The Intel B560 Motherboard Overview: 30+ Budget Models Starting from $75
by Gavin Bonshor on March 29, 2021 7:00 AM ESTASRock B560 Pro4/ac & B560 Pro4
A lot of Intel B560 models are micro-ATX sized, which is a stark contrast compared with Z590, where there are barely any. ASRock does have a couple of ATX sized B560 models including the B560 Pro4/ac and B560 Pro4, with the only difference between both models is the ac version includes an Intel Wi-Fi 5 CNVi. Focusing on the design, the B560M Pro4 pairing includes a grey and black patterned PCB, with silver heatsinks and a small section of integrated RGB LED's located in the bottom right-hand corner.
The ASRock B560M Pro4 ATX motherboard
Located towards the center of the board are two full-length PCIe slots and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. The top full-length slot operates at PCIe 4.0 x16, while the second slot is electronically locked to PCIe 3.0 x4. ASRock includes four memory slots with support for up to DDR4-4800, with a maximum combined capacity of 128 GB. For storage, both the B560M Pro4/ac and B560M Pro4 include threeM.2 slots, with the top slot operating at PCIe 4.0 x4, one with support for PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA, and the third including support for PCIe 3.0 x2/SATA. The third M.2 slot shares bandwidth with one of the board's six SATA ports, which includes support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.
ASRock B560M Pro4 rear panel (only difference is Wi-Fi 5 on B560M Pro4/ac)
On the rear panel is four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A and two USB 2.0 ports, with three 3.5 mm audio jacks powered by a Realtek ALC897 HD audio codec. Both models include an Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet controller, while the B560M Pro4/ac includes an unspecified Intel Wi-Fi 5 CNVi. Finishing off the rear panel is a pair of video outputs including one HDMI and one DisplayPort, as well as a PS/2 combo port for legacy peripherals.
At the time of writing, ASRock hasn't provided pricing information for the B560M Pro4/ac, although we do know the non-Wi-Fi variant, the B560M Pro4 has an MSRP of $110.
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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-...