The top M.2 slot is Gen4 and the heatsink is easily removed with a clip on the edge. Below that is the Gen5 M.2 slot, followed by three more Gen4 M.2 slots under a U-shaped heatsink — these are provided by the chipset while the other two M.2 slots are provided by the CPU. Mounted on the I/O through an M.2 port is the Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211NGW M.2 2230 card, which is easily serviced or swapped out as needed. This adapter also provides Bluetooth 5.3. Intel Test System #2: MSI Z690 MPG Carbon WiFi, Corsair iCUE Elite LCD 360mm, Corsair DDR5-6000 Vengeance RGB Memory (32GB), Nvidia RTX 3090, Samsung 970 Pro NVMe 1TB, Corsair HX-1050 1050 Watt Power Supply, Windows 11 (fully updated).

The I/O panel has three buttons for easy user interfacing which can be changed in the BIOS. The Smart Button is user-changeable in functionality with the default being system reset, and other options include: Mystic Light toggle (unless LED_SW1 aka EZ LED Control is turned off), Safe Boot mode (by holding the smart button and powering on 0, causing the system to boot with default settings and lower PCIe mode values), and Turbo Fan which toggles all fans between full or default speeds. The Flash BIOS Button allows users to update their BIOS without a CPU even or RAM. The CPU_PWR1 and ATX_PWR1 connections will be required to enable the dedicated USB port, which you can use to insert a USB drive with a compatible BIOS renamed to MSI.ROM in the root directory. Users can then hit the Flash BIOS button, which causes the LED to start flashing on the button until the process is completed. The Clear CMOS button can be used to reset BIOS to default values by holding it down for 5-10 seconds. Next is the pair of blue USB 3.2 Gen 1 5Gbps Type-A ports with the top being used for the Flash BIOS button, and an HDMI port for video output of any iGPU depending on if the CPU has one. Intel’s Z790 chipset supports all of the brand new 13th-Gen range of CPUs along with the previous 12th generation series. This gives you plenty of options when it comes to upgrading. So if you’re purely looking to get some more rear IO or some more current features without a CPU upgrade, you can do this with a 12th-Gen CPU and a BIOS update. The other main change is the more frequent usage of high speed USB ports. The amount of rear IO you have is often based on price, but we’ve again seen the inclusion of more ports on less expensive boards which is a nice touch. Many new boards may also feature a Thunderbolt 4 header for your PC case, or USB4 ports on the rear giving you access to fast charging and better transfer speeds. Overall, the Z790 chipset has not changed that much from its predecessor, but there are definitely some improved features that justify choosing it over Z690 for a new build.

User reviews

LAN and Intel Wi-Fi 6E Solution: Upgraded network solution for professional and multimedia use. Delivers a secure, stable and fast network connection With features and overview out of the way, let’s get into how the motherboard performed in benchmark testing. MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi - Performance AUDIO BOOST 5: Manjakan kuping Anda dengan kualitas suara studio grade untuk pengalaman gaming yang paling imersif.

Premium Thermal Solution: Enlarged heatsink dengan heat-pipe, MOSFET thermal pads dianjurkan untuk 7W/mk, additional choke thermal pads and M.2 Shield Frozr dibuat untuk sistem berperforma tinggi dan pengalaman gaming non-stop LAN dan Intel Wi-Fi 6E Solution: Solusi jaringan yang ditingkatkan untuk penggunaan profesional dan multimedia. Memberikan koneksi jaringan yang aman, stabil dan cepat AUDIO BOOST 5: Reward your ears with studio grade sound quality for the most immersive gaming experienceIntel Test System #1: MSI Z790 MPG Carbon WiFi, Corsair iCUE Elite LCD 360mm, Corsair DDR5-6000 Vengeance RGB Memory (32GB), Nvidia RTX 3090, Samsung 970 Pro NVMe 1TB, Corsair HX-1050 1050 Watt Power Supply, Windows 11 (fully updated). For this review, I found that my 13900K sample already struggled to maintain its thermal limits so was unable to push it further without extending beyond the realms of comfort. But, should you opt for a custom water cooling solution or hit the silicon lottery, these options are plentiful and readily available within the system BIOS. For gaming audio, music, and movies, the board uses an ALC4080 audio processor capable of 32-bit/384kHz. It’s not quite as high quality as the ESS DACs we’ve seen on other boards, but it delivers high quality audio that’s free from interference. MSI has gone the extra mile to source audio specific capacitors and to build in special shielding to keep the audio signal clean, which is great to see. There are also a number of quality of life features that I really appreciated with the board. It comes with a debug LED readout that is incredibly useful. As the system boots, it displays a series of codes that line up with what’s occurring at that moment, even if you don’t have video out to your PC. If there are any problems, the code will point you toward the source of the error. This is a feature that I refused to buy a motherboard without, so it’s great ot see it included here. On that front, MSI has also implemented a total of seven fan headers into the board. Five of these are for system fans and are intelligently positioned around the motherboard for clean wiring. There’s also a CPU and PUMP header for your air cooler’s fan of pump head if you’re water cooling.

And, as a fan of RGB lighting, I love the tasteful RGB MSI has implemented here. It’s just the dragon logo, nothing too overdone, but it provides a nice visual accent that looks great inside of a tempered glass case.Premium Thermal Solution: Enlarged heatsink with heat-pipe, MOSFET thermal pads rated for 7W/mk, additional choke thermal pads and M.2 Shield Frozr are built for high performance system and non-stop gaming experience