The cost of new generation ITX motherboards

JollyJamma · 7 Oct 2022 at 09:00

...makes me want to cry

More than double the price.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Asus ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming WIFI - Intel Z690 LGA 1700 DDR5 Mini-ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6H9-AS) = £399.98
1 x MSI MPG Z790I Edge WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 Mini ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-36X-MS) = £410.00
1 x Asus ROG Strix Z790-I Gaming WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 Mini ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JL-AS) = £484.99
1 x Asus ROG Strix X670E-I Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 Mini ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6J8-AS) = £449.99
1 x Gigabyte B660I AORUS PRO - Intel B660 DDR4 Mini-ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5AV-GI) = £209.98
1 x Asus ROG Strix B660-I Gaming WIFI - Intel Z690 DDR5 Mini-ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6HM-AS) = £260.00

Total: £2,226.64 (includes delivery: £11.70)

Emlyn_Dewar · 7 Oct 2022 at 12:03

As always, it's a simple solution. Make do with current setup and wait.

Deleted member 77746 · 8 Oct 2022 at 23:50

Gosh! These boards so expensive! Packs a power punch though but you going to need to sell a kidney and a leg for a full system.

Jay85 · 9 Oct 2022 at 11:25

Yup, my Asus Z690-i was just shy over £400... was it worth it? Not really, it's a lot of money for what it is but it does look pretty with its stacked M.2 slots and heatsinks.

The board is so dense with tech, its literally full of components packed into a very small package. That coupled with the price of DDR5 and also the cpu was close to 1k i think.

bagel · 17 Oct 2022 at 18:50

Yeah it's an especially bad time for sff builds. Been wanting to upgrade my 8700k but the motherboard prices are ridiculous. £200 only just about gets you a barebones budget spec asrock h670 board that is power limited to 150W, with the slightly more expensive z690 version giving you OC support but being otherwise identical. Might've been tempted to settle for the aorus b660i had it not been for their insane decision to only include 1 m.2 slot.

random_matt · 18 Oct 2022 at 15:38

I paid over £400 for the Z690i Unify, itx was always expensive. The B650i edge is under £300 I think.

Jay85 · 18 Oct 2022 at 18:07

bagel said:
Yeah it's an especially bad time for sff builds. Been wanting to upgrade my 8700k but the motherboard prices are ridiculous. £200 only just about gets you a barebones budget spec asrock h670 board that is power limited to 150W, with the slightly more expensive z690 version giving you OC support but being otherwise identical. Might've been tempted to settle for the aorus b660i had it not been for their insane decision to only include 1 m.2 slot.

It's one of those things where you're just gonna have to close your eyes and click buy and forget about it. Either that or look for a good second hand unit off them market but even then its hard to come by.

jrwagh333 · 19 Oct 2022 at 20:03

I paid £135 for my X570 ITX. These prices are a joke.

Deleted member 77746 · 19 Oct 2022 at 20:06

jrwagh333 said:
I paid £135 for my X570 ITX. These prices are a joke.

and the problem is, people will still buy them no matter what.

jrwagh333 · 19 Oct 2022 at 21:07

GaryTheSnail said:
and the problem is, people will still buy them no matter what.

Exactly this.

hyperst · 20 Oct 2022 at 02:16

I have always wondered for the last twenty years why are mother boards so cheap, lets be honest thats a lot of components on any board, we had it good for 2 decades lol

JollyJamma · 20 Oct 2022 at 08:37

hyperst said:
I have always wondered for the last twenty years why are mother boards so cheap, lets be honest thats a lot of components on any board, we had it good for 2 decades lol

Well I know that AMD wasn't taken as seriously by the 3rd party manufacturers as AM5 is.

Just look at how cheap B450 motherboards were. You could easily run a 5950X on them too. AM4 was a great success story for AMD so AM5 has more backing and manufacturers are taking it more seriously as they realise that AMD is back to winning ways.

I am an AMD fanboy at heart but I can't get behind the pricing and I know that they are just another company that will happily take your money.

The fact that Intel is now the value option is mind blowing. I would happily get a 13700F+ITX B660 motherboard if my 5700X died tomorrow.

Jay85 · 23 Oct 2022 at 10:03

hyperst said:
I have always wondered for the last twenty years why are mother boards so cheap, lets be honest thats a lot of components on any board, we had it good for 2 decades lol

Im not justifying the price but when you look at the Asus Strix Z690-i board with its multi stacked pcb for M.2 drives, its pretty mindblowing the amount of design that must have gone into that to get it work.

JollyJamma · 23 Oct 2022 at 14:56

Jay85 said:
Im not justifying the price but when you look at the Asus Strix Z690-i board with its multi stacked pcb for M.2 drives, its pretty mindblowing the amount of design that must have gone into that to get it work.

Yes but it's £400. It should do the dishes on top of being a motherboard at that price.

dave28 · 23 Oct 2022 at 15:03

i have complained before about mobos going up and up but people just say to get a cheaper model.

now everyone is seeing the effects, several hundred only gets you an ok mobo but before it would get you one of the best boards in the world

Jay85 · 24 Oct 2022 at 09:47

JollyJamma said:
Yes but it's £400. It should do the dishes on top of being a motherboard at that price.

Should also do sexual favours at that price too.

Jay85 · 24 Oct 2022 at 09:48

dave28 said:
i have complained before about mobos going up and up but people just say to get a cheaper model.

now everyone is seeing the effects, several hundred only gets you an ok mobo but before it would get you one of the best boards in the world

Feel like ITX is a dying market tbh, the lack of new releases for cases and companies like Louqe who in their prime were top dogs now going into liquidation speaks volumes as people get priced out of being able to build decent itx machines.

mid_gen · 17 Nov 2022 at 09:38

Jay85 said:
Feel like ITX is a dying market tbh, the lack of new releases for cases and companies like Louqe who in their prime were top dogs now going into liquidation speaks volumes as people get priced out of being able to build decent itx machines.

I would quite like an ITX build when I upgrade, but given GPU just keep getting larger every generation, they just don't seem to be practical any more unless you're not gaming seriously on it.

Jay85 · 17 Nov 2022 at 09:41

mid_gen said:
I would quite like an ITX build when I upgrade, but given GPU just keep getting larger every generation, they just don't seem to be practical any more unless you're not gaming seriously on it.

I wouldn't go for a top end halo card for a itx build anymore although im interested to see what the 7900xt and xtx will be like as that might be the card to go for if you wanted to stay with a very small itx build. It's not much bigger than the 6900xt would had no issues fitting into itx cases, even the smallest ones.

SpartaP · 21 Nov 2022 at 13:27

Yea definitely pricey boards now. I'd definitely wait nowadays if you're not desperate for an upgrade.