Tuukka:

That is not so unexpected, because Intel makes new chipsets two times per year. And don't support either last or next gen. Could that be the problem ? On the hand AMD guarantees support atleast now for 2 years for same socket (3, but now it's 2018) 🙂 Also better New Year for everyone

From my experience even if AMD do so, and that you told them that it is possible, 80% of the people change the motherboard when updating their AMD rig ... the other 20% can build their PC themself and read Guru3D or other site. It's not the real problem: -Now you can do most of what you used to do with a PC on a 400 Euro's phone (with the line provider's reduction) you can even emulate real PC and play game from around 5 year ago on phone now, 5 year is far away... but not so, the usability and power of mobile rise expotentialy. They have eaten the Tablet market and now can eat even desktop. -Price of the DIY solution have risen while the price of the pre made PC stay flat... for a "normal PC" there is only 50 Euro more for the HP over a DIY solution, for a vanillia consumer they would chose HP for the support.

And don't forget about game consoles, they have multifunction now. Years ago they were just dumb video game players. Now they let you surf web, watch movies, etc.

Tuukka:

That is not so unexpected, because Intel makes new chipsets two times per year. And don't support either last or next gen. Could that be the problem ? On the hand AMD guarantees support atleast now for 2 years for same socket (3, but now it's 2018) 🙂 Also better New Year for everyone

rl66:

From my experience even if AMD do so, and that you told them that it is possible, 80% of the people change the motherboard when updating their AMD rig ... the other 20% can build their PC themself and read Guru3D or other site. It's not the real problem: -Now you can do most of what you used to do with a PC on a 400 Euro's phone (with the line provider's reduction) you can even emulate real PC and play game from around 5 year ago on phone now, 5 year is far away... but not so, the usability and power of mobile rise expotentialy. They have eaten the Tablet market and now can eat even desktop. -Price of the DIY solution have risen while the price of the pre made PC stay flat... for a "normal PC" there is only 50 Euro more for the HP over a DIY solution, for a vanillia consumer they would chose HP for the support.

Competition has been stagnant for years and Intel has brought nothing to the table to justify upgrading. Thanks to AMD and their Ryzen and Threadripper CPU's we have something new and Innovative. Problem is the games of today and years gone by are still playable on setups that are up to 5yrs old. So why does anyone need to upgrade or want to seeing that Intel would put out something 6mths to a year later that forced you to upgrade the motherboard again. The way I see it. 1. CPU's and GPU's are so powerful right now, who needs to upgrade 2. Intel has done nothing for innovation for years due to their monopoly. Thanks to AMD for bringing out something new and exciting. Unfortunately for AMD the motherboard manufacturers and re-sellers still push Intel down everyone's throat. 3. Game software is so inefficient, buggy and at times is ported over from consoles. We have CPU/GPU combinations that have power and features that are not even being utilized to the max, other than to run DRM. 4. Game consoles are becoming more and more powerful and functional. Though this could be an advantage for AMD as the 2 largest systems are built using their tech. 5. People think playing games on their Smartphone or tablet is enough. Hell my 5yr old is rocking a BB Playbook for gaming. What we need is a huge advancement on the software side, that starts to utilize the CPU and GPU to the max. So much processing power is being wasted running benchmarks and Prime95.

a PS4 pro is less than the cost of a decent GPU. Why buy a motherboard.

I'm a little surprised motherboard shipments were so bad in 2017, considering how many people bought new PCs, or at least wanted to. I think part of it had to do with OEMs being pessimistic about both Intel and AMD.

RedSquirrel:

a PS4 pro is less than the cost of a decent GPU. Why buy a motherboard.

??? Are you comparing low/medium preset graphics with very high/ultra ???

The insane memory prices aren't probably driving up mobo sales either. Not that the memory manufacturers would care since even if mobo sales went down 30%, the 100% price increase in memory would still be filling their pockets like there's no tomorrow.

schmidtbag:

I'm a little surprised motherboard shipments were so bad in 2017, considering how many people bought new PCs, or at least wanted to. I think part of it had to do with OEMs being pessimistic about both Intel and AMD.

It is not a good time to build new PC, with high RAM,NAND and GPU prices,people feel they are being ripped-off ,it doesn't matter what's the price of CPU+Mobo when you will pay through your nose for GPU+DDR4+m.2

NewTRUMP Order:

And don't forget about game consoles, they have multifunction now. Years ago they were just dumb video game players. Now they let you surf web, watch movies, etc.

