MSI MAG B850I Edge Ti Wi-Fi review – a mighty mini-ITX motherboard

There are extra nice mini-ITX motherboards than ever lately, and MSI has determined to supply not one however two boards for AMD’s newest CPUs, with the B850 model coming first. The MAG B850I Edge Ti Wi-Fi prices effectively south of $300, so it sits beneath competitors from Asus whereas providing options similar to similarly-priced choices elsewhere, together with PCIe 5.0 SSD help, Wi-Fi 7, and even a fan-cooled SSD heatsink.

When you’re constructing a small kind issue system, the very best gaming motherboard for the duty might want to hold itself cool, too. In addition to massive heatsinks, MSI has additionally squeezed in 4 fan headers, which must be sufficient for any job a tiny system will throw at it, and is greater than most different mini-ITX boards on the market as effectively.

It does use AMD’s B850 chipset, although, so some options equivalent to USB4 aren’t right here, whereas there are simply two SATA ports and two M.2 ports. These are the same old limitations you may see for mini-ITX, which remains to be area of interest, even when MSI has determined to supply a product in each mid-range and high-end chipsets from AMD and Intel this time round. Our detailed testing will present if it is value your money.

Specs

Options

There are a couple of key options that differentiate the assorted different B850 and X870 mini-ITX boards on sale proper now, and considered one of them is colour, which we’ll get to in a minute. The M.2 SSD structure is essentially the identical, though Asus does handle to supply a pair of PCIe 5.0 M.2 ports, whereas the remainder presently have one and a second port that is PCIe 4.0, positioned on the rear, with the MAG B850I Edge Ti Wi-Fi missing tool-free ports and heatsinks solely.

Cooling varies lots, too. We’ve got a considerably massive 40mm fan on the MAG B850I Edge Ti Wi-Fi, which remained surprisingly quiet throughout most of our testing. That is in contrast to the smaller whiny followers Gigabyte makes use of on its boards which have confirmed to be way more intrusive. Below the big heatsink, the precise prime M.2 slot additionally has underside cooling too utilizing a thermal pad, but it surely’s a disgrace to not see a device free heatsink right here.

Most likely extra problematic is the dearth of a quick-release graphics card mechanism for its single PCIe 5.0 slot. These are all the fashion on bigger boards, with MSI’s gadget being a button that you just press to launch the graphics card. That will be actually helpful in a cramped mini-ITX case, however sadly it isn’t included right here.

Equipment that do profit small case homeowners, although, embrace a 3-pin ARGB and entrance panel extension cables, in addition to MSI’s one-to-three EZ Conn-cable (V2). The previous means connecting these parts to a case that is already put in will probably be a lot simpler, whereas the latter splits out MSI’s particular port on the PCB right into a 4-pin fan header, USB 2.0 header, and a 3-pin ARGB header from a single cable.

The entrance panel Sort-C port, in the meantime, is restricted to only USB 3.2 Gen 2, which suggests it could actually’t help the quickest exterior storage on the market, nor does it supply any additional energy supply for quick charging, however it’s nonetheless moderately quick. You get a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 20Gbps Sort-C port on the rear panel, however for USB 4, you may must step as much as an X870 mannequin.

The rear I/O panel is slightly missing in USB ports, with simply 5 on supply in each USB 3.0 and USB 3.2 Gen 2 flavors. There are additionally USB BIOS Flashback and CMOS Clear ports, together with an HDMI port. The audio is Realtek’s ALC4080 codec, which feeds two 3.5mm jacks and an optical output on the rear I/O panel.

MSI’s EFI is evident, with numerous helpful settings on the entrance web page, and its current revamp means it is excessive decision and visually interesting, with no complaints over its structure or options. Actually, its fan management space is superb, with implausible management over fan curves, temperature inputs and anything fan associated. Its software program is not so nice, at the very least not in comparison with the competitors, as regardless of current enhancements, it is nonetheless a bit clunky and disjointed.

One thing we would recommend is crucial, is tweaking the M.2 fan. Out of the field, this reacts to CPU temperature, and this implies below load, the fan spins up needlessly. We would recommend switching this to chipset temperature and making use of the enhance fan velocity mode or a set velocity you are blissful to dwell with that retains your SSD cool sufficient. Someplace between 30-50 % can be superb, however solely when you have a PCIe 5.0 SSD, as PCIe 4.0 fashions are a lot cooler and customarily do not want the fan in any respect.

