MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi Motherboard Review

A problem that many hardware enthusiasts have is the choice between the system they use on a regular basis and the system they use to test, tune and overclock hardware.  While this may sound strange to the casual gamer the problem can become rather expensive if you choose wrong.  The MSI Tomahawk series happens to be one of my go-to designs for the test bench for several reasons.  First, these boards are quite affordable and when you have a chance of burning something up, the replacement cost can become a deciding factor.  Second, the design is feature rich without the “this looks good on the box” addon fluff to make users feel good about spending too much on computer hardware and Finally, they can be adapted to almost anything, I have run Tomahawk motherboards under LN2, done multiple heatsink and AIO thermal tests and even took one to a weekend LAN party providing that, picking the right motherboard can make computer hardware adventures fun again.

In this review we will be looking at the MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max Wifi.  This is an interesting motherboard in that it is a midrange mainstream product offering sitting at the top of the MAG range shares a name with more capable products in the gaming series.  As the name would suggest the motherboard built on the AMD B850 chipset for the AM5 platform supporting DDR5 and PCI Express 5.0.

• Supports AMD Ryzen™ 9000 / 8000 / 7000 Series Desktop Processors
• Supports DDR5 Memory, Dual Channel DDR5 8400+ MT/s (OC)
• Ultra Performance: 14+2+1 Duet Rail Power System, dual 8-pin CPU power connectors, Core Boost, Memory Boost, 8-layer PCB made by 2oz thickened copper and server-grade level material
• Frozr Guard: Extended Heatsink, MOSFET thermal pads rated for 7W/mK, additional choke thermal pads and EZ M.2 Shield Frozr II are built for high performance system and non-stop experience
• EZ DIY: EZ M.2 Shield Frozr II, EZ M.2 Clip II, EZ PCIe Release and EZ Antenna
• Lightning Fast Game experience: PCIe 5.0 slot, Lightning Gen 5 x4 M.2, Front USB Type-C
• 5G LAN with Wi-Fi 7 Solution: the latest solution for professional and multimedia use, delivering secure, stable, and high-speed networking and data transmission
• Audio Boost 5: Reward your ears with studio-grade sound quality for the most immersive gaming experience

Chipset AMD B850

CPU Supports AMD Ryzen™ 9000/ 8000/ 7000 Series Desktop Processors

Socket AM5

Memory 4x DDR5 UDIMM, Maximum Memory Capacity 256GB
Memory Support DDR5 8400 - 5600 (OC) MT/s / 5600 - 4800 (JEDEC) MT/s
Ryzen™ 9000 Series Processors max. overclocking frequency:
• 1DPC 1R Max speed up to 8400+ MT/s
• 1DPC 2R Max speed up to 6400+ MT/s
• 2DPC 1R Max speed up to 6400+ MT/s
• 2DPC 2R Max speed up to 6400+ MT/s

Supports AMD POR Speed and JEDEC Speed
Supports Memory Overclocking and AMD EXPO™
Supports Dual-Channel mode
Supports Non-ECC, Un-buffered memory
Supports CUDIMM, Clock Driver bypass mode only*

* CUDIMM support and POR boot frequency may vary by CPU series, with manual overclocking available after boot. Certain CPUs may fail to boot, but future BIOS updates will improve compatibility.
• The DIMM slots on this motherboard have double-sided latches.
• Memory compatibility and supported speeds can vary depending on the CPU and memory configuration. For detailed information, please refer to the Memory Compatibility List available on the product’s Support page or visit https://www.msi.com/support/.

Onboard Graphics 1x HDMI Support HDMITM 2.1 with FRL port, supporting a maximum resolution of 8K 60Hz*

*Available only on processors featuring integrated graphics. Graphics specifications may vary depending on the CPU installed.

