Z690, H670, B660, and H610 chipsets all support PCIe 5.0 channels from Alder Lake processors, but due to cost and positioning, I believe manufacturers will not provide them on all 600 series chipset motherboards. For the Z690 and H670 chipsets, the motherboard may have one or two PCIe 5.0 expansion slots, a single slot runs at PCIe 5.0 x16 speed, and a dual-slot is split into two PCIe 5.0 x8. In the case of B660 and H610 chipsets, only one PCIe 5.0 expansion slot. In addition, the Alder Lake processor can provide PCIe 4.0 x4 channels for the M.2 slot, but the H610 chipset will lack this feature.
On the 600 series chipset, Intel has increased the throughput from the chipset to the CPU through DMI Gen 4.0, doubling the previous. But not all 600 series chipsets are like this. The Z690 and H670 chipsets are indeed improved from DMI Gen 3.0 x8 to DMI Gen 4.0 x8. However, the B660 and H610 chipsets are still limited to DMI Gen 4.0 x4, which will affect users who need more extended functions.
The Z690 chipset provides 12 PCIe 4.0 channels and 16 PCIe 3.0 channels, the H670 chipset is 12+12; the B660 chipset is 6+8, the H610 chipset has only 8 PCIe 3.0 channels. The specific configuration depends on the manufacturer’s situation. In addition, the Z690 chipset provides four USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C ports (20 Gbps), ten USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (10 Gbps), ten USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports (5 Gbps) and fourteen USB 2.0 ports. The Intel H670, B660, and H610 chipsets will be reduced accordingly, and the H610 chipset does not even have a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port.
The Z690 and H670 chipsets support up to eight SATA III ports, while the B660 and H610 chipsets have four.
Unless the user needs to access a lot of storage devices, or plan to build a RAID array, normally four SATA III ports are enough to meet the demand
Generally speaking, Intel’s 600 series chipset has a richer mix and choice, and many new features have been added, and the functions have become richer and more powerful than before. Manufacturers can flexibly provide suitable products for different user groups according to product positioning. With the launch of various 600 series motherboards, the 12th-generation Core series desktop processors will also become popular faster.