Intel H670, B660 and H610: ASUS introduces 23 additional LGA1700 boards

As of today, Intel’s Alder Lake S platform has moved significantly into the mainstream segment, because the 12th generation core is no longer based exclusively on the Z690-PCH, but with the H670- and B660-chipset – and the H610 is now also three other PCHs from Intel 600 family. The three additional chipsets result in many additional LGA1700 motherboards. ASUS itself has now added another 23 motherboards to its portfolio.

Intel 600 chipset family in comparison

ASUS – Prime – Siri

As usual, everything on ASUS starts with the Prime series. In combination with the small H610-PCH, ASUS offers six models, all of which are designed in a compact Micro-ATX format. The other thing they have in common is a maximum of two DIMM slots, with ASUS focusing on the DDR4 standard. This means that it can store up to 64GB of RAM, but that is actually the maximum at 3200MHz. The manufacturer also relies on the older DRAM standard with the Prime B660M-A D4, B660M-A WiFi D4 and B660M-K D4, but in this case not only a higher clock rate can be used, but also (from a far B660M-K D4) use double storage capacity.

Only one Prime model will come with Intel’s H670 chipset: the Prime H670-Plus D4. The additional designation “D4” already reveals that the motherboard also accepts DDR4 UDIMMs (up to 128 GB). In terms of dimensions, it is compatible with the ATX format and also has additional expansion slots. Up to three M.2 M-Key interfaces can be used as well as six SATA 6Gb/s ports. Just like the previously mentioned models, there are also some USB interfaces on board.

Pro and ProArt . series

With the Pro B660M-C D4-CSM and ProArt B660-Creator D4, there are also two exotic models from ASUS that both feature the Intel B660 chipset and can accommodate up to 128GB of DDR4 RAM. While the Pro B660M-C brings D4-CSM in Micro-ATX format and a green PCB, the ProArt B660-Creator D4 has slightly larger ATX dimensions and the board itself is appropriately colored in black. But then the device is designed more broadly, especially in terms of the USB area, and of course it should appeal to the content creator accordingly.

A good application area for the Pro B660M-C D4-CSM may be a classic desktop computer or a small home server. For this purpose, it provides not only one PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots for expansion cards, but also two M.2 M keys, four SATA 6GBit/s and one M.2-E -Key.

TUF Gaming-Serie

ASUS has selected five different types of TUF gaming motherboards. With the TUF Gaming H670-Pro WiFi D4 and B660-Plus WiFi D4, there are two ATX models and with the TUF Gaming B660M-E D4, B660M-Plus WiFi D4 and B660M-Plus D4 there are three Micro-ATX models, the latter being two mentioned boards that have identical features except WLAN unit. In addition to four banks of DDR4 UDIMM memory, this includes a fully connected PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, one PCIe 3.0 x1 slot, and one PCIe 3.0 x16 (x4) slot.

The TUF Gaming H670-Pro WiFi D4 is equipped with a more comprehensive VRM cooler and has a total of four M.2 M-Key interfaces, three of which are with cooling. In addition, there are also four SATA 6 Gb / s sockets. As with most siblings, ASUS has also opted for a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 interface on the I/O board, which can push data at up to 20 Gbit/s.

ROG-Strix . Series

Are there also B660 motherboards that support DDR5? Yes, at least with four of the five ROG Strix variants. The only DDR4 model is called the ROG Strix B660-A Gaming WiFi D4 – just like its DDR5 sibling (without adding D4) – it’s equipped with silver heat sinks, while the ATX PCB itself is black. As expected, the connection options are also kept identical. For example, all three M.2 interfaces are delivered with a cooler. The Flash BIOS button provides convenience on the I/O panel.

ROG Strix B660-F Gaming WiFi goes one step further and also comes with a handy Clear CMOS button. But here too, three M.2 M-Key interfaces including passive coolers are part of the game. There are also six SATA 6 Gb / s. Just as with the rest, there is, of course, a 2.5 Gb/s LAN port for a wired network connection. With ROG Strix B660-G Gaming WiFi and ROG Strix B660-I Gaming WiFi, even target Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX combinations are offered.