Intel's B760 Motherboards For Raptor Lake Are Reportedly Getting A Chunky Price Hike Over B660
by
Zak Killian
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Tuesday, December 13, 2022, 04:15 PM EDT
If you've been eyeing up a new system based on Intel's 13th-generation Core series (codenamed 'Raptor Lake') but balking at the high prices of Z790 motherboards, don't fret—Intel may have some relief on the way. The B760 chipset is rumored to be coming along early next month, but it might not save you as much as you think—the latest leaks out of China indicate that B760 boards will be around 10% more expensive than current gen B660 models.
This news comes along courtesy of Chinese site ITHome, which in turn sourced its information from a now-deleted post on infamous leaker forum ChipHell. The site says that B760 boards will start shipping on December 20th, and that the new motherboards will become available to builders on January 5th.
A screenshot of the post in question. Image: ITHome
Intel hasn't actually announced the B760 chipset, so we don't know what the differences between it and the extant Z790 models will be. Presumably, we can expect a lack of overclocking support and reduced connectivity, particularly in terms of PCIe and faster USB options. Arguably the more interesting comparison will be between B760 and B660, as the Raptor Lake CPUs are compatible with Alder Lake's 600-series motherboards with a BIOS update. Supposedly, B760 motherboards could include an additional USB Type-C connector.
Older models will usually require a BIOS update to boot a Raptor Lake CPU, but any mainboard that supports CPU-less BIOS flashing (such as ASUS' BIOS Flashback feature) can be safely purchased for use with a Raptor Lake CPU. It seems likely that these will remain the better value until those older boards filter out of the channel. After that, as with so many other DIY PC components, it seems like we'll be facing slightly more expensive budget motherboards in the future.
