Conclusion
Our review evaluates the new MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WiFi PZ motherboard and gives a quick glance at the MSI MAG PANO 100R PZ gaming case. The B850 GAMING PLUS WiFi PZ is a full-sized ATX board and is part of the new Project Zero Back-Connect lineup from MSI. Otherwise, this motherboard has all the ‘fixins’ of the B850 chipset AM5 class. The board supports PCIe Gen5 x 16, Gen5 NVME, and DDR5 up to 8200MT/s. The accompanying PC case is purpose-built to house Back-Connect motherboards, and we found it to be well designed.
Installation and Use
The MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WiFi PZ had no issues with set-up or initial boot. The installation of the major components was unremarkable. CPU and its cooler had ample room, as did RAM, which has a single latch slot. The M.2 slots are all accessed by Phillips screws, which are embedded, but nonetheless, a screwdriver is needed. The three M.2 slots are otherwise tool-less with rotating latches. M.2 and M.3 do appear to be fully usable with a 4-slot GPU. M.2 in slot2 would need to be thin; even then, heat could be an issue. Once again, our MSI Spatium NVME has a big passive heatsink, so use of the native heatsink is a no-go. GPU placement is made easier by the MSI “EZ-PCIe CLIP II”. That said, there is minimal clearance between the primary M.2 slot and the primary PCIe slot.
First boot, BIOS navigation, and Windows 11 installation were without a single hitch. Since the board came with an outdated BIOS version, we used “M-Flash” to update, which was very simple to use and proceeded without an issue. The BIOS is very similar, if not identical, to the other MSI motherboards we have reviewed in the recent past. The Click X BIOS is very responsive and well-organized. All benchmarks ran without error, cooling of the MOSFETS was about 15 °C higher compared with all the other AM5 motherboards we have reviewed. This did not present any issues, however.
Briefly, the MSI MAG PANO 100R PZ case was well designed for the purpose and easy to work in and around. As we stated, a full review is planned for the case.
Final Points
Our review of the MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WiFi PZ motherboard left us quite impressed. The motherboard did exactly what it was supposed to do and has all the options and connections of the AM5 B850 chipset series. Performance results were right on par with all the other B850 boards we have reviewed.
The Back-Connect is undoubtedly the game-changer here. If you hate struggling with cables and wires when putting together a new PC, this is the answer. The one downside of course is needing a PC case that accepts the back-side arrangement of the Project Zero motherboards. Well, the MSI MAG PANO 100R PZ or its variants have you covered there, if a new case is what you need. Or you could always break out the Dremel on your current case….. At any rate, this is a very well-designed motherboard that allows you to build a clean, uncluttered system with nearly no PSU cables visible.
This MSI Project Zero system is worth a good look if you are considering a new PC. From an innovation standpoint, you simply can’t get any better than this.
Discussion (3 replies)
Join Discussion →Interesting... I suppose the high temps aren't a concern becasue.... why?
Well here's the deal, I forgot to comment on this, but this board is inside a case not on an open bench like usual.
Can't use the bench because I don't have anything that accesses from the back. I could always use a cardboard box or something, but doesn't look real professional. Over the years, I did use cardboard boxes for my folding platforms.
At any rate, that motherboard ran perfectly at the temperatures you see, so it wasn't an issue in my viewpoint, plus that was max, never went higher.
Fair enough. Just seems odd to me giving it a 10/10 when you specifically call out abnormal (for the product stack) temps on the VRM's. That would make me believe that something is amiss in the build/cooling solution.
Open air cases are nice.... but in reality a good case with good airflow should exceed the cooling of an open air chassis design 9 times out of 10.
Sure you can make open air better because you can channel cold air to it more easily without the need of ducting and such.
I'm not against MSI at all. I run a MPG Carbon Wifi... just seemed weird. I guess nothing is perfect so a 10/10 makes sense. :)