MSI X870E Carbon WIFI Motherboard Review: USB 4.0 has arrived

The X870E Carbon offers native Zen 5 support, loads of Type-C ports, and lots of EZ DIY features.

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MSI X870E Carbon WIFI
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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Firmware

With X870, MSI has updated its BIOS, renaming it “Click X”, and improved the aesthetic and functionality. The company changed up the format with the headings on the left side, details in the middle, and system status information on the right side. Like most other board partners, it has an informational EZ Mode that allows for 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 purple background and white labeling are easy to read, and most of what you need is at your fingertips.

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MSI X870E Carbon WIFI
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Software

MSI Center is a single utility that covers quite a bit 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.

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MSI X870E Carbon 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

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
Swipe to scroll horizontally
CPUAMD Ryzen 9 9900XRow 0 - Cell 2
CoolingArctic Liquid Freezer II 420Row 1 - Cell 2
StorageCrucial 2TB T705 M.2 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDRow 2 - Cell 2
RAMKingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 CL36(KF560C36BBEAK2-32)
RAMTeamgroup T-Froce Delta DDR5-7200 CL34(FF3D518G7200HC34ABK)
RAMKlevv Cras XR5 RGB DDR5-8000(KD5AGUA80-80R380S)
GPUAsus TUF RTX 4080 16GRow 6 - Cell 2
PSUEVGA Supernova 850W P6Row 7 - Cell 2
OSWindows 11 64-bit (23H2 - 22631.4169)Row 8 - Cell 2
SoundIntegrated HD audioRow 9 - Cell 2
NetworkIntegrated Networking (GbE to 10 GbE)Row 10 - Cell 2
Graphics DriverNVIDIA Driver 561.09Row 11 - Cell 2

Benchmark Settings

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Synthetic Benchmarks and SettingsRow 0 - Cell 1
ProcyonVersion 2.6.848 64
Row 2 - Cell 0 Office Suite (Office 365), Video Editing (Premiere Pro 23.6), Photo Editing (Photoshop 25.0, Lightroom Classic 12.5)
3DMarkVersion 2.27.8177 64
Row 4 - Cell 0 Firestrike Extreme (v1.1) and Time Spy (v1.2) Default Presets
Cinebench R24Version ‘build unknown’
Row 6 - Cell 0 Open GL Benchmark - Single and Multi-threaded
BlenderVersion 3.6.0
Row 8 - Cell 0 Full benchmark (all 3 tests)
Application Tests and SettingsRow 9 - Cell 1
LAME MP3Version SSE2_2019
Row 11 - Cell 0 Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s)
HandBrake CLIVersion: 1.2.2
Row 13 - Cell 0 Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x264 (light AVX) and x265 (heavy AVX)
Corona 1.4Version 1.4
Row 15 - Cell 0 Custom benchmark
7-ZipVersion 21.03-beta
Row 17 - Cell 0 Integrated benchmark (Command Line)
Game Tests and SettingsRow 18 - Cell 1
Far Cry 6Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, HD Textures ON
F1 2022Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, Ultra High (default) Bahrain (Clear/Dry), FPS Counter ON

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Joe Shields
Joe Shields
Motherboard Reviewer

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

13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • DougMcC
    No TB5, in 2024?
    Reply
  • zzrailzz
    So I am thinking about getting this MB (Upgrading from a Hero VIII x570) and cant seem to find the answer to the one question holding me back. If I populate all 4 nvme slots and put a card in the x4 slot for another nvme will it cut down my main PCIe to x8 or disable sata ports?
    Reply
  • thestryker
    Appreciate the day one review and it seems like the X870E is the way to go for people hopping on the platform even if it isn't enough of an upgrade for those already on X670E. I'm curious if memory topologies have changed at all or if the higher support listed is due to AGESA optimization.

    MSI's specifications show the second slot is limited to x4:
    3x PCI-E x16 slot
    PCI_E1 Gen PCIe 5.0 supports up to x16 (From CPU)
    PCI_E2 Gen PCIe 5.0 supports up to x4 (From CPU)
    PCI_E3 Gen PCIe 4.0 supports up to x4 (From Chipset)

    It would be helpful to note when there are M.2 restrictions as well since populating M.2_2 will cause the primary PCIe slot to run x8:
    4x M.2
    M.2_1 Source (From CPU) supports up to PCIe 5.0 x4 , supports 2280/2260 devices
    M.2_2 Source (From CPU) supports up to PCIe 5.0 x4 , supports 2280/2260 devices
    M.2_3 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 , supports 22110/2280 devices
    M.2_4 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 , supports 2280/2260 devices
    4x SATA 6G

    * PCI_E1 & PCI_E2 & M.2_2 share the bandwidth, and PCIe version support varies depending on the CPU.
    Reply
  • Peksha
    zzrailzz said:
    So I am thinking about getting this MB (Upgrading from a Hero VIII x570) and cant seem to find the answer to the one question holding me back. If I populate all 4 nvme slots and put a card in the x4 slot for another nvme will it cut down my main PCIe to x8 or disable sata ports?
    Yes, all 8-series am5 use it "Intel lga 1700 style":
    PCI_E1 & PCI_E2 & M.2_2 share the bandwidth, and PCIe version support varies depending on the CPU. Please refer to the PCIe configuration table in the manual for more details.

    Choice 6-series soc instead
    Reply
  • awake283
    Seems like a great board but wow are they becoming expensive.
    Reply
  • instaSHINOBI
    DougMcC said:
    No TB5, in 2024?
    They gotta keep their prices down so the current lineup is basically TB3 equivalent. Sure I say go ahead and offer a TB5 board at premium cost for "creators"
    Reply
  • penguinbelly
    Isn't Carbon close to $500? How is it a "mid-range" board?
    Reply
  • lunar.holiday
    "USB 4 has arrived"

    Where have you been it's been here since X670E lol. The ProArt board already had two full speed USB4 ports and nearly the same specs for the rest, but is still actually better with a 10GbE.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    I got myself the meme board Asus ROG Strix X870E-E because of the 10x 10G USB ports and USB4, plus the plethora of connectivity options. Every other model I looked at did not have this arrangement of USB ports and PCIe splitting configuration. The same board in X670E is configured similarly, but lacking USB4 and had a few 5G USB ports; still cheaper if you don't need the USB ports like me since it is definitely on the pricey side, but considering this Asus board supports ECC and the MSI doesn't, well, there's no doubts for me.

    None of the TUF series had a decent enough arrangement of USB and PCIe splitting for me (NVMe and PCIe slots).

    Plus, the sound chip in it seems to be better as per HUB's testing (of the Hero version).

    Regards.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    -Fran- said:
    but considering this Asus board supports ECC and the MSI doesn't, well, there's no doubts for me.
    It might be worth making sure it really supports ECC memory correctly if this is an important festure for you. The X870E Hero HUB tested functioned with ECC memory installed, but didn't actually support ECC.
    Reply