Motherboard Makers Scramble to Avoid Component Shortage
Motherboard Makers Scramble to Avoid Component Shortage
Posted 03/12/2010 at 8:00am
| by Paul Lilly
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Citing sources from motherboard makers, news and rumor site DigiTimes says there's a shortage of mobo components, including multilayered ceramic chips (MLCCs), solid capacitors, LAN connectors, and other odds and ends. The reason, sources say, is because of recent labor shortages.
In response to the shortages, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and ECS have all begun "aggressively placing orders" in an attempt to avoid having the component shortages affect overall shipments.
The good news is that the labor situation is expected to improve after April, by which time the mobo market will have entered the slow season. The tight supply of components will also improve, but component makers fear that their performance will be affected in the second quarter as top-tier mobo makers halt any new orders to avoid a surplus in inventory.
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Athlonite
March 12, 2010 at 8:39pm
WOW that takes me back a few yrs where i'd get 2 or 3 mobo's come in with shot caps leakin and bulged it's only a ten minute job to fix but i love the new Japanese solid caps note if it's not a jap solid cap it's not worth it
Play till it breaks then learn how to fix it!
Baer
March 12, 2010 at 12:03pm
It is even worse than ever. Components can only take so much heat. Cheap capacitors have little tolerance for higher heat and with the E U's lead free solder (RoHS) law (engineering done by lawyers and politicians) wave soldering temperatures have to be on average 20 degrees to 30 degrees Centigrade higher. Caps that used to last three to four years now last a year or two. Add to that the counterfeit part issue and the dendritic wisker issue with high tin content solder and there you have it.I would only buy a Mobo that has non Chinese made solid state Caps or else resign yourself to having a high possibility of replacing them or the Mobo in a year or two. Even then the quality is not what it was before 2006.
Keith E. Whisman
March 12, 2010 at 10:54am
Damn those capacitors suck big time. I had a friend that brought me an Abit mobo with ever single soft can style capacitor bulged and leaking like that and he wanted me to replace them all. I talked him into sending it back to Abit and purchasing an Asus mobo in the future.
linkmaster6
March 12, 2010 at 10:07am
I have to say I've had my fill but I solder new caps on motherboards quiet often
JimmerSD
March 12, 2010 at 8:39am
..a photo that is an example of defective caps. Notice how the components are domed and oozing electrolite. Curious.
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