Design

This board’s so-called titanium scheme is a extra silvery grey, so is maybe not as suited to a white construct as Gigabyte’s boards. Asus, in the meantime, has gone with black. Nonetheless, it is a sexy motherboard and, critically, its M.2 heatsink would not attain too excessive, and in consequence the board is suitable with most coolers. A number of Arctic and NZXT fashions that we needed to hand fitted superb.

There’s loads of house across the CPU socket, and whereas the rear M.2 port lacks a heatsink, most mini-ITX instances have a cut-out space to get on the CPU cooler backplate, and this typically permits you to get on the M.2 port and set up a third-party heatsink.

The one factor we would wish to see are some tool-free fittings on the M.2 heatsink and ports. Because it stands, the screw-based design is fiddly to make use of even out of a case and will probably be much more so as soon as the board’s inside. The entire MOSFETs for the facility supply are cooled utilizing a single massive heatsink that sits on prime of all 13 energy phases. There’s additionally a small heatsink on the rear that helps hold that a part of the VRMs cool, too.

Benchmarks

With a multi-core check results of 2,233 and single-core rating of 139 in CinebenchR24, the MSI MAG B850I Edge Ti Wi-Fi squares up properly to full-size boards, shedding no efficiency on the subject of dealing with a Ryzen 9 9950X. The 1% low of 161fps and common of 212 fps have been each on par too utilizing an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Tremendous in Whole Battle Warhammer 3.

As for audio, Realtek’s ALC4080 codec performs a lot the identical because the ALC1220 codec, so it was not shocking to see related ends in Rightmark Audio Analyzer, in comparison with related motherboards, with a dynamic vary of 106dBA and noise stage of -105dBA.

In the meantime, our PCIe 5.0 SSD was slightly toasty as commonplace, peaking at 69°C. Nevertheless, this fell dramatically by tweaking the M.2 fan velocity to a set stage that was nonetheless inaudible above the remainder of the system. At 50% velocity, the SSD temp dropped to a really spectacular 59°C.

The VRMs peaked at 57°C in our stress check, which is simply a few levels hotter than a lot bigger ATX boards such because the Gigabyte Aorus Elite X870 Wi-Fi7, whereas the board drew 349W from the wall. All in all, it is a stable displaying from this board.

Worth

The MSI MAG B850I Edge Ti Wi-Fi’s present value of round $270 means it undercuts the equal Asus board by round $50, which isn’t any small sum given the 2 boards have principally related options. ASRock and Gigabyte’s options for the B850 chipset are the true competitors, although. Gigabyte’s X870 mini-ITX providing, the Gigabyte’s X870I Aorus Professional ICE, solely prices slightly extra, too, however presents USB 4 and some extra trendy options equivalent to tool-free M.2 heatsinks.

ASRock’s possibility can also be value taking a look at, with the Phantom Gaming B850I Lightning Wi-Fi saving round $40 in comparison with the MSI board, however unsurprisingly, it has a diminished function set too. Because of this, MSI has finished a great job of sticking to a value level that is positive to make issues awkward for the competitors, whereas sustaining an honest function set.

Verdict

It is a stable motherboard for mini-ITX followers that want a board able to dealing with highly effective CPUs, however whereas nonetheless getting change from $300. It isn’t with out its flaws, however, to be trustworthy, no mini-ITX motherboard is.

Its M.2 SSD fan wants fine-tuning to get probably the most out of it with a PCIe 5.0 SSD, however for those who’re ready to do this then MSI has created a fantastic mini-ITX board right here that has some actually helpful options. It has a beneath par variety of rear USB ports, no quick-release mechanism for the graphics card and maybe lacks some actual stand-out options.

Nevertheless, we actually just like the included extension and splitter cables that make constructing and upgrading a mini-ITX PC a complete lot simpler that with some options. It may possibly additionally supply wonderful cooling for the most popular SSDs, it has 4 fan headers, and it might deal with a Ryzen 9 9950X or Ryzen 9800X3D superb. Coupled with a value that undercuts Asus and matches Gigabyte and MSI, whereas a late arrival, lastly has an honest mini-ITX board for AMD followers.