Z690 and B660 chipsets reportedly being phased out by Intel

The Z690 came out in November 2021, and B660 in January 2022. They were faring well in the market. However, they have improved to the 700 series now.

According to a report, partners were reported by Intel that the company is discontinuing the Z690 and B660 chipsets. They will focus on the newer Z790 and B760 chipsets. As per the reports, the chipsets will come to the end of life as soon as this quarter.

The cause for the switch can be attributed to the greater availability of Gen4 lanes which is 20 in the Z790, at the cost of Gen3 lanes being brought down from 16 to 8. These are majorly cosmetic differences, and they do not make much of a difference.

The Z690 and B660 offer adequate architecture for high performance and prevent overheating with exceptional heat dissipation. Coupled with PCIe 5.0 and Wi-Fi 6e, and 2.5Gb Ethernet, it ensures that the board is adequate for anything from gaming to 4K video streaming.

With no competition from AMD along with a very underwhelming A620 AM5 chipset launch, Intel has no plans to phase out its entry-level H610 chipset yet.

Intel has yet to update its product notification website for the given products. However, the three motherboard vendors confirmed that the last time to buy these motherboards would be around March 2023.

Motherboard vendors would look to continue selling the Z690/B660 with DDR4 mainstream models, having better sell-in-value. This would come with a DDR5 migration to the newer Z790 & B760.

Although Intel might continue to ship them with their pre-build PCs, the official announcement could be expected soon. The extended and better deals in the retail segment would also indicate that they’re reaching EOL.

About Intel

Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley. It is the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturer on the basis of revenue, and is the developer of the x86 series of microprocessors – the processors found in most personal computers (PCs).

Incorporated in Delaware, Intel ranked No. 46 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.