Now that Intel has filled out its lineup of kick-ass 12th-generation “Alder Lake” desktop processors—and the 600-series chipsets that go along with them—selecting the correct motherboard is that rather more essential. Every CPU matches a distinct scenario, and so the mobo you drop it into may also help or hinder your targets.

That’s as a result of your motherboard’s chipset determines the capabilities of your PC. And for Alder Lake particularly, you must pay shut consideration to the main points to be sure to get the characteristic help you search. It’s even trickier when price issues drastically.

So how do you determine between Z690, H670, B660, and H610 motherboards? Easy. Think about them from the angle of what you need to do together with your PC now and sooner or later. Be positive to enhance the next info with the guidelines outlined in our information to picking the perfect motherboard, too.

CPU options vs motherboard capabilities

First, earlier than we dig into the completely different motherboard chipsets, let’s cowl a fast however essential distinction: The applied sciences {that a} CPU can help versus those who a motherboard does help. Simply put, your motherboard determines whether or not or not you’ll be able to truly benefit from a CPU’s full capabilities.

This is a crucial level for Alder Lake motherboards, as a result of not solely do chipsets have their very own inherent limitations primarily based on segmentation of options, however board distributors can impose extra restrictions past these, too. You would possibly anticipate that as a result of your Alder Lake CPU helps PCIe 5 and cutting-edge DDR5 memory, you’ll be able to simply choose a motherboard and name it a day.

Unfortunately that’s not the case, as some mobos will help DDR4 as an alternative of DDR5. Even although 12th-gen processors help each reminiscence specs, a motherboard will solely implement one. A board can even skip PCIe 5 to chop prices, too. For Alder Lake, you have to dig into the specs for every specific board you’re contemplating, particularly in case you’re anticipating your chip’s functionality of 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes, 4 PCIe 4.0 lanes, and help for DDR5-4800 RAM.

For reference, this diagram exhibits what to anticipate from an Alder Lake CPU (the half in blue):

Intel

Ultimately, the motherboard and chipset you select might provide the full vary of options, or see entry to some lopped off. Flexibility on how one can cut up the PCIe 5 lanes, sorts of supported USB ports, variety of further PCIe lanes, RAID help, and extra are additionally affected by which chipset and particular board you select.

We’ll dive into how that shakes out—and which motherboards finest match the PC you’re constructing—in response to chipset specs. But all the time needless to say board makers can and can implement additional restrictions, as talked about above.

Intel

Z690: The no-compromises selection

MSI

• Ideal for: PC fans, information hoarders, overclockers
• Best with: Core i9 and Core i7 processors, unlocked “K” processors
• Price vary: $200 to $900

You need all of it? Z690 motherboards present simply that. CPU and reminiscence overclocking, loads of further PCIe 4.0 and 3.0 lanes, blistering-fast USB ports—mobos with this chipset supply the final word flexibility for PC builds.

This motherboard sort is required for anybody who needs to do CPU overclocking: Z690 boards are the one ones that enable customers to overclock an Alder Lake processor. You’re restricted to only reminiscence overclocking with the opposite motherboard chipsets.

For anybody with a locked processor, Z690 motherboards finest swimsuit individuals who can (and can) make use of the numerous PCIe 4 and PCIe 3 lanes accessible. Think NVMe drives and growth playing cards—any scenario the place quick storage and specialised features are wanted, like skilled video manufacturing or streaming. That consists of conditions the place PCIe RAID 0, 1, or 5 setups are needed. In whole, you get 12 PCI 4.0 lanes and 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes.

As for I/O ports and slower storage, Z690 offers as much as 14 USB ports, 4 of which might be USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps), and eight SATA 3.0 ports. You can do RAID 0, 1, or 5 setups with SATA storage, simply as with PCIe storage. Communication between your USB equipment and SATA drives and your CPU goes over eight DMI 4.0 lanes, that are twice as quick because the earlier technology and newly launched in these 600-series motherboards.

H670: The inexpensive choose for fans

ASRock

• Ideal for: Gamers, content material creators, and information hoarders on a finances
• Best with: Core i9 and Core i7 processors
• Price vary: $140 to $230

Not everybody can afford a Z690 motherboard—a lot much less needs all these bells and whistles. (Why pay for what you received’t use, in spite of everything?) Stepping all the way down to a mobo with the H670 chipset largely offers you lots of the options sought by content material creators and players, whereas pulling again on those who solely a handful want. Given the excessive worth on Z690 boards, many builders will discover H670 or B660 boards a greater match for his or her wants and budgets. While the lowest-cost boards begin round $200, the bulk at the moment are available in between $230 to $330. The the rest hit even increased costs.

Like Z690, H670 helps as much as 12 PCI 4.0 lanes, eight SATA 3.0 ports, and RAID 0, 1, 5 for each PCIe and SATA drives. That means you’ll be able to join loads of growth playing cards and storage to a H670 motherboard. Same too for USB equipment: H670 additionally caps out at a most of 14 USB ports.

