Hardware

Published on February 26th, 2025 | by James Wright

ASRock Phantom Gaming B660 Lightning WiFi (motherboard) Review

We review the new ASRock Phantom Gaming B660 Lightning WiFi motherboard that is a compelling option for both gamers and PC enthusiasts seeking a robust and feature-rich foundation for their Intel-based gaming rigs, without necessarily breaking the bank. In Australia, the ASRock Phantom Gaming B660 Lightning WiFi retails for “around” $399AUD which is a competitive price point, considering its comprehensive features and support for the latest processors.

Aesthetically, the B660 Lightning WiFi sports a visually striking design, a characteristic of the Phantom Gaming line.

The black PCB provides a sleek backdrop for the gunmetal grey heatsinks, creating a modern aesthetic that will appeal to many gamers, particularly with those with a clear side of their case. ASRock have also included Polychrome RGB headers, allowing users to personalize their setup with their own lighting solutions. This approach offers a good balance, providing a clean look out of the box while still offering customization options for those who desire them.

The layout is generally well-organized (as best you can with a motherboard), with key components strategically placed to minimize clutter and facilitate airflow.

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Further, this motherboard boasts a comprehensive set of features designed to cater to the needs of gamers and PC enthusiasts. It supports the latest Intel Core processors, ensuring compatibility with the current generation of CPUs. The power delivery system, a crucial aspect for stable performance, is robustly designed to handle the demands of these processors, even under heavy loads. This is particularly important for gamers who plan on overclocking or running demanding applications. The board features four DDR5 DIMM slots, enabling users to take advantage of the latest memory technology and achieve significantly faster speeds (up to 8933Mhz) compared to previous generations. This is a key advantage for gaming and other memory-intensive tasks.

For graphics cards, the B660 Lightning WiFi offers a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, providing ample bandwidth for the most powerful GPUs on the market. This ensures that gamers can maximize the performance of their graphics cards without being bottlenecked by the motherboard. In addition to the primary PCIe slot, the board also includes other expansion slots for additional devices, offering flexibility for expanding the system.

Storage options are also plentiful, with multiple M.2 slots for high-speed NVMe SSDs, including at one Blazing M.2 slot offering PCIe 5.0 support for the fastest drives (up to 128Gb/s bandwidth) currently available. This allows for incredibly fast boot times and game loading, a crucial factor for modern gaming. SATA ports are also included for traditional hard drives or 2.5-inch SSDs, providing options for mass storage.

Connectivity is another area where the B660 Lightning WiFi shines. It features Intel Killer E3100 2.5G LAN for wired networking, providing a high-bandwidth connection for online gaming and other network-intensive tasks. Furthermore, it includes Intel WiFi 6E for fast and reliable wireless connectivity, eliminating the need for a separate Wi-Fi adapter. This is a significant advantage for users who prefer a wireless connection or need the flexibility of both wired and wireless options.

The sound solution is handled by the Realtek ALC1220 7.1 CH HD Audio Codecs and Nahimic Audio, an impressive option that provides good sound quality for most users. The rear I/O panel is well-equipped with a variety of ports, including USB ports, display outputs, and audio jacks, providing ample connectivity for peripherals and displays.

ASRock Phantom Gaming B660 Lightning WiFi Specifications

Gallery

Well placed inputs on rear of motherboard

Plenty of space to install RAM

Well placed connections on ASRock Phantom Gaming B660 Lightning WiFi

Main Test System Components

• Intel Core Ultra 5 245K
• Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360 A-RGB
• Kingston Fury Renegade Black 48GB x2
• Samsung SSD 990 Pro
• Corsair RMx Series RM1000x 1000W
• Windows 11 (New Install)
• AMD RADEON RX 7900 XTX

In terms of performance, the B660 Lightning WiFi delivers a stable and reliable platform for gaming and everyday computing tasks. The robust power delivery system ensures that the CPU performs as expected, even under demanding workloads. While not explicitly designed for extreme overclocking, the motherboard offers sufficient headroom for users who want to push their CPU and memory a bit further.

The Bios

The BIOS is user-friendly and intuitive, making it relatively easy to navigate and adjust settings, including overclocking parameters. It provides a comprehensive set of options for tweaking performance, adjusting fan speeds, and configuring other system settings. The layout is logical, and the menus are clearly labelled, making it easy to find the settings you’re looking for.

Apart from accessing the settings through the BIOS, including its advanced settings, ASRock also have an excellent Windows app for basic overclocking, monitoring and access to their Polychrome Sync software.

Without any tweaking to the motherboard settings, the entire system was 100% stable with no software or hardware issues – this also included temperatures in the correct range. And overclocking? We did slightly push the board and its components with overclocking and managed to safely get 5 – 10% improvements without pushing it to the limits. This means that with the right settings, you could more than likely get a little more from the motherboard and its components.

Additionally, networking (both wired and wireless – WiFi 6E 802.11axe) produced high speeds with no dropouts and equally audio had no issues with crystal lead sound, again thanks to the Realtek ALC1220 7.1 CH HD Audio Codecs and Nahimic Audio. 

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is subjective and dependent on components – driven by CPU, Graphics Card and RAM. We tested the motherboard with four games that produced very acceptable scores. Opposed to testing general benchmarking scores, we were testing system stability with the ASRock Phantom Gaming B660 Lightning WiFi as the central nervous system of our test rig.

Cyberpunk 2077 is an action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red, set in the dystopian future of Night City. Players take on the role of V, a mercenary who accidentally gets imbued with a cybernetic “bio-chip” containing the memories of a legendary rockstar and terrorist named Johnny Silverhand (voiced by Keanu Reeves). Together, they must navigate the challenges of the city.  

Cyberpunk 2077 (Resolution 1080p – 162 @ FPS;4k – 75 @ FPS)

Starfield, a science fiction action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios, the creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this game, you play as a member of Constellation, a group of space explorers. Like Cyberpunk 2077, the game worked well on both processors with full detail at 1080p and 4K.

Starfield (1080p – 123 @ FPS; 4K – 71 @FPS)

Elden Ring is an action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, known for his work on the Dark Souls series, and features worldbuilding by George R. R. Martin. This game does require high system requirements and the motherboard with its components performed exceptionally well.

Elden Ring (1080p – 125 @ FPS; 4k – 118 @ FPS)

Spider-Man 2, developed by Insomniac Games, Nixxies and in collaboration with Marvel, is one of the best Spider-Man games to date, boasting exceptional graphics and gameplay. Out of all the games we tested, this game had some of the best frame rates, with stunning attention to detail. New York City has never looked this good in a game before

Spider-Man 2 (1080p - 193 @ FPS; 4k – 160 @ FPS)

As you can see from the above scores, the CPU and GPU combo on the ASRock Phantom Gaming B660 Lightning WiFi produced very playable results that we could not fault.

Final Thoughts?

The ASRock Phantom Gaming B660 Lightning WiFi is a strong contender in the mid-range motherboard market. It offers a wealth of features, performance, and aesthetics at a competitive price point. While it may not have all the bells and whistles of high-end models, it excels in the areas that matter most to gamers, such as robust power delivery, fast storage options, and excellent connectivity. If you’re building a new Intel-based gaming rig and are looking for a reliable and feature-rich motherboard without breaking the bank, the B660 Lightning WiFi is definitely worth considering. It provides a solid foundation for a modern gaming PC and should serve most gamers well.

Recommended!

For more information, please visit https://pg.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B860%20Lightning%20WiFi/index.asp

About the Author

James Wright

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