Gigabyte B660M DS3H AX DDR4 or ASUS Prime B660M-K D4 model
Gigabyte B660M DS3H AX DDR4 or ASUS Prime B660M-K D4 model
For an i3 12100F, both options perform well and I’d choose the more affordable one. In five years or more, Alder Lake processors probably won’t be important, so no need to worry about them later.
They remain solid by then, but I’m struggling to find funds without spending months on food. All I’m thinking about is picking between the two motherboards and whether the GPUs are likely to fail.
It's a lot of uncertainty about what to expect. Based on current trends, performance-wise they might struggle, and prices haven't dropped much over the last couple of years—especially for older CPUs like the 6700K, which still sell for high prices even today. Upgrading to the 12400F in five years probably won’t be worthwhile and isn’t a big concern when choosing a motherboard right now. I’m not saying the 12100F is bad, it’s a solid budget option, but upgrading it later on won’t save much and you’d be better off replacing your whole system then. As long as your VRM has enough airflow—whether with the stock cooler or a custom fan—both boards should handle the 12400F without throttling. The 12400F uses more power, but that doesn’t mean the VRM will fail; it just means you won’t need to worry about it for now. Just consider what you need in terms of cost and features when picking your board.
Only an MSI Pro B660M-A DDR4 is needed, but if Wi-Fi is the main issue I can install it later.
The B660M-K D4 performs well compared to the 12400F in terms of handling and features.
It should work fine; the 12400F draws similar power to the 12100F. However, it isn't especially strong—only half of the VRM has heatsinks, and it seems to skip power stages. Overall, it's a budget build. Still, good airflow on the VRM could make it acceptable.