Newegg Canada Jumps the Gun on Z690 Motherboard Sales

[TheLostSwede]

If you act quickly and live in Canada, you might be able to score an MSI Pro Z690-A DDR4 motherboard from Newegg Canada, as they currently have the board listed for sale. This gives us an official price for the MSI board, which also gives us a rough indication of what to expect in terms of a price bump over the Z590 boards.

Newegg Canada has the board listed for C$279.99 (US$227), which should be compared to the MSI Z590-A Pro, which is listed at C$234.99, or a price premium of C$45 or US$37. Considering that the boards are almost identical in terms of features as per our earlier look at the leaked image of the board, bar an extra M.2 slot and an additional PCIe x16 slot, it seems like we can expect a fairly steep price hike across the board (no pun intended) when it comes to Z690 motherboards, as these physical connectors are worth the additional hike in price.

Update: It would appear that Newegg has realised their mistake and the board is no longer listed for sale.



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[Nanochip]

37 dollars is steep?

 

[TheLostSwede]

37 dollars is steep?

For virtually zero differences, yes.
The parts that have changed have a total cost of maybe $5 to MSI, which the end user ends up paying $37 for.
Keep in mind that this is an entry level model, so higher-end models are likely to see $100 price hikes, if not more.

 

[Nanochip]

For virtually zero differences, yes.

More dmi lanes, pcie5.0, extra m.2, probably more in shipping costs I can see why prices increased. I don’t think $37 is “steep” compared to current 3080 prices over 2080 prices. That is “steep” in my view. Finally, the current pre-announcement Newegg price may not even be the final price.

 

[sepheronx]

If I didn't buy a MSI trident x for its 3080, I would have kept older rig and bought this.

Too bad.

 

[TheLostSwede]

More dmi lanes, pcie5.0, extra m.2, probably more in shipping costs I can see why prices increased. I don’t think $37 is “steep” compared to current 3080 prices over 2080 prices. That is “steep” in my view. Finally, the current pre-announcement Newegg price may not even be the final price.

Which are all part of the chipset. Obviously we don't know how much more Intel charges for the Z690 over the Z590, but I doubt it's $30.
It is steep when it's an entry level board, i.e. MSI doesn't have any retail SKUs below it.
Also, motherboards ≠ graphics cards.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Which are all part of the chipset. Obviously we don't know how much more Intel charges for the Z690 over the Z590, but I doubt it's $30.
It is steep when it's an entry level board, i.e. MSI doesn't have any retail SKUs below it.
Also, motherboards ≠ graphics cards.

Doesn't really matter if this is an msi or intel thing 230 usd for an entry level board without DDR5 support is terrible regardless. Especially considering AL chips likely won't overclock well making the Z series boards in the low range pointless anyways.

Either way I'm looking forward to VRM testing with an overclocked 12900k should be fun.

 

[bug]

A 15% price hike significant, but, in context, it's almost a pleasant surprise. The extra M.2 slot is a nice addition, too. I was really wondering whether someone would break the 3 slots barrier.

If there's something to criticize, it's that, once again, H and B chipsets are not released together with Z, forcing early adopters into forking out for the high-end

 

[Chaitanya]

For virtually zero differences, yes.
The parts that have changed have a total cost of maybe $5 to MSI, which the end user ends up paying $37 for.
Keep in mind that this is an entry level model, so higher-end models are likely to see $100 price hikes, if not more.

It's not just component prices that have gone up, tariffs and shipping prices all have gone up.

 

[R0H1T]

forcing early adopters into forking out for the high-end

It's a feature, not a bug

 

[TheLostSwede]

It's not just component prices that have gone up, tariffs and shipping prices all have gone up.

Well, that might be, but I compared with the current retail price of the same model with the Z590 from the same retailer, so this clearly has nothing to do with tariffs or shipping.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Well, that might be, but I compared with the current retail price of the same model with the Z590 from the same retailer, so this clearly has nothing to do with tariffs or shipping.

Z590 was already poorly priced to begin with..... At this point I am a little worried with Z790/890 and X670 is gonna look like because that is likely when I will upgrade. The Asus Hero and Aorus Master gonna be 600+ by then

 

[Slizzo]

Well, that might be, but I compared with the current retail price of the same model with the Z590 from the same retailer, so this clearly has nothing to do with tariffs or shipping.

There's already ample stock of Z590 out there, as it wasn't the only chipset that supported Rocket Lake.

Z690 will be the only thing that supports Alder Lake. It will go the way that current video cards have, IMO. As components are still in tight supply, and that will affect motherboards, along with everything else electronics based.

 

[bug]

Which are all part of the chipset. Obviously we don't know how much more Intel charges for the Z690 over the Z590, but I doubt it's $30.
It is steep when it's an entry level board, i.e. MSI doesn't have any retail SKUs below it.
Also, motherboards ≠ graphics cards.

Do you happen to know whether the motherboards themselves are identical? I'm thinking traces for more stuff often requires extra PCB layers, which also reflects in the price.

That said:

• With a street price of around $200 this is pretty much the most expensive nForce 4 motherboard. But having the best of the best is never cheap...

DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR Expert Review

When I first heard that DFI is coming up with a new "Expert" version of this board, I was wondering if they could really improve things so much that it warrants a new product. Yes they did! There are a lot of improvements compared to the older LanParty NF4 series. For example you can finally run...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[zlobby]

So, is that an editorial, sponsored content or something else?

 

[TheLostSwede]

There's already ample stock of Z590 out there, as it wasn't the only chipset that supported Rocket Lake.

Z690 will be the only thing that supports Alder Lake. It will go the way that current video cards have, IMO. As components are still in tight supply, and that will affect motherboards, along with everything else electronics based.

Possibly, but it's not as if there's unlimited stock of Z590 boards in some warehouse in the US though, right? As such, anything that has been made in the past year ought to have gone up in price, just based on the extra shipping costs alone, or?

Do you happen to know whether the motherboards themselves are identical? I'm thinking traces for more stuff often requires extra PCB layers, which also reflects in the price.

No, that would obviously be impossible, since Z590 and Z690 are not pin-to-pin compatible, but the boards are obviously very very similar.
There doesn't seem to have been an increase in layers for the cheaper boards, as this didn't happen on X570 boards, so I doubt it would happen for Z690.

So, is that an editorial, sponsored content or something else?

It's a story about Newegg Canada, because they slipped up and started selling a Z690 board ahead of the launch.
You know, like what most tech sites would write up, because it's related to the kind of content we cover.
If you have a problem with it, take it up with management.

 

[Deleted member 202104]

Newegg Canada: Beauty, Eh?

Intel: Take off you hosers!

Unfortunately, it's just a fact now that everything is just going to cost more. I don't like it, you don't like it, but it's just the way it is.

The constant online bitch-fest isn't going to change anything.

 

[sepheronx]

Newegg Canada: Beauty, Eh?

Intel: Take off you hosers!

Unfortunately, it's just a fact now that everything is just going to cost more. I don't like it, you don't like it, but it's just the way it is.

The constant online bitch-fest isn't going to change anything.

you are right. Doesn't help people are willing to pay so they are more than happy to charge.

 

[zlobby]

If you have a problem with it, take it up with management.

It is a genuine question. It's hard to convey a tone with only a written text and I usually don't even try to.

Was is clearly marked however, I wouldn't have asked in a first place.

 

[TheLostSwede]

It is a genuine question. It's hard to convey a tone with only a written text and I usually don't even try to.

Was is clearly marked however, I wouldn't have asked in a first place.

Fair enough, but no, not a paid ad by Newegg.

 

[Chrispy_]

Oooof.

Gullible early-adopter tax in full force here; $227 for a board with the bare minimum of extras, not even an integrated IO. The Z490 A-Pro launched at $159 MSRP for comparison.

Perhaps the extra PCIe 4.0 chipset lanes make this more expensive, the same way that B550 was more expensive than B450 but realistically it's probably just greedy markup taking advantage of the current market situation because manufacturers and retailers alike know that anyone building a PC right now is either rich enough to buy a $1000 GPU, or is re-using an old GPU and therefore has spare budget because of that.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Oooof.

Gullible early-adopter tax in full force here; $227 for a board with the bare minimum of extras, not even an integrated IO. The Z490 A-Pro launched at $159 MSRP for comparison.

Perhaps the extra PCIe 4.0 chipset lanes make this more expensive, the same way that B550 was more expensive than B450 but realistically it's probably just greedy markup taking advantage of the current market situation because manufacturers and retailers alike know that anyone building a PC right now is either rich enough to buy a $1000 GPU, or is re-using an old GPU and therefore has spare budget because of that.

Well, they would've had to move to low noise PCB materials, but it turns out that it's not that much more expensive once you end up buying the materials in the quantities a motherboard maker does. It shouldn't add more than a $1 or so to the total board cost, if that. There doesn't appear to be too many signal redrivers either, I can only spot one, so that doesn't add much to the overall board cost either.
I'm not saying that there aren't some factors that are helping to drive up the price, but what worries me is how much the price is being driven up at the high-end, when their most basic model is up $37.

 

[RandallFlagg]

For virtually zero differences, yes.
The parts that have changed have a total cost of maybe $5 to MSI, which the end user ends up paying $37 for.
Keep in mind that this is an entry level model, so higher-end models are likely to see $100 price hikes, if not more.

If the board has a TPM 2.0 module included for Win 11 compatibility - which I tend to expect they will - then there's virtually no price difference.

 

[RedBear]

If the board has a TPM 2.0 module included for Win 11 compatibility - which I tend to expect they will - then there's virtually no price difference.

It seems to come with a TPM header just like the Z590 predecessor, it should be the "JTPM1" header on the lower right corner of the motherboard, but I doubt that there's a separate TPM 2.0 module; Windows 11 only needs the firmware based TPM 2.0, which I believe is included in the chipset (as "PTT", Intel Platform Trust Technology) since the Skylake era motherboards.

 

[Solid State Soul ( SSS )]

Dual 8 pins on an entry level Z board!
Imagine what overclocking boards would pack, lol