MSI B360M Mortar Micro-ATX Motherboard Review

B360M Mortar The more affordable Intel motherboards are here at last, with the release of H370 and the B360 series. While they don't offer the overclocking features found on the more expensive Z370 series, they still pack a huge amount of features. For those running a non-overclocking Intel CPU, they could be the best value for money available to you right now. The B360M comes equipped with a mATX form factor. However, it still packs in many of the features we've come to expect from the more expensive Z370 motherboards from MSI. This includes dual M.2 mounts with support for NVMe and Optane. You'll find Tubo USB 2.1, DDR4 Boost, Gaming LAN, and premium audio hardware. Features Supports 8th Gen Intel® Core™ / Pentium® Gold /Celeron® processors for LGA 1151 socket Supports DDR4 Memory, up to 2666 MHz Twin Turbo M.2: With 2 x M.2 slots. Running at PCI-E Gen3 x4 maximizes performance for NVMe based SSDs Intel Turbo USB 3.1 Gen2: Powered by Intel, ensure an uninterrupted connection with more stability and fastest USB speeds. Extended Heatsink Design: MSI extended PWM and enhanced circuit design ensures even high-end processors to run in full speed. Core Boost: With premium layout optimized power design to support more cores and provide better performance. DDR4 Boost: Advanced technology to deliver pure data signals for the best gaming performance and stability. GAMING LAN: Experience smooth online gaming experience by reducing CPU overhead and offer long-term network usage. Audio Boost: Reward your ears with studio-grade sound quality for the most immersive audio experience MULTI-GPU: With STEEL ARMOR PCI-E slot. Supports 2-Way AMD Crossfire™ EZ Debug LED: Easiest way to troubleshoot. Specifications For in-depth specifications, please visit the official product page here. What MSI Had to Say "Using only the finest quality components and integrating the latest technological innovations delivers the best possible gaming and professional experience. Rigorous quality testing under the most extreme conditions ensures a super reliable, high-performance motherboard." - MSI A Closer Look A more affordable model doesn't have to look "cheaper" and this one certainly doesn't. The chipset may have changed, but MSI still puts all their effort into creating a great looking motherboard. It features a black PCB, with grey and silver detailing that's sure to look smart in any system build. There are two large heatsinks on the motherboard, ensuring that your CPU can run at its best 24/7. It may not overclock, but it'll still have to deal with high frequencies and power delivery on some of the faster 8th Gen processors. Plus those decals combined with the silver finish mean those heat sinks look gorgeous too. DDR4 The motherboard features four DIMM slots, with support for DDR4 2666+ memory. Aside from that, you'll find a few fan headers up here, as well as a front panel USB 3.1 header. There are only four SATA ports on this motherboard, not a lot, but enough for this chipset and mATX builds. There's a single PCIe 16x slot with armour, which should handle any heavy duty GPU and its cooler. There's another full-size slot, but it's only 8x, and two 1x slots in between also. VNMe and Optane Support If you're feeling left out with just four SATA ports, don't worry, as there are two M.2 mounts here also! There's a trace on the motherboard, separating the audio hardware to reduce noise. Here you'll find eight dedicated gold-plated caps for the audio hardware, which is great to see and hear. Rear I/O Finally, the rear I/O, and MSI didn't skimp here at all. There are three display outputs, with DVI, HDMI, and DP are taken care of. There are five full-size USB ports, as well as a dedicated Type-C, so connectivity should be good. However, it's the first B360 board I've seen that still has an optical output, as well as gold-plated Testing and Methodology Test Procedure Here at eTeknix, we endeavor to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to motherboard reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Rember that your choice of motherboard, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there's always a margin for error when using the software. Therefore, your experience may vary. Each benchmark runs three times, and the average figure is taken to try to reduce the effect of hardware variation. Of course, any relevant details regarding the parameters will be listed below. Test Systems Z370/B360/H370 Motherboard – Changes Per Review CPU – Intel Core i7-8700K RAM - Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 2666 MHz CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X399 Motherboard – Changes Per Review CPU – Threadripper 1950X RAM - Crucial DDR4 2400MHz Quad-Channel 32GB CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X299 Motherboard – Changes Per Review CPU – Intel Core i9-7900X RAM - Crucial DDR4 2400MHz Quad-Channel 32GB CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive - Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis - Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System - Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit AM4 Motherboard – Changes Per Review CPU – Ryzen 7 1800X RAM - GeIL DDR4 2977MHz Dual Channel 16GB CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive - Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis - Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System - Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Z270 Motherboard – Changes Per Review CPU – Intel Core i7-7700K RAM - Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 2666 MHz CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X99 - Our GPU Review Test Bench Motherboard – Changes Per Review CPU – Intel Core i7-5960X RAM – Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 2666 MHz CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Open