MSI MPG X670E Carbon WiFi Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts

So here we are at the end of our second AMD X670E motherboard review and we have a very competent board in the MPG X670E Carbon WiFi from MSI. I think one of the major things MSI has done with their Carbon range of motherboards is having a USB 3.2 gen 2×2 connection on the rear I/O. Many other boards have opted for Thunderbolt 4 here, but Thunderbolt 4 defaults to USB 3.2 gen 2 (not 2×2) when you connect a USB device. So unless you are really going to use an actual Thunderbolt 4 device, the USB 3.2 gen 2×2 connection is the better choice. It is also nice to have it on the rear I/O rather than a header as many cases don’t have a Type-C connection.

Another thing I love to see with this board is that you are going to get four M.2 slots, two of which are PCI-Express 5.0! So this board is definitely ready for next-gen storage and even the two other slots are PCI-Express 4.0. On top of that all of the slots feature a screwless locking design. I always hate trying to screw in the tiny screws to lock in my M.2 drive so it is nice to see these here.

MSI has an 18+2+1 power phase design on this board, where the 18 phases are for the CPU. Each of the Vcore phase is 90A so that means you are going to get 1620A for the CPU. So you really won’t run into any issues running Ryzen 9 processors. The power delivery components are cooled by two large heatsinks which are connected by a heatpipe and in all of our testing things were nice and cool.

As far as DDR5 support goes we had no issues running our 5200 MHz memory and enabling the profile on the memory. You are also going to get WiFi 6E on this board as well as 2.5G Ethernet, so whether you are going the wireless route or plugging in you are covered. I also like the programmable Smart Button on the rear I/O. I guess this takes the place of having physical power and reset buttons on the board as they are absent on this board.

Now I do have to talk about the design of this board. The Carbon series from MSI was really fashioned after super cars and we saw the them really emphasize this on previous boards with different carbon fiber accents. All of that is gone on this board. The design is more flat and subtle. They have also toned back the RGB lighting on the board too, the only lighting you are going to get is on the rear I/O cover. While this is a personal preference, I definitely liked the more flashy carbon designs of the past.

Right now this board is selling at our favorite online retailer for $479.99, which puts it in the same range as the ASRock X670E Taichi, which we previously reviewed and the Gigabyte X670E AORUS Master. This is a very solid board and if this feature set fits your needs it should be on your radar. Overall ThinkComputers gives the MSI MPG X670E Carbon WiFi Motherboard a 9 out of 10 score.

rating9 10

Pros:
– 18+2+1 power phase design
– Four M.2 slots (2 are Gen5)
– Screwless M.2 locks
– USB 3.2 gen 2×2 on the rear I/O
– WiFi 6E
– Smart button

Cons:
– Design seems flat

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