The B660 board also packs better USB support with five gen-2 ports on the I/O panel, whereas the Z690 model only offers two. Full disclaimer though, we highly recommend that as pricing approaches $200, you consider abandoning the B660 platform in favour of Z690, as quality boards such as the MSI Pro Z690-A start at $190.įor $190, you can get the MSI B660 Tomahawk WiFi, and while I would normally opt for the Z690 board, if you don't care about CPU overclocking, it's possible to argue that the B660 is the better value option.įor starters, you get Wi-Fi 6 and wireless networking of any form isn't offered on the Z690 board. If for any reason you decide you want to spend way too much on an Intel B660 motherboard, MSI, Gigabyte and Asus are all willing to accomodate you. It's a jam packed board that offers almost everything you get on the larger mATX models. It also includes Wi-Fi 6, Intel 2.5 Gbit LAN and eight USB ports on the I/O panel. You get an 8-phase vcore using Vishay 60A power stages, so more current handling than most B660 boards. That battle will be fought by Asus and Gigabyte, and I'm giving it to Asus as the ROG Strix B660-I Gaming WiFi is available in the US and is in my opinion slightly better offering high quality audio and an extra M.2 slot which is highly valuable on this kind of product. While potentially a good value combo, when paired with a 12400, it's not exactly the best Mini-ITX B660 board. If you only want to use the Core i5-12400 then it'll work, you just can't upgrade. ![]() The affordable Asrock board will be best suited to Core i5 processors given it only packs a 5-phase vcore using five 50A powerstages, so the same powerstages used by the Soyo B660M Classic, there's just three less of them, meaning Asrock's little ITX board won't be able to get the most of of the Core i7-12700, likely far from it. ![]() We could only find three Mini-ITX B660 motherboards currently on the market: the Asus ROG Strix B660-I Gaming WiFi which costs $220, the Gigabyte B660I Aorus Pro which isn't on sale in the US yet, and the Asrock B660M-ITX/AC which costs just $120. The VRM performance is comparable and it also packs a great feature set. Couple that with the big heatsinks and you have a recipe for a high performance VRM which dominated our testing.Īlternatively, if you don't have access to this model in your region or pricing isn't favorable, a strong competitor is the Gigabyte B660M Aorus Pro AX, which also costs $180. The VRM on this one is rather mighty, packing a 6-phase vcore with two Renesas 60A powerstages per phase, so for the vcore there are a dozen 60A powerstages. The board itself is littered in heatsinks, there's a large heatsink over the B660 chip, two M.2 heatspreaders and two large VRM heatsinks which also extract heat from the inductors, and the I/O shield comes pre-installed. Wi-Fi 6 support is provided out of the box, along with 2.5 Gbit LAN and plenty of USB ports, 8 in total and that includes a Type-C. It's a tad steeper at $180, and while that is Z690 territory, its VRM puts most entry-level Z690 boards to shame. When compared to the Asrock HDV, you're looking at ~60% greater CPU performance when paired with the Core i7-12700.įor those of you with your sights set on a Core i7-12700 or Core i9-12900 build, and are willing to drop a bit more cash on the motherboard, the MSI B660M Mortar WiFi is a great option and the best MicroATX B660 board in our opinion. In my opinion, $120 is what you need to spend right now for a decent B660 board as that will afford you the Soyo B660M Classic via AliExpress with free shipping to the US.įrankly, it's worth risking any potential warranty issues on the Soyo board as it's worlds better than anything you can buy locally for under $140. ![]() ![]() The problem is that there are very few affordable B660 motherboards that aren't complete junk, the Asrock HDV is currently retailing for $100, the Phantom Gaming is no better costs $110, and then there's the mATX version of the Pro RS for $120. As we've shown, the cheapest B660 boards like the Asrock HDV are a complete waste of money as they'll limit you to Core i3 and a few select Core i5 parts (anything else and they will make the CPU throttle), at which point you might as well buy a cheaper B560 board or preferably jump to AMD's AM4 platform.Įven if you only plan on buying a Core i3 or i5 processor now, having the option to upgrade down the track for more processing power is worth spending another $20. The best entry-level motherboard has to be capable of supporting up to the Core i7-12700, at or near maximum performance.
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