Computer Dealer News: Are systems being built to fail in chip power supply design?

Boards called into question by American vendor on tour

Shoddy design practices and reported incidents of cost-cutting measures by a number of motherboard makers could create a problem of "crisis proportions" for Pentium PC users, according to a Silicon Valley computer vendor.

Linear Technology Corp., a manufacturer of linear integrated circuits based in Miltipas, CA, made the charges following a tour of U.S., Japan and Taiwanese manufacturing plants. The tour was part of an information exchange on microprocessor power supply design technology.

Robert Dobkin, Linear's vice-president of engineering, said it became evident during the talks that a wide disparity in motherboard design and quality exists.

He said in a statement that while some manufacturers "adhere scrupulously" to Intel's power specifications others "blatantly" disregard it.

The latter, said Dobkin, will ultimately result in frequent crashes and data loss as PCs age, in some cases after only 12 months of operation.

"Marginal design and cost-cutting to save less than one-dollar in the power supply has spawned a generation of short-lived computers," he said.

"Sloppy power supply design on microprocessor boards is like playing Russian Roulette. Today's microprocessors are incredibly complex. Allowing the power supply to operate outside the manufacturer's recommended limits will cause system failures."

Dobkin added that the only way performance can be guaranteed is if a manufacturer adheres to the Intel specification.

"The reason this is not a front-page issue today is that most crashes are blamed on software and not on faulty motherboard design," he said. "The 'Intel inside' mark does nothing to ensure reliability of motherboards and power supplies not made by Intel."

Craig Varga was one of two Linear systems engineers who toured a number of plants in the Far East last fall.

The worst offenders were in Taiwan where 80 per cent of all motherboards are built.

"The vast majority of them were basically making no effort to meet the power requirement specs that Intel specifies in their processors," Varga said. "The basic answer was, 'Oh, to do that would be too expensive.' Well, too expensive is an additional cost of about half a dollar.

"The bottom line was that with a few exceptions everything we saw was marginal at best . . . . There are time bombs out there. I think there's a general perception within the industry that there are a lot of corners being cut and people are cheating."

According to Varga, the problem could affect any type of Pentium PC including those built by tier one vendors.

Upon their return, the Linear engineers purchased seven boards from Fry's Electronics, a high-tech superstore with 10 locations in California.

Of the seven, only two were solidly "in spec and even those boards would eventually degrade to the point where they would no longer pass."

One board was classified as an "obvious failure" with the manufacturer showing no effort to comply with the Intel specification while another showed reasonable design margins.

Varga said the potential for a crash extends to all types of Pentium PCs made by tier-one vendors on down.

"Many motherboard makers are foisting off poorly-designed microprocessor power systems onto an unsuspecting public," Dobkin said. How many consumers will tolerate a TV that breaks frequently?"