We've been doing a lot of Intel B660 motherboard testing as of late. For those of you who don't want to sit through dozens of tests and nearly 20 different motherboards feature sets, we'll get right to the point and show you our top picks for best Intel B660 motherboards.
You should know, buying a really solid budget Intel motherboard is as difficult as ever with power limits and performance all over the place. There are few good options, mainly from MSI, while we were disappointed with what Gigabyte and Asus have to offer on the lower end, as their sub-$150 boards are only suitable for Core i5 CPUs, which matters a lot if you plan to push your CPU to the limit or upgrade later.
That compares poorly to budget AMD B550 boards, most of which are very good. You can pick up something like the Gigabyte B550M DS3H for just $90, which can run the Ryzen 9 5950X. It's a missed opportunity, in our opinion, as Alder Lake CPUs are great. Without further ado...
Best Entry-Level
Soyo B660M Classic
The best entry-level motherboard has to be capable of supporting up to the Core i7-12700, at or near maximum performance. As we've shown, the cheapest B660 boards like the Asrock HDV are a complete waste of money as they'll limit you to Core i3 and a few select Core i5 parts (anything else and they will make the CPU throttle), at which point you might as well buy a cheaper B560 board or preferably jump to AMD's AM4 platform.
Even if you only plan on buying a Core i3 or i5 processor now, having the option to upgrade down the track for more processing power is worth spending another $20. The problem is that there are very few affordable B660 motherboards that aren't complete junk, the Asrock HDV is currently retailing for $100, the Phantom Gaming is no better costs $110, and then there's the mATX version of the Pro RS for $120. In my opinion, $120 is what you need to spend right now for a decent B660 board as that will afford you the Soyo B660M Classic via AliExpress with free shipping to the US.
Frankly, it's worth risking any potential warranty issues on the Soyo board as it's worlds better than anything you can buy locally for under $140. When compared to the Asrock HDV, you're looking at ~60% greater CPU performance when paired with the Core i7-12700.
Best Budget / Value Intel B660 Motherboard
MSI Pro B660M-A WiFi
If you're not as interested in penny pinching and just want a good value B660 board, then I highly recommend the MSI Pro B660M-A for $140 or $150 for the Wi-Fi version. This is without question the best value B660 motherboard out there, able to get the most out of all locked Alder Lake CPUs with ease.
This is an MSI motherboard, so you'll get warranty via a local retailer, that makes it worth the extra $20 over the Soyo B660M Classic. Warranty aside though, it's a much better quality board with a lot more features.
The I/O panel features two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports as well as two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports and then two USB 2.0 ports. There's also two DisplayPort outputs and two HDMI outputs. The VRM is completely covered by two large heatsinks, the primary M.2 slot gets a heatsink, there's four DIMM slots, four SATA ports, a second full length PCIe x16 slot and 2.5Gbps network support, so it's a well equipped board given the price and my ultimate best value B660 motherboard.
Best mATX Intel B660
MSI B660M Mortar Wi-Fi
For those of you with your sights set on a Core i7-12700 or Core i9-12900 build, and are willing to drop a bit more cash on the motherboard, the MSI B660M Mortar WiFi is a great option and the best MicroATX B660 board in our opinion. It's a tad steeper at $180, and while that is Z690 territory, its VRM puts most entry-level Z690 boards to shame.
Wi-Fi 6 support is provided out of the box, along with 2.5 Gbit LAN and plenty of USB ports, 8 in total and that includes a Type-C. The board itself is littered in heatsinks, there's a large heatsink over the B660 chip, two M.2 heatspreaders and two large VRM heatsinks which also extract heat from the inductors, and the I/O shield comes pre-installed.
The VRM on this one is rather mighty, packing a 6-phase vcore with two Renesas 60A powerstages per phase, so for the vcore there are a dozen 60A powerstages. Couple that with the big heatsinks and you have a recipe for a high performance VRM which dominated our testing.
Alternatively, if you don't have access to this model in your region or pricing isn't favorable, a strong competitor is the Gigabyte B660M Aorus Pro AX, which also costs $180. The VRM performance is comparable and it also packs a great feature set.
Best Mini-ITX Intel B660
Asus ROG Strix B660-I Gaming Wi-Fi
We could only find three Mini-ITX B660 motherboards currently on the market: the Asus ROG Strix B660-I Gaming WiFi which costs $220, the Gigabyte B660I Aorus Pro which isn't on sale in the US yet, and the Asrock B660M-ITX/AC which costs just $120.
The affordable Asrock board will be best suited to Core i5 processors given it only packs a 5-phase vcore using five 50A powerstages, so the same powerstages used by the Soyo B660M Classic, there's just three less of them, meaning Asrock's little ITX board won't be able to get the most of of the Core i7-12700, likely far from it. If you only want to use the Core i5-12400 then it'll work, you just can't upgrade.
While potentially a good value combo, when paired with a 12400, it's not exactly the best Mini-ITX B660 board. That battle will be fought by Asus and Gigabyte, and I'm giving it to Asus as the ROG Strix B660-I Gaming WiFi is available in the US and is in my opinion slightly better offering high quality audio and an extra M.2 slot which is highly valuable on this kind of product.
You get an 8-phase vcore using Vishay 60A power stages, so more current handling than most B660 boards. It also includes Wi-Fi 6, Intel 2.5 Gbit LAN and eight USB ports on the I/O panel. It's a jam packed board that offers almost everything you get on the larger mATX models.
Best High-end Intel B660
MSI MAG B660 Tomahawk Wi-Fi
If for any reason you decide you want to spend way too much on an Intel B660 motherboard, MSI, Gigabyte and Asus are all willing to accomodate you. Full disclaimer though, we highly recommend that as pricing approaches $200, you consider abandoning the B660 platform in favour of Z690, as quality boards such as the MSI Pro Z690-A start at $190.
For $190, you can get the MSI B660 Tomahawk WiFi, and while I would normally opt for the Z690 board, if you don't care about CPU overclocking, it's possible to argue that the B660 is the better value option.
For starters, you get Wi-Fi 6 and wireless networking of any form isn't offered on the Z690 board. The B660 board also packs better USB support with five gen-2 ports on the I/O panel, whereas the Z690 model only offers two. The B660 board also gets a higher quality audio codec, though the difference will likely be minimal.
The MSI B660 Tomahawk Wi-Fi is a better overall board with full M.2 heatsink coverage and a pre-installed I/O shield. Again, if you don't care about CPU overclocking – you're not going to buy a K-SKU part – then the B660 board is the better deal.
High-end alternatives to the MSI B660 Tomahawk Wi-Fi include the Gigabyte B660 Aorus Master, which I can't find anywhere, and then there's the Asus ROG Strix B660-F Gaming Wi-Fi which is also MIA in the U.S., but available in other regions for $50 more than the Tomahawk. Frankly, it's just not worth that premium, so the MSI B660 Tomahawk Wi-Fi is the best high-end B660 motherboard.