Asus and Gigabyte predict motherboard gross sales will fall 25% this yr as GPU bundles lose attraction

In a nutshell: Graphics card costs and availability lastly returning to (considerably) regular ranges is good news for customers, however motherboard producers are unlikely to be as happy. Asus and Gigabyte, who mixed make up 70% of the mobo market, have warned that they anticipate gross sales to fall by round 25% in comparison with final yr. And it appears a lot of the decline is because of individuals not needing to purchase a brand new motherboard simply to get the bundled GPU.

According to DigiTimes (by way of Tom’s Hardware), Taiwan PC business sources say the 2 huge motherboard—and different {hardware}—makers expect the market to shrink by round 1 / 4 this yr in comparison with 2021. It’s a prediction already seen within the Q2 2022 cargo figures, which skilled a larger-than-expected discount.

Two elements are being blamed for the shrinking motherboard gross sales volumes: cooling demand within the Chinese DIY market and the tip of GPU/mobo bundles.

We all recall the peak of the graphics card disaster when GPUs have been in such quick provide that, within the case of Ampere, they have been priced thrice greater than MSRP. It led to determined avid gamers shopping for different objects, together with pre-built PCs, simply to get their graphics playing cards. Purchasing a motherboard with a bundled card was additionally a preferred different.

But as proven in our analysis, some Nvidia graphics playing cards at the moment are below MSRP for the primary time since Ampere’s launch—EVGA is even shuttering its digital queue system—partly as a result of crashing cryptocurrency costs making mining unprofitable. As such, motherboard makers can not make the most of the scenario by bundling GPUs with their mobos.

Interestingly, DigiTimes’ sources say that the launch of AMD’s AM5 and Intel’s 700-series motherboards is unlikely to offer the market a substantial increase. They consider another situations—easing inflation, the tip of the Russia-Ukraine struggle, one other cryptomining increase—may ship motherboard gross sales skyrocketing once more.