Early MSI and GIGABYTE Z490 Motherboard Listings Suggest Price Hikes of Up to 60% vs. Previous Gen

[Tsing]

Image: MSI



Ukrainian retailer ITbox has posted numerous Z490 motherboards from MSI and GIGABYTE for Intel’s upcoming 10th Gen processors, and while they’re nice to look at, their prices aren’t nearly as impressive. According to conversions by Tom’s Hardware, Intel fans could be paying up to 60 percent more for Comet Lake-S boards.



“In terms of pricing, Gigabyte’s motherboards show price hikes between 27.6% and 53%,” the site determined. “Unfortunately, ITbox doesn’t have Gigabyte’s complete Z390 portfolio so it wasn’t possible to compare all the models, especially the more luxurious models, such as the Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Xtreme or Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Xtreme WaterForce. For reference, the Z390 Aorus Xtreme WaterForce debuted at $900.”



As for MSI’s assortment, “ITbox’s prices...

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[Niner51]

I hope these prices come down to where they should be. It doesn't seem like they're going to be very popular, so they may be asking more.

 

[Riccochet]

I hope these prices come down to where they should be. It doesn't seem like they're going to be very popular, so they may be asking more.

Or the boards are requiring a lot more in terms of VRM, cooling, circuit power threshold in order to power these new CPU's.

 

[Dan_D]

Or the boards are requiring a lot more in terms of VRM, cooling, circuit power threshold in order to power these new CPU's.

I'd almost bet that this is what's going on. As you take Skylake variants above certain clocks and as you scale core count, power consumption shoots through the roof. 14nm is not terribly efficient. The 18 core and 36 thread Core i9 10980XE pulls an absurd amount of power. While a 10 core 20 thread Core i9 10900K wouldn't be nearly as bad, it may very well require more from VRM's than the designs seen on Z390 motherboards can easily handle. Keep in mind, the 10900X is broadly similar at a basic level and it's an HEDT part. The VRM's you see on X299 motherboards are considerably more expensive than what you get on Z390.

Plus, there is whatever else Intel does with the chipset and what guidelines it has from board manufacturers.