Air Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 64-bit Games Used All games are tested on a 60 Hz display with V-Sync off for all tests. Previously we would use "extreme" presets, but these have now been adjusted to "Medium" or equivalent to better test the capabilities of the CPU, not the GPU. Rise of the Tomb Raider (Steam) DX12 Medium Preset Pure Hair Off Deus Ex (Steam) DX12 Medium Preset Ghost Recon: Wildlands (Uplay) Medium Preset Turf Effects Off Far Cry Primal (Uplay) Normal Preset Software Used 3DMark Fire Strike (download) FireStrike (1080p) Benchmark Unigine Superposition (download) 1080p Extreme Benchmark PCMark 10 Professional (download) Express Benchmark WPrime (download) 32M and 1024M Power usage recorded at 1024M 50% complete, thermals recorded at 75% CineBench R15 (download) CPU Multi CPU Single Handbrake (download) Custom MP4 to MKV 4K conversion (details below) AIDA64 Engineer (download) CPU-Z (download) HWMonitor (download) Handbrake To stress processors to their absolute limit and accurately judge their performance in video editing workloads, we transcode a 7.7GB compilation of gaming footage; this particular file is freely available from here. The captured footage is 22 minutes and 12 seconds long, it has a bit rate of 50.1 Mbps and it uses the Advanced Video Codec. Additionally, the video runs at a constant 30 frames-per-second and opts for a 3820 x 2140 (4K) resolution. Once loaded into Handbrake, we then transcode the 4K MP4 to an MKV file using the "normal" profile. Other Notes A rest period of 2-5 minutes is observed between each piece of software allowing the system to return to its idle power usage and temperatures. Background services like Windows Update are checked to not be running during the testing period by setting WiFi to Metered Connection. Thanks Thank you to Noctua, Crucial, ASUS, Gigabyte, Lian-Li, be quiet!, OCZ, for providing the hardware that helps makes these tests possible! Synthetic Benchmarks The MSI B360M may have a cut down chipset, but it certainly doesn't lack when it comes to performance. It delivered a fantastic 22219 in 3DMark Firestrike, putting it ahead of the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 3 B360. It went on to hit an equally impressive 5529 in Unigine, which is competitive with everything else, and it's obviously got no issues unleashing the power of our 1080 Ti GPU. For PCMark 10, 5301 is a nice score, not a record breaker, but about where we would expect for B360 and competitive with the lower end of Z370. Finally, in WPrime, CineBench, and Handbrake, scores were competitive too, again on par with the lower end of Z370, which is what we would expect. 3DMark Firestrike Stock Unigine Superposition 1080p Extreme Stock PCMark 10 Express Stock WPrime 32M and 1024M Stock Cinebench R15 Stock Handbrake MP4 to MKV Conversion 4K Stock Gaming Performance Gaming performance was pretty fantastic, and again it didn't break any world records, but it's certainly good enough to please those building more affordable gaming systems. In Deus Ex, it hit an average of 130.5 FPS, which is very close to Z370 performance and pulls ahead of the X370 motherboards. The same is true in Ghost Recon, with an average of 136.89 FPS. Finally, hitting 193.11 and 144 in Far Cry Primal puts it again between X370 and Z370. Overall, pretty solid numbers for B360. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Rise of the Tomb Raider Ghost Recon: Wildlands Far Cry Primal Power Consumption and Temperatures Power Consumption As we've seen with the Gigabyte B360, efficiency is fantastic for this chipset. The motherboard only uses 39.5 watts at idle and 128 at full load. That's crazy efficient and by far one of the biggest perks of this new chipset. Stock Final Thoughts Pricing Unfortunately, at the time of writing, I didn't have up to date pricing information. However, the MSI Mortar Micro-ATX Motherboard is available for under £100 for AM4 chipsets, and the older 2xx series one is still around £100, so I would assume a near identical price for this new one. It's just launched, so check with your local retailer for stock. Overview MSI really knocked it out of the park with this motherboard. It's not packing a huge amount of features, but it still ticks all the right boxes for a mATX build. For those spending around £100 on a motherboard that uses a non-overclocking CPU, any features that you would find on a more expensive Z-series motherboard, likely wouldn't be needed anyway. Aesthetics By far, this is one of the better looking mATX Intel motherboards on the market right now. The black PCB with grey and silver hardware will match up with virtually any colour scheme too. It may not have the RGB lighting we see on many other motherboards, but I imagine this is good news to a half the market as it is bad news for the other half. The large heatsinks, the armour on the PCIe slot, and other little details all add up though. Performance B360 is the bottom of the Intel 8th Gen foodchain right now, with H370 and Z370 acting as the more premium and high-end chipsets. That being said, the B360 still offers some pretty darn competitive performance. For those looking for something more affordable for their more affordable CPUs, it's a perfect match. If you work out this motherboard and something like an i3-8100 would still leave you with a little change from £200, it's a great deal. For gaming, it's really no slouch, and that's pretty much what most customers will be looking at. Should I Buy One? If you can find a more affordable motherboard that looks this good, performs this good, and still offers support for the latest 8th Gen CPUs, great audio hardware, and fast storage support, but it. However, I don't think you'll beat what MSI is offering here, and I myself will be ordering one this week for a system build, literally putting my money where my mouth is.