Of industry, pricing, loss, and media interference

[danrok]

I read it 6 times, thinking I must be missing something! LOL

[Daniel ~]

Well that's the problem we're having, you read it once to many times! ":O}

[danrok]

If were talking $100,000, then it sounds possible - from a financial point of view. Just a matter of finding a good rake of small investors. 100 enthusiasts willing to put in $1000 to become a share holder. If the venture is successful they get a board at no cost, plus a share in any company profits. If the venture is unsuccessful they lose money.

Something along those lines has worked many times before.

[Daniel ~]

And failed many times before? ":O}

But I hear you Dan.

This looks like something we need to look at again when were better situated financially.

[danrok]

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

And failed many times before? ":O}

But I hear you Dan.

This looks like something we need to look at again when were better situated financially.

No idea as to what the chance of success would be here. Not too good from what Andy has said!

[cadaveca]

well, you make an "ultimate motherobard" for any given chipset, and it should sell itself. Would take some clever marketing too.

Just ask DFI.

[dsio]

Talking of board customizations, the trick would be to get someone that knows there stuff --> Andy, to take a stock board, and make 3-4 sets of modifications that will improve an aspect of the board.

You then host the method of doing it here, and sell pre-packed bags of the components required for each modification as a do-it-yourself kit at a slight profit.

[cadaveca]

overclocking might get serious then.

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by dsio

Talking of board customizations, the trick would be to get someone that knows there stuff --> Andy, to take a stock board, and make 3-4 sets of modifications that will improve an aspect of the board.

You then host the method of doing it here, and sell pre-packed bags of the components required for each modification as a do-it-yourself kit at a slight profit.

Again a nice break down of our options... but not necessarily easy of accomplishment.... still if the right people are interested in doing this we might be able to do quite well(?)

[wild_andy_c]

Take the figure of 100,000 USD and multiply it.

If you asked a mainboard manufacturer to make a board for you to your own spec you would probably have to have 3 - 5K made.

BOM for the ultimate motherboard would be about $250, and manufacturing costs about $10. Add to that the necessary R & D undertaking to get it all working correctly - its a tall order. Would you sell 5000 mainboards at $325 each ?

[Daniel ~]

If we averaged over the next 20 years....maybe....":O}

[Rondog]

At the risk of sounding ignorant. Between Gizmo, Andy, Danrok, Dave, Daniel, and dsio. Do we possess all the knowledge required to either mod a board, or build a board?

If we do, it seems the only thing we are lacking is money.

[Daniel ~]

Yeah, but money IS a pretty big bump in our road! ":O}

[wild_andy_c]

Originally Posted by Rondog

At the risk of sounding ignorant. Between Gizmo, Andy, Danrok, Dave, Daniel, and dsio. Do we possess all the knowledge required to either mod a board, or build a board?

If we do, it seems the only thing we are lacking is money.

Most of one I could yes!!

[Áedán]

Originally Posted by dsio

You then host the method of doing it here, and sell pre-packed bags of the components required for each modification as a do-it-yourself kit at a slight profit.

Who does the support for all the people who a)didn't take static precautions; b) are too clueless to wield a soldering iron; or c) otherwise screw something up.

[Daniel ~]

Yeah, we just might hurt our popularity there.":O}

[GOAgola]

Originally Posted by danrok

Very good article!

I think we, the consumer, are to blame to some extent. We always want these types of goods to be cheaper. China meets that demand with shoddy goods. Then we moan when the item packs up 1 day after the guarantee expires!

Greetings to you all good people from Nairobi, Kenya. I chanced upon this forum as I trawled the WWW looking for help with Epox 4PCA3+ (yes wild_andy_c !) that went belly up a year or so back, courtesy of the now famous bad caps.

The board was acquired in either in Germay or Austria by a globetrotting friend, for use in a Video Editing box I was putting together in Nairobi, for my other hobby. It worked beautifully and quite reliably, for the while it did, and I miss it sorely.

Being in Africa, and generally off-line due to internet costs, I had no idea whatsoever that the problem was bad capacitors, my traveller friend could not locate the vendor, so I gave it all up. Much later (in the last six monts or so) I have limited access to the internet, and I have found out not only that the 4PCA3+ has bad capacitors, and that it is way, way out of warranty, but also that EPoX is no more...

I rate myself as an enthusiast, not an (intentional) overclocker, but I really do push my hardware hard, and prefer my hardware as highly specified as my money (and life's savings) will go. I saved up and waited quite a bit for the EPoX board, and the three other high-end (by local Kenyan Standards) that I have put together so far.

Sadly the the "Celeron" mentality has completely taken over here, and I suffer through putting together dead-end (upgrade-wise) Celeron powered beige boxes for friends and relatives (and lots of businesses too)who want to jump onto the PC-owning bandwagon.

On the other hand all my workstations have boards, parts and PSU's that are bought elsewhere on my behalf by travelling friend. I tend to get to afford the tail-end of the higher specs, which are in most cases almost out of waranty by the time I get my hands on them. Other than the 4PCA3+ and and P3 MSI board (also bad capacitors!) I have not suffered any downtime as a result of hardware failere.

The Celeron beige boxes however sustain a plethora of "computer repair" firms in Nairobi and elsewhere in Kenya, which invariably involve replacing the whole motherboard and then some.

Having read wild_andy_c's piece, I am that much more appreciative of the dynamics of the motherboard manufacturing scene (and a lot less mad at EPoX for denying me the use of an otherwise superb RAID mobo, I guess)

Recently one of the many beige box pushers in Nairobi surprised me when he showed me two relatively high spec boards ("the special ones you keep asking for", he said) MSI 945PNeo3 F. For each of he wanted Kshs 14,000 ($200 approx) one month waranty, no subsequent support. I offered him exactly half of that, and clearly offended, he mumbled something unkind about "people who keep asking for things they cannot afford..."

If it comes to pass that MSI also goes bust, I will probably feel some degree of culpability, on account of not having snapped up those two fine SATA mobos for an arm and a leg, when they were available locally...

Regards to you all, and I look forward to reading more from you all in these pages

GOAgola,
Nairobi, Kenya

[Favu]

Welcome to the forums GOAgola!

[danrok]

Fortunately, faulty capacitors can be replaced. We have a guide for this here:
http://www.aoaforums.com/frontpage/content/view/441/25/

Perhaps, you've already done this?