MSI MPG B760I EDGE WIFI DDR5 Motherboard Review

MSI is one of the leading names when it comes to high-end motherboard solutions, and while we often focus on their high-end and larger ATX models, they've just released a pair of new mini-ITX motherboards on the popular and more affordable B760 chipset for Intel 12th and 13th Generation processors. Furthermore, this motherboard comes in two versions, allowing you to go with either DDR4 or DDR5. However, for today's review, we have the slightly more expensive DDR5 version. MSI MPG B760I EDGE WIFI DDR5 It may be small, and even then, it may be on the more affordable B-series chipset, but the B760I Edge WiFi is still packing a lot of really great features. It supports blazing-fast DDR5 memory up to and over 7200 MHz. There's a competent 8+1+1 Phases VRM configuration with premium 7W/mk MOSFTER thermal pads, and large heatsinks, or at least, large for a small motherboard. There's also the latest WiFi 6E and 2.5G LAN for ultra-fast networking and 7.1 audio thanks to the Realtek ALC897 Codec. Features Supports 13th /12th Gen Intel® Core™ / Pentium® / Celeron® processors for LGA 1700 socketSupports DDR5 Memory, up to 7200+(OC) MHzLightning Fast Game experience: PCIe 5.0 slots, Lightning Gen 4 x4 M.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2Enhanced Power Design: Direct 8+1+1 phases power, Core Boost, Memory BoostPremium Thermal Solution: Enlarged heatsink, MOSFET thermal pads rated for 7W/mk, additional choke thermal pads and M.2 Shield Frozr are built for a high-performance system and non-stop gaming experience2.5G LAN and Intel Wi-Fi 6E Solution: Upgraded network solution for professional and multimedia use. Delivers a secure, stable and fast network connectionAUDIO BOOST: Reward your ears with the studio-grade sound quality for the most immersive gaming experienceHigh-Quality PCB: 8-layer PCB made by server-grade level materialPre-installed I/O Shield: Better EMI protection and more convenience for installation For in-depth features and specifications, please visit the official MSI MPG B760I EDGE WIFI DDR5 product page here. A Closer Look It's a really nice motherboard design and while the B-series motherboards are effectively the more affordable cut-down solution compared to the more premium Z-series motherboards, you wouldn't really know from looking at it. This is a fantastic-looking bit of hardware, that looks every bit as premium as you could hope for. There are huge heatsinks on the VRM both at the top of the motherboard and on the left of the CPU, with the left being extended by an aluminium cover that shields the back of the I/O. The CPU is fed by an 8+1+1 Direct Phase power design, with 90A chokes, so boosting the more high-end CPUs shouldn't be a problem, and as above, those VRM heatsinks look pretty competent too. The CPU is fed by a single 8-pin header, plus, there's a good selection of fan headers, RGB headers and all the usual stuff dotted around the outside of the motherboard too. The heatsink design is excellent, with a lightly textured aluminium finish giving them a matte look, but there's a cool art design printed onto it too, giving it a bit of extra flair that's sure to look great in any system. Lucky the Dragon really does make for a fantastic logo. The lower heatsink is a good size, covering both the chipset and the primary M.2 mount. It's MSI's Lightning Gen 4 x4 M.2 design, and their latest Shield Frozr heatsink, both designed to ensure the best performance from your SSD. Obviously, being mini-ITX you only get a single PCI-E slot, but here it's PCIe 5.0 which can take advantage of the latest (and future) GPU and storage devices. This motherboard supports DDR5 memory of up to 7200+ (OC) MHz, so you can expect some pretty impressive memory performance overall. However, if that's not for you, there's a DDR4 version of the board too, just make sure you order the right version! Finally, the rear of the motherboard offers up an additional M.2 mount. The rear I/O is surprisingly well equipped, with four USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports at the top, a USB Type-C 10Gb, a Turbo USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, and a pair of USB 2.0 ports; more than enough to hook up all your peripherals and external storage devices! There's both 2.5 GbE LAN and the latest WiFi 6E too, so networking is going to be very fast! For added connectivity though, you also get both HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort. How We Test We continue to update our testing methods around once per year. As such, we re-test older hardware to reflect changes over time. These can be driver updates, Windows updates, game patches, and more; all of which have an impact on performance figures. Furthermore, we update our test benches to newer and more relevant hardware. This means that our new reviews aren’t always comparable to those of older reviews, so please compare the testing methodology on older reviews should you be trying to compare them with newer ones. Replicate Our Results When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory and are kept as simple as possible, although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of a graphics card, CPU, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there’s always a margin for error when using any software. Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you’re looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using the benchmarks available to you. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware tested here to give you a ballpark figure of how much of an upgrade this will provide you with. Motherboard Test Systems Test System (AM5) Motherboard Changes Per Review Review Buy Now Processor AMD Ryzen 9 7900X GPU Zotac RTX 3090 Trinity Review Buy Now RAM Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR5 32GB 5200MHz Review Buy Now CPU Cooler NZXT Kraken Z73 RGB Buy Now Power Supply NZXT C1000 Gold Review Buy Now Storage Seagate FIRECUDA 530 1TB Review Buy Now Chassis NZXT H7 Flow Review Buy Now OS Windows 11 Pro Version 21H2 Drivers Chipset: blahGraphics: 516.94 Test System (AM4) Motherboard Changes Per Review Buy Now Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5950X GPU Zotac RTX 3090 Trinity Review Buy Now RAM Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 32GB 3600MHz Review Buy Now CPU Cooler NZXT Kraken Z73 RGB Buy Now Power Supply NZXT C1000 Gold Review Buy Now Storage Seagate FIRECUDA 530 1TB Review Buy Now Chassis NZXT H7 Flow Review Buy Now OS Windows 11 Pro Version 21H2 Drivers Chipset: blahGraphics: 516.94 Test System (Z690) Motherboard Changes Per Review Review Buy Now Processor Intel Core i9 12900K GPU Zotac RTX 3090 Trinity Review Buy Now RAM Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR5 32GB 5200MHz Review Buy Now CPU Cooler NZXT Kraken Z73 RGB Buy Now Power Supply NZXT C1000 Gold Review Buy Now Storage Seagate FIRECUDA 530 1TB Review Buy Now Chassis NZXT H7 Flow Review Buy Now OS Windows 11 Pro Version 21H2 Drivers Chipset: blahGraphics: 516.94 Test System (Z590) Motherboard Changes Per Review Review Buy Now Processor Intel Core i9 11900K GPU Zotac RTX 3090 Trinity Review Buy Now RAM Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 32GB 3600MHz Review Buy Now CPU Cooler NZXT Kraken Z73 RGB Buy Now Power Supply NZXT C1000 Gold Review Buy Now Storage Seagate FIRECUDA 530 1TB Review Buy Now Chassis NZXT H7 Flow Review Buy Now OS Windows 11 Pro Version 21H2 Drivers Chipset: blahGraphics: 516.94 Additional Hardware ElmorLabs PMD-USB Power Measurement Device With USB (link) Software We use a variety of software from different developers to assist in our testing and to give us the most consistent results possible. Some applications are specifically used for testing, while others are simply used for monitoring and to aid us in making sure that our results are as accurate as possible. Software Used 3DMark FireStrike & TimeSpy (download)AIDA64 (download)CapFrameX 1.6.9 (download)Cinebench R23 (download)CPU-Z (download)HWMonitor (download)PCMark 10 Express (download)Super PI 2.1 WP (download) Gaming To gauge performance levels which are easily reproduced time after time, by both ourselves and our readers, we now stick strictly to games default profiles. Given how powerful most modern cards are getting, we've began using more demanding profiles for most games, but will otherwise state on a per game basis if we use other profiles beyond High, Ultra, Maximum or their respective equivalent at all resolutions. V-Sync is always disabled in our testing, and all FPS caps that can be removed are. We also enable XMP and Resizable bar technology across all platforms to keep things as fair as possible. Games While we test a lot of games, it's not possible to display all of the data on the website or in our videos. Instead, we include access to all of our testing data for our Patreon members (link), where members get a ton of other benefits as well. What we do however, is display charts for averages across all game titles to give a better picture of performance across all titles tested. Cyberpunk 2077Horizon Zero DawnMarvel's Spider-Man RemasteredMicrosoft Flight Simulator 2020 Resolutions 1080p (Full HD) Some tests will also include features such as NVIDIA DLSS and Ray Tracing. However, these will be clearly labelled and may only appear in reviews for graphics cards that support those features. Power Consumption Not being content on simply reading total system power draw at both idle, we now have the ability thanks to the ElmorLabs PMD-USB device that allows us to measure power draw directly through the EPS power connectors. We test at idle, during gaming load, of which we measure drawing a run of Cyberpunk 2077 and during Cinebench R23 at load too. We also use a GW-Instek GPM-8212 power meter to measure the complete system power at the wall to get an idea of how each motherboard compares to one another. VRM Temperatures We take temperature readings after 10 minutes of desktop idle with no background programs running, then take the recorded maximum delivered during the same runs as when we measure power consumption, being during our Cyberpunk 2077 run, and during Cinebench R23 at load too. 3DMark Timespy Extreme Time Spy Extreme is a new 4K DirectX 12 benchmark test, available in 3DMark Advanced and Professional Editions. You don’t need a 4K monitor to run it, but you will need a GPU with at least 4 GB of dedicated memory. With its 4K Ultra HD rendering resolution, Time Spy Extreme is an ideal benchmark test for the latest high-end graphics cards. The CPU test has been redesigned to let processors with 8 or more cores perform to their full potential 3DMark is available on Steam here. This is a smaller motherboard than most we've tested, and it's the B-series, not