The Intel B560 Motherboard Overview: 30+ Budget Models Starting from $75
by Gavin Bonshor on March 29, 2021 7:00 AM ESTASRock B560M Steel Legend
The ASRock B560M Steel Legend is essentially a cut-down version of its ATX B560 Steel Legend, with similar features with a smaller micro-ATX footprint. Going from ATX to micro-ATX, the reduction in size is generally achieved by lowering PCIe slot count, as the PCB lost is almost always from the bottom. Design-wise, it uses a grey, black and white urban camouflage patterning on the PCB, with silver and grey heatsinks. ASRock includes limited integrated RGB LEDs along the right-hand side of the board, which allows users to create an underglow effect.
ASRock includes a single full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, with two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Memory support consists of four memory slots that can accommodate up to DDR4-4800 with a maximum capacity of 128 GB. For storage, ASRock has included two M.2 slots with the top slot operating at PCIe 4.0 x4, while the second operates at PCIe 3.0 x4 and includes support for SATA drives. There is a total of six SATA ports with two along the bottom with straight-angled connectors and four with right-angled connectors, and all feature support with RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. For users looking to add Wi-Fi, there's also an M.2 Key E slot as this board doesn't come equipped with a wireless CNVi.
The rear panel includes four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 ports, with an HDMI and DisplayPort video output pairing for users planning on using Intel's UHD integrated graphics. ASRock is using a single Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5 GbE controller, with five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF powered by a Realtek ALC807 HD audio codec. Last on the rear panel is a PS/2 combo port which is designed for use with legacy peripherals.
At the time of writing, ASRock hasn't unveiled any pricing information for the B560M Steel Legend.
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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-...