Also simply as with Z690, you additionally get eight DMI 4.0 lanes that every present 16GT/s, or twice the pace of DMI 3.0. Or in different phrases, H670 gives the identical bandwidth for information despatched to and from the SATA drives and the I/O ports.

Where you begin to see cuts is help for overclocking—with Z690 is barely sort of motherboard that help CPU overclocking. H670 solely permits reminiscence overclocking. You additionally get simply two ultra-fast USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps) ports, in comparison with Z690’s 4. And the variety of PCIe 3.0 lanes drops to 12, or 4 lower than Z690.

For most builders, the choice will sometimes fall between a H670 or a B660 board. H670 cuts corners in a far much less tangible means, so it higher fits higher-end builds. You get loads of cutting-edge tech with out paying dearly for them.

B660: The inexpensive choose for fans

Asus

• Ideal for: Moderate and finances gaming PCs
• Best with: Core i5 and Core i3 processors
• Price vary: $95 to $240

Dropping all the way down to a B660 motherboard from H670 brings a tangible change in accessible options. Some get paired again, whereas others disappear. Even the quantity of bandwidth shrinks for information going between your CPU and your I/O ports or slower storage.

But as dangerous as which may sound, for a lot of PC builders, B660 continues to be a sound selection. It simply doesn’t complement the variety of PCIe 5.0 and 4.0 lanes offered by your Alder Lake CPU as a lot as motherboards with dearer chipsets. Accordingly, it’s extra of a finances selection for gaming builds.

So what do you get? Memory overclocking stays on the desk, for starters. The most important cuts are to the variety of PCIe and SATA ports. B660 gives as much as six PCIe 4.0 lanes, eight PCIe 3.0 lanes, and 4 SATA 3.0 ports, that means you’ll be able to’t add as many growth playing cards or storage drives to your PC as with a H670 or Z690 board. You’re additionally restricted to a slower RAID setup, as RAID 0, 1, and 5 are solely supported for SATA drives.

Intel doesn’t trim as a lot in terms of variety of USB ports—you stand up to 12, or two fewer than the dearer 600-series motherboards. Like H670, two might be blistering-fast USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps). The major distinction between B660 and H670 is the variety of DMI 4.0 lanes that hyperlink your CPU to these I/O ports and any SATA drives. You get simply 4, or half as many as H670.

These sound like deep sacrifices, however in actuality, most gaming builds don’t find yourself utilizing tons of PCIe lanes nor saturating DMI lanes. The majority of such PCs have a GPU, an M.2 drive for quick storage, maybe one other SATA drive or two for giant information, and a handful of USB equipment. If you don’t assume you’ll ever broadly broaden past that, this board ought to comfortably final the lifetime of the PC.

H610: The inexpensive choose for fans

Asus

• Ideal for: Office PCs, ultra-budget gaming PCs
• Best with: Core i3 processors
• Price vary: $100 to $120*
  (*H610 boards are solely simply beginning to roll out, so a wider vary of costs ought to later emerge.)

Budget builders might imagine that H610 is the plain selection for them—and that’s true, in case you’re constructing a modest PC for workplace work. But players with little spare money ought to totally know the constraints of motherboards with this chipset, as it will probably constrain future upgrades.

The largest of these restrictions is not any help for reminiscence overclocking. Chances of seeing DDR5 H610 boards are very low, so which means you’re caught with DDR4-3200 as your most pace. These mobos are restricted to only two slots for RAM as effectively.

H610 motherboards additionally don’t supply any further PCI 4.0 lanes, and the quantity of PCIe 3.0 lanes dwindles to eight. You do get 4 SATA 3.0 ports although, the identical as with B660. As for USB ports, the utmost quantity is 10, with a cap of simply two USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 (10Gbps) because the quickest accessible.

Overall, you need to have sufficient quicker PCIe lanes to nonetheless run a contemporary GPU and PCIe-NVMe M.2 drive, due to the Alder Lake CPU that’ll go into this motherboard. And there are nonetheless sufficient PCIe 3.0 lanes for growth playing cards like Wi-Fi adapters.

But you’re largely caught in place with regard to later upgrades. H610 boards aren’t implementing Alder Lake’s PCIe 5.0 lanes, however moderately stepping them all the way down to PCI 4.0—and the low price of those boards means you received’t see PCIe 5.0 variations any time quickly (if ever). In mixture with the shortage of reminiscence overclocking and fewer DIMM slots, you’ll be able to’t squeeze additional life out of this construct with minor upgrades to storage and RAM within the far distant future.

So in case you assume you’ll be able to fortunately chug together with an H610 system as it’s right this moment, then it may be a positive selection. Just ensure of that earlier than deciding on this chipset.