Great overview, which covered some things that aren't normally covered in unboxings... like PCIE and M.2 lane allocation - very helpful! Now I'm really looking forward to your upcoming x870 (non-E) tier list!
Man, you just summed up everything that I needed to know about this board to make my decision into buying it. I find the specifications pages on manufacturers websites so confusing with all the lanes etc,..
Awesome, thanks for the info. Picked up this board after seeing the specs and didn't think too much about it. MSI hooked me up in 2013 when I bought a $150 board and my PC eventually stopped booting. The problem turned out to be the processor, but MSI sent me a new z77a-g45 board anyway for free, which was a much more expensive board. They certainly didn't have to do that, so I've stuck with them ever since.
I love the amount of extras you get in MSI boards, my last two gigabyte boards were fairly high end and came with the board and a sata cable... that was it. A USB stick with the drivers is insanely helpful if you use ethernet and windows doesn't download the drivers properly. Main reason I want this board is the post code LED's. the one board where I didn't have it I had zero clue what was wrong when the ram slot died.
Msi is killing the x870 lineup for other manufactors, espacially Asus taxes. If sombody doubt this Motherboard being the best x870, i will gonna burry his delusional mind in a graveyard. Best x870 investment for $300 or under is the tomahawk.
I also built a system with that same setup as you, still tweeking it but I noticed in the bios theres a setting for NPU boost. Mines ghosted out but before the g.skill ram I tried some corsair stuff that I couldn't get to run at the rated speeds but the NPU option was available. Once I installed the g.skill ram it went away for some reason.
The previous motherboard stream covers a pretty in-depth review without having the actual board. It would be nice to see though. I was able to find one for my next build and it's as incredible as claimed in this channel. Especially for the cost.
Have been looking for M.2 pci-e info on this board for awhile and you delivered the goods. Thanks for the comprehensive look at the boards pci-e/m.2 controller arrangement info. Looking forward to your assessment of the decision to make the second M.2 a gen5 and it's impact on USB 4 transfer speeds.
Nice info, I'll take any "extra safety" regarding PCIE lanes. My current Gigabyte Z97 has serious issues if I enable PCIE 3.0 so all this time I've been running my 1080 Ti in PCIE 2.0.
Disabling lanes in the bios to the 40g usb ports and have the second m.2 slot also run at full bandwidth which is awesome 5.0 m.2 x2 max bandwidth and the 5.0 gpu slot using all 16 lanes. not see any other board that can do the same. 👍
Great video, quick question for anyone who can answer. If I have two 980 Pro M.2 Drives, where should I put the second one? In the second Gen 5 slot or a Gen 4 slot?
Hello can you please help me? I will have two M.2 discs but I wanna ask what slots to choose? Top one is for M.2 where I will instal windows and question is what is best position for second one where I will have games and other files? Thank you!
Hi, have you tried msi x870 gaming plus? Theres only few things i could find about it and its cheaper 60$ in my country than msi x870 tomahawk. Is it good motherboard, also what about msi x670 gaming plus wifi?
Quick question. Are those Rubber Cubs thats glued to the M.2 Slots meant to be removed (Particularly the M.2 Slot 1)? Or are they intended to hold up the M.2 SSD (As if it's levitating)?
Thank for the overview. There appears to be a CMOS battery on the bottom-right of the motherboard but it's under some shielding. I was wondering if it is user replaceable?
I don't see the point of the second or middle PCie slot.Guaranteed a GPU will block that PCie slot,even if you're able to populate that slot,airflow for the GPU will be a 'serious' problem. I've seen this problem on a lot of the mid-tier to lower end boards,X870E and X670E alike. It's as if the manufacturer is 'MOCKING' the buyer. Sigh....
It’s really sad they placed it like that. I was seriously considering the Tomahawk over the Nova because I want two Gen 5 M.2 drives running at 4x. Can’t do that on the Nova, but the Tomahawk allows it if you disable USB 4 that I don’t really need for my setup anyway.
I would really appreciate if you actually measure vCore and vSOC on the board. I had an MSI board frying a CPU in the past, I want to make sure MSI is not fooling around before buying another one.
I'm sorry but Im a bit confused, you showed at the beginning the 8400 MHZ memory but are opening a X870 AMD motherboard. Does that work with the MSI board you are reviewing?
This board ok then with no performance issue's? Ive read about the 9800x3d performance being worse and better on the old 600 series boards ? Im swaping my asus x870e for one of these as the network adapter is causing packet loss unless i use default drivers dated 2015.
