Videocardz shared a publish earlier this morning displaying leaked photos of MSI’s upcoming B760 Tomahawk motherboard. That is the primary motherboard we have seen up to now packing Intel’s yet-to-be-announced B760 chipset. The motherboard vastly resembles its B660 predecessor, that includes the identical ATX type issue, and design language. The motherboard additionally seems to share the identical quantity of storage choices and PCIe slots as its predecessor, confirming earlier rumors that B760 will not be a large improve over B660.
This MSI motherboard, together with different B760 fashions from different distributors, needs to be launched someday in early 2023, after Intel formally proclaims its B760 chipset, seemingly at CES which begins on January fifth.
Intel launched the higher-end Z790 chipset alongside three totally unlocked processors when its thirteenth Technology Raptor Lake CPUs launched just a few months in the past. Intel determined to carry again the discharge of its non-overclockable 65W CPUs, and its lower-end 700 sequence chipsets till subsequent yr.
However through the launch Intel let slip SATA, USB and PCIe specs for all 700 sequence chipsets, giving us a good suggestion of B760’s capabilities. The chipset won’t be a big improve over B660 in any form or type. The one noteworthy improve is a change of PCIe revisions from Gen 3 to Gen 4 on a number of the chipset lanes. So you will get some extra bandwidth for add-in playing cards and quick storage in comparison with B660.
Videocardz’ photos show this reality fairly clearly, with the B760 Tomahawk. The board has a close to similar format to its predecessor, with the identical quantity of SATA ports, PCIe slots and M.2 storage options. We anticipate a few of these slots might be upgraded to Gen 4, however customers will get the identical quantity of bodily slots and connectors because the earlier era board.
Rear I/O shares the identical story, with the B760 Tomahawk having the identical quantity of USB ports, audio ports, and web connectivity choices because the B660 model. However, 4 of the Kind-A ports have been upgraded to 10Gbps, you get 20Gbps on the Kind-C port and a WiFi improve from model 6 to 6E. So a minimum of there may be an improve right here in some type. But when the value will increase fairly a bit from this gen to the final, and this board is a sign of what is to come back for B670, a number of folks constructing mainstream gaming and computing rigs are going to be higher off choosing the B660 choices so long as they’re nonetheless obtainable.
B760 Will Be Extra Costly
These minor upgrades can be effective if platform costs remained the identical, however sadly this won’t be the case. We not too long ago coated a report that expects B760 costs to leap by 10% over B660 upon launch.
We anticipate this value hike to have an effect on B760’s gross sales in a noticeably means. Most mainstream customers will hardly ever ever use the capabilities PCie Gen 4, and extremely quick USB connectivity can provide. Most of Intel’s B sequence chipset motherboards are utilized in normal client purposes that contain causal shopping, gaming, and video playback duties.
That is compounded by the actual fact Intel’s B660 chipset is already a really succesful platform for help of each twelfth Gen Alder Lake and thirteenth Gen Raptor Lake components – with the one requirement being a BIOS replace to unlock thirteenth Gen compatibility.
This could incentives patrons to return and purchase Intel’s older B660 platform which provide the identical computing expertise as its successor, save for the choose few who will truly make the most of B760’s greater bandwidth ports. Hopefully Intel’s companions can discover methods to make B760 extra aggressive, nevertheless it looks like B660 would be the finest price range possibility for each Alder Lake and Raptor Lake techniques.