If the problem is just that you keep coming back to d20's standard set, there's plenty of other systems for examples of how it can be done differently.
Tri-stat has, as the name says, three abilities. Body, Mind, and Soul by varying names.
M&M 3e, while a d20 game, has eight stats: Strength, Dexterity (specifically hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills), Agility (referring to motor coordination of the entire body), Stamina, Fighting, Intellect, Awareness (basically Wisdom), and Presence (basically Charisma).
World of Darkness has nine attributes, splitting physical, mental, and social abilities into power, finesse, and defense: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Intelligence, Wits, Resolve, Presence, Manipulation, Composure.
Exalted and Scion use the same setup of nine attributes as WoD, but replace Resolve with Perception and Composure with Appearance.
Shadowrun 5e (unfamiliar with earlier editions) has eight or twelve attributes, depending on how you count them, divided along physical, mental, and magic categories with four in each. Physical attributes are Body, Agility, Reaction, and Strength; mental attributes are Willpower, Logic, Intuition, and Charisma; magic attributes are Essence, Edge, Magic, and Resonance. The last four are setting-specific and have separate rules from the first eight, so it's not unfair to think of it as a system of eight ability scores plus another four.
Of course, there's systems that eschew ability scores altogether and are purely skill-based, but I assume those aren't what you're looking for.
I can't say I have a preference for any of those; they're more a basic building block than something to like or dislike. Whether any given trait is a pro or a con, here, ultimately depends on what you want it to do for the game (for instance, Shadowrun's setup is highly granular and crunchy and thus out of place if you want a rules-light game, while M&M 3e's explicit presence of a Fighting stat tells you right away that combat is assumed to be very prominent).
One of the more basic ways of deriving sets of ability scores is to divide them by offense/defense, power/finesse, and physical/mental, with varying degrees of separation. WoD's stats are a good illustrative example, in that you have offense+power and offense+finesse, but the 'defensive' stat isn't differentiated similarly. In exchange, you have an additional option added to the physical/mental axis.
Applying these axes, I've toyed around in the past with a setup of eight ability scores (four physical and four mental), something like Strength/Dexterity/Agility/Stamina and Presence/Intelligence/Will/Wisdom. (Note: The names are made up on the spot, especially for the mental stats.)