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Firmware, Software and Test System

Firmware

Like the other MSI BIOS configurations, you start 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 MPG Z690 Carbon EK X — (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Software

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 to 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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Test System / Comparison Products

As of October 2021, 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 was 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:

Test System Components

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CPU	Intel Core i9-12900K
Memory	Kingston Fury DDR5 5200 CL40 (9KF552C40BBK2-32)
Row 2 - Cell 0	GSkill Trident Z DDR5 5600 CL36 (F5-5600U3636C16GX2-TZ5RK)
GPU	Asus TUF RTX 3070
Cooling	MSI MEG Coreliquid S360
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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EVGA supplied our Supernova 850W P6 power supply (appropriately sized and more efficient than the outgoing 1.2KW monster we used) for our test systems, and G.Skill sent us a DDR5-5600 (F5-5600U3636C16GX2-TZ5RK) memory kit for launch day testing.

Benchmark Settings

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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