Motherboards that leverage Intel’s older Z690 and B660 chipsets may soon be harder to find. According to a new report from MyDrivers, Intel has decided to discontinue its Z690 and B660 chipsets, which the company launched in Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, respectively, to complement its 12th Gen Intel Core “Alder Lake” processors. The obvious alternatives would include the newer Z790 chipset aimed at 13th Gen Intel Core “Raptor Lake” CPUs, which launched in Q4 2022 with at least one major benefit in the form of increased chipset PCIe 4.0 lanes versus its predecessors.
Intel Chipset Comparison
| Intel 600-Series Chipset* | NEW Intel Z790 Chipset* | |
|---|---|---|
| High Speed I/O Lanes & Port Flexibility | Up to 38 lanes | Up to 38 lanes |
| Chipset PCle Express**** 3.0 Lanes | Up to 16 | Up to 8 |
| Chipset PCle Express**** 4.0 Lanes | Up to 12 | Up to 20 |
| Processor PCle Express**** 4.0 Lanes | 4 | 4 |
| Processor PCle Express**** 5.0 Lanes | 16 | 16 |
| Processor PCle Lane Configuration Support | 1×16+1×4 or 2×8+1×4 | 1×16+1×4 or 2×8+1×4 |
| DMI | x8 Gen4 | x8 Gen4 |
| USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 (5G) Ports | Up to 10 | Up to 10 |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2xl (10G) Ports | Up to 10 | Up to 10 |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20G) Ports** | Up to 4 | Up to 5 |
| Integrated Sensor Hub | 5.4 | 5.4 |
| USB Audio Offload | Yes | Yes |
| Volume Management Device (Intel VMD)*** | Yes | Yes |
From a MyDrivers report (machine translation):
The news from the channel shows that Intel recently issued a notice that the Z690 and B660 chipsets are officially discontinued. The next step is for motherboard manufacturers to digest their inventory and replace them with a new generation of Z790 and B760.
The Z690 chipset will debut at the end of October 2021 with the 12th generation Core processor, less than a year and a half away. The B660 was only launched in January 2022, and it has been just over a year now. It’s a bit of a surprise that both chipsets have been discontinued so soon, but it makes sense.
At the same time, the entry-level H610 chipset will exist for a long time, just like the H61, H510 and other products with similar positioning.
Discussion (11 replies)
Join Discussion →For those wondering, the 'functional' differences between the two are basically nil. You'll have to get deep into the specs of each to find the deltas, which aren't likely to make a noticeable difference in use.
The 600-series boards are likely to be better deals, and the 700-series boards are likely to actually enable higher DDR5 speeds, when paired with faster kits and 13th-gen CPUs.
Nothing new about this from Intel, i remember a big hubhub about the quick changes again some years back. Its how it is with Intel, you chipset may or may not be a dead end. Doesn't seem to be that big of a deal with most.
It really isn't anymore IMO. The way everyone is pumping out new hardware these days is way faster than I have ever seen since I joined this hobby. People keep complementing AMD just because they can squeeze out a few more processors out of a chipset is fine, but nothing lasts forever.
I decided to stick with Z690 just because the jump to Z790 wasn't worth it to me based on what I've seen. You can get some nice deals on higher end Z690 motherboards which to me would be the way to go right now.
Intel has been trending two CPU generations per socket / set of compatible chipsets for at least a decade now. I'd say that it's only a big deal if you don't realize that's what they do, and mistakenly buy in to an outgoing platform expecting to be able to upgrade the CPU. 13th-gen / Z790 / LG1700 is now the outgoing platform.
This would make AMDs newly-introduced AM5 a better buy for longevity, but given the costs associated with the AM5 / Zen4 platform, it may not be a 'good buy' for everyone. We also don't know what limitations may crop up with B650 / X670 boards and future CPU releases, making it impossible to predict which boards will fully support AM5 CPUs from three or four generations into the future. I will say that the release AM5 boards do look infinitely more capable than the release X370 boards did, and AMD has had quite a lot of time to iron out the myriad of issues that cropped up with the introduction of the Ryzen platform.
I did move to Alder Lake with Z690 before AM5 / Zen 4 were announced, and since that platform is older, you really can get some decent deals. Though if willing to use a dead platform, depending on what you're after, I wouldn't discount Zen 3 on AM4 either; the 5700G, 5800X3D, and 5950X all represent relative bargains in their respective segments too.
I was thinking of maybe going for AM5 with the new 3D CPU's until I started realising that most mobo's might not support those out of the box and would need a bios update for which I wont have a CPU to do so.
Supporting something for a long time is great, getting those to work together is not always easy if you come in fresh, that's why AMD had to lend CPU's for people to be able to update their BIOS.
Exactly.
Well, you'll want to wait for reviews of course - but AMD has pushed BIOS flashback to the point that it's a near universal feature.
Granted that's basically what I would do today for a pure gaming rig if I had the budget. Though for you, I have to wonder which system in your sig needs an update...?
I'm always looking for upgrades, needing them is not always the case, but since I'm gaming on a 3440*1440p 144hz I can still use better performance, though this would be mostly a better GPU but with current pricing that's not happening.
It virtually had to. AMD sticking with a socket for multiple generations of motherboards and CPU's causes a lot of headaches for system builders and enthusiasts.
After I put my 3080 under water, the GPU 'upgrade bug' calmed down quite a bit. It's no longer just about GPU pricing, but also logistics - getting a GPU block is an ordeal in and of itself sometimes. And then you have to do the whole upgrade dance.
I hear that. I'd need a water block to go with an RTX 4090. I'll probably still do it, but it definitely increases the price of the upgrade and makes me hesitate a lot more than I used to.