MSI MPG X870E Carbon WIFI Motherboard Review

How Much Does It Cost?

Keep in mind that the X870 chipset is the flagship chipset for the new motherboards, so all of these are regarded as high-end motherboards. However, there are of course more affordable X870 and more premium X870 motherboards in this launch, with the largest variance being increased VRM, which is paired with larger VRM cooling solutions, which increases the price. The number of M.2 mounts, USB ports, and networking, for example, will all increase the price too. Unfortunately, we don’t have UK pricing for these boards at the time of writing but will update that with retail links as soon as they’re available sometime after we publish these reviews.

If these are too expensive for you, there will be more affordable B-series motherboards coming, but we suspect these will be revealed at CES 2025 and launch in Q1 2025, if you can wait that long, if not, then the X-series boards are clearly some of the best options right now for those building an AMD focused build.

More X870 Motherboards

This is a major chipset launch for AMD, so there are dozens of new X870 motherboards hitting the market today. Of course, we’ve been very busy testing 9 of them for you, and they’re all linked below, so if the one in this review isn’t quite meeting your needs, there’s plenty more to choose from! Largely, all being the same chipset, with the same AMD 9950X CPU being used for our testing, we expect the majority of the benchmarks to be broadly the same, with perhaps small differences in some of them. Largely, the price and performance of each motherboard are dictated by the additional features. Such as more PCIe slots, more M.2 mounts in Gen3, Gen4, or Gen5, more high-speed USB ports, more cooling hardware, etc. Largely, we recommend buying a motherboard that meets your current component requirements, with a little overhead for future upgrades; a spare M.2 slot for example.

• ASUS Prime X870-P WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS ProArt X870E-Creator WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Hero Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS ROG Strix X870-I Gaming WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS ROG STRIX X870E Gaming WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS TUF Gaming X870-Plus WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WIFI7 ICE Motherboard [Review]
• MSI MPG X870E Carbon WIFI Motherboard [Review]

Conclusion

Now normally I would say that the MSI Carbon series is well known for being built for enthusiast gamers, creators, and streamers, and this new iteration is no exception but it is. There’s normally a strong focus on extreme performance, with massively upgraded VRM configurations and while it does have that, along with strong, solid components at the heart of it, but sadly it just falls a little flat but there is a saving grace.

I’ve been doing this job for years, so I’ve seen every type of result and every type of situation arise, and this to me looks like something is holding it back and that generally isn’t a hardware issue, but instead, is something that should be able to be fixed within the BIOS, so I’ll be discussing things with MSI to see what the deal is there.

Beyond performance, as you might expect from a high-end board, the MPG X870E Carbon WIFI makes no compromises on connectivity. With 2.5GbE and 5GbE LAN, it’s well-suited for high-speed home networks, NAS setups, and fibre internet connections. The inclusion of the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard ensures exceptional wireless performance and you also get the latest USB4 technologies, along with plenty of USB ports for all your peripherals and at high-speed too.

Designed for Enthusiasts

MSI has equipped the board with plenty of M.2 mounts ready for the latest Gen4 and Gen5 drives, complete with large heatsinks for optimal cooling. A more robust PCIe slot design and quick-release controls to further enhance the user experience and for those who like to fine-tune their system, BIOS-level technologies such as Lightning Gen 5 provide extensive options for performance optimizations and all of this is wrapped in a sleek, aesthetically pleasing design that’s become a hallmark of the Carbon series.

Should I Buy One?

With its blend of high-end features, user-friendly design and stunning looks, the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WIFI is a premium motherboard choice for a wide range of users, from gamers and content creators to overclocking enthusiasts who want the best hardware, the best performance, and lots of quality of life features but the performance side of things is just letting it down, and I honestly don’t think that’s an issue with the board in general. It’s either an issue with our particular board, or something that can be resolved by updating the BIOS, and we will be investigating things a little further, because we test out of the box performance, and these are the numbers we were given by our various pieces of benchmark software and tools, and while it’s not bad, it’s just a little lower than where it should be, and I know that it can do more, and can do better, so let’s see what the future holds for that one because right now, I think I can honestly say, at least on a performance standpoint, there are better boards out there.

So that’s going to do it for this one. A bit of a sombre conclusion, but I hope you can see why I came to that decision. If MSI can increase the performance, which based on the team that they have working there, and knowing them personally, I know that they can find the lost performance, and then, I’d be singing from a completely different hymn sheet, but until then, this is where we’re at.