Why it matters: If the MAG B660M Mortar Max WiFi DDR4 launches at a decent price, it could become the new value champion as it'll allow non-K Intel CPUs to be overclocked without having to use expensive DDR5 memory.

According to a new leak, MSI might soon release the MAG B660M Mortar Max WiFi DDR4 motherboard with an external clock generator made by Renesas.

A few months ago, der8auer discovered that motherboards with an external clock generator unlock BCLK overclocking of Intel's non-K (locked multiplier) Alder Lake CPUs. With the right settings, even a Celeron G6900 could be overclocked from 3.4 GHz to over 5.3 GHz.

The problem is that, up until now, all motherboards equipped with such a chip supported only DDR5 memory, which is still far too expensive to pair with a budget CPU.

The MAG B660M Mortar Max WiFi DDR4 changes that, as can be inferred from its rather-lengthy name. Another advantage of the external clock generator is that it adds PCIe 5.0 support for the first expansion slot, something all of the other B660M Mortar models lack (confusingly, there are already four variations out with DDR4/DDR5 and each with/without WiFi).

Pricing for the board is currently unknown, but the non-Max version can currently be had for $160. The only other B660 motherboards that are known to support BCLK overclocking are the ASUS ROG Strix B660-G Gaming WiFi and the B660-F Gaming WiFi, both of which cost over $200 and require significantly more expensive DDR5 memory.

In our B660 motherboard roundup, we found that the vanilla B660M Mortar WiFi has a very good VRM for its price class. That means the new Max version could become a great budget option as you could overclock your non-K CPU today and have the option to upgrade to something more powerful next generation.