Conclusion
This is the first DDR5 motherboard we’ve tested in a while and definitely, the cheapest one I’ve evaluated thus far. It’s not even half the cost of the Z690 APEX I looked at previously. At just under $300, the value certainly is there. The MSI Z790-P PRO WiFi does have a reasonably good feature set. Above that it’s extremely reliable. It’s proven to be one of the most stable motherboards I’ve tested so far in 2023.
It’s an aesthetically pleasing board and doesn’t have that budget look that you might expect it to have. It often behaves like a midrange board until you think about the ancient audio CODEC and other cost-cutting like vertical SATA ports and a missing optical output for audio. It doesn’t have a built-in I/O shield which really should be standard at nearly every price point by now.
Performance
The performance of the MSI Z790-P PRO WiFi was consistent and normally beat out our other test platforms. Of course, Z790 is an evolution of Z690 and DDR5 is maturing. Normally DDR5 boards from the last generation were an enormous pain to deal with. This was especially true if you wanted to break 6000MHz on your RAM. With the MSI Z790-P PRO WiFi, it was effortless and I was actually using RAM designed for AMD’s AM6-based boards. It ran flawlessly here and I got great results with it.
There isn’t much more to say other than the MSI Z790-P PRO WiFi performs as you’d expect and performs as it should. You can’t realistically expect more than that.
Overclocking
When it comes to overclocking, I’m going to have to speak more theoretically than from experience with this motherboard. The 12900K we have for testing is not a good overclocker. Beyond that, no 12900K really is with ambient cooling. That being said, this board does seem to have the settings that would allow you to take something like a 12600 and overclock it. Overclocking is not really where this motherboard would shine anyway.
The VRMs aren’t what I’d consider super budget tier, nor are they insufficient by any means for general use. However, I would classify them as somewhat anemic compared to motherboards really designed for overclocking. You also don’t really have the provisions for LN2 cooling or anything like that. It’s not a serious overclocker but with the right CPU and realistic expectations, I think what you get is fine given its price point.
Final Points
Ultimately, the MSI Z790-P PRO WiFi was a pleasant surprise. It just worked. Even better, it just worked with RAM that wasn’t really optimized for it and it did very well in all the areas you’d expect. My biggest issue was with the flaky Intel NIC which I’d like to say could be chalked up to a sample of one. I wouldn’t necessarily put stock in the issues we’ve had here except that Intel’s i225v and i226v adapters aren’t up to their usual standard. Even so, our experiences here aren’t guaranteed to happen to you.
Personally, I think MSI should have gone with a Realtek NIC and with the money they saved, gone for a better audio CODEC or added the optical out port to it. A lot of people don’t even use a wired NIC, so it might not be a significant issue for you if you do give the MSI Z790-P PRO WiFi a shot. As I said, barring that one issue it’s been a fantastic board. Great stability, and reasonable features for the price. I would recommend it, primarily if you aren’t going to use the wired LAN. If you are, I’d be a bit more wary. I’d advise giving it a try from a retailer that will exchange it if things with the NIC don’t go right.
Discussion (7 replies)
Join Discussion →Intel's i225v & i226v have proven to be junk that should be avoided. Intel is probably giving them away. Any manufacturer using them should be called out.
Yea I wouldn't get another pro series from MSI. I had the x570 pro-a. Was always solid but I always worried about the caps.
Just curious (as I haven't been looking for a little while now), but what Networking Controller would you trust if the i225v and i226v's are junk?
Thanks @Dan_D for the awesome review.
I took a chance on not one but two Pro Series motherboards for a couple of my rigs and so far they've done well. Quite frankly I was on a tight budget in upgrading two rigs right after each other so I was looking for the cheapest motherboard I could find with the features I was after. I don't know if they've got the Intel NIC chipset or not but one is plugged in while the other is using Wifi and both have done well with transfer speeds but I'm not constantly having to push either except for game downloads.
I have been a little worried about power but they seem to be doing alright with the 5800X3D. According to MS AB, it mostly averages around 50-60W and occasionally jumps to ~85W during heavy loads but so far, so good.
I've had an on-again off-again experience with them. I've found that if they're acting up, the interface can be popped and they come back to life.
I feel that it's a driver / firmware issue; it's certainly not expected for Intel to fumble NICs, as they're sort of the consumer / prosumer / entry enterprise option of choice. Their WiFi modules are still stellar, from what I've seen hands on.
From what I can tell, the i225v / i226v work pretty well under Linux too.
As a rule, AM4 boards were all questionable. Some X370 boards were rock solid, some X570 boards weren't. Brand and tier irrespective.
With LGA1700 and AM5, both Intel and AMD asserted significant control as to the 'minimums' acceptable for boards sporting their halo chipset, I've observed. Unless you are truly scraping the bottom of the barrel, any Z or X board for the new sockets is good to go from a base functionality perspective.
US$200 and US$1200 boards will perform exactly the same for consumer usecases. You'd need to push into extreme OC of the CPU (i.e., sub-ambient using LN2 or water chilling), or trying to set memory overclock records with DDR5, in order to need a 'better' board.
Where boards differentiate mostly is in terms of features, with stuff like 10Gbit Ethernet, TB4 / USB4, post code readers, power and reset buttons, more controllers for fans and water pumps and temperature probes, etc. If you don't need any of that stuff, a 'Pro' board like this one is all you could ever need. Aesthetics aside, of course.
Mine are B550's, but so far they're doing well. If I remember correctly they came out after the 570's and perhaps some improvements were made despite being the lower tier. Seriously, plug and play with the 5800X3D. Didn't even have to update the firmware on the first power-ups for either and XMP was ready to go, just had to click on it in the BIOS. I paid $120 for each and I'm smiling over it.
The B550 came later, and there was also an X570S that provided a lower-power update (and hopefully other fixes) to X570.
The bigger problem was just the inconsistency of the boards. Some were great, others not so much; we don't see that with AM5, thankfully.