InvalidError]

Yeah, that's why it's so frustrating it hasn't happened. Back in 2019, it looked like we were finally getting there, but the trend hasn't returned since the pandemic.

So few people have any sort of use for 10Gbps, I am not surprised at all that we ended up with intermediate speeds getting introduced to provide a more incremental upgrade path and 2.5Gbps only recently becoming mainstream.

Have you looked at 10 Gbps switch prices, lately?

2.5Gbps switches are 4-5X the price of 1Gbps stuff, not exactly cheap either. Routers with 2.5GbE cost $100+ extra vs nearest equivalent 1GbE models too. I am not in any sort of hurry to upgrade my LAN from 1GbE.

 

[CXB]

No, not if you're doing heavily-multithreaded work.

​

Source: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1704...hybrid-performance-brings-hybrid-complexity/8​

​

So, that works out to 31.3% faster SPEC2017int and 37.4% faster SPEC2017fp. In Raptor Lake, the differences are surely even further amplified, but they didn't repeat the same test.

People use these CPUs for more than gaming, you know? But, for the casual gamers, DDR5 is quite likely a boon for iGPU performance. You'd need a big iGPU which makes it harder to test, since those only shipped in the BGA laptop-oriented processors. Did any Alder lake 96 EU mobile parts ship in laptops with (LP)DDR4?


Don't worry, I won't.


Sounds like wishful thinking, IMO. Sure, prices have had some effect on suppressing purchasing, but I wouldn't say that's the biggest.

I think the biggest factors are that most upgrades happened back in 2020-2021 and the economic downturn/uncertainty. The latter had two effects: to put off anyone still in the market for an upgrade and to turn off the taps on corporate spending.

Nice graph.
But I couldn't find a SINGLE item that was "latest generation".
Even the Apple M1 has been superceded.

 

[Maebius]

I've always thought that companies producing motherboards, have way too many variations out there, with minuscule differences between them.
Just a quick look at ASUS, they got 34(that's THIRTYFOUR) different AM5 socket motherboards to pick from.
That can't be good for the overall price creep either.

 

[bit_user]

So few people have any sort of use for 10Gbps, I am not surprised at all that we ended up with intermediate speeds getting introduced to provide a more incremental upgrade path and 2.5Gbps only recently becoming mainstream.

I didn't say otherwise. However, 2.5 Gbps was even around in 2019, and yet it still looked like 10 Gbps was becoming the norm on server and workstation boards. I think some backsliding has happened, since.

2.5Gbps switches are 4-5X the price of 1Gbps stuff, not exactly cheap either. Routers with 2.5GbE cost $100+ extra vs nearest equivalent 1GbE models too. I am not in any sort of hurry to upgrade my LAN from 1GbE.

My comment was aimed specifically at @PlaneInTheSky blaming motherboard makers, without stopping to look at whether the 10GBase-T switches, themselves, were even affordable for him. AFAICT, this isn't just an issue with motherboards. For instance, this 5-port unmanaged switch is one of the cheapest I can find, and it's $300!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CYNHL4S/​

Even switches have been backsliding! Almost 3 years ago, I bought a Netgear MS510TX multi-gig switch for $225. That's been discontinued and the MS510TXM - a newer, better model - is now selling for $500! In fairness, the M is quite a bit better, as it has a total of 4x 10G-capable ports + 2x SFP+, whereas mine has only 1x 10G-capable + 1x SFP+. However, I also have 2x 5G-capable ports, and that's fast enough for my fileserver with a disk-based RAID.

 

[Dr3ams]

I upgrade when my hardware won't perform adequately while running the applications and games I own. Before my current hardware upgrade (see my signature), I was using a 4th generation Intel i5 and DDR3 RAM. I had been using that hardware for half a decade. After I purchase new storage, I won't upgrade for another 3-4 years...maybe longer.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and ASRock saw motherboard shipments drop by around 10 million in 2022, claims an IT industry journal.

Motherboard Shipments Plummet by Ten Million Units in 2022: Report : Read more

Imagine that...motherboard prices + ram more than double in price and people run away. I mean the b550 prices went from $80 to $150 without RAM. I still can't find a reasonable b550 itx that's below $150 and it's a dead end platform.

That was bad enough. But bare feature $200 mb are absurd.

 

[bit_user]

Nice graph.
But I couldn't find a SINGLE item that was "latest generation".

Hint: look at the quote I was responding to ("Look at DDR5. It's crap. ") and what I wrote below the graph.

The graph was merely to illustrate that DDR5 is not "crap". If I had found the same tests repeated for Raptor Lake, I'd have cited them instead. However, I think it's telling that even Alder Lake benefited so much from just the DDR5 that was available at launch.