Intel Motherboards Get Competitive: 100- 200 H670, B660, & H610
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Date: 2022-01-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
Roger
Hi Steve, are you perhaps familiar with the story behind Intel's MASSIVELY faulty I225-V 2.5GB LAN controller, and how it's been plaguing an ever-increasing number of motherboards (vast majority of the Z690s and the new upcoming B660 motherboards are all affected, except for the MSI's new B660 lineup, which is surprisingly, and luckily, using Realtek this time around). The issue, however, goes back as far as the Z490 days, and has been in full swing with a lot of the B550 & Z590 mobos.
The most recent 'Revision 3' of the controller (in quotation marks, as none of those revisions have actually amounted to anything) that has already been present in motherboards for a year or so, now is also inside the new Z690 and B660 motherboards with all the same issues. The only known soft fix to actually get the ethernet to work properly is to limit its speed to 100 Mbps; that's right, a 2.5GB LAN being forced to run at 4% of its capabilities.
I would REALLY appreciate it if you shed some light on this issue, as it's been well over a year, and both Intel and all of its partners are just blaming each other back and forth, and NOTHING is being done.
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Hi Steve, are you perhaps familiar with the story behind Intel's MASSIVELY faulty I225-V 2.5GB LAN controller, and how it's been plaguing an ever-increasing number of motherboards (vast majority of the Z690s and the new upcoming B660 motherboards are all affected, except for the MSI's new B660 lineup, which is surprisingly, and luckily, using Realtek this time around). The issue, however, goes back as far as the Z490 days, and has been in full swing with a lot of the B550 & Z590 mobos.
The most recent 'Revision 3' of the controller (in quotation marks, as none of those revisions have actually amounted to anything) that has already been present in motherboards for a year or so, now is also inside the new Z690 and B660 motherboards with all the same issues. The only known soft fix to actually get the ethernet to work properly is to limit its speed to 100 Mbps; that's right, a 2.5GB LAN being forced to run at 4% of its capabilities.
I would REALLY appreciate it if you shed some light on this issue, as it's been well over a year, and both Intel and all of its partners are just blaming each other back and forth, and NOTHING is being done.
reply
The_Chad
I have a ton of respect for Steve and GN, but I would argue that high end tower tier motherboards are nothing like High end lower tier graphics cards. With video cards, the high end boards of a specific class only gets you a cooler, quieter card and maybe better power delivery that makes no conceivable difference to most people. All of the features are the same though. With motherboards you get a vast array of features and all of those extra features are what you're paying for. If the only difference between motherboards of a specific chipset was just the VRM, I would agree with Steve, but that is far from the case. I'm sure there is a huge market for people who don't need as many PCIe lanes, but do want more and faster USB, WiFi, 10GB LAN, premium audio, and just a prettier board. Actually, I think most people would be more happy with a top end B660 with all of the extra features vs a base model Z690 with more PCIe lanes.
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I have a ton of respect for Steve and GN, but I would argue that high end tower tier motherboards are nothing like High end lower tier graphics cards. With video cards, the high end boards of a specific class only gets you a cooler, quieter card and maybe better power delivery that makes no conceivable difference to most people. All of the features are the same though. With motherboards you get a vast array of features and all of those extra features are what you're paying for. If the only difference between motherboards of a specific chipset was just the VRM, I would agree with Steve, but that is far from the case. I'm sure there is a huge market for people who don't need as many PCIe lanes, but do want more and faster USB, WiFi, 10GB LAN, premium audio, and just a prettier board. Actually, I think most people would be more happy with a top end B660 with all of the extra features vs a base model Z690 with more PCIe lanes.
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Gabriele
I do not think the GPU comparison makes so much sense here. As in GPUs, the higher tier die will have more cores - thus being also more efficient - and usually wider bus so no matter how beefed up the power limit on a 2060 you can get, it will never get close to the lowest tier 2070. ON the motherboard side you can have higher end chipset with subpar power delivery (like some asrock z490 boards) performing worst even when unlocked compared to lower end chipset using better VRM
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I do not think the GPU comparison makes so much sense here. As in GPUs, the higher tier die will have more cores - thus being also more efficient - and usually wider bus so no matter how beefed up the power limit on a 2060 you can get, it will never get close to the lowest tier 2070. ON the motherboard side you can have higher end chipset with subpar power delivery (like some asrock z490 boards) performing worst even when unlocked compared to lower end chipset using better VRM
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Last
MSI went full Asus with their pricing...at least the Pro-A might be ok, as usual.
Gigabyte seems ok for their cheaper boards.
Asus B660 Prime-A seems ok. Prime H670 looks fine too, depending on price.
ASRock might again have the best lineup and value, we'll see the prices. B660M Pro RS looks like a replacement for Pro4 from earlier generations. They take ITX seriously, ASRock was the go-to for ITX on Intel fow few generations now...
