Component Analysis

The two X870 chipsets are placed relatively close together compared to other boards we've seen, but do benefit from a large exposed heatsink for cooling that's likely sitting a few inches away from your front case fans anyway. For hardware monitoring we have the Nuvoton NCT6687D-R super I/O chip.


MSI's external clock generator for base clock overclocking—one of its headline features on its new Max series AMD motherboards—is the Renesas RC26008. We've seen this used before with B-series chipset overclocking on Intel boards.


Onboard audio is the usual USB-based Realtek ALC4080, while the 5 Gbps Ethernet controller is also from Realtek in the form of the RTL8126.


The two Type-C USB4 ports are powered by the usual ASMedia ASM4242 controller, which is also Thunderbolt 4 certified. The heatsink for it here is relatively small, but does use a finned design to boost surface area and both ends of the VRM heatsink above are open too, which should promote airflow.


Wi-Fi 7 is of course included and MSI's module of choice is the MediaTek MT7927. The internal connectors are your usual micro connectors, while externally the ports support both standard threaded aerials plus MSI's own push-fit design. Removing the module is relatively easy and requires the two screws holding the VRM heatsink above to be removed as well as the heatsink itself, before also removing the integrated I/O shield, and finally two smaller screws holding the Wi-Fi module casing in place too.