MSI Edge Ti WiFi ITX Motherboards
Wrap Up
Wrap Up
Clearly MSI have done their design work. Both versions of the Edge Ti, the AMD B850I and Intel B860I, have closely matched specifications. In fact the only place where the pure, on paper, specifications differentiate is in the places you might expect. The Intel, by virtue of them owning the Killer and Thunderbolt brands, has a Killer 5G LAN and a 40G Thunderbolt 4 port. The AMD has to make do, if such an expression can be used, with a mere 20G USB port and the Realtek 5G LAN.
Although if the argument is made that the 20G USB port is a big loss for the AMD model, the counter-claim is easy. AMD processors, particularly their X3D models, are massively more popular than the Intel Ultra 200S range. Obviously that’s not really saying a lot. There are some diseases that exist in bigger quantities than Intel’s Ultra 200 CPUs. We liked them more than most. The problems in taming the 14900 range were multitudinous so Intel taking a scorched earth approach made sense. Clearly people like performance above all other considerations though as the high end 14th Gen, and even 13th Gen, processors far outsell the LGA1851 models.
What’s the Difference?
All of which means that you might require one of these two MSI ITX motherboards for very different reasons. The AMD one is a great platform into which you can install one of their monster selling X3D Ryzen processors. It has all of the elements you need for a rig, and nothing extraneous. Two M.2 slots are more than enough for anyone with a sane Steam library size and who don’t record hours of 4K video a week. The combination of 5G LAN and WiFi 7 let you transfer data with the minimum of fuss. All in all it’s a great option if you want to tick all the basic boxes without delving into X chipset setups.
The Intel, on the other hand, is for those who have seen the massively slashed pricing of the Intel 200 processors and found themselves unable to resist temptation. Newer ones are on the horizon and so you wouldn’t want to invest too heavily in something that will quickly be superseded. But in the “right here and now” stakes it’s a great choice and the amount of tech MSI have squeezed into this small footprint is impressive. We remain shocked at how the Intel build has a northern heatsink but still enough room to put the Mystic Light and Fan headers on the edge, whilst simultaneously having room for the case front panel connector on the bottom right rather than the left. TARDIS-esque.
Whichever you pick, the MSI Edge Ti ITX motherboards bring their build quality and excellent technical support to a very affordable platform, leaving you free to concentrate on smiting your enemies.
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