Are Power Supply Prices Going Up?
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If the latest report from Taiwanese news site DigiTimes proves correct, you may want to consider upgrading that aging power supply sooner rather than later. The reason? Taiwan-based PSU companies have either already hiked prices, or are planning to do so, DigiTimes says.
It's important to note here that most PSUs, regardless of branding, are manufactured overseas, so this could potentially affect PSUs in the U.S. According to DigiTimes, Taiwan produces about 80 percent of the worldwide power supplies used in notebooks, 50 percent of those used in PCs and LCD TVs, and nearly 50 percent of the PSUs in servers.
So is there reason to panic? Not likely. DigiTimes says prices are poised to rise by 10 percent, and this appears to be mostly related to system companies rather than the DIY community. Even still, it's worth keeping an eye on, especially if you're getting ready to upgrade your PSU or put together a new system.
Image Credit: techreport.com
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Metalmorphasis
May 07, 2010 at 12:53pm
Stay tuned..First its memory and now its power supplies, next month it will be hard drives, month after motherboards followed by monitors.
violian
May 07, 2010 at 10:35am
I never understood why PSU's are so expensive. They're super simple compared to a motherboard, yet in most cases, they cost as much or even more than the average motherboard.
Athlonite
May 08, 2010 at 7:45pm
tell me about it a sorta decent PSU here in NZ costs more than most mid range mobo's i sat down and ripped open a PSU cataloged the components and went about seeing how much it would cost, well blow me if i can get everything for a little over $10NZd so why does it cost me 200+ bucks for an 700W PSU.. Well thats simple the reason is without a PSU your new flash bang wizzamagig is just an expensive door stop without one so they have us over a barrel
Play till it breaks then learn how to fix it!
pizzadahutt
May 10, 2010 at 4:51am
I don't know about that. It must have been a cheap-o power supply.
A 450V, 330uf cap for the primary costs about $5 by itself, usually there are two of these. 10 or so 3300uf 16, 10, and 6.3v capacitors would be about $10 all together. Schottky diodes are about $1 for a 30A, 45V (typically about 6 of those,) part. PFC transistors are about $2.50 each, and there are usually 2 of those for PFC, and 2 for primary switchers. Bridge rectifiers are about $2 each. Extruded aluminum heatsinks are about $2 each, PCB is about $5. Not to mention each OEM usually makes their own coils and transformers, which would add up to about $15 each. Fan is about $2, cabling and connectors is about $15.
Thats about $70 for it, then there is also the designing and everything else that goes into it and of coarse you can't sell what you make for exactly how much it costs you, you have to turn a profit. So about $90 total for a OEM to make one, then they sell it to a company like Corsair or Thermaltake who put their name on it and sell it for a bit more.
If they are so simple, why not design one yourself? There's a reason electrical engineering is one of the most mathmatically demanding things you can do (I should know). A psu is a lot more than just one componenet connecting to another.
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