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.