MSI has officially launched its Z790 MAX motherboards for 14th Gen Intel Core processors, confirming that at least one of the boards, the MPG Z790 CARBON MAX WIFI, will come bundled with a USB 4.0 PD100W Expansion Card. This expansion card, which was originally introduced at Computex this year and further teased in September, features a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface and 2x USB 4.0 ports and 2x DP 1.4 ports, enabling what MSI says is high-speed connectivity at up to 40 Gbps and a maximum power delivery of 100 watts with compatible devices. The MPG Z790 CARBON MAX WIFI will be available at the end of October, according to MSI’s press release, while the non-MAX MPG Z790 CARBON WIFI is currently going for $464 at retailers that include Newegg.
Let us start with some of the main product features that MSI’s Z790 MAX Series motherboards brings, for example, Wi-Fi 7 has been introduced for the next generation of wireless solutions. Wi-Fi 7 doubles the wireless networking speed compared to Wi-Fi 6E. It can boost its theoretical speeds to 5.8 Gbps and double the bandwidth from 160 MHz to 320 MHz, which will enable devices with Wi-Fi 7 to simultaneously send and receive data on different wireless channels without any bottlenecks. Wi-Fi 7 improves the QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) from 1024-QAM to 4096-QAM to help boost peak transmission rate and increase its network capacity. All MSI Z790 MAX Series motherboards embrace the highest Wi-Fi 7 standards that will provide users with a true wireless connectivity experience without any compromises.
With M.2 SSDs are getting more widely adopted, all MSI Z790 MAX Gaming motherboards will now come with full support for Gen5 M.2 and PCIe slot speeds. Having such fast and blazing speeds, cooling the M.2 SSD is just as crucial as on high-end motherboards like MEG Z790 GODLIKE MAX and ACE MAX both have MSI’s patented Screwless with Magnetic M.2 Shield Frozr. The rest of the gaming model will still feature MSI’s patented Screwless M.2 Shield Frozr and EZ M.2 clip for ease of installation.
There is also an all-new USB 4.0 PD100W Expansion Card that was introduced during Computex 2023 and it will be available in end of October as a bundle for MPG Z790 CARBON MAX WIFI. The USB 4.0 PD100W Expansion Card uses a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface, offering two USB 4.0 ports and two DP 1.4 ports. The USB 4.0 not only provides high-speed connectivity at up to 40Gbps but also supports a maximum of 100W of Power Delivery with compatible devices.
Discussion (4 replies)
Join Discussion →That's kinda cool. I haven't seen any USB 4 spec devices yet though so maybe a bit too soon?
I didn't even know the USB4 spec was done and ready to be deployed.
Basically, outside of Apple, USB4 today is implemented using Intel's TB4 chipset. Thing is that to be called TB4, Intel has to certify it - if they don't get the Intel certification, they can just call it USB4 (now). The TB4 controller provides the full capabilities of USB4.
Note that most motherboards have headers and a PCIe x4 slot to add TB4 / USB4 capability, so what's new here is that MSI is bundling the card with their Carbon board for RPL refresh.
Oh well huh, wweeiirrdd.