MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi review: MSI packed this AM5 motherboard full of features

AMD's X870E chipset is here for Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 series processors but it's the latest generation of Zen CPUS that can fully take advantage of everything on offer with the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi. This motherboard has it all. PCIe 5.0, DDR5-8400+ support, USB 4.0, 5GbE networking, and features to make it easy to build your dream PC. Being one of the company's flagship motherboards does mean all of this greatness comes at a cost. Priced north of $500 will make the MPG X870E Carbon WiFi a tough pill to swallow, but it's interesting to see how top-tier motherboards perform with the latest AMD hardware.

Using the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D allowed me to obtain truly astounding results with an AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE with Cyberpunk 2077. The motherboard was easy to use for installing SSDs, a GPU, the CPU, and just about everything else. Having such network speeds available is another positive with a primary 5Gbps link and a secondary 2.5Gbps port for good measure. There's not a single USB 2.0 port on the rear of this board, which alone showcases just how MSI is positioning it. For $500, it's pricey, but well worth it if you plan to build a powerful AMD PC.

About this review: AMD supplied us with this MSI motherboard for the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review. Neither AMD nor MSI had input before publishing.

Price, specs, and availability

The MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi can be found for $500, which is a tough pill to swallow. The price of the flagship AMD Ryzen 9950X processor is $649 so if you're rocking an AMD Ryzen 7 series chip, this board could easily be considered overkill. It's a similar story with the specifications. This ATX motherboard has everything you could ask for. There's support for up to DDR5-8400, two PCIe 5.0 M.2 and two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, three PCI slots for expansion cards, countless USB ports on the rear I/O, 5Gbps and 2.5Gbps networking ports, Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, and numerous internal fan headers.

What I like about this motherboard

Ports for days

At the end of the day, an ATX motherboard from one brand is almost the same as an ATX motherboard from everyone else. So long as it's a reputable brand and one you don't mind trusting with your components, you shouldn't have any trouble getting the most out of your PC hardware. MSI makes some excellent motherboards and the MPG X870E Carbon WiFi is one of its best for AMD AM5 processors. The usual stealthy design is present with some tasteful RGB lighting on the rear I/O shroud and M.2 heatsink. It's good to see a debug LED and physical buttons for lessening the load required to achieve stable overclock settings.

There's plenty happening on this motherboard, including the dual CPU power input, four USB-A 5Gbps internal headers, and more fan headers than you'll likely require. Everything is in its usual position, though MSI did make specific tasks that much easier, such as removing the GPU with the easy latch, and the M.2 heatsink cover can be extracted without a screwdriver. It's the small touches that go a long way when putting together a PC. What's particularly noteworthy are the LAN ports on the rear, consisting of 5Gbps and 2.5Gbps.

The specifications of this board are certainly one of the highlights. MSI seemingly threw as much as it could at the wall and saw most of it sticking, resulting in one feature-rich platform. The design reflects this and I'm glad we're slowly moving away from aggressive "gamer" designs of old. Though I do miss the days of some truly outlandish designs for PC parts, I do appreciate the more subtle approach MSI took with this MPG board.

Impressive AM5 performance

To test the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi, I used the all-new AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D with its 3D V-Cache technology and support for super-fast memory. Speaking of which, 32GBs of TeamGroup's T-FORCE XTREEM ARGB DDR5-7200 was installed alongside a Corsair MP700 Pro SE with our test rig Windows installation, and a trusty AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE to allow the system to stretch its wings at 1440p and 4K. These are among the specifications you should aim for with a motherboard such as this.

Performance was excellent with the AMD processor. It scored well throughout our suite of benchmark tests and within expectations. Power and speed charts showed no obvious signs of issues relating to power delivery, which should be expected with such a beefy setup, consisting of 18+2+1 DRPS teamed power stages for enhanced delivery to the CPU. Tests with the RAM and SSD were also in line with what we expected with the selected parts, meaning you won't have any trouble powering almost anything with this motherboard.

Cyberpunk 2077 and X4: Foundations both ran without any trouble using our test setup on the MSI motherboard. At 4K, I was able to achieve an average frame rate of 81 with "RT low" enabled. That's impressive for the CPU and GPU combo and shows just how powerful said components can be with the right motherboard foundation. The BIOS is easy to use once you get accustomed to the new MSI layout and everything works as intended. Overclocking through automated features or manual tweaking was also possible and led to some improved scores, especially with the available headroom through the 9800X3D.

What could be improved

Nothing aside from the price

There's nothing I actively disliked about the MSI MPG X87E Carbon WiFi, which didn't come as a surprise considering the price tag. This is a $500 motherboard and I know I've mentioned that a few times throughout this review, but it's worth hammering home how out of reach this board is to most people. It's not a negative for the board since you can expect to pay a premium price for one of the best X870E motherboards, but it's more expensive than most AMD processors. That said, it's easy to spend more than $1,000 on the top GPUs from Nvidia, so it's certainly all relative.

Should you buy the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi?

You should buy the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi if:

• You plan on using a more powerful AMD Ryzen processor.
• You wish to do some overclocking on the CPU and RAM.
• You want a motherboard with plenty of premium features.

You shouldn't buy the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi if:

• You don't require one of the best AM5 platforms on the market.
• You don't feel comfortable spending $500 on a motherboard.

Do I recommend you go out and purchase the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi? Absolutely not. Not unless you're ready to make full use of its available features. This is a $500 motherboard and is almost the price of an entirely new prebuilt system with moderate specifications. Spending this much cash on a single component, you need to have a plan to utilize everything. This MSI motherboard has 5Gb networking, for example. Does your home LAN even support speeds north of 1Gbps? Then there's the RAM overclocking, which can surpass 8000MT/s. Finally, we've got overclocking potential through a beefy power delivery design.

It's an incredible piece of kit, costing the same as an entire system.

If you're purchasing this motherboard simply because it's one of the best AM5 boards and will allow your AMD Ryzen processor to run as well as it can, you're wasting potential. Should you have speedy RAM kits at hand, one of the best graphics cards you can afford, a PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSD, and the latest AMD Ryzen 9000 series processor with a premium CPU cooler, that's when the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi starts to make sense. This is designed as a solid foundation for an enthusiast-grade PC with USB 4.0, Wi-Fi 7, multiple PCIe 5.0 devices, and more internal headers than you'll know what to do with. It's an incredible piece of kit, costing the same as an entire system.