MSI MPG X670E CARBON WIFI Overview

As the new AMD Ryzen 7000 series desktop CPUs will only support DDR5 memory, a new AM5 socket motherboard with the AMD 600-series chipset is inevitable if you’re going for the upgrade. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI, one of the X670E chipset motherboards packed with powerful features that MSI has this time around.

Content

Unlike the MEG series motherboards that have a lot more fancy accessories included, the content of the box for the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI is pretty straightforward. The motherboard, user’s manual, extra EZ M.2 clip screws, SATA cables, RGB extension cable, USB drive with drivers and utilities, and a Wi-FI antenna.

The MPG X670E CARBON WIFI Overview

Despite not being as fancy as the MEG series boards, the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI still comes with features that can be really handy for users who like to play around with the overclocking settings to get some extra juice out of their system. The Q-code debug LED, and EZ Debug LED are the features that I’d always love to see on a motherboard as they come in really handy when it comes to troubleshooting errors and issues encountered during system tweaking sessions.

MSI kept the RGB elements really simple this time but if you’re not really a fan of all the fancy RGB blings and prefer to have it disabled, there’s a physically switch that allows you to disable the RGB lighting on the fly. While it’s true that you can always disable the RGB lighting using proprietary software or options in BIOS menu, having a physical button that can disable RGB is something I really appreciate.

PCIe 5.0 support is available on the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI to cater to the latest PCIe 5.0 devices, both PCIe slots, and M.2 slots. There are still not many PCIe 5.0 devices in the market at the moment but at least we can see SSD manufacturers started launching more high-speed storage devices for the new standard.

For the PCIe expansion slots, PCIe 5.0 support is available in x16 on the first PCIe slot or x8 if both slot one and slot two are occupied, and the third PCIe slot supports PCIe 4.0 in x4. As for the M.2 slots, PCIe 5.0 x4 support is available on M.2_1 and M.2_2 slots, also from the CPU, while M.2_3 and M.2_4 slots support PCIe 4.0 x4 from the motherboard chipset.

As for the power design, you’ll find a beefy 18+2+1 phase design on the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI which consists of the XDPE192C3B PWM controller and TDA21490 90A power stages by Infineon, which are the same components used on the MEG X670E ACE. So, you can expect the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI to be able to handle the higher-end Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 9 7900X without any major hiccups.

For the rear I/O, you’ll find a handful of USB ports for all of your USB needs, enthusiast-friendly buttons for BIOS flashing, clearing CMOS, and a customizable Smart button to assist your tweaking session. There’s also Wi-Fi 6E and 2.6GbE LAN support for hi-speed network connectivity, and the audio jacks for your daily audio needs, powered by the Realtek ALC4080 audio codec.

Test System Setup

CPU Load Test and Thermals

Throughout our CPU load tests, the Ryzen 9 7900X is able to consistently maintain a high clock speed at 5.3GHz+ on multicore tests and 5.6GHz on single-core tests without any issue. The only thing that is limiting the CPU when it’s running on default settings is the thermals, which the Ryzen 9 7900X topped at 96°C on heavy load. Though that’s only during specific stress tests, as the CPU usually runs at about 85-88°C during gaming sessions that are a bit more CPU intensive.

And for the VRM and chipsets, the load temperature seems pretty reasonable as we have yet to see the temperature going beyond 60°C during all of the stress tests that we have done. While it’s still far from the alarming temperature that requires serious attention, you can further improve the cooling with some extra airflow if it’s installed in a PC case with proper cooling fans to get the heat out of your system.

Memory Overclocking

As all the AMD 600-series chipset motherboards will only support DDR5 memory, you can take it as the chance to familiarize yourself with it. Unlike the previous gen where we try to keep the FLCK:MCLK:UCLK ratio to 1:1:1 for the best performance,  AMD recommends going Auto:1:1 for FLCK:MCLK:UCLK this time on their new chipset motherboards. The current sweet spot as recommended by AMD is at DDR5-6000 and it’s actually very easy to achieve as long as you’re using a DDR5 memory kit with Hynix M-die or A-die.

If you don’t want to go through the trouble of messing around with the secondary timings, ProcODT, RTT, and DrvStr, DDR5-6000 CL30 can be achieved with ease using a Hynix M-die memory kit. For the Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 RGB we’re using here, we’re able to achieve DDR5-6000 CL30 with timings 30-36-36-56 1T, using 1.36V on the Vdimm while the rest is left on auto.

For those of you who like to have all the DIMM slots populated, don’t be surprised with the DDR5-3600 memory frequency on your first boot. You can still get back to DDR5-4800 with everything left on auto, but if you’d like to get a bit more out of it, DDR5-5600 CL28 is probably the highest you can get with a Hynix M-die memory kit on this motherboard using 1.3V on the Vdimm.

First Impression

Unlike the MEG series motherboards that come with extra fancy features and accessories, the MSI MPG X670E CARBON WIFI doesn’t come with any of those fancy accessories and has some of the features stripped in order to keep the cost down. Though that doesn’t mean that the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI is utter crap without those extras. In fact, it’s still packed with a handful of good and reasonable features that I consider to be more practical for the bigger crowd. Build quality and feature wise, my first impression of the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI is mostly positive.

Despite being the more affordable enthusiast gaming option in the past, the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI doesn’t come as affordable this time. Retailing at RM 2,399, I find it somewhat difficult to recommend it because there are better options in the market that costs the same but offers better design and features that is not present on the MPG X670E CARBON WIFI.