MSI MPG X870I Edge Ti Evo WiFi Mini ITX Motherboard Review

This year during Computex I was introduced to a new design philosophy from MSI that added expansion boards to Mini ITX motherboards to expand functionality.  As most of us know the Mini ITX motherboard form factor is one of the smallest desktop motherboards you can get with only a single expansion slot, room for only two memory slots and a single processor.  The remaining space is often dedicated to power connections and basic I/O.  By design these small motherboards have limited connectivity so, the question is. 

How do we decide what features we can to provide and what gets left behind.

Most motherboard makers try to maximize features, that helps them sell products to the feature snobs and is generally the right move when it comes to providing value to customers.  Thing is, there are motherboard features that people “want” but nobody really “needs”.  A good example is M.2 storage.  People want lots of M.2 slots but, in reality, for a Mini ITX build you only need a single M.2 slot, buy an appropriate SSD and practice good data discipline and you’ll never have a problem.

Sadly, the PC market isn’t that intelligent and driven by budgets defined by min maxing their money for the best deal.  This is a dangerous slope and something I think MSI has figured out.

In this review we will be looking at the MSI MPG X870I Edge Ti Evo Wifi.  This is a Mini ITX motherboard that attempts to maximize what the X870 chipset can provide on one of the smallest motherboard form factors you can buy.

• Supports AMD Ryzen™ 9000 / 8000 / 7000 Series Desktop Processors
• Supports DDR5 Memory, Dual Channel DDR5 10000+ MT/s (OC)
• Ultra Performance: 8+2+1 Duet Rail Power System, Core Boost, Memory Boost, 12-layer PCB made by 1oz thickened copper and server-grade level material
• Frozr Guard: Enlarged heatsink, MOSFET thermal pads rated for 7W/mk and M.2 Shield Frozr are built for high performance system and non-stop gaming experience
• EZ DIY: EZ Antenna, EZ Conn-Design and EZ Front Panel Cable
• Lightning Fast Game experience: PCIe 5.0 slot, Lightning Gen 5 M.2
• Ultra Connect: USB4 and 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 X870

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

Socket AM5

Memory 2x DDR5, Maximum Memory Capacity 128GB

Memory Support DDR5 10000 - 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 8000+ MT/s

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

* The DIMM slots on this motherboard only have single-sided latches.
** 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.
*** 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 TMDS port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4K 60Hz*
• 2x Type-C DisplayPort

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

Slot 1x PCI-E x16 slot

• PCI_E1 Gen PCIe 5.0 supports up to x16 (From CPU)
• PCI_E1 slot (From CPU)
• 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)
• 1x FP card slot
• Supports the installation of MSI 5-in-1 XPANDER card only.

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 1x M.2

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

M.2_1 slot (From CPU)

• 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 (From X870 chipset)

• Supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4
• Supports 2260/2280 storage devices
• Supports single sieded M.2 SSD only

5-in-1 XPANDER Card

M.2_3 slot (From X870 chipset)

• Supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4
• Supports 2260/2280 storage devices
• Supports single sided M.2 SSD only

RAID Supports RAID 0, and RAID 1 for SATA storage devices Supports RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 5* for M.2 NVMe storage devices RAID 5 configuration is only supported by Ryzen™ 9000 series processors.

USB

• 2x USB 2.0 (Front)
• 2x USB 5Gbps Type A (Front)
• 5x USB 10Gbps Type A (Rear)
• 1x USB 10Gbps Type C (Rear)
• 1x USB 20Gbps Type C (Front)
• 2x USB 40Gbps Type C (Rear)

LAN 1x Realtek® 8126 5G LAN

Internal IO

• 1x Power Connector(ATX_PWR)
• 1x Power Connector(CPU_PWR)
• 1x CPU Fan
• 1x Combo Fan (Pump_Sys Fan)
• 1x System Fan
• 1x EZ Conn-header (JAF_2)
• 2x Front Panel (JFP)
• 1x Chassis Intrusion (JCI)
• 1x Front Audio (JAUD)
• 1x Addressable V2 RGB LED connector (JARGB_V2)
• 2x USB 2.0 ports
• 2x 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 SV3.
** The Bluetooth version may be updated, please refer to the Wi-Fi chipset vendor's website for details. Bluetooth 5.4 support schedule depends on MSFT Windows 11 plan.

LED FEATURE 4x EZ Debug LED

BACK PANEL PORTS    

• USB 10Gbps Type-A
• Clear CMOS Button
• USB 10Gbps Type-A
• 5G LAN
• Wi-Fi / Bluetooth
• Audio Connectors
• HDMI™
• USB 40Gbps Type-C
• Flash BIOS Button
• USB 10Gbps Type-C
• Optical S/PDIF Out

OPERATING SYSTEM Support for Windows® 11 64-bit