MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk MAX Wifi Motherboard Review: a little extra on a budget

Budget-class B850 Tomahawk offers fast LAN and dual PCIe 5.0 M.2 sockets

Reviews
By published
MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk MAX Wifi
Editor's Choice
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Firmware

With X870, MSI has updated its BIOS, renaming it “Click X,” and improved the aesthetic and functionality in the process. Thankfully, the Click X BIOS also trickled down to the B850 platform. The company changed the format with the headings on the left side, details in the middle, and system status information on the right. Like most other board partners, it has an informational EZ Mode, allowing limited functionality, such as Game Boost, PBO, and more. Overall, I like the new layout, and maneuvering around is intuitive after a short time, though it does take some getting used to. The dark, fading yellow/green background (that matches the board’s aesthetic) and white labeling are easy to read, and most of you need are at your fingertips.

Image 1 of 23
MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk MAX Wifi
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Software

MSI Center is a single utility that offers a wide range of functionality. From hardware monitoring to RGB control with Mystic Light, the software has many applets and is a one-stop shop for downloading other utilities, including overclocking and fan control. Those looking to use the Gamebar feature, Super Charger, or any other utilities MSI offers will find them all in MSI Center.

Image 1 of 5
MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk MAX Wifi
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Test System / Comparison Products

We’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 (23H2) 64-bit OS with all updates applied as of late September 2024 (this includes the Branch Prediction Optimizations for AMD). Hardware-wise, we’ve updated the RAM kits (matching our Intel test system), cooling, storage, and video card. Unless otherwise noted, we use the latest non-beta motherboard BIOS available to the public. Thanks goes out to Asus for providing the RTX 4080 TUF graphics card and Crucial for the 2TB T705 SSDs in our updated testbed. The hardware we used is as follows:

Test System Components

Swipe to scroll horizontally

CPU

AMD Ryzen 9 9900X

Cooling

Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420

Storage

Crucial 2TB T705 M.2 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD

RAM

Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 CL36 (KF560C36BBEAK2-32)

RAM

Teamgroup T-Froce Delta DDR5-7200 CL34 (FF3D518G7200HC34ABK)

RAM

Klevv Cras XR5 RGB DDR5-8000 (KD5AGUA80-80R380S)

GPU

Asus TUF RTX 4080 16G

PSU

EVGA Supernova 850W P6

Software

Windows 11 64-bit (23H2 - 22631.4169)

Display Driver

NVIDIA Driver 561.09

Sound

Integrated HD audio

Network

Integrated Networking (GbE to 10 GbE)

MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk MAX Wifi

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Benchmark Settings

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings

Row 0 - Cell 1

Procyon

Version 2.8.1352 64

Row 2 - Cell 0

Office 365, Video Editing (Premiere Pro 24.6.1), Photo Editing (Photoshop 25.1.2, Lightroom Classic 13.5.1)

3DMark

Version 2.29.8294.0 64

Row 4 - Cell 0

Speed Way and Steel Nomad (Default)

Cinebench R24

Version 2024.1.0

Row 6 - Cell 0

Open GL Rendering Benchmark - Single and Multi-threaded

Blender

Version 4.2.0

Row 8 - Cell 0

Full benchmark (all three tests)

Application Tests and Settings

Row 9 - Cell 1

LAME MP3

Version SSE2_2019

Row 11 - Cell 0

Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 -- (160Kb/s)

HandBrake CLI

Version: 1.8.2

Row 13 - Cell 0

Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x264 (light AVX) and x265 (heavy AVX)

Corona 1.4

Version 1.4

Row 15 - Cell 0

Custom benchmark

7-Zip

Version 24.08

Row 17 - Cell 0

Integrated benchmark (Command Line)

Game Tests and Settings

Row 18 - Cell 1

Cyberpunk 2077

Ultra RT Preset - 1920 x 1080,  DLSS - Balanced.

F1 2024

Ultra High Preset - 1920 x 1080, 16xAF/TAA, FPS Counter ON, Great Britain (Clear/Dry)

MORE: Best Motherboards

MORE: How To Choose A Motherboard

MORE: All Motherboard Content

Joe Shields
Joe Shields
Motherboard Reviewer

Joe Shields is a Freelance writer for Tom’s Hardware US. He reviews motherboards.

15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ohio_buckeye
    It looks nice, but we are now saying $230 bucks is a budget board? To me anyway, if I say budget board, I'm thinking more like this one.

    https://www.newegg.com/msi-pro-b650m-p-micro-atx-amd-b650-am5/p/N82E16813144607?Item=N82E16813144607
    Maybe I'm getting older but it seems like it wasn't that many years ago that 200 dollars bought a nice upper range board. In my opinion if you're on a budget, lets say a 500-600 dollar pc, are you really spending 200+ on the board?
    Reply
  • lmcnabney
    Why would someone on a budget buy this? They sure wouldn't be buying two PCIEx5 NVME drives to put in it.
    Reply
  • gio2vanni86
    I do agree that budget usually is something in the 100 range but to fair compared to all the boards in this price range, this is definitely a pretty good board for what it offers. Its a normal ATX board and thats what makes it budget. Its standard. Its wild to me that boards are now offering more nvmes but are taking sata connectors away from the board. You have to go to higher tier 500+ boards in order to get more sata connectors which is wild to me.
    Reply
  • ohio_buckeye
    Right. I mean it’s a nice looking board and extra nvme drives are fine, but if I were on a tight budget and knew what I was buying, I can live with one nvme slot and say 4 sata connections.
    Reply
  • Notton
    It's not so much B for Budget, but B for Best feature set and associated premium.
    Which would be inline with the MAG Tomahawk.

    For Budget MSI, it's always the Pro or Plus in mATX form factor.
    Reply
  • MacAttack2
    What's to distinguish this from the X870 "Gaming" MB from MSI, also at $229.99 (retail) ? It has all the same features but with at least one 40 Gbs USB port. The only drawback that my cursory comparison reveals is a 60 VRM. Should I expect a similar reduction in retail vs MSRP ?
    Reply
  • DS426
    Anyone else think the box looks like it says "BB50" instead of "B850"? Lol.
    Reply
  • AkroZ
    When ASRock has been created in 2002, entry prices for motherboards where at $20 for AMD and $30 for Intel.
    Video cards are not the only ones to inflate.
    Reply
  • Loadedaxe
    I guess being $50 less than the X870 technically makes it a budget board, but after looking at the specs and performance, it’s clear that most users would do really well with this board. Sure, budget builds aren’t typically looking for dual PCIe 5.0 NVMe slots, but having them means this board will stay relevant for a long time without the need for upgrades.

    It’s also right in line with the price of other B850 offerings, making it a solid choice overall.
    Reply
  • AkroZ
    AMD B chipsets have nearly the same specs than AMD X chipsets. The difference is that X chipsets have more PCI-E lines which is generally not useful as we rarely put several graphic cards on a motherboard.
    If a motherboard with B or A chipset have the specs your looking for then you don't need to pay extra for a X chipset, it will not make the CPU faster.
    Reply