MSI MAG B850M MORTAR MAX WiFi Features
When you open the box up, obviously, this is a smaller form factor motherboard. The feel and weight of the board is impressive, however. The color scheme of the “MAG” brand has been subdued from what we saw in 2025, and it is a nice change. The board is full-on black/dark gray, and gone are the gaudy mustard yellow icons. Lettering is embossed with just a sprinkle of four yellow “X” markings. Overall, the look is quite nice. The motherboard looks and feels well-constructed. The upper heatsinks are quite heavy.
The I/O panel is covered by a black embossed nameplate. There are no RGBs on this board, but plenty of headers if you need lighting. The PCB is sturdy without bend or flex. It seems to be constructed in typical MSI fashion, multi-layer with copper inlay. The uppermost M.2 slots are covered by the MSI Shield- Frozr II, which is quite heavy. The single PCI-e slot is metal reinforced and is accompanied by our favorite EZ-PCIe Release mechanism. There is a DeBug LED panel on the right side of the board, but no digital read-outs.
Despite its size, the MSI MAG B850M MORTAR MAX WiFi has the full armada of connections expected from a B850 chipset motherboard. There are four M.2 slots, two Gen5 and two Gen4, one of which is placed on the back side of the board. The I/O panel offers eight USB-A ports (4x5Gb/s, 4X10Gb/s) and three USB-C 10Gb/s. Also included is a 5G RJ-45 port in addition to HDMI, WiFi, 7.1 capable audio, and CMOS and Flash BIOS buttons.
To earn the “MAX” branding, this board has a few additions that we mentioned in the introduction: a larger 64MB BIOS chip, an expanded rear I/O plate, the MSI OC Engine, a fourth M.2 slot, a few BIOS settings to accommodate the OC Engine, and the cleaner, simplified Click X BIOS. To achieve this updated connectivity, MSI sacrificed a half-sized PCI-e slot and two SATA 6Gb/s ports compared to the OG MAG B850M MORTAR WiFi.
Power Delivery
MSI states the MAG B850M MORTAR MAX WiFi has 12+2+1 Smart Power Stage support. The total amperage available to the board is 60Amps, which should be very adequate for use of PBO and EXPO settings. The power is delivered via two 8-pin CPU connectors, top-left. As we have discussed, the VRM heatsinks are heavy. There do not appear to be any heatpipes. The PCB is made from multiple layers with inlaid copper. Overall, the board feels sturdy without any flex or bending.
CPU Socket, Memory and Storage
The MSI MAG B850M MORTAR MAX WiFi supports socket AM5 CPUs in the Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 series. There is ample space surrounding the socket to place most, if not all, CPU coolers, despite the smaller size of the board. Our MSI AIO MAG Core 360I gave us no mounting issues. Memory supported includes DDR5 DIMMs up to 256 GB in total. Frequencies are advertised up to 8400MT/s (OC). XMP and Expo profiles are supported for 1-click overclocking. The memory slots are single-latch. The spacing seems adequate for large CPU coolers. The only issue here may be tall DIMM heatsinks in slot A1 and low cooling fins on an air-cooled heatsink.
We mentioned in the section above that there are four M.2 slots. The primary M.2 and M.2_2 are derived from the CPU and are Gen5 x 4 (128Gb/s). M.2_3 is Gen4 x 4 (64Gb/s) and M.2_4 is Gen4 x 4 located on the back of the motherboard with lanes derived from the chipset. The position of M.2_1 and M.2_2 is just below the primary and only PCIe slot. It “may” be fully usable if the native heatsink is not too tall. However, heat from a large GPU may be a problem. Slot M.2_3 is mostly out of the way. It should be fully usable in conjunction with a large GPU. In our case, the tall heatsink of the Team TForce Dark AirFlow GE Pro Gen5 NVME was about 1mm from the fan blades of the GPU!!
The two Gen5 M.2 slots have a heavy metal heatsink. The heatsink has thermal pads on its underside. The primary M.2 slot has an EZ Release system, while the other two have no native heatsinks. Each slot is otherwise tool-less. You have a choice of rotary or MSI EZ-Clip clasps to install your drives. There are also 2 SATA 6Gb/s ports on the lower right side.
Expansion
Expansion on the board consists of one PCIe Gen5 x 16. The primary PCIe slot is reinforced, which is nice to see. MSI uses what they call “EZ PCIe Release” for the primary GPU release. This is one of our favorite new push-button GPU releases. The insertion is crisp, and the release is undeniable. The button is well away from interference from the video card. This release allows you to easily remove a large GPU one-handed. This innovation was also available on the OG MAG B850M MORTAR WiFi.
I/O
In comparison to the original MAG B850 MORTAR WiFi, the MSI MAG B850M MORTAR MAX WiFi squeezed in one additional 10Gb/s USB-A and USB-C port. Pretty nice right there. The motherboard plate is embedded, which is customary these days, and a nice touch. Working from left to right: recessed Flash BIOS and Clear CMOS, HDMI Port, USB-A 10Gb/s, USB-C 10Gb/s, two USB-A 10Gb/s, USB-C 10Gb/s, four USB-A 5 Gb/s, 5GB RJ-45, USB-A 10Gb/s(which serves as a Flash-BIOS port also), and USB-C 10Gb/s, finally, WiFi antenna ports and audio.
On the board, we have six 4-pin fan headers. Four are on the right side (CPU, PUMP, SYS are at the top), one on the bottom right, and one near the I/O. Fans may be controlled by the Hardware monitor or in the MSI Center software. Board right has a DeBug LED panel, USB-C 20Gb/s front header, two SATA ports, and two ARGB headers. The bottom row features the front panel header, 5Gb/s front panel header, another ARGB header, 2 USB 2.0 headers, M.2_3 slot, and the HD audio header. This is a pretty inclusive set-up for a compact board, right there. All ARGBs may be controlled in the MSI Center software, which is located on the motherboard support page.
