Intel Test System #1: MSI Z790 MPG Carbon WiFi, Corsair iCUE Elite LCD 360mm, Corsair DDR5-6000 Vengeance RGB Memory (32GB), Nvidia RTX 3090, Samsung 970 Pro NVMe 1TB, Corsair HX-1050 1050 Watt Power Supply, Windows 11 (fully updated). Premium Thermal Solution: Enlarged heatsink dengan heat-pipe, MOSFET thermal pads dianjurkan untuk 7W/mk, additional choke thermal pads and M.2 Shield Frozr dibuat untuk sistem berperforma tinggi dan pengalaman gaming non-stop The top M.2 slot is Gen4 and the heatsink is easily removed with a clip on the edge. Below that is the Gen5 M.2 slot, followed by three more Gen4 M.2 slots under a U-shaped heatsink — these are provided by the chipset while the other two M.2 slots are provided by the CPU.

Mounted on the I/O through an M.2 port is the Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211NGW M.2 2230 card, which is easily serviced or swapped out as needed. This adapter also provides Bluetooth 5.3. From a first look, you’ll be able to see that both of these motherboards are rather similar, but there are some noticeable changes. Z690 motherboards were the first to have access to PCI-E 5.0, so we’re seeing this become more widely adopted on a range of boards including the MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi. The amount of USB ports has significantly improved as well with the Z790 maxing out at 10 high speed ports. The changes aren’t major, so the pressure is really on brands like MSI to make their boards worthwhile with custom features and capabilities. In fact, it’s entirely possible to run a 12th generation processor in a Z790 platform and take advantage of these same benefits, so you if you find yourself in the market for a new motherboard, Z790 is still a compelling option if it fits your budget. Available only on processors featuring integrated graphics. Graphics specifications may vary depending on the CPU installed.

Intel Test System #2: MSI Z690 MPG Carbon WiFi, Corsair iCUE Elite LCD 360mm, Corsair DDR5-6000 Vengeance RGB Memory (32GB), Nvidia RTX 3090, Samsung 970 Pro NVMe 1TB, Corsair HX-1050 1050 Watt Power Supply, Windows 11 (fully updated). The main change is the inclusion of PCI-E 5.0 for graphics cards and SSDs. Most of the new Z790 boards have Gen 5 compatible slots which do a great job of opening upgrade paths for next-gen graphics card and SSD releases. We’ve also seen PCI-E 5.0 slots feature on a fair few on the cheaper boards which is a big selling point if you’re looking to upgrade in the future. And, as a fan of RGB lighting, I love the tasteful RGB MSI has implemented here. It’s just the dragon logo, nothing too overdone, but it provides a nice visual accent that looks great inside of a tempered glass case. If you saw the first part of our review in progress for the Intel Core i9-13900K, then you’ve already had a sneak peak at gaming performance with this motherboard. Since I also had a Z690 Carbon WiFi on hand, as well as a 12900K, I decided to test it against the last generation board and to throw in the results using that board with a 12th gen CPU. Intel doesn’t expect there to be performance uplift in games and applications between Z690 and Z790, but I thought it would be interesting to show what the generational uplift is between the two models and CPUs. The system also features a whopping five M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs. Four slots run at PCIe 4.0 x4 speeds while the second larger slot is rated for PCIe 5.0. There are also six SATA slots, but be aware that the final M.2 slot shares lanes with these, so you’ll want to position your SATA SSDs and HDDs according to the manual.

AUDIO BOOST 5: Manjakan kuping Anda dengan kualitas suara studio grade untuk pengalaman gaming yang paling imersif. LAN dan Intel Wi-Fi 6E Solution: Solusi jaringan yang ditingkatkan untuk penggunaan profesional dan multimedia. Memberikan koneksi jaringan yang aman, stabil dan cepat Memory Support 7600+(OC)/7400 (OC)/7200(OC)/7000(OC)/6800(OC)/6600(OC)/6400(OC)/6200(OC)/6000(OC)/5800(OC)/5600(JEDEC)/5400(JEDEC)/5200(JEDEC)/5000(JEDEC) /4800(JEDEC) MHz The I/O panel has three buttons for easy user interfacing which can be changed in the BIOS. The Smart Button is user-changeable in functionality with the default being system reset, and other options include: Mystic Light toggle (unless LED_SW1 aka EZ LED Control is turned off), Safe Boot mode (by holding the smart button and powering on 0, causing the system to boot with default settings and lower PCIe mode values), and Turbo Fan which toggles all fans between full or default speeds. The Flash BIOS Button allows users to update their BIOS without a CPU even or RAM. The CPU_PWR1 and ATX_PWR1 connections will be required to enable the dedicated USB port, which you can use to insert a USB drive with a compatible BIOS renamed to MSI.ROM in the root directory. Users can then hit the Flash BIOS button, which causes the LED to start flashing on the button until the process is completed. The Clear CMOS button can be used to reset BIOS to default values by holding it down for 5-10 seconds. Next is the pair of blue USB 3.2 Gen 1 5Gbps Type-A ports with the top being used for the Flash BIOS button, and an HDMI port for video output of any iGPU depending on if the CPU has one. band support may depend on every country’s regulations and Wi-Fi 7 will be ready in Windows 11 SV3.With features and overview out of the way, let’s get into how the motherboard performed in benchmark testing. MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi - Performance LAN and Intel Wi-Fi 6E Solution: Upgraded network solution for professional and multimedia use. Delivers a secure, stable and fast network connection There are also a number of quality of life features that I really appreciated with the board. It comes with a debug LED readout that is incredibly useful. As the system boots, it displays a series of codes that line up with what’s occurring at that moment, even if you don’t have video out to your PC. If there are any problems, the code will point you toward the source of the error. This is a feature that I refused to buy a motherboard without, so it’s great ot see it included here.