With graphics cards now cooling down and priced reasonably, this is the perfect time to build a gaming PC for entertainment. Of course, it comes with a suitable motherboard, a powerful processor, and a fast SSD to meet all needs.
The ASRock B660M Steel Legend stands out as an ideal motherboard for building a computer with the latest 12th generation Intel processors, from Core i7 and below.
The packaging of the ASRock B660M Steel Legend is simple, without anything special, accompanied by just the right amount of accessories commonly found in mid-range motherboards. We will have SATA cables, a manual, a driver disc, screws for the M.2 SSD, and a backplate.
The design of the ASRock B660M Steel Legend features the signature look of the Steel Legend series with black and white tones and a camo pattern that gives a robust feel. The motherboard is mATX sized, suitable for small to medium builds.
The standout feature of this product is the sleek VRM heatsink cluster, prominently colored in silver-white with the Steel Legend “S” logo. Additionally, there is a heatsink for the M.2 SSD, ensuring high speeds without overheating.
The VRM of the ASRock B660M Steel Legend is well-equipped to handle even the 12th generation Core i7 CPUs. The temperature management of the power delivery system is also well addressed by the manufacturer, ensuring it does not overheat even when running powerful processors.
Mid-range builds optimized for performance/price will certainly prefer to use DDR4 RAM, which is cheaper than DDR5, although the latter offers higher performance but at a much higher price. Therefore, ASRock equips this motherboard with 4 DDR4 slots (5000MHz OC). The priority is to invest more in graphics cards, processors, or SSDs for a better gaming experience.
On the side, this motherboard supports both high-speed USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A and Type C outputs to the front, comparable to higher-end motherboards.
Moving down, the ASRock B660M Steel Legend provides us with 2 high-speed M.2 slots supporting large bandwidth PCIe Gen4 x4 connectivity. It also includes an M.2 key E WiFi slot if gamers prefer to switch to a wireless connection for less clutter. Of course, the most notable point for gamers remains the metal-covered PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, which is well-suited for the best graphics cards currently available.
Additionally, this motherboard still has plenty of SATA ports to add HDDs for data storage. In terms of audio, we have the ALC897 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec, Nahimic Audio, providing very good sound quality for gamers.
Finally, there are all the necessary ports for connecting peripheral devices such as mouse, keyboard, LAN, audio… it’s a bit disappointing that there is no trendy USB Type C port. If you don’t have the budget for a dedicated graphics card, the integrated graphics from the CPU still has DP and HDMI outputs available.
In conclusion, with a retail price of under 4 million VND, the ASRock B660M Steel Legend is definitely a hot item for gamers looking to build a gaming PC with high performance at a reasonable cost. Simply because it can handle Intel Core i7 12700K and newer graphics cards well, along with a high-speed Gen 4 M.2 SSD slot and all the essential “gaming” features.