MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi DDR4

amazon MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi DDR4 reviews

It is a fact that when Intel launched the 12th generation Core series processors with the Z690 chipset model with impressive power, superior to the AMD Ryzen 5000 Series models launched in the past, users also realized another rather tiring problem, that the recently launched Z690 motherboards also have a higher price than previous Z590 versions.

The reasons are many, including the shortage of semiconductors causing the price of basic components to be more or less inflated, the amount of power supply phase also needs to be upgraded, along with heat dissipation solutions, not to mention new technologies such as PCIe 5.0 or DDR5 memory slots are too new and too expensive… So mid-range users with tight budgets are not in a hurry to “spend” right away but expect more from the motherboard versions that have a more reasonable price.

So to please users of this segment, at the last CES 2022 event, Intel launched a series of three new chipsets, the most notable of which is the mid-range B660 chipset series with many advanced and attractive technologies.

At the same time, MSI is also one of the first to bring motherboards using the B660 chipset to Asia with the MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi DDR4 version.

So is this mid-range B660 series motherboard enough to meet your needs?

For MSI, the MAG product line can be considered the most practical and simplest product line for mid-range users or gamers who do not have too many advanced requirements such as overclocking, colorful lights, or new but redundant technologies… are named after “heavy weapons” such as the Tomahawk product line, the Torpedo product line, the Bazooka product line or the Mortar product line.

These motherboards are all designed to be inspired by the aggressive, steely style of weapons and of course, MSI also brings this impression to the box design of the MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi DDR4.

Overall, the box of this mid-range motherboard model is not much different when compared to the “elder” MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk Wifi DDR4 that was introduced to readers a little while ago.

Almost in addition to the name, MSI only changed the missile logo of the Tomahawk product line to the mortar shell icon of the Mortar product line.

On the back are some key technology information equipped for this motherboard model, notably in these parameters, MSI also does not announce the detailed power supply configuration of the motherboard model, and the “absence” of PCIe 5.0 technology is heavily promoted on Z690 motherboards.

Other technologies are quite similar to the Z590 series motherboards released earlier this year.

Unpacking the product, it can be seen that the MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi DDR4 motherboard model inherits the version design language using the Tomahawk Z690 chipset, but with a much more sparse number of heatsink plates.

This is understandable because this mid-range motherboard has only two M.2 slots operating in PCIe 4.0 4x configuration, instead of up to 4 slots like on Z690 series motherboards.

This also does not affect general users much because NVMe solid-state drives using the PCIe 4.0 protocol M.2 slot are still quite expensive, and not too suitable for creating large-capacity storage setups with these super-fast hard drives for mid-range gaming PCs.

Although not mentioned outside the box, the power supply system of the MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi DDR4 is designed according to Duet Rail standards with a 12+1+1 configuration with two 8-pin power supplies for the CPU.

This power supply configuration is not as powerful as on the Z690 motherboard models, but can still “carry” the Core i7 12700 and Core i7 12700F series processors operating in default mode, without overclocking.

In general, this is also a pretty strong power supply configuration on previous generation motherboards, so MSI also equips this area with a series of large-sized heatsinks, helping to dissipate heat electricity efficiently.

As mentioned above, the main 16x PCIe slot of the motherboard is not equipped with the PCIe 5.0 standard but is still only PCIe 4.0.

This slot is also armored and reinforced welded to withstand the Gaming X Trio series full-size video cards with possibly the largest heatsink on the market today.

The lack of support for the advanced PCIe 5.0 connection standard sounds a bit lacking in “fashion”, but this does not cause any effect on users because there is almost no sign of anything on the market any graphics card model that supports this super-fast connection standard.

Not to mention that even today’s top graphics cards like the RTX 3080 still haven’t fully exploited the bandwidth of the 16x PCIe 3.0 slots, let alone the advanced PCIe 4.0 standard equipped on this mid-range motherboard model.

In terms of memory slots, the MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi DDR4 is equipped with four standard DDR4 memory slots only.

In terms of DDR5 memory, it achieves extremely important strides such as speed pushed to a high 6400MHz, twice as much as today’s standard DDR4 3200 memory sticks, but accompanied by high memory latency, partly affecting the ability to “battle the game”.

This makes games that do not get the benefits of increased memory speed and are not worth the money that users spend.

That’s why a lot of gamers still believe that DDR4 RAM pairs with better quality are “upgrading” to the new generation of DDR5 at a price that is still expensive while the performance is not convincing.

However, if you are a user who needs a high-speed, broadband memory system for professional work, you can choose a motherboard version that supports the DDR5 memory standard to be able to speed up your work.

The two M.2 slots on the MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi DDR4 are designed quite standardly like the vast majority of MSI’s older generation motherboards with a structure that uses screws and Shield Frozr heatsinks for one side instead of equipped screwed EZ M.2 Clip as on Z690 series motherboards.

All M.2 slots are integrated with Shield Frozr heatsink on one side to help reduce the operating temperature of the hard drive, thereby avoiding speed degradation when operating for a long time.

In terms of connectivity, this motherboard model also owns 3 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports with 10Gbps transfer speed and one USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type C port with super fast transfer speeds, up to 20Gbps, enough for the current and future usage, including high demand users.

Besides, there are network connections such as 2.5G super-fast LAN or advanced Wifi-6E instead of Wifi-6 like on other B660 series motherboards, giving users fast and stable speed.

Overall, the MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi DDR4 is a mid-range version of the motherboard with a significant reduction in today’s leading advanced technologies and designs but does not affect the overall performance of the motherboard series of motherboards with intermediate users.

As a result, mid-range and ordinary users with a budget that is not too “much” can access the new 12th generation Intel Core processors and exploit the power of these processors to serve your work and gaming needs.

where can you get a MSI MAG B660M Mortar Wifi DDR4 online

MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 Gaming Motherboard (mATX, 12th Gen Intel Core, LGA 1700 Socket, DDR4, PCIe 4, 2.5G LAN, M.2 Slots, Wi-Fi 6): Buy it now