the Z-series, so it was unlikely to come out on top, but honestly, the score it did get is really impressive. It has a very competitive CPU score of 18428 and the overall system score is the best we've seen from a B-series board yet. PCMark 10 Express PCMark 10 features a comprehensive set of tests that cover the wide variety of tasks performed in the modern workplace. With a range of performance tests, custom run options, Battery Life Profile, and new Storage benchmarks, PCMark 10 is the complete PC benchmark for the modern office. Available now on Steam. As for overall system performance, it was absolutely killing it, a score of 7339 was wholly not what I expected, but certainly not something I'm going to complain about either. Super PI 2.1 WP Super PI is a single-threaded benchmark that calculates pi to a specific number of digits. It uses the Gauss-Legendre algorithm and is a Windows port of a program used by Yasumasa Kanada in 1995 to compute pi to 232 digits Available now on Super PI. This is where the B-Series motherboards run out of steam, the SuperPi test is extremely demanding and these smaller motherboards generally throttle their VRM if you torture them like this. Still, 5.03 seconds is actually not that bad, and only about half a second off the pace of the larger boards. Still, it's unlikely you would be buying this motherboard to calculate Pi all day. Cinebench R23 Cinebench is a real-world cross-platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s hardware capabilities. Improvements to Cinebench Release 23 reflect the overall advancements to CPU and rendering technology in recent years, providing a more accurate measurement of Cinema 4D’s ability to take advantage of multiple CPU cores and modern processor features available to the average user. Best of all: It’s free. Available now on Maxon. It faired a lot better in Cinebench though, which is a good test for memory performance too, scoring a 2267 on single-core and a competitive 33834 in multi-core testing. AIDA64 AIDA64 is a system information, diagnostics, and auditing application developed by FinalWire Ltd that runs on Windows, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Tizen, Chrome OS and Sailfish OS operating systems. It displays detailed information on the components of a computer. Available now on AIDA64. The memory performance is right on the money here, and that is impressive given the smaller board design. However, it delivered very constant and very fast read, write and copy speeds throughout, with latency that was right on what we expected to see, so top marks all round here. Cyberpunk 2077 Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure RPG set in the megalopolis of Night City, where you play as a cyberpunk mercenary wrapped up in a do-or-die fight for survival. Improved and featuring all-new free additional content, customize your character and playstyle as you take on jobs, build a reputation, and unlock upgrades. The relationships you forge and the choices you make will shape the story and the world around you. Legends are made here. What will yours be? Available now on Steam. Cyberpunk is a brutal test for any system, but again, the B760I holds up remarkably well. 99 FPS 1% lows and 131 FPS average show this is a seriously competent gaming motherboard, the third fastest for this game, and that's against some seriously expensive competition. Horizon Zero Dawn Experience Aloy’s entire legendary quest to unravel the mysteries of a world ruled by deadly Machines. An outcast from her tribe, the young hunter fights to uncover her past, discover her destiny… and stop a catastrophic threat to the future. Unleash devastating, tactical attacks against unique Machines and rival tribes as you explore an open world teeming with wildlife and danger. Horizon Zero Dawn is a multi-award-winning action role-playing game – and this Complete Edition for PC includes the huge expansion The Frozen Wilds, featuring new lands, skills, weapons and Machines. Available now on Steam. Not as strong in Horizon, but this game can be very picky with motherboards as you can see. Still, the 1% lows were good, and average performance was competitive. Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered Developed by Insomniac Games in collaboration with Marvel, and optimized for PC by Nixxes Software, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered on PC introduces an experienced Peter Parker who’s fighting big crime and iconic villains in Marvel’s New York. At the same time, he’s struggling to balance his chaotic personal life and career while the fate of Marvel’s New York rests upon his shoulders. Available now on Steam. Spider-man was much the same, with competitive average FPS performance, but again, strong 1% lows, which is the one that really matters, as low scores here load to stutters. