Lengthy Pre-Production

[Dylan Odjidja]

My desktop PC has been in pre-production for nearly two weeks even though it is said that pre-production is usually less than a week.

 

[NoddyPirate]

Here's the latest info on their website:

Less than a week is under normal circumstances - that hasn't been the case for a very long time. Check your order to see what build time was quoted when you placed it also. It should one of the very last lines on the order....

 

[VirtualDevil]

Certain stock levels are scarce right now due to the pandemic etc so your wait time is going to be heavily dependant on your build.

For example, if you have a 3080 you're looking at 80-100 days (judging by the 3080 wait thread).

3060 TI as another example are restocking in June with no guarantee you'd make the cut for that restock so again, it's another 40+ days lead time.

I'd sit tight either way, you'll be elated when it finally arrives.

 

[Citrus_9]

My desktop PC has been in pre-production for nearly two weeks even though it is said that pre-production is usually less than a week.

Unfortunately, two weeks isn't realistic these days 😕 what CPU, motherboard, PSU and GPU you've picked? Estimates slightly differ based on the specs as some parts are in higher demand or lower supply which extends the waiting.

I'm still waiting from November... haven't ordered yet! 🤣 You may ask what I'm waiting for... 😅 Well, firstly, I was waiting for 5600X, then for 3060, now for 3050Ti. From 1800 budget I now desire 5800X with 3060 or 3050Ti or maybe even will get a new 1440p monitor and match a GPU... Basically, waiting is the new normal in regards to PC purchases and I don't think a supply will catch up any soon.

 

[gohan2091]

Unfortunately, two weeks isn't realistic these days 😕 what CPU, motherboard, PSU and GPU you've picked? Estimates slightly differ based on the specs as some parts are in higher demand or lower supply which extends the waiting.

I'm still waiting from November... haven't ordered yet! 🤣 You may ask what I'm waiting for... 😅 Well, firstly, I was waiting for 5600X, then for 3060, now for 3050Ti. From 1800 budget I now desire 5800X with 3060 or 3050Ti or maybe even will get a new 1440p monitor and match a GPU... Basically, waiting is the new normal in regards to PC purchases and I don't think a supply will catch up any soon.

3050ti? Is that a typo?

 

[Citrus_9]

3050ti? Is that a typo?

Nope. It's not released yet... 3050 and 3050Ti are due this year, hopefully within a few months. I don't think 3050 will be any good for PC if it will be only 4GB VRAM, but looking to see a price of 3050Ti for 1080p. I think it should be 6GB and somewhere around 250USD MSRP so probably 350-450 here in Europe.

 

[gohan2091]

Nope. It's not release yet... 3050 and 3050Ti are due this year, hopefully within a few months. I don't think 3050 will be any good for PC if it will be only 4GB VRAM, but looking to see a price of 3050Ti for 1080p. I think it should be 6GB and somewhere around 250USD MSRP so probably 350-450 here in Europe.

Ah OK. I heard the 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti are coming also within a few months. Didn't know about the 3050.

 

[StephenSherwin902]

preproduction 37 days - ordered 51 days ago - 5800X RT6800XT - all in stock when i ordered!

 

[ubuysa]

preproduction 37 days - ordered 51 days ago - 5800X RT6800XT - all in stock when i ordered!

As I pointed out to you just now in another thread, that's the key information. When you ordered all the parts were in stock, but since then people ahead of you in the build queue have used up the stock of some of those parts so that unfortunately you now have to wait for another delivery.

Just because parts are in stock at the time of your order doesn't mean they will still be in stock when you get into build. PCS don't set aside and reserve parts for you at the time of order. People ahead of you in the build queue must of course take priority for parts in stock when their orders are being built.

Since PCS have no idea when they'll get deliveries of parts in the current situation, nor how many of each part they will actually get, there is no way that they can reliably forecast at the time you order whether all your parts will still be in stock at build time. That's just the way things are with some parts in such short supply worldwide.

 

[StephenSherwin902]

my build was £3000 where else do you pay the full price for something up front and have to wait for 1,2,5, 10 months waiting for an alignment of factors for the supplier to be able to fulfill the order - feel its misleading to say - yes parts are in stock - then somebody in front of you can take your part because they decide to change their specification. i would not have ordered if i had been aware of this at the time of the order. Under these conditions a 10 % deposit and final payment at build stage would seem more appropriate. i phoned to enquire 2 weeks ago and was told my order had been "printed" whatever that means!

 

[Citrus_9]

my build was £3000 where else do you pay the full price for something up front and have to wait for 1,2,5, 10 months waiting for an alignment of factors for the supplier to be able to fulfill the order - feel its misleading to say - yes parts are in stock - then somebody in front of you can take your part because they decide to change their specification. i would not have ordered if i had been aware of this at the time of the order. Under these conditions a 10 % deposit and final payment at build stage would seem more appropriate. i phoned to enquire 2 weeks ago and was told my order had been "printed" whatever that means!

The majority of foundries drastically reduced their production at the start of the pandemic, as orders for silicon wafers plummeted. This had knock-on effects for wafer probe, packaging, final test, and distribution.

Wafer probe is when the silicon die is powered up and given an initial check to make sure it works, before its put into its package.
Packaging is where the silicon is placed into the LGA, BGA, lead-frame etc. package. For example, its the PCB, pads/pins and metal top of a CPU.

Final test (also called ATE) is where the fully assembled/packaged devices are checked again before putting the devices into trays for shipment to distributors.

All of the above are done in different locations. For example, silicon might come from TSMC in Taiwan, get sent for wafer probe in Singapore, get packaged in South Korea, go for final test in Singapore again, and then get shipped to distributors.

Reducing silicon production had a major impact at all of those sites. Restarting/ramping up to full production takes a lot of time, as each of the above are all impacted. There is also a huge backlog of orders. You might have heard of the EU stepping in to secure automotive device production.

It's not just the GPU silicon itself which is delayed, but all of the other smaller IC's on the PCB, for power management, clock generation etc. which can be common across all sorts of electronic devices.

Crypto may well be eating into the demand for graphics cards, but so are the millions of people stuck inside at the moment looking for something to keep themselves occupied with until lockdowns eventually end. Under normal circumstances, EVGA, MSI, ASUS etc. would just order more parts, sell more to meet demand, and make more money. This isn't an option at the moment.

Whilst PC hardware seems to be hardest to find at the moment, it certainly isn't the only thing effected. There are significant delays in industrial and automotive products at the moment. You also see this with the new consoles being difficult to find anywhere. In any previous generation, by February, you could walk into any shop and get them easily.

Don't forget transport. Global supply chains have piggybacked off passenger air transport for decades to maintain cost levels. That's one of the main reasons delivery time frames went haywire at the beginning of the pandemic and while it's better managed now, it is still extremely constrained. If you are shipping silicon between 4 countries, and there is a multi week delay at one or more points, then your production capacity suffers.

 

[SpyderTracks]

my build was £3000 where else do you pay the full price for something up front and have to wait for 1,2,5, 10 months waiting for an alignment of factors for the supplier to be able to fulfill the order - feel its misleading to say - yes parts are in stock - then somebody in front of you can take your part because they decide to change their specification. i would not have ordered if i had been aware of this at the time of the order. Under these conditions a 10 % deposit and final payment at build stage would seem more appropriate. i phoned to enquire 2 weeks ago and was told my order had been "printed" whatever that means!

This is kind of entirely missing what you're ordering, it's a custom PC that's built to order. How do you think they order all your parts without you paying up front for them?