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Firmware, Software and Test System

Like other MSI BIOS configurations, the B660 Tomahawk starts you out with an informational EZ Mode that allows editing of some high-level functions, including enabling XMP profiles, adjusting fan speeds, and more. The main menu is informational up top, while the bottom two-thirds is where the adjustments happen. You select the section you want on the left or right sides, and the details show in the middle. You don’t have to dig down several screens to reach the overclocking options, as they are mostly on the main page. Some digging is inevitable, but overall we find this BIOS full of options and easy to read and get around.

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MSI MAG B660 Tomahawk WIFI — (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

For software, the theme these days is to place a lot of the functionality in one program. MSI’s take on this is called Dragon Center, which lets you download individual applets. Some of the programs include Mystic Light (RGB control), LAN Manager, User Scenario (overclocking, monitoring, and fan control), Super Charger, MSI Companion (help record games), and many more. Though updates should fix this down the road, it’s worth noting that you cannot overclock the system with the version I had. But serious overclockers will want to do their tweaking in the BIOS anyway.

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We’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 64-bit OS with all updates applied. We kept the same Asus TUF RTX 3070 video card from our previous testing platforms but updated the driver to version 496.13. Additionally, our game selection has been updated, as noted in the table below. We use the latest non-beta motherboard BIOS available to the public unless otherwise noted. The hardware we used is as follows:

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CPU	Intel Core i9-12900K
Memory	GSkill Trident Z DDR5-5600 CL36 (F5-5600U3636C16GX2-TZ5RK)
Row 2 - Cell 0	ADATA XPG Lancer DDR5-6000 CL40 (AX5U6000C4016G-DCLARBK)
Row 3 - Cell 0	GSkill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 (F4-3600C16Q-32GTZN)
Row 4 - Cell 0	GSkill Trident Z Royal DDR4-4000 (F4-4000C18Q-32GTRS)
GPU	Asus TUF RTX 3070
Cooling	Coolermaster MasterLiquid PL360 Flux
PSU	EVGA Supernova 850W P6
Software	Windows 11 64-bit (21H2, Build 22000.282)
Graphics Driver	NVIDIA Driver 496.13
Sound	Integrated HD audio
Network	Integrated Networking (GbE or 2.5 GbE)

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Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings	Row 0 - Cell 1
Procyon	Version 2.0.249 64
Row 2 - Cell 0	Office Suite, Video Editing (Premiere Pro), Photo Editing (Photoshop, Lightroom Classic)
3DMark	Version 2.20.7290 64
Row 4 - Cell 0	Firestrike Extreme and Time Spy Default Presets
Cinebench R23	Version RBBENCHMARK330542
Row 6 - Cell 0	Open GL Benchmark - Single and Multi-threaded
Blender	Version 3.0.1
Row 8 - Cell 0	Full benchmark (all 3 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 --nores (160Kb/s)
HandBrake CLI	Version: 1.2.2
Row 13 - Cell 0	Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x264 (light AVX) and x265 (heavy AVX)
Corona 1.4	Version 1.4
Row 15 - Cell 0	Custom benchmark
7-Zip	Version 21.03-beta
Row 17 - Cell 0	Integrated benchmark (Command Line)
Game Tests and Settings	Row 18 - Cell 1
Far Cry 6	Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, HD Textures ON
F1 2021	Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, HBAO+, RT Med, TAA + 16xAF, Bahrain, FPS Counter ON

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Joe Shields is a staff writer at Tom’s Hardware. He reviews motherboards and PC components.

6 Comments Comment from the forums

Why_Me

MSI has the better B660 boards vs their competitors imo.
Reply
great Unknown

A "sub $200" motherboard that's on sale for $270? Suddenly the cost/value parameter shifts to the negative side.
Reply
Why_Me

great Unknown said:
A "sub $200" motherboard that's on sale for $270? Suddenly the cost/value parameter shifts to the negative side.
The link goes to a Z690 board, not a B660 board.
Reply
great Unknown

Why_Me said:
The link goes to a Z690 board, not a B660 board.
Sorry; missed that. Looked for the failure in the wrong location.
Reply
javiindo

Much better that the b550 TOMAHAWK which it just has a few USB ports, two ethernet ports (99% just need one) and no wifi. I also don't care about rgb.
Reply
Brian D Smith

"Just be aware that with some heavy multi-threaded loads, there is the potential of throttling due to CPU temperature. But a quick tweak to the voltage eliminates this common behavior for the platform."

Question...why doesn't this 'tweak' come as the default?
Reply

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MSI MAG B660 Tomahawk WIFI Review: A Tempting Tomahawk

MSI’s B660 Tomahawk is a reasonably priced and well-equipped sub-$200 motherboard.

Firmware, Software and Test System

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