Alright folks, we have the TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 in for a review. This is an Intel B660 chipset based motherboard with a retail price of ₱11, 730 PHP.
For its price price point, what you’ll get is a Micro-ATX motherboard with full-size features. Notables are the 10+1 DrMOS Power Stages, its PCIe 5.0 support, dual PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, Intel Wi-Fi 6, Realtek 2.5Gb Ethernet and more. Memory interface is still DDR4 yet with a maximum clock speed support at 5333 MHz.
Disclosure: ASUS sent the TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 for the purpose of this review. The brand did not ask me to say anything particular about it.
- Product Page: ASUS TUF GAMING B660M-PLUS WIFI D4 Motherboard
- Price: $169.99 USD (Amazon) / ₱11, 730 PHP (PCHub)
- Release Date: Q1 2022
Technical Specifications
| Processor | |
|---|---|
| CPU Support | Intel 12th Generation Core Processors |
| Chipset | Intel B660 |
| Socket | LGA 1700 |
| Memory | |
| SDRAM | DDR4 (Non-ECC) |
| Slot | 4x LO-DIMM |
| Channel | Dual Channel |
| Frequency | 5333 MHz (max) |
| Capacity | 128 GB (max) |
| Graphics | |
| GPU | Intel Xe, UHD (Integrated) |
| Multi-GPU | — |
| Expansion | |
| PCI Express | 1X PCIe 5.0 x16, 1x PCIe 4.0 x1, 1x PCIe 3.0 x4 |
| Bifurcation | — |
| Storage | |
| SATA | 4x SATA III |
| M.2 | 2x PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| RAID | RAID 0/1/5/10 (SATA) |
| Network | |
| LAN | Realtek 2.5 GbE |
| WLAN | Intel Wi-Fi 6 |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth v5.2 |
| Audio | |
| DAC | Realtek |
| ADC | Realtek |
| Amplifier | — |
| Channel | 7.1 |
| Rear IO | |
| USB | 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, 4x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 2x USB 2.0 |
| eSATA | — |
| Thunderbolt | — |
| LAN | RJ-45 |
| Audio | 5x 3.5 mm, S/PDIF |
| Display | DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.1 |
| Front IO / Internal | |
| USB | 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 2x USB 2.0 |
| Audio | AAFP |
| Fan | 6x 4-Pin |
| LED | 4-Pin RGB, 3x 3-Pin RGB |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 244 mm |
| Width | 244 mm |
| Height | 45 mm |
| Weight | 950 g |
Packaging and Accessories
ASUS had the TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 packed inside a simple motherboard packaging.
The packaging should come with the following items inside:
- ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 Motherboard
- 2x SATA III cable
- ASUS Wi-Fi moving antenna
- M.2 Rubber Package
- M.2 SSD screw package
- TUF Gaming sticker
- Support DVD
- TUF Certification card
- User guide
Decent bundle of accessories we got here.
Design, Build and Connectivity
The ASUS B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 is a Micro-ATX motherboard with huge heatsinks for its power delivery along with a rather tight memory slot clearance – like Mini-ITX tight. This model also comes with the LGA 1700 mounting holes alone. None of the backward compatible hybrids like the one found on this motherboard.
I couldn’t find any fault at the back – like many ASUS motherboards before it. We have a surface mounted PCIe 5.0 x16 slot here along with the PCIe 4.0 x1 and PCIe 3.0 x4 slots.
Up top are a combination of 4 and 8-pin CPU power connectors, 3x 4-pin PWM fan headers and 2x 3-pin LED headers.
Internal storage ports are plenty enough. We have two SATA headers here, a USB 3.0 header, a USB 3.2 header and of course the 24-pin power connector.
Usual assortments down below with yet another set of the remaining SATA, fan and LED headers. We also have a Thunderbolt header here.
Rear I/O port selection is just shy of excellence. We have eight USB ports around this area, two display ports, SMA connectors for the WI-Fi 6 adapter and the usual suspects.
Build and layout are quite nice – although there are things to consider around the CPU socket area. This includes the possible clearance issues and the omitted support for the LGA 1200/115X coolers.
Firmware Interface
ASUS had the TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 configured with their UEFI BIOS Utility. It comes with EZ Mode and Advanced Mode like most motherboard vendors nowadays.
Ai Tweaker is where you could play with the CPU and memory settings. Like the other brands, ASUS also had their own power limit option here to toggle between Intel and their own. Only memory overlocking is possible here but you could still adjust voltage and current related settings for both the CPU and of course memory.
Advanced is where the chipset or PCH options could be adjusted. This is where you could setup the TPM, enable Re-Size BAR support, access the storage options and the likes.
Hardware monitor comes with the usual thermal sensors, fan speed sensors and voltage sensors.
Tools is where you could securely erase storage and flash your BIOS. Handy features to setup your system for a clean installation.
Last but not the least we have a screenshot of the Q-Fan Control. Five fans could be configured here each on their own. Sadly, we cannot manually setup the minimum and maximum fan speeds to our desired level.
Nothing to complain here other than the Armoury Crate pop-up even if it is disabled via BIOS. Please fix this ASUS.
Test Setup and Methodology
Our test setup relies on the measurements taken from industry standard benchmark tools and real-world applications. It is important to note that we are testing the review sample after burn-in, with at least 24-hours of uptime. This is done so to negate the FOTB (fresh out the box) state of the DUT (device under test), yielding better benchmarking consistency.
| Test System Specifications | |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i9-12900K |
| Motherboard | ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 |
| Cooler | Noctua NH-U12S Redux |
| Memory | ADATA Premier 2666MHz 16 GB |
| GPU | GALAX RTX 2060 EX White 6 GB |
| Storage | Kingston FURY Renegade 2 TB |
| Case | Mechanical Library JXK-K2 |
| PSU | Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 850 W |
| Display | LG UF680T |
| OS | Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit |
The DUT is tested with the following configuration from our test system:
- UEFI configuration: Default
- Windows Power Plan: Balanced
Arithmetic
Pi calculation time is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via SuperPI.
