IS WI-FI 6E WORTH
IT FOR GAMERS?Wi-Fi 6E is the latest wireless technology on
PC. It takes the benefits of WiFi 6, which
include higher data rates, capacity,
multi-device performance, and power
efficiency; and adds support for the 6GHz
frequency. That extends opens up whole
new channels for high-speed
communication for your PC and games.
So in a way, yes, Wi-Fi 6E is immediately
worth it for gamers. That’s especially true if
you’re in a congested networking area
where a whole other frequency could work
wonders for connection speed and stability.
The good news is that Intel is integrating
Wi-Fi 6E support directly into its 12th Gen
platform, though there are a few catches if
you want to make the most of Wi-Fi 6E.
For starters, Intel including Wi-Fi 6E
support doesn’t mean you’ll find Wi-Fi 6E on
every compatible motherboard. You will
also need to ensure your router is also
compatible with Wi-Fi 6E to use it, so think
about your entire wireless ecosystem
before you let Wi-Fi 6E support influence
your decision.
Gaming tests are run at 1080p at
medium to high settings to remove any
bottlenecks caused by graphics card
performance. When relevant, both single-
and dual-graphics card configurations are
tested to ensure motherboard stability in
SLI and Crossfire situations.
64 5B660M DS3H AX DDR4
GIGABYTE £119
Real basic board for the low end
B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4
MSI £170
Affordable board with high-end performance
There are Z690
motherboards around
the £200 mark, but they
are few and far between and
pretty damned sparse in terms of
features. But this MSI B660M –
the M stands for Micro ATX
because it’s a little mobo – is able
to deliver the same stock
performance from a top-end
Core i9 12900K CPU and comes
with a healthy feature set, too.
It’s a DDR4 board as well,
which means you don’t have to
spend big on the unreasonably
pricey and hard-to-find DDR5
modules. Just grab a low latency
DDR4 kit at 3,200MHz or above
and you’ll be laughing. You also
get Wi-Fi 6, so you get the
wireless speed without the
premium price of the only slightly
quicker Wi-Fi 6E. This board is
capable of keeping up with a Core
i9 chip which means i5 CPUs are
going to be a perfect match.
There’s no overclocking here, so
you’re not going to be getting
5GHz+ out of your Core i5 12400,
but it will be a great platform for
an affordable new gaming rig.There are always limits
when it comes to
budget boards, and
more so with cheaper versions of
a budget chipset. But, while the
Gigabyte board is most definitely
basic, it has at least tried to
ensure the necessary features
are present and correct. The
mATX form factor means this
wee board doesn’t have space for
more PCIe slots, and you only get
two M.2 ports for SSDs, but that’s
OK in a mainstream gaming PC.
You also get Intel’s Wi-Fi 6
wireless tech, which is plenty fast,
along with a pretty standard
2.5Gbps LAN connection. Moreof a concern is the paucity of USB
ports on the back panel, and even
in the internal headers. That and
the ultra basic BIOS menu, which
I found a nightmare to access.
Though this is not a board you
can pair with an i9 for serious
multi-threading tasks – its VRMs
don’t have the goods to give it the
juice needed for long term
performance – for games, it’s not
an issue, and will happily keep
your GPU fed no matter what it is.SPECS SOCKET: INTEL LGA 1700 / FORM FACTOR: MICRO AT X / STORAGE: 2X M.2; 6X SATA / USB: UP TO 2X USB 3.2 GEN2
TYPE-C; 3X USB 3.2 GEN2; 2X USB 3.2 GEN1; UP TO 8X USB 2.0 / VIDEO OUT: 1X HDMI 2.1; 1X DP 1.4 / NETWORKING: INTEL
WI-FI 6; REALTEK 2.5G LAN / AUDIO: REALTEK ALC1200 7.1 CHANNEL HD AUDIO
SPECS SOCKET: INTEL LGA 1700 / FORM FACTOR: MICRO AT X / STORAGE: 2X M.2; 4X SATA / USB: 1X USB 3.2 GEN2
TYPE-C; 5X USB 3.2 GEN1 TYPE-A, 6X USB 2.0 TYPE A / VIDEO OUT: 1X HDMI, 2X DP 1.4 / NETWORKING: INTEL WI-FI 6;
REALTEK 2.5G LAN / AUDIO: REALTEK 7.1 CHANNEL HD AUDIO5
Can tame a stock i9 12900K
Cheap DDR4 support
Decent USB complementVERDICT
Affordable price
DDR4 support
Limited USBVERDICT6
Group Test
HARDWARE