The Intel B560 Motherboard Overview: 30+ Budget Models Starting from $75
by Gavin Bonshor on March 29, 2021 7:00 AM ESTASRock B560M Pro4/ac & B560M Pro4
Up next in our overview is a pair of modest micro-ATX models from ASRock, the B560M Pro4/ac, and the B560M Pro4. The only difference between the two models is the ac variant includes an 802.11ac Wi-Fi 5 CNVi. Everything else is built to the same specification and design, including a black and grey patterned PCB, silver heatsinks, as well as an advertised 8-phase power delivery with 50 A power chokes. ASRock does include a small section of RGB LEDs in the bottom-right hand corner of the board.
The ASRock B560M Pro4/ac pictured above
Both the ASRock B560M Pro4/ac and B560M Pro4 include a smaller micro-ATX sized PCB, with two full-length PCIe slots with the top slot operating at PCIe 4.0 x16, and the second slot locked down to PCIe 3.0 x4. ASRock also includes one PCIe 3.0 x1 slot, with the B560M Pro4/ac using an Intel-based Wi-Fi 5 CNVi. In regards to memory support, there are four slots with supported speeds of up to DDR4-4800 and a maximum capacity of up to 128 GB. Storage options consist of dual PCIe M.2 slots with one operating at PCIe 4.0 x4, and the other including support for both PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA drives. ASRock also includes six SATA ports with two of these featuring straight-angled connectors and four with right-angled connectors, with RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays supported.
The ASRock B560M Pro4/ac rear panel
On the rear panel, both models include four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A and two USB 2.0 ports, with a single HDMI video output and three 3.5 mm audio jacks controlled by a Realtek ALC897 HD audio codec. The B560M Pro4/ac includes a pair of antenna connectors for an unspecified Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi 5 CNVi, with both models including a single Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet controller and a PS/2 combo port.
ASRock has set an MSRP of $105for the ASRock B560M Pro4/ac, although the ASRock B560M Pro4 (without Wi-Fi) is slightly cheaper with an MSRP of $100.
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limitedaccess - Tuesday, March 30, 2021 - link
Rocket Lake CPUs have 20 PCIe (4.0) lanes off the CPU. This a departure from previous generations in terms of lane count. Comet Lake (and older) for Intel have 16 lanes off the CPU.4 of those lanes are connected to the "first" m.2 slot of B560/Z590 motherboards. 10th gen CPUs don't have those lanes even as PCIe 3.0. Previous generation motherboards have all their m.2 slots using lanes connected to the chipset.
jrbales@outlook.com - Wednesday, March 31, 2021 - link
Thanks for the explanation. My AMD X570 has PCIE 4 lanes from both CPU and chipset, so this is my first build wheres I'm running up against this limitation. Now it all makes sense and fortunately, I did place my Samsung 970 EVO into the 2nd M.2 slot. Thanks again! And old dog CAN learn something new!ScottSoapbox - Tuesday, March 30, 2021 - link
There are three typos in the first paragraph that Word or a browser would catch if you took 10 seconds to check. Hint: words need spaces between them.Linustechtips12#6900xt - Thursday, April 8, 2021 - link
am I the only one who noticed the CMOS battery on the wifi thing in the asrock board?? lolutmode - Saturday, April 10, 2021 - link
has reaktek fixed speed dropping issue in their RTL8125B 2.5G NICmammuthus - Sunday, June 20, 2021 - link
Guys, witch one I should choose between ASUS ROG Strix B560-I Gaming WIFI and MSI MPG B560I Gaming Edge Wi-Fi?aigo - Thursday, July 29, 2021 - link
There is no sound through HDMI ports regardless of the OS; Linux, Windows. Definitely not a multimedia board, and neither it is for gaming.dwoodcock - Friday, August 13, 2021 - link
After messing about with this board all day trying to get RAID working I find out it doesn't support RAID at all!!!BadConfiguration - Thursday, October 28, 2021 - link
Hi Gavin, will the M.2_2 (marked ultra m2) use the pcie lanes from chipset ? Or would it use the pcie lanes from cpu ?