Roots calculation time is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via WPrime.
The ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 with the Intel Core i9-12900K is the fastest board we have tested on wPrime.
3D Rendering
Cinema 4D score is measured in Points (pts). This is done via Cinebench R20.
V-Ray 5 score is measured in V-Ray samples (vsamples). This is done via V-Ray 5 Benchmark.
Pretty good performance output we got here from the ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 even with the DDR4-2666 memory.
Digital Content Creation
Image editing speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via RealBench and its built-in GIMP benchmark.
Video encoding speed is measured in Seconds (s).This is done via RealBench and its built-in HandBrake benchmark.
Yet another solid performance from the ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4. This DDR4 model even bested the other motherboards I’ve tested prior. With this trend in performance, it could be due to the recent updates made since the launch of Intel’s 12th generation processors.
Web Browsing
Web browsing speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via PCMark 10 and its built-in Chromium benchmark.
Web browsing speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via PCMark 10 and its built-in Firefox benchmark.
Pretty good performance output we got here.
Office Productivity
Productivity speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via PCMark 10 and its built-in LibreOffice Writer benchmark.
Productivity speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via PCMark 10 and its built-in LibreOffice Calc benchmark.
Same thing could be said for the office productivity benchmarks.
Compression
Compression speed is measured in Kilobytes per Second (KB/s). This is done via WinRAR and its built-in benchmark.
Instruction speed is measured in Giga-Instructions per Second (GIPS). This is done via 7-Zip and its built-in benchmark.
Now at the compression benchmark, this is where the DDR4 equipped ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 stumbled. These are memory intensive benchmarks so it is fitting into the DDR4 vs DDR5 narrative.
Gaming
Frame rate is measured in Frames per Second (FPS). This is done via Final Fantasy XVI: Endwalker and its official benchmark.
Frame rate is measured in Frames per Second (FPS). This is done via Sid Meier’s Civilization VI and its built-in benchmark.
Gaming performance is essentially similar to the Z690 models tested.
POST Speed
Time to finish POST is measured in Seconds (s) at warm and cold boot. This is done via Windows Task Manager and its Last BIOS Time feature.
POST speed is the fastest so far among all motherboards tested.
DPC Latency
Kernel timer latency is measured in Microseconds (μs). This is done via LatencyMon.
DPC latency is within the middle of the bunch.
Memory Latency
Memory latency is measured in Nanoseconds (ns). This is done via AIDA64 Extreme and its Cache and Memory Benchmark.
Memory latency is decent – not much different compared to the Z690 motherboards.
Storage Performance
Storage throughput is measured in Megabytes per second (MB/s) at read and write. This is done via CrystalDiskMark and its sequential benchmark.
Pretty good NVMe storage performance we got here from ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4.
Audio Performance
THD + Noise is measured in Decibels (dBA). This is done via the RightMark Audio Analyzer and its Test Report.
Audio performance, like many motherboards nowadays is lacking. Power handling is mediocre too, since it cannot deliver at least 20 mW for my Sennheiser HD600.
Network Performance
Network throughput is measured in Megabits per second (Mbps) at download and upload. This is done via LAN Tester.
Wired networking performance is a-okay.
Thermals
VRM temperature is measured in degree Celcius (ºC) at system idle and load. This is done via AIDA64 Extreme and its System Stability Test.
The ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 has the hottest VRM out of the bunch. It is not alarmingly hot.
Power Consumption
System power consumption is measured in Watts (W) at system idle and load. This is done via AIDA64 Extreme and its System Stability Test.
Now power consumption is decent. Just a tad higher compared to the Mini-ITX motherboard we got.
Features
ASUS had the TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 bundled with the Armoury Crate. I’m not going to dive deep into it since its a pretty much beaten to death feature of ASUS motherboards.
Other than its obvious PCIe 5.0 support, the B660M-Plus comes with Dual PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots with a flexible/interchangeable heatsink. It also comes with Intel’s Wi-Fi 6 module, a Realtek 2.5Gb Ethernet, rear USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port, a front USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C header, ASUS Aura Sync and Two-way AI Noise Cancelation feature for the microphone.
As a TUF GAMING Alliance motherboard, ASUS ensures its compatibility across a wide range of parts such as PC cases, power supplies, CPU coolers, memory kits and more with the same branding. You may learn more about it here.
Final Thoughts
The ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 is a good motherboard yet I have a lingering reservation as to why I cannot simply recommend it to just about anyone. Don’t get me wrong, the motherboard aced a lot of our benchmarks considering its DDR4 interface – and with a DDR4-2666 memory kit at that. There are just a few caveats to look out for.
Number one of those would be the price. This motherboard should follow the current retail price of $170 USD, but for some reason, it comes with an over $200 USD street price – locally. I could even see some stores charging up to ₱11, 730 PHP which is a shame. At that price, I also expected a meatier audio solution and backwards compatibility with the last generation coolers. The VRM is also hotter compared to other motherboards we’ve tested.
Luckily, the rest still checks out on a positive note. We have a nice bundle of accessories, good connectivity options and a UEFI that works without a hitch. I’m already recycling a lot of words here from the previous reviews and with that said, I could only see this motherboard as a winner under $200 USD. Still a certified product though at its designated price point of $170 USD.
ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 Motherboard
Summary
The ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-Plus Wi-Fi D4 Motherboard is a rock solid DDR4 platform for the LGA 1700 based microprocessors at $170 USD. Past that, you’d have to look somewhere else.
