Why are performance chips so expensive?
#1
03-17-2001, 02:30 AM
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Why are performance chips so expensive?
I don't understand why the chips are so much. Is it based on what the market will bear? Is it the R and D? Once you have the correct settings it is just a matter of mass producing them. I'm sure the programmers aren't that expensive. I know the chip itself aren't worth that much. Are there alot of copycat chips out there? I'm not questioning there value as 20-25 HP for $200 is pretty good but its just an integrated circuit. Anyway thats my 2 cents. I will buy one and probably be 100 percent happy with it so I'll be quiet now. Man, I love this web site!
#2
03-17-2001, 04:15 AM
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#3
03-17-2001, 11:45 AM
#4
03-17-2001, 05:32 PM
You're not just paying for the bits of plastic, silicon, etc. You're paying for the facility where it's produced. The facility where the dyno is located. The dyno itself. The people to run EVERY type of vehicle, model, engine, year, etc. that they design and program a chip for.
It's sorta like water. Water is free. The delivery system and related things including filtering, disinfecting, storage, and pumping is what you're paying for.
It's sorta like water. Water is free. The delivery system and related things including filtering, disinfecting, storage, and pumping is what you're paying for.
#5
03-18-2001, 12:17 AM
Nothing is cheap anymore but the chip is alot cheaper than going with supercharger and all other kind of engine mods to get extra HP plus it doesn't take as long to install a chip as it would with anything you would do to the engine.
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2000 F150 XLT Reg. cab
4.6 Triton Engine
4x2 3.55 rear end gear
sliding rear window
automatic keyless entry
white styleside short box
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2000 F150 XLT Reg. cab
4.6 Triton Engine
4x2 3.55 rear end gear
sliding rear window
automatic keyless entry
white styleside short box
#6
03-18-2001, 04:55 PM
Former Sponsor
Hi SVTCobra,
You have pretty much already stated why in your post; it has less to do with what the market will bear than what is actually required to design, invent (engineers), & make the product functional & emissions certified (technicians galore), sell (salespeople & other staff) and to be there to support it.
It's not just the cost of the $5 EEPROM chip, as others have responded quite correctly, it's all the R&D that goes into making the instruction set for each of our over 9000 different applications. Every vehicle is programmed according to the exact software revision that was loaded into it's computer from the factory (we're one of very few chipmakers on the planet that does this, most are just "generic" 1-for-all programs), and that is a very painstaking and time & money consuming approach, but it's the only way to properly optimize each different powertrain program.
As has been posted, it's not only the chip, it's the building, the people, the insurance, the dynos, the powertrain engineers it tkes to be able to correctly reverse-engineer all these applications, the people to actually make the raw product itself, pack, ship, Technical Support, advertising and on and on that goes into determining the ultimate selling price of any product.
Think of it this way.... what would happen if someone tried to go buy a blank $5 industrial automotive-grade EEPROM, then tried to find a way to plug it into your computer, and see how far it allows the vehicle to go. Nowhere, it won't even start, as it's still a $5 blank chip at this point, of course.
It's all the *instructions* contained within that EEPROM chip that give a vehicle the ability to function, the blank chip was just a delivery method for the instruction set.
When you stop and consider how much of a performance gain is accomplished for such a relatively small cost to the consumer, you quickly see why a good performance chip (the Superchip!) is the single best bang-for-the-buck mod you can make on most computer-controlled vehicles today.
You basically already knew the answer, and it's a good question!
------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer
[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 03-18-2001).]
You have pretty much already stated why in your post; it has less to do with what the market will bear than what is actually required to design, invent (engineers), & make the product functional & emissions certified (technicians galore), sell (salespeople & other staff) and to be there to support it.
It's not just the cost of the $5 EEPROM chip, as others have responded quite correctly, it's all the R&D that goes into making the instruction set for each of our over 9000 different applications. Every vehicle is programmed according to the exact software revision that was loaded into it's computer from the factory (we're one of very few chipmakers on the planet that does this, most are just "generic" 1-for-all programs), and that is a very painstaking and time & money consuming approach, but it's the only way to properly optimize each different powertrain program.
As has been posted, it's not only the chip, it's the building, the people, the insurance, the dynos, the powertrain engineers it tkes to be able to correctly reverse-engineer all these applications, the people to actually make the raw product itself, pack, ship, Technical Support, advertising and on and on that goes into determining the ultimate selling price of any product.
Think of it this way.... what would happen if someone tried to go buy a blank $5 industrial automotive-grade EEPROM, then tried to find a way to plug it into your computer, and see how far it allows the vehicle to go. Nowhere, it won't even start, as it's still a $5 blank chip at this point, of course.
It's all the *instructions* contained within that EEPROM chip that give a vehicle the ability to function, the blank chip was just a delivery method for the instruction set. When you stop and consider how much of a performance gain is accomplished for such a relatively small cost to the consumer, you quickly see why a good performance chip (the Superchip!) is the single best bang-for-the-buck mod you can make on most computer-controlled vehicles today.
You basically already knew the answer, and it's a good question!
------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer
[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 03-18-2001).]
#7
03-19-2001, 05:09 PM
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I dont think that a computer chip is any more expensive than any other bolt-on that is proven to work.
cat back=$250.00
FIPK= $200-250.oo
Superchip=$225.00
look on wifes face when the credit card statement arrives...priceless?
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*WE WANT TO RACE THE TRUCK....PEOPLE LOVE THE TRUCK*
99 F 150 4x4.ORP,S/B 4.6 4.10 gears, Gibson 3" cat back. K&N filter. Superchip
Other Toy: 1964 Falcon, 300 H.P. 306,(soon to be 347)TopLoader 4 spd. 9"Detriot Locker rear end with 3.91's
cat back=$250.00
FIPK= $200-250.oo
Superchip=$225.00
look on wifes face when the credit card statement arrives...priceless?
------------------
*WE WANT TO RACE THE TRUCK....PEOPLE LOVE THE TRUCK*
99 F 150 4x4.ORP,S/B 4.6 4.10 gears, Gibson 3" cat back. K&N filter. Superchip
Other Toy: 1964 Falcon, 300 H.P. 306,(soon to be 347)TopLoader 4 spd. 9"Detriot Locker rear end with 3.91's