The Intel B560 Motherboard Overview: 30+ Budget Models Starting from $75
by Gavin Bonshor on March 29, 2021 7:00 AM ESTMSI MAG B560 Torpedo
A newer addition to MSI'smore cost-effective ranges is the Torpedo. Built around the Arsenal Gaming (MAG) series, the MSI MAG B560 Torpedo a slightly different take on the Tomahawk series, with a more vibrant color scheme, as well as offering a more premium (and ultimately more expensive) alternative. The MSI MAG B560 Torpedo uses a metallic blue finish on its power delivery and chipset heatsinks, with a solid-looking rear panel cover. It also uses a deeper blue and gunmetal grey for its alternative colored memory slots. It does have some RGB, which can be found integrated around the chipset area.
In the center of the Torpedo's PCB is a full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, with a second full-length slot locked to PCIe 3.0 x4. MSI includes just one PCIe 3.0 x1 slot, with one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2, and two PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA M.2 slots. For SATA devices, MSI includes a total of six SATA ports, with two featuring straight-angled connectors found in the bottom right-hand corner. The four with right-angled connectors are located towards the right, with MSI employing a PCB cut-out for easier cable management. Located in the top-right hand corner are four memory slots, with support for up to DDR4-5000 and a maximum capacity of up to 128 GB.
Interestingly, MSI also includes a 6-pin 12 V PCIe power input, which can deliver more power to the PCIe slots for large graphics cards, although the decision to include this on a B560 board that doesn't support overclocking is a little strange.
The rear panel includes one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, with four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A and four USB 2.0 ports. A pair of video outputs including one HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 output allows users to utilize Intel's UHD integrated graphics. MSI hasn't given us information at the time of writing on the HD audio codec of choice, but it'll be Realtek and it powers five 3.5 mm audio jacks and a single S/PDIF optical output. The Torpedo drops wireless networking but instead opts for a duo of Ethernet controllers, including one Realtek RTL8125B 2.5 Gb and an Intel I219-V Gigabit.
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Irata - Tuesday, March 30, 2021 - link
Is that the other side though ? If they are in a „better at everything“ position, why should they charge bargain basement prices? And anti-consumer ? That would be paying / pressuring OEM and stores to not carry alternative products and that‘s not happening.And you actually have a choice - want the best ? There‘s Ryzen 5000 but it costs a bit more. Want budget ? There‘s Ryzen 3000 and 2000. They all fit the same motherboards with the exception of 2017 era 300 series boards.
What you shouldn‘t do is compare EOL close out prices to current products prices. I bought my 2700x new for €150 including Borderlands 3 and the stock HSF but it was so cheap because they were clearing out stock. The same thing is happening with Comet Lake but compared to Ryzen 2000 EOL prices you could even argue that they are still overpriced.
Either way, we‘ll see what RKL brings to the table, both as far as performance, features and price is concerned.
madseven7 - Friday, April 2, 2021 - link
How do you figure that AMD is price gouging? Intel is late to the game, underperform, runs hot and you have to get a new motherboard for every new cpu that Intel releases. AMD has supported new processors on the same motherboard since 2017. AMD are faster and run cooler. Just because AMD decided to increase prices by $50 the first time in years they're gouging customers? Every new Intel CPU release increased the price from $10-$30laduran - Tuesday, March 30, 2021 - link
Real men own fabs. Jerry Sanders. AMD.Samus - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
This is a huge problem for AMD. The last few PC’s I’ve built during the pandemic have all been Intel because the platform cost is so much cheaper, and Intel had still competitive chips in the $150 range that you can actually get for MSRP. Meanwhile there are no AMD boards for under $100 unless you want an old platform, and their ~$120 chips are selling for $200.Basically at the low end you can build an Intel system equivalent in performance to an AMD system for nearly $100 less. Obviously you are throwing future proofing out the window when it comes time to upgrade your CPU to something high end but I rarely see people replace CPU’s without replacing their motherboard anyway...which is kind of sad :(
siggidarius - Tuesday, March 30, 2021 - link
Future proofing and cpu upgradeability is fiction IMO, save for some edge cases. Usually CPU we buy is enough for some time, and after that it makes more sense to buy new mb+cpu+ram combo, especially now, when we are at the end of DDR4 era.My current platform is based on x570 and Ryzen 3600, but I'm not planning on switching to ZEN3 or ZEN3+ if it ever comes out, and same is with Intel.
Also with current market integrated GPU is a nice thing to have for a fresh build, and here AMD just doesn't provide anything meaningful - it's all either old or expensive (and still a little worse then GPU-less CPUs due to less cache).
eastcoast_pete - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
Hi Gavin, your last table (audio) has a legacy headline (Z490..).Question: which HDMI-out standard is supported by these MoBos? Are they all 2.0b? Thanks!
dullard - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
Multiple tables on the first page have the wrong headline (Z590 instead of B560).yeeeeman - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
Frankly, the 100 bucks motherboards are quite nice if you pair them with a non K CPU. With 300 bucks you end up with a pretty powerful system. Similar IPC to zen 3 parts and cheaper. No matter how much you despise intel, these are quite attractive.Samus - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
I agree. I just built an H310 system ($56 motherboard brand new) with a new old stock i5-8500T? Maybe 8600T? I forgot. But $130 new on eBay, and threw a $10 cooler on it good for 65w (it’s a 35w CPU)It’s for my torrent PC/HTPC that was still sandy bridge and running a GT430 for video, new system will use around 1/3rd the power at load and 1/8th the power at idle. Total cost for board cpu and 8GB DDR4: $200.
Linustechtips12#6900xt - Thursday, April 8, 2021 - link
completely agree, was looking at a 10400 or 10600 and a b560 from asrock actually not bad