Production line MOB's

[IGBT]

..often wondered what the compromises are made on production line MOB's such as Dell VS aftermarket boards i.e Asus and other mfgr's. Are the individual components better on the aftemarket board? To maximize profits I suspect some serious quality compromises are made. Any thoughts or insight on production line MOB's VS aftermarket MOB's? and cost cutting compromises made on production line computers i.e.Dell.

 

[Aluvus]

The most serious compromises are usually in the basic feature set: fewer expansion slots, and often no AGP or PCI-Express x16 slots. Cutting out the high-speed slots means cheaper chipsets can be used. Having fewer total slots means fewer components soldered onto the board, cutting costs. The big OEMs also like to use smaller motherboards when they can (again, with fewer slots) because manufacturing costs are often lower. Since overclocking is generally not even a minor consideration, and support for future processors is not usually a big concern, they can cut a few more corners in the board design

And of course there are the expected advantages of buying large quantities. OEMs can command a good volume discount from motherboard makers (and other suppliers), and if they like can solicit bids from several suppliers.

 

[IGBT]

Originally posted by: Aluvus
The most serious compromises are usually in the basic feature set: fewer expansion slots, and often no AGP or PCI-Express x16 slots. Cutting out the high-speed slots means cheaper chipsets can be used. Having fewer total slots means fewer components soldered onto the board, cutting costs. The big OEMs also like to use smaller motherboards when they can (again, with fewer slots) because manufacturing costs are often lower. Since overclocking is generally not even a minor consideration, and support for future processors is not usually a big concern, they can cut a few more corners in the board design

And of course there are the expected advantages of buying large quantities. OEMs can command a good volume discount from motherboard makers (and other suppliers), and if they like can solicit bids from several suppliers.

..explains the sparsely populated undersized MOB's I've seen inside Dell and Compaq computers.

 

[tcsenter]

OEM mobos from Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq and the like are comparable in overall quality to any value-segment mainstream motherboard line-up from any motherboard manufacturer. Even many Gateway and HP motherboards came with AGP slots or are coming with available PCI Express slots.

They get huge discounts by being a direct manufacturing customer who buys very large quantities (100,000 units or more per SKU). Direct customer meaning no contract manufacturing or design services middleman, they have relationships directly with the in-house design, fab/foundry, SMC line, and assembly operations of the manufacturer. No retail packaging or in-box accessories saves a few bucks.

All the big OEMs have in-house design and manufacturing services departments who may do a lot of the design work and just send the Gerber/CAD files to the manufacturer. The OEM assumes a lot of the responsibility for things like reliability and compatibility testing, technical documentation, user manuals, regulatory testing and compliance documentation, product suitability/marketing fitness, and all of the burden of warrantying the product, assuming the manufacturer delivers a product that meets the OEM's specifications.

IOW, if you purchase a couple million motherboards annually, you too can get them CHEAP! e.g.

This discounter/distributor is selling new OEM/BULK MSI K8N Neo4 nForce4 Ultra Socket 939 ATX boards for hugely less than the retail version of the same model sells for in the channel:

$39.00 for 20+ units (OEM/BULK for Fujitsu-Siemens)

$75.00 shipped (retail boxed)

$68.00 plus shipping (retail boxed)

If a discount distributor is selling these for around $39 each, how much less do you think they purchased them for, considering they have their own expenses and profit margin to clear? And how much less did Fujitsu pay for them?

 

[IGBT]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
OEM mobos from Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq and the like are comparable in overall quality to any value-segment mainstream motherboard line-up from any motherboard manufacturer. Even many Gateway and HP motherboards came with AGP slots or are coming with available PCI Express slots.

They get huge discounts by being a direct manufacturing customer who buys very large quantities (100,000 units or more per SKU). Direct customer meaning no contract manufacturing or design services middleman, they have relationships directly with the in-house design, fab/foundry, SMC line, and assembly operations of the manufacturer. No retail packaging or in-box accessories saves a few bucks.

All the big OEMs have in-house design and manufacturing services departments who may do a lot of the design work and just send the Gerber/CAD files to the manufacturer. The OEM assumes a lot of the responsibility for things like reliability and compatibility testing, technical documentation, user manuals, regulatory testing and compliance documentation, product suitability/marketing fitness, and all of the burden of warrantying the product, assuming the manufacturer delivers a product that meets the OEM's specifications.

IOW, if you purchase a couple million motherboards annually, you too can get them CHEAP! e.g.

This discounter/distributor is selling new OEM/BULK MSI K8N Neo4 nForce4 Ultra Socket 939 ATX boards for hugely less than the retail version of the same model sells for in the channel:

$39.00 for 20+ units (OEM/BULK for Fujitsu-Siemens)

$75.00 shipped (retail boxed)

$68.00 plus shipping (retail boxed)

If a discount distributor is selling these for around $39 each, how much less do you think they purchased them for, considering they have their own expenses and profit margin to clear? And how much less did Fujitsu pay for them?

..great info. gives me a good idea how much dell and others make per unit sale.