The Intel B560 Motherboard Overview: 30+ Budget Models Starting from $75
by Gavin Bonshor on March 29, 2021 7:00 AM ESTASUS TUF Gaming B560M-Plus WIFI & B560M-Plus
Rounding off the ASUS B560 models is a pair of micro-ATX motherboards which are targetted at gamers on a budget. Both theASUS TUF GamingB560M-PlusWIFI and B560M-Plusfollow the quintessential TUF Gaming design with black, grey, and yellow accented PCB and heatsinks. Nearly identical to its larger ATX sibling, both the B560M-Plus and Wi-Fi model is advertised as including an 8+1 phase power delivery, with a single 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power input delivering power to the processor.
Both boards include one full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, one full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, and a single PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. For storage, there's a pair of M.2 slots, including one PCIe 4.0 x4 and one with support for PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA drives. In the bottom right-hand corner is six SATA ports, three with straight angled and three with right-angled connectors, with all available ports allowing for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. In the top right-hand corner is four memory slots, with support for DDR4-5000 and 128 GB of capacity.
Although we don't have a clear image of the rear panel, we know both models include a Realtek RTL8125 2.5 GbE port, while the Wi-Fi version comes with an Intel-based Wi-Fi 6 CNVi.There arefive 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output powered by an unspecified Realtek HD audio codec. In regards to USB, there's one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C port and eight unspecified Type-A ports. ASUS has also included a pair of video outputs including one HDMI and one DisplayPort.
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Flunk - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
Still limiting overclocking on mid-range boards even though the competition doesn't? Shame Intel, shame.shabby - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
Do you really need to overclock though? Don't these cpus overclock themselves to 200w+ anyway?Linustechtips12#6900xt - Thursday, April 8, 2021 - link
just adjust the turbo limit time or enable MCE if you can, at least i think you can on b560 not sure and 2933/3000 mhz memory isnt the biggest deal eitherGreat_Scott - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
The most recent crop of Intel CPUs 1) overclock on their own, and 2) don't have any thermal headroom.Really, getting a Non-K with a B-series motherboard and saving the money for (any) GPU is the better idea...
Martin84a - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
Not that the work isn't appreciated, but I think you should just hire raisonjohn and call it a day. His work on a massive comparison spreadsheet for the AMD A, B and X motherboard is amazing, and light years ahead of anything I've seen.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wmsTYK9Z3-...
Tomatotech - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
Decent stack range, but the vast majority have too many SATA and not enough m.2 and not enough USB type C ports. In the next few years there will be more and more type C equipment to plug in.Apart from that, most of them are good for final DDR4 boards as a final home for DDR4 RAM as DDR 5 starts coming in next year (or the year after).
With AMD’s reduction in CPU power the way seems open for some low power desktops to run entirely off USB-C with its power supply of up to 100w (delivered via DC so equal to a wall supply of maybe 130w AC as the transformer losses are in the wall wart not in the desktop PSU). That could mean smaller and cheaper desktops, powered straight from the monitor (if it has a USBC power supply) through the USBC video cable. Apple already has this setup though a few hoops need to be jumped through.
DanNeely - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
Limited m.2 is mostly down to being mATX and budget. The smaller board size combined with m.2 being attached to the board itself doesn't leave much room for a 2nd slot unless you go with some sort of riser setup. And using a riser crashes into being budget products.USB-C rollout has been strangled by the decision to implement reversibility by adding an extra chip between the physical port and controller whose job is to swap the IO around instead of offloading that to the controller. Adding an extra dollar or two to the BOM per port has resulted in all the board makers deciding that not having multiple C ports is a good way to cut costs.
Lastly, mATX is going to be the last place we see SATA numbers shrink as long as Intel keep offering them on their chipsets. The plugs are dirt cheap, and unless you're building a maxed out full ATX board the chipset has more IO lanes than you can use. If numbers ever start dropping below what's offered in the chipset it'll either be on mITX boards that are badly space constrained or full ATX ones where the designers decide a few more PCIe lanes or USB3 ports would be more valuable.
TheinsanegamerN - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
Plenty of AMD micro ATX boards have 2 slots, you just need some intelligent board design. Hell they can fit 2 on mini ITX without riser boards.Tomatotech - Tuesday, March 30, 2021 - link
Thanks Dan for the reply. I didn’t know that info about the USB-C extra chip causing issues. USB-IF strikes again!vailr - Monday, March 29, 2021 - link
Gigabyte also has the (full size ATX board) B460 HD3:https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B460-HD3-rev-...