Been building my own rigs since mid 90's. Believe I have built my last high-end rig. Use to dress'em up with liquid cooling and the works. I now have an Xbox 1X and PS4 Pro with XIM4 M/KB adaptor all plugged into a 28" 4K Monitor I bought for $299 at costco. My gaming experience/enjoyment is on par with my $3k plus gaming rig which is now only being used for video capture. I mostly play CoD and Battlefield. CoD is all but dead on PC and BF1 took a nosedive this year on PC. For the first time, I may not even buy the next Battlefield for PC and will get it for the consoles only. Also, if you have multiple gamers in your family, consoles are the cheapest easiest way to get everyone playing. Only thing that would bring me back is cross platform gameplay which we all know won't happen anytime soon. Not to mention, the form factor of the 1X is amazing. I have to give MS credit for building a great little gaming rig. Older I get, the more I appreciate the small size and simplicity of the 1X. CoD WWII looks really good on my monitor, really don't miss my Gaming PC at all. Really miss the golden years of PC gaming though. Looking forward to the PS5!

kruno:

It is not a good time to build new PC, with high RAM,NAND and GPU prices,people feel they are being ripped-off ,it doesn't matter what's the price of CPU+Mobo when you will pay through your nose for GPU+DDR4+m.2

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS! If I hadnt built my ryzen rig when I did, then I wouldnt be building one anytime soon. My ram has increased in price nearly $70 since end of September. I paid $151.99, now its $219.99 Far most I have ever spent on ram. If I hadnt already had the board, and cpu ordered, I never would have bought it.

warlord:

??? Are you comparing low/medium preset graphics with very high/ultra ???

On this point i agree, my GF had a PS4 pro but once i have made a "small" PC for her she play on the PC and have sold the PS4 Pro. The advantage of the PS4 Pro is that for 499Euro you have everything included... but if you add the PS online service, you nearly have the price of a PC and game are less expensive on PC.

Funny to read this news and compare it to what the RAM corporate is telling the press. I hope they get them to court for this and make them pay big time! As for me, I was ready to build a Threadripper until I saw the prices for the motherboard and RAM. I retired my 9 years old laptop (yes, an amazing Lenovo W700 that still has life inside) and bought a "junk" PC as they call it in Japan when talking about untested hardware for around 350 dollars. An absolute monster (Thermaltake Level 10 GT filled with awesome goodies) that should last me another good 3 years or so. By the way, Happy New Year!

Agonist:

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS! If I hadnt built my ryzen rig when I did, then I wouldnt be building one anytime soon. My ram has increased in price nearly $70 since end of September. I paid $151.99, now its $219.99 Far most I have ever spent on ram. If I hadnt already had the board, and cpu ordered, I never would have bought it.

I know what you mean. Some time in November I checked RAM prices for my Gaming laptop and they wanted over $170-180 bucks for a stick of 16GB DDR4 2400 which is freaking ridiculous.

Wonder why? 😡 whats the point in buying one if you cannot afford the memory or vga card?

I bet a lot of people didn't and won't upgrade cause of getting no real benefits from a newer CPU, some probably even used their money on hardware that adds more than what current gen of motherboards/cpu/ram are able to provide.

Mineria:

I bet a lot of people didn't and won't upgrade cause of getting no real benefits from a newer CPU, some probably even used their money on hardware that adds more than what current gen of motherboards/cpu/ram are able to provide.

Exactly there are still people out there with Dual and Quadcore based PCs out there even though AMD and Intel have mainstream CPUs that are 6 and even 8 core. And Quadcore CPUs are still going to be good for a few more years to come.

This isn't really a surprise. 2017 was a good year for mobo makers, with both Intel and AMD releasing new CPUs that required new boards. AMD customers, in particular, won't be needing a mobo upgrade for a while - I expect to use my X370 board for years to come.

A Crosshair VI Gene is an instant buy for me. For some reason they just can't come up with a MicroATX AM4 with SLI and proper custom liquid cooling control.

D3M1G0D:

This isn't really a surprise. 2017 was a good year for mobo makers, with both Intel and AMD releasing new CPUs that required new boards. AMD customers, in particular, won't be needing a mobo upgrade for a while - I expect to use my X370 board for years to come.

Exactly even though my Intel CPU is from 2014 (Devils Canyon) It still runs anything that I throw at it. There maybe a game or two that will challenge it being Planet Coaster and Cities: Skylines I won't feel the need to upgrade for quite some time. Maybe another 2-3 years.