£300 Motherboard a Scam?

[Peeratat]

Hey everyone,

I recently had a bit of a shocker with my computer's motherboard. Not knowing much about computers, I trusted a repair guy's suggestion and ended up with the ASRock Taichi Z690 motherboard installed. It was only after everything was set up that I took a peek at the price.

I'm genuinely curious and, frankly, a bit baffled - why is this motherboard so pricey? What makes the ASRock Taichi Z690 stand out compared to others, like my original MPG Z490, to justify such a cost?

Is it the performance, durability, or some cutting-edge technology that I'm not aware of? If anyone can shed some light on what exactly I'm getting for this price, I'd really appreciate it. It's a bit late for buyer's remorse, but understanding might ease the sting a bit.

Thanks in advance.

[Peeratat]

Also when it first came out I’m pretty sure it was £500

[Bing Chilling]

looking on amazon, thats how much z690 boards are for some reason
intel's overclocking motherboards (z series) are more expensive then prior generations have ever been. not sure why, they just are.

probably because people will buy them anyways if going intel with a k series cpu

it's one of the main reasons, i will be buying amd when i decide to finally upgrade my i5 8600k

[Zukabazuka]

You don't need to spend huge amount of money for motherboards. You can find motherboards for that socket 1700 under 100$. The huge price is most likely due to PCIe 5 and DDR5 support. Both being very new and expensive.

[Bing Chilling]

Zukabazuka a écrit :

You don't need to spend huge amount of money for motherboards. You can find motherboards for that socket 1700 under 100$. The huge price is most likely due to PCIe 5 and DDR5 support. Both being very new and expensive.

this is true but since he was recommended a z-series motherboard i would assume he
had a K chip. and those are around 250-300$.

you wouldn't want a H/B series motherboard for any k series.
wouldn't be able to overclock

[Peeratat]

It was a 13900k at the time. So the only reason it’s that expensive is due to the ‘new factor’ ?

[lsdninja]

Motherboard pricing has been screwy since AMD released X570, but there’s still decent value to be had.

[Peeratat]

The guy said it will be future proof and he also mentioned DDR5 support. But DDR5 back then was also crazy expensive.

[Peeratat]

The thing is the price still hasn’t gone down so it cant just be a “new factor”

[Bing Chilling]

Peeratat a écrit :

It was a 13900k at the time. So the only reason it’s that expensive is due to the ‘new factor’ ?

when you bought it, the i9 13900k was the best on that socket, so as a percentage of money spend on the build it could make sense to buy the ASROCK Z690 Taichi at what you paid

there's no good reason it's still that expensive now, but most likely due to it's themeing
and RGB, it's arguably one of the best looking motherboards ive seen

[Bing Chilling]

it's kinda a bonus for you if you think about it
that motherboard hasn't really lost any value.

[Sanctuary]

Peeratat a écrit :

Hey everyone,

I recently had a bit of a shocker with my computer's motherboard. Not knowing much about computers, I trusted a repair guy's suggestion and ended up with the ASRock Taichi Z690 motherboard installed. It was only after everything was set up that I took a peek at the price.

I'm genuinely curious and, frankly, a bit baffled - why is this motherboard so pricey? What makes the ASRock Taichi Z690 stand out compared to others, like my original MPG Z490, to justify such a cost?

Is it the performance, durability, or some cutting-edge technology that I'm not aware of? If anyone can shed some light on what exactly I'm getting for this price, I'd really appreciate it. It's a bit late for buyer's remorse, but understanding might ease the sting a bit.

Thanks in advance.

modern motherboards have more and more layers and more wires and manufacturing precision to keep up with high speed data transfer. also they have more power circuitry because modern CPUs need more power (notice how they have insane TDP, and some people argue that stock coolers aren't enough), especially top tier ones. that's why they become more expensive, and this trend will continue.

[Peeratat]

Bing Chilling a écrit :

Peeratat a écrit :

It was a 13900k at the time. So the only reason it’s that expensive is due to the ‘new factor’ ?

when you bought it, the i9 13900k was the best on that socket, so as a percentage of money spend on the build it could make sense to buy the ASROCK Z690 Taichi at what you paid

there's no good reason it's still that expensive now, but most likely due to it's themeing
and RGB, it's arguably one of the best looking motherboards ive seen

Theres RGB on the right hand side but the main one is blocked by the GPU anyways.

I guess theres no other explanation for the price tag… disappointing.

[Peeratat]

Bing Chilling a écrit :

looking on amazon, thats how much z690 boards are for some reason
intel's overclocking motherboards (z series) are more expensive then prior generations have ever been. not sure why, they just are.

probably because people will buy them anyways if going intel with a k series cpu

it's one of the main reasons, i will be buying amd when i decide to finally upgrade my i5 8600k

Also what do you mean by overclocking motherboards?

[Bing Chilling]

Peeratat a écrit :

Bing Chilling a écrit :

looking on amazon, thats how much z690 boards are for some reason
intel's overclocking motherboards (z series) are more expensive then prior generations have ever been. not sure why, they just are.

probably because people will buy them anyways if going intel with a k series cpu

it's one of the main reasons, i will be buying amd when i decide to finally upgrade my i5 8600k

Also what do you mean by overclocking motherboards?

only z series motherboards can overclock intel's K series cpu's
(such as your i9 13900k) and no, they do not come overclocked out of the box.

only reason to own a z series motherboard and a k series cpu is for overclocking
i'm guessing you are not overclocking at all.. and probably were up sold these parts
are they are more expensive.

basically if you aren't overclocking your CPU then the parts you are using are
extremely overkill. you can learn how to overclock cpu's on youtube if you'd like
just leave voltages alone until you have a basic idea.

great channel to learn from https://www.youtube.com/@GamersNexus

[hackintoshchap]

Motherboard prices have certainly increased in price due to a number of different factors.

DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen 5 have significantly more bandwidth that the motherboard traces must be able to cope with while preventing cross talk and other interference. These factors do genuinely add additional cost. PCIe4 and DDR4 motherboards are cheaper to produce.

You have 2.5GB ethernet and wifi which costmore to produce than previous 1GB featured motherboards used.

You have high end audio and sabre DAC built in, again , this is added cost over cheaper older versions

You now have very high speed USB and Thunderbolt 6 connectivity, which was previously often a very expensive option with an additional add on card required.

The VRM are built to accommodate the latest Intel chips which can consume exceptionally large amounts of power.

Genuine cost of components, manufacturing and shipping have all seen large price increases over the last few years.

Lastly both Nvidia and also AMD have used the same AIB companies that make their graphics cards the scapegoat for very tight margins at a time when they both increased their margins. Some of this has certainly resulted in the same AIB companies deciding that they want/need/ should be increasing margins too.

So an extra 70 to 100 pounds in cost over a good Z490 is a lot. Many good boards can still be had for perhaps 30 - 50 less, but they probably lose the Thunderbolt and better audio at least.

This board, really does have fantastic specification:
https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z690%20Taichi/

The shock to the change in pricing is understandable, but have a look at Scan, Ebuyer, Overclockers UK, CCL and Currys for Z690 and z790 pricing. You WILL have your eyes opened for sure. :(