The new MSI B660 is coming, prices start at $ 119
The new MSI B660 is coming
Intel launched Alder Lake-S processors in early November, led by the powerful Core i9-12900K. Currently, Alder Lake CPUs can only be paired with expensive Z690 motherboards, but a tweet from chi11eddog (as reported by WCCFTech) claims that MSI is ready to supply at least ten B660-based motherboards.Photo Credit : MSI The well-known Taiwanese company should launch these motherboards:
Motherboard Price MAG B660 Tomahawk WiFi $ 259 MAG B660M Mortar WiFi $ 239 MAG B660M Mortar $ 219 MAG B660M Bazooka $ 199 PRO B660-A $ 209 PRO B660M-A- WiFi $ 209 PRO B660M-A $ 189 PRO B660M-G $ 139 PRO B660M-B $ 129 PRO B660M-E $ 119 For those looking for a budget motherboard for Alder Lake, the Pro B660M-E appears to be the best bet with an MSRP of $ 119. From there, prices quickly rise starting with the $ 209 Pro B660-A all the way to the flagship MAG B660 Tomahawk WiFi, for which you'll need to shell out $ 259.
According to chi11eddog, all motherboards will be equipped support for DDR5 memory, while the DDR4 counterparts were nowhere to be found. Exclusive support for DDR5 is rather curious, as MSI offers Z690 motherboards with DDR4 support (such as the Z690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4) or DDR5. So it would make sense that the B660 motherboards, which cater to more cost-conscious customers, also had a DDR4 variant.
After all, support for DDR4 would allow motherboards to reach even lower prices and allow users to use existing modules. Unfortunately, a strategy based entirely on DDR5 puts too much pressure on buyers, given the additional costs required for new memory kits. We also remember that of the ten motherboards leaked only two are standard ATX, while the rest use a microATX form factor.
Photo Credit: MSI Intel's keynote at CES 2022 is scheduled for January 4; therefore, we will probably know more about the B660 chipset on that occasion, along with new details on the "non-K" Alder Lake-S desktop processors and the upcoming Alder Lake-P mobile processor family. Additionally, more information on the Intel Arc discrete graphics card family should be provided at CES 2022.
Asus’s latest Intel gaming motherboard might be leaving PCIe Gen5 support in the dust
In a surprising move from Asus, it seems that its latest Intel Alder Lake B660 gaming motherboard may not have PCIe 5.0 support like a Z690 motherboard would.
The upcoming Prime B660 Plus D4 motherboard might only be supporting up to PCIe Gen4, according to an image from Videocardz of a Z690 motherboard shipped in the wrong box. The decision is also a confusing one, as Gen5 lanes aren’t attached to the chipset but to the CPU itself. Though motherboard manufacturers still have to include the hardware for the faster interface.
Naturally, this is an unconfirmed image, so take the news with a grain of salt until Asus officially reveals the full details. We should start hearing official word on B660 motherboards in the next few weeks, as the budget motherboards typically follow a couple weeks after the mainstream Z-series chipset.
Analysis: A smart move from AsusThe lack of support may seem like a rather bizarre turn of events but, when you consider the actual market for the B660, the move from Asus makes far more sense as a cost-cutting effort if the rumor mill is accurate.
The lack of PCIe Gen5 support does mean that the B660 chipset would be less futureproof. However, this motherboard would be aimed at the mid-range segment, which is a market that isn’t exactly racing to adapt to Gen5 GPUs and SSDs. This means that the motherboard is ideal for those looking to build a gaming PC on a budget, especially with Black Friday coming up.
There’s also the fact that Intel’s Alder Lake gaming CPUs have been recently struggling with playing certain PC games, such as Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Madden 22, and Total War: Three Kingdoms, due to DRM issues. Not to mention the ongoing global chip shortage which makes netting pretty much anything high-end incredibly difficult.
Editor’s note: Budget boards are good, actuallyWhile it might seem like the lack of PCIe on B660 motherboards would be a bad thing, it really isn’t. There still aren’t any PCIe 5.0 SSDs on the market yet, and we’re still on the first generation of graphics cards that are using PCIe 4.0. So, when you’re setting out to build a new PC with one of these motherboards, you really wouldn’t be missing out on anything right now.
We’d even go further and have DDR4 on budget motherboards. We know that Alder Lake supports both the older memory standard along with the new DDR5 standard. The shiny new components are definitely exciting for the type of enthusiast that wants the fastest hardware on the market, but the price is definitely way higher than existing hardware.
MSI has already come out and said that DDR5 memory is going to be pretty expensive for a while, so we hope that budget-oriented chipsets like B660 and the new H-series will keep that in mind before tacking on the new specs just for a more appealing box.
Via PCGamesN