Slot 3x PCI-E x16 slot

• PCI_E1 Gen PCIe 5.0 supports up to x16 (From CPU)
• PCI_E2 Gen PCIe 3.0 supports up to x1 (From Chipset)
• PCI_E3 Gen PCIe 4.0 supports up to x4 (From Chipset)

PCI_E1 slot

• Supports PCIe 5.0 x16 (For Ryzen™ 9000/ 7000 Series processors)
• Supports PCIe 4.0 x8 (For Ryzen™ 8700/ 8600/ 8400 Series processors)
• Supports PCIe 4.0 x4 (For Ryzen™ 8500/ 8300 Series processor)

*PCI_E3 slot will run x2 speed when installing devices in the M.2_3 slot

Audio   Realtek® ALC4080 Codec 7.1-Channel USB High-Performance Audio Supports up to 32-Bit/384 kHz playback on front panel Supports S/PDIF output

Storage 4x M.2

• 2_1 Source (From CPU) supports up to PCIe 5.0 x4 , supports 22110/2280 devices
• 2_2 Source (From CPU) supports up to PCIe 5.0 x4 , supports 2280/2260 devices
• 2_3 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x2 , supports 2280/2260 devices
• 2_4 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 , supports 2280/2260 devices
• 4x SATA 6G

M.2_1 slot

• Supports up to PCIe 5.0 x4 (For Ryzen™ 9000/ 7000 Series processors)
• Supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 (For Ryzen™ 8000 Series processors)

M.2_2 slot

• Supports up to PCIe 5.0 x4 (For Ryzen™ 9000/ 7000 Series processors)
• Supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 (For Ryzen™ 8700/ 8600 / 8400 Series processors)
• Supports up to PCIe 4.0 x2 (For Ryzen™ 8500/ 8300 Series processors)

RAID  Supports RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10* for M.2 NVMe storage devices

USB

• 4x USB 2.0 (Rear)
• 4x USB 2.0 (Front)
• 1x USB 5Gbps Type A (Rear)
• 4x USB 5Gbps Type A (Front)
• 2x USB 10Gbps Type A (Rear)
• 3x USB 10Gbps Type C (Rear)
• 1x USB 20Gbps Type C (Front)

LAN 1x Realtek® 8126VB 5G LAN

Internal IO

• 1x Power Connector(ATX_PWR)
• 2x Power Connector(CPU_PWR)
• 1x Power Connector(PCIE_PWR 8pin)
• 1x CPU Fan
• 1x Combo Fan (Pump_Sys Fan)
• 6x System Fan
• 1x EZ Conn-header (JAF_2)
• 2x Front Panel (JFP)
• 1x Chassis Intrusion (JCI)
• 1x Front Audio (JAUD)
• 3x Addressable V2 RGB LED connector (JARGB_V2)
• 1x RGB LED connector(JRGB)
• 1x TPM pin header(Support TPM 2.0)
• 4x USB 2.0 ports
• 4x USB 5Gbps Type A ports
• 1x USB 20Gbps Type C ports

WIRELESS LAN & BLUETOOTH Wi-Fi 7 The Wireless module is pre-installed in the M.2 (Key-E) slot Supports MU-MIMO TX/RX, 2.4GHz/ 5GHz/ 6GHz* (320MHz) up to 5.8Gbps Supports 802.11 a/ b/ g/ n/ ac/ ax/ be Supports Bluetooth® 5.4**, MLO, 4KQAM

* 6GHz band support may depend on every country’s regulations and Wi-Fi 7 will be ready in Windows 11 version 24H2.

** The Bluetooth version may be updated, please refer to the Wi-Fi chipset vendor’s website for details. Bluetooth 5.4 will be ready in Windows 11 version 24H2.

LED FEATURE  

• 4x EZ Debug LED
• 1x EZ Memory Detection LED

BACK PANEL PORTS    

• Clear CMOS Button
• USB 10Gbps Type-A
• USB 5Gbps Type-A
• USB 2.0
• 5G LAN
• Wi-Fi / Bluetooth
• Audio Connectors
• Flash BIOS Button
• HDMI™
• USB 10Gbps Type-C
• USB 10Gbps Type-A
• USB 10Gbps Type-C
• Optical S/PDIF Out

OPERATING SYSTEM   Support for Windows® 11 64-bit