MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk Review

Introduction

Of the three new MSI Z390 motherboards we’re reviewing this month the MAG Z390 Tomahawk is the most affordable. 

In fact when compared to many of the Z390s on the market it’s up amongst the most affordable ones. In the past this meant that you were having to greatly compromise your feature set and connectivity options to obtain a platform without busting your budget, but the quality of the base Intel Z390 chipset means that even a model that hasn’t got anything added to it will still provide you with enough to keep you sated.

One area a lot of motherboards have strayed into is that of bringing flash and flair to your setup through on board lighting in the form of logos and even slots for PCI Express or DIMM having LEDs built into them. If you’re someone who prefers a stealthier approach to your system build you’ll be pleased that the Tomahawk sticks firmly to the utilitarian design school. Indeed it reminds us of the old Gigabyte Sniper designs with the artists going all in on the design brief.

Does it have the performance to back up these no-nonsense looks? Let’s find out.

Technical Specifications