Conclusion
This review gave an opportunity to test yet another MSI X870E “MAX” offering. This time, we stepped up into the MSI Performance Gaming segment with the MSI MPG X870E CARBON MAX WiFi motherboard. This is a very handsome all-black ATX board with just the right touch of RGBs and all the offerings of a dual Promontory chipset. This feature-rich board is outfitted for not only enthusiast gaming but also honest hard overclocking. The “MAX” upgrades seem to be squarely focused on that particular segment of enthusiast. While the performance on the bench was no different than the original MSI MPG X870E CARBON WiFi we reviewed in September 2024, underneath all that is a performance motherboard if that is what you are looking for.
Installation and Use
The overall layout and installation of components gave us no issues. The motherboard has all the toolless options for NVME drives and a large-sized GPU. There is ample space around the CPU socket and RAM. The EZ PCIe Release is present, as are the M.2 EZ Clips. The M.2 heatsinks are easy to remove and place. Once again, the location of the GPU and the placement of M.2 drives are going to be an issue. You will need very flat NVMe drives to be able to use the native motherboard heatsinks. Again, we emphasize that the full function of the second Gen5 M.2 slot depends on going into the BIOS and switching off the USB4 ports. This is not exclusive to this motherboard. We have seen this on a number of like-equipped X870E boards. It is just the nature of what the CPU has in terms of PCIe lanes. If you use the USB4 ports, the speed of the M.2_2 drive will be halved.
First boot, BIOS navigation, and Windows 11 installation were without a single hitch. Since the board came with the release 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 X897E “MAX” motherboards we have reviewed in the recent past. The Click BIOS X is very responsive and well-organized. All benchmarks ran without error. VRM temperatures were very unremarkable on this board during prolonged Cinebench R23. There were no thermal issues.
Final Points
The MSI MPG X870E CARBON MAX WiFi motherboard is a very good-looking, well-built, full-featured motherboard that represents the top offering in the MSI “Performance” tier of X870E chipset boards. Without a doubt, this is a premium motherboard with close attention to detail. Every component is built to support overclocking or simply full-tilt use. (and look good doing it)
In comparison to the originally released non-MAX X870E CARBON WiFi, there is little to no obvious difference until one digs into the BIOS settings or the BIOS chip specifications. Performance in our testing is no different compared to all other past or recent X870E-equipped motherboards, but that is not a bad thing. Personally, I own an OG MPG X870E CARBON WiFi, and it has performed without a hitch day in and day out for over a year.