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 The Microsoft Flight Simulator Game of the Year (GOTY) Edition celebrates all the positive feedback, reviews and awards garnered, but it is also a “Thank You” to our fans – new and old – that have made Microsoft Flight Simulator such a phenomenon. Best of all, the Microsoft Flight Simulator Game of the Year Edition will be available as a free update for existing players on PC. Available now on Steam. It struggled a little more in Flight Simulator, but not by much, most likely due to the way this game puts more strain on storage than others too, but still, the results are perfectly acceptable. Boot Time So as I mentioned, benchmarks are for the most part pretty useless, especially when all boards on the same platform, using the same CPU, GPU and memory, perform within a range of each other with the only benchmark that we did that actually shows something being the boot time as this really is board specific, especially with the way they work with DDR5 through the memory training they have to do. Having fewer features have a few benefits, as you can see, the less equipped boards tend to boot much faster, and this one is seriously speedy at just under 21 seconds. The other key areas that are worth focussing on though comes down to VRM temperatures, which can differ wildly depending on the amount, the capacity of the current that can pass through them, and of course how the various heatsinks handle that power, which in turn, creates heat. VRM Temperatures The VRM does run a little hot after our hour 1-hour torture test, but honestly, this is better than I expected, and a clear lead on the B760M, and B760 Gaming X boards. Not that we expect it to run this hot while gaming, but with good airflow the performance of the CPU and VRM should be maintained easily enough. Power Consumption Power consumption is measured at idle, during a Cinebench R23 run and during a gaming benchmark run of Cyberpunk 2077, which is a very CPU-intensive game. By getting 3 performance metrics, it allows us to see a better picture of the average user and what they are typically going to see in terms of power draw for just the processor itself. A pretty average result here, with idle hitting 73.8 watts, which is a little on the higher side, but the load usage was pleasantly low at just 373.70 watts, so yeah... average is no bad thing here, and while it's using more power than other B-series boards, it's also delivering more performance too. Operating Costs With the cost of living increases across the world, especially when it comes to the cost of electricity, it's worth looking at the cost of running a processor and how it compares to similar products on the market. By taking the average cost per kWh, we can calculate a rough running cost at idle, during a simulated workload test (Cinebench R23), to give us worst-case scenario costs, as well as gaming costs during a run of Cinebench R23. US Dollars (USD) British Pound (GBP) It's certainly not an expensive motherboard to run, overall average efficiency unsurprisingly does relate to fairly average operating costs. The idle is a little higher still, but again, it's nothing I'm concerned about as these are good results overall. How Much Does It Cost? The MSI MPG B760I EDGE WIFI motherboard is available now, with the DDR4 version costing just £196.42 on Amazon. Unfortunately, I couldn't see stock for the DDR5 version but have confirmed that it will be priced at just £209.99. Overall though, that's a pretty competitive price given the overall level of features on offer and it's great to see two versions to support both memory platforms too, as many people don't really need or want DDR5 right now, and of course, some don't want DDR4 anymore, so it's a win-win. Overview MSI really know how to make a great motherboard, and that's certainly true here. The MSI MPG B760I EDGE WIFI is one seriously cool-looking motherboard, that's going to look at home in any PC build as it's clean enough to look presentable in a more professional environment, but snazzy enough to compliment a gaming setup too. It also has some decent hardware too, which is actually more common on these mid-tier chipset boards these days, as the standards for motherboards as a whole have stepped up quite a lot in recent years. These B-series boards are packing most of the features we see on the more expensive Z-series, such as the latest PCIe 5.0 expansion slot, and Gen 4 for the M.2. There's the same high-performance WiFi 6E and 2.5G LAN you get on the high-end chipset, there's good audio, a decent VRM configuration and even a Type-C 10G port, which is a pleasant surprise. There are two M.2 mounts on this motherboard too, one has the benefit of the massive M.2 Shield Frozr SSD cooler, which should help maintain performance and drive health. The second mount is on the rear of the motherboard and has no cooling, but will be well suited to the second drive that you likely don't use for heavy-duty stuff like gaming anyway. When it comes to benchmarks, the overall system performance is largely very good, delivering high FPS, and consistent 1% lows, and system-wide benchmarks were also surprisingly fast too. CPU-intensive long-running tests such as Super Pi did trip it up, likely through power delivery and VRM issues, but given the size of the motherboard means both the VRM and heatsink configuration are smaller, this can easily be forgiven. If you're building a workstation, you'll want a bigger motherboard. If you're building a compact home PC and gaming rig, then it fits the bill perfectly. Should I Buy One? This is a lovely-looking motherboard, it's really well made, and it can hold its own in terms of performance, but I'm not surprised really, as MSI is one of the best in the business and have decades of experience. For those building a mini-ITX work or gaming PC, it's ticking all the right boxes and comes in at a price that's not too scary either. Highly recommended.