MSI MAG Pro X870E-P Wifi Motherboard review: Designed for productivity, but not a standout

The MSI MAG Pro X870E-P WiFi hails from the enthusiast-class X870E chipset and offers users a wide variety of features tailored for professionals who care about productivity and efficiency. You get a simple black-and-silver color scheme and the usual platform fare, including PCIe 5.0 for M.2 and PCIe slots, fast networking, and, of course, it uses MSI’s EZ DIY features to make building and updating your machine easier. Priced just under $300, this ‘original’ X870E board offers plenty to professionals and the average user.

Newegg currently sells the MSI Pro X870E-P Wifi for $279.99, which makes it one of the lower-priced boards in the X870E family. For the money, the Pro X870E-P offers three M.2 sockets (one PCIe 5.0) and four SATA ports for storage, fast networking with ‘true’ Wi-Fi 7 (5.8 Mbps) and 5 GbE, capable power delivery, and a basic audio solution. You also get the helpful EZ DIY features, such as the M.2 Shield Frozr II, EZ M.2 Clip II, and EZ M.2 Clip II for M.2, and a larger tab on the GPU lock, all of which make installing and swapping those parts much easier. They also have AI features such as the AI Engine/LAN Manager, Frozr AI cooling, and AI Boost to overclock the NPU.

Performance on the board hovered around the average across a wide variety of tests. So whether you’re a professional or an average user, the X870E-P Wifi has the hardware and features you need from the X870E platform. Below, we’ll examine the board's performance and other features to determine whether it deserves a spot on our list of the best motherboards. But before we share test results and discuss details, here are the specifications:

Specifications of the MSI Pro X870E-P Wifi

Inside the Box

The Pro X870E-P Wifi includes a couple of accessories to get you started. MSI includes the quick installation guide, an EZ M.2 Clip II remover, and three EZ M.2 Clip II posts. You also get the EZ Wi-Fi antenna, two SATA cables, and a 1-to-2 EZ Conn-Cable (v1) for their JAF header—just the basics.

Design of the Pro X870E-P

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The Pro X870E-P uses a black, 8-layer PCB with large silver heat sinks on the VRMs and plate-style heatsinks on the top M.2 socket and chipset area. The VRM heatsinks are large and have a very blocky design, with sharp angles and flat tops. If you want RGB lighting, you’ll have to add it yourself via multiple headers, as the ‘Pro’ board doesn’t have any integrated.

It’s a really simple aesthetic, and while it will never be a showpiece for your build (that isn’t its intention), it does work well with both black- and white-themed builds, so you have some flexibility in what color you want your chassis and peripherals to be.

On the top half of the board, we get a better look at the blocky heatsinks and the stenciled lines-and-dots design that breaks up the matte-silver finish. Above the VRM heatsink are two 8-pin EPS power connectors (one required) for the processor. Nothing extraordinary here.

Moving right past the socket, we run into four DRAM slots, with locking mechanisms on both sides. MSI lists support up to 256GB capacity and speeds up to DDR5-8200 (with an APU and two DIMMs) and well past AMD’s current sweetspot (around 6,000-6,400 MT/s).

Just above the RAM slots are the first three (of eight) four-pin fan headers. Each header supports both PWM- and DC-controlled devices, with the output varying for each. The system fans are the lowest at 1A/12W, CPU_FAN1 next at 2A/24W, and the PUMP-SYS1-2 header (defaults to PWM mode) is the most at 3A/24W. This is plenty of power for most cooling systems. Be sure to connect the supplemental PCIe (6-pin) power to ensure the board can safely output all that juice simultaneously, or if you’re using add-in cards.

Working our way down the right edge, we spot the first (of three) 3-pin ARGB headers for attaching RGB lighting. MSI Control Center and the Mystic Light application within control any RGBs attached to the headers. Next are the EZ debug LEDs for troubleshooting POST issues. The 24-pin ATX power header for the board is next, followed by a USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C header

Power delivery on the Pro X870E-P consists of 17 total phases, with 14 dedicated to Vcore. Power heads from the 8-pin EPS connector(s) in the top-left corner, and on to a Monolithic Power Systems MPS2516 VRM controller in a ‘teamed’ configuration. From there, it moves to the 14 60A MPS2520 MOSFETs. While not the most robust power delivery, it’scapable of handling anything you throw at it, including the Ryzen 9 9950X or the recently released Ryzen 9 9850X3D.

On the bottom half of the board, and hidden under a shroud on the left side, is the audio section. The budget board uses an older budget codec in the Realtek ALC897. This audio solution won’t please audiophiles, but it is still good enough for the average gamer or listening to some tunes while you’re working on this professional-class motherboard.

In the middle of the board are four PCIe slots- three full-length and one x1. The top slot (PCI_E1), primary for graphics cards, uses reinforcement and gets its PCIe 5.0 x16 bandwidth from the CPU. The second slot (PCI_E2), tiny x1, connects to the chipset and runs at PCIe 3.0 x1, just like the bottom full-length slot (PCI_E4). The middle full-length slot also connects through the chipset and runs PCIe 4.0 x4. There are plenty of slots for Add-in-Cards, just be sure that any that need a lot of bandwidth, read more than PCIe 3.0 x1 (which will likely be hidden under most graphics cards in the first place), you’ll have to use the PCI_E3.

Among the slots are three M.2 sockets. The top socket, M.2_1, under the one-touch Frozr heatsink, supports up to 80mm devices and is your sole PCIe 5.0 x4 connection (via CPU). M.2_2 and M.2_3 connect through the chipset and run up to PCIe 4.0 x4. M.2_3 holds 110mm devices with M.2_2 80mm. If you’re looking for additional speed or redundancy, the board supports RAID0/1/5 modes for NVMe. The good news is that there isn’t any lane sharing between PCIe slots and M.2 slots, or between USB4 and M.2/PCIe slots. So feel free to connect anything you can without bandwidth restrictions.

Past the chipset heatsink and on to the right edge, we see the four SATA ports, a 19-pin USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) connector, and a 4-pin fan header.

We've also included many images of the active IC's for the board. The Pro X870E-P uses a wide range of brands, including Monolithic Power Systems (VRMs), Realtek (audio, USB, PWM controller), ASMedia (USB) and more.

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Along the bottom are several headers, ranging from the front panel to fans and supplemental PCIe power, and more. From left to right, we’ve listed them below. One item worth mentioning is the supplemental PCIe power connector for additional board power, so the board can actually output everything it’s rated for.

• Front panel audio
• 4-pin RGB
• 3-pin ARGB
• JDASH header
• JAF1 header
• PCIe supplemental power
• (2) USB 2.0 headers
• 4-pin system fan header
• 19-pin USB 3.2 Gen 1 header
• Front panel
• 2-pin OC header
• 2-pin battery header(CMOS reset)

The rear IO on the Pro X870E-P is relatively sparse, but it should have enough to meet your needs. Starting on the left are the BIOS Flashback and Clear CMOS buttons. Next to that is your HDMI output when using integrated video on some processors. There are 10 USB ports on the rear IO. First are two Type-C ports (40 Gbps and 20 Gbps). Next are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports (red), two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports (blue), and four USB 2.0 ports (480 Mbps) in black. After that are the quick-connect Wi-Fi 7 antenna and the audio stack with three 3.5mm jacks (Line in/out and Mic in). It’s only missing the optical SPDIF output, but I'm not sure many will miss that on a ‘professional’ motherboard.

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