MSI MPG B650 Carbon WiFi Review
Conclusion
Ego and posturing is a big part of the online world. If you’ve got a system configuration that puts most to shame then you better start a Reddit thread about it, or ask in the Steam forums if your Ryzen 9 7950X and Nvidia RTX 4090 will be able to run Stardew Valley okay. It’s all very tiresome. However, it’s also the basis for a lot of product ranges. Everyone knows that having a X670E chipset motherboard in your rig is better than having to be a pauper and put up with a B650 chipset. Surely?
Pish and nonsense. If the MSI MPG B650 Carbon WiFi, and our testing, has shown anything it is that the B650 is more than capable of delivering everything you need to extract from the 7000 series AM5 Ryzen CPUs. Even the areas that it compromises when compared to the flagship chipset aren’t ones that most people will notice. Certainly if the rest of your components are similarly ‘great value’ ones then you won’t.
So what are you missing out on if you go down the B650 route? Judging from the MSI Carbon only PCI Express 5.0 x16 slots. There is still PCIe 5.0 for an M.2 so you aren’t limited in storage bandwidth. The other three are PCIe 4.0, but the chances of you having two Gen5 M.2 drives on hand but still needing to buy a B650 are so tiny as to basically zero. That’s it though. Elsewhere you still have DDR5 support up to 6600MHz alongside plenty of USB ports in all the flavours, including the Gen 2×2 that can handle 20 Gbps. Networking isn’t lessened with both WiFi 6E and 2.5G LAN for all your file transfer needs.
What really makes the B650 Carbon an attractive proposition though is the performance. You couldn’t get a business card between it and some of the more expensive X670E motherboards we’ve reviewed, which makes it a perfect choice if you are the type of user who wants to maximise your value for money and isn’t in the business of caring what some strangers think about your system specifications. It’s a choice for the bold who have no need of validation from others and are confident in their decisions, and it wins our OC3D Gamers Choice Award.
MSRP : £369.98
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