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MSI went full Asus with their pricing...at least the Pro-A might be ok, as usual.
Gigabyte seems ok for their cheaper boards.
Asus B660 Prime-A seems ok. Prime H670 looks fine too, depending on price.
ASRock might again have the best lineup and value, we'll see the prices. B660M Pro RS looks like a replacement for Pro4 from earlier generations. They take ITX seriously, ASRock was the go-to for ITX on Intel fow few generations now...
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itech
Help to pick! Looking for the best price-value option out of the 4 for a (RTX3080+i512600K+DDR4-4000Hz 16x2Gb+ 2x SN850 1TB) build. Cares about audio quality, wifi, MB reliability, good software; memory/cpu overclocking if its a simple/1-click thing.
A)ASUS ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WiFi D4 419
B)ASUS ROG STRIX B660-A GAMING WIFI D4 L 299
C)GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS ELITE AX DDR4 G10 LGA 339
D)MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI DDR4 309
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Help to pick! Looking for the best price-value option out of the 4 for a (RTX3080+i512600K+DDR4-4000Hz 16x2Gb+ 2x SN850 1TB) build. Cares about audio quality, wifi, MB reliability, good software; memory/cpu overclocking if its a simple/1-click thing.
A)ASUS ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WiFi D4 419
B)ASUS ROG STRIX B660-A GAMING WIFI D4 L 299
C)GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS ELITE AX DDR4 G10 LGA 339
D)MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI DDR4 309
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Alex
I got a b450 gaming plus max for 100 euro. Thats a true mid tier motherboard. Its a great board in fact.
180 dollars for a mid-tier motherboard is ridiculous.
These arent cheap boards. I think getting a 5600x would make much more sense for me, rather than getting a garbage b660 and a 12400f. Intel produces cheap cpus, but high prices motherboards, so they are somehow trying to not be competitive at the low end. Idk why.
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I got a b450 gaming plus max for 100 euro. Thats a true mid tier motherboard. Its a great board in fact.
180 dollars for a mid-tier motherboard is ridiculous.
These arent cheap boards. I think getting a 5600x would make much more sense for me, rather than getting a garbage b660 and a 12400f. Intel produces cheap cpus, but high prices motherboards, so they are somehow trying to not be competitive at the low end. Idk why.
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Em
man.. everyone saying how intel's 12th cpus are great value and to wait for the new B mobos since the Z mobos are shit value... and i'm not impressed by these new mobos at all.. while the CPUs do look great for the IF you can FIND them for their MSRP which you cannot.. the mobo's make the whole package meh value... looks like i'm going AMD again... sad because I did want to go INTEL, but these mobos are shit for value
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man.. everyone saying how intel's 12th cpus are great value and to wait for the new B mobos since the Z mobos are shit value... and i'm not impressed by these new mobos at all.. while the CPUs do look great for the IF you can FIND them for their MSRP which you cannot.. the mobo's make the whole package meh value... looks like i'm going AMD again... sad because I did want to go INTEL, but these mobos are shit for value
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matt
What would be best budget motherboard that would go with intel i5-12400? I also want it to have usb c port as well as being compatible with usb c port on the front I/O on case. Also would prefer it to have display port. My gpu died (not buying new one due to prices) so im only on integrated gpu and my current motherboard only has hdmi port, no display port.
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What would be best budget motherboard that would go with intel i5-12400? I also want it to have usb c port as well as being compatible with usb c port on the front I/O on case. Also would prefer it to have display port. My gpu died (not buying new one due to prices) so im only on integrated gpu and my current motherboard only has hdmi port, no display port.
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aceofspades
With cheap B660 pricing and even cheaper CPU pricing, all my friends have upgraded to 12th gen, even ones on older AM4. Like you can get a 12700f for 314 + B660 for 130, so 450 total and it absolutely destroys the 540 5900x which needs its own motherboard (another 100). Intel absolutely has the best performance AND price these days.
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With cheap B660 pricing and even cheaper CPU pricing, all my friends have upgraded to 12th gen, even ones on older AM4. Like you can get a 12700f for 314 + B660 for 130, so 450 total and it absolutely destroys the 540 5900x which needs its own motherboard (another 100). Intel absolutely has the best performance AND price these days.
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Gui
Ah come on Steve, you must be tirerd. There are not 3 Rog boards but 4/5 (A seems to come in both DDR4 and DDR5 flavors, F, G and I) and 4 of them not 2 do support DDR5. (A DDR4 variant being the only DDR4 board in the lineup) Also, the F DOES have a product page. (maybe it was put online between the moment you filmed and now)
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Ah come on Steve, you must be tirerd. There are not 3 Rog boards but 4/5 (A seems to come in both DDR4 and DDR5 flavors, F, G and I) and 4 of them not 2 do support DDR5. (A DDR4 variant being the only DDR4 board in the lineup) Also, the F DOES have a product page. (maybe it was put online between the moment you filmed and now)
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