@@russc5269 unfortunate the asus was a good one. Msi is very slow with bios updates. Like until last week they only had beta bios versions which is pretty absurd considering the mb is a coupke months old now
@@MFN073 my Asus was dog poo. I'm not a fanboy of products, just want a working one. The MSI is just working and perfectly even with the beta bios. Works great with the 9800x3d and 4090....
The M.2 gen5 slots are x4, so no problem there as that is what they are supposed to be. And the Gen4 PCIE x2 has an option to run at x4 in the bios if that 3rd M.2 is not used. When that M.2 is used, at x2 it will still run at about 4GB/sec. Those are actually quite good options for a non-E $250-$300 mobo!
@@RKBenchmarkerQuick question, I have a gen5 ssd I plan on putting in the first slot but I plan on getting a gen4 sdd later on. Would the best place for the gen4 ssd be the bottom slot?
I think msi has some of the best looking boards, too bad my track record with them has been severly tainted, maybe I'm cursed or maybe it was the fire lol.
For me it's Asus. truly awful company when it comes to customer service. Tried to RMA a TUF board years ago than was still under warranty, they told me to send the board and include 10 pound in cash for return shipping. :/ why the fuck would I send loose cash to a multi million dollar company? They refused the RMA when I said I wasn't willing to do that.
If i slot in a pcie 4.0 m.2 ssd drive to the second pcie 5.0 capable m.2 slot does it still share bandwidth with the usb 4.0. If thats the case which would be the optimal slot for a pcie 4.0 ssd?
"M.2_3 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x2 , supports 2280/2260 devices" "*PCI_E3 slot will run at x2 speed when installing device in the M2_3 slot. You can switch PCI_E3 slot to x4 in the BIOS, but this will disable the M2_3 slot" Pretty shit tier mobo right there.
The Tomahawk has been going for 250 on Newegg (and that's what I got it for), and that is only 40 more than the Pro RS Wifi. The Tomahawk offers much more. The Pro RS only has 3 M.2s and one of those is gen 3. And if M.2_2 is coccupied, then PCIE_2 will be disabled. And if SATA_1 or _2 is used, M.2_3 will run at Gen3x2. Also, the Pro uses the 160MHz channel bandwidth Wifi, which cuts in half the wifi7 speed, the Tomahawk use the 320MHz version. These are just some thing to consider.
+1 for the detailed PCIE lane allocation explanation, I hate how most reviewers leave this out.
Great overview, which covered some things that aren't normally covered in unboxings... like PCIE and M.2 lane allocation - very helpful! Now I'm really looking forward to your upcoming x870 (non-E) tier list!
I've seen about 10 videos now saying “The best X870 motherboard!”
I watched this right before my X870 build - thanks for the great overview.
Man, you just summed up everything that I needed to know about this board to make my decision into buying it. I find the specifications pages on manufacturers websites so confusing with all the lanes etc,..
I have a feeling ppl learning more about pci-e lanes is going to be the new meta. Lane sharing is super important as people m.2 become more prevalent.
Awesome, thanks for the info. Picked up this board after seeing the specs and didn't think too much about it. MSI hooked me up in 2013 when I bought a $150 board and my PC eventually stopped booting. The problem turned out to be the processor, but MSI sent me a new z77a-g45 board anyway for free, which was a much more expensive board. They certainly didn't have to do that, so I've stuck with them ever since.
I love the amount of extras you get in MSI boards, my last two gigabyte boards were fairly high end and came with the board and a sata cable... that was it.
A USB stick with the drivers is insanely helpful if you use ethernet and windows doesn't download the drivers properly.
Main reason I want this board is the post code LED's. the one board where I didn't have it I had zero clue what was wrong when the ram slot died.
Lets go RK Benchmarker! Ty for supplying the mobo!
Quite welcome. And thank you for the appreciation as it honestly makes every dollar spent worth it :)
Are you a member of GTR's diisscord?
@@RKBenchmarker yes. Under a different name: chris_darakjian
Msi is killing the x870 lineup for other manufactors, espacially Asus taxes.
If sombody doubt this Motherboard being the best x870, i will gonna burry his delusional mind in a graveyard.
Best x870 investment for $300 or under is the tomahawk.
I bought bundle with it. G.Skill Trident Z5 2x32 Cl30 6000 Mhz, AIO is Acrtic Freezer III 360 and Ryzen 9 7950x3D. Will receive it tomorrow
I also built a system with that same setup as you, still tweeking it but I noticed in the bios theres a setting for NPU boost. Mines ghosted out but before the g.skill ram I tried some corsair stuff that I couldn't get to run at the rated speeds but the NPU option was available. Once I installed the g.skill ram it went away for some reason.
@s0lice is there a new BIOS update? I will check it out
Friend, tell me, is there an error 08 on your x870 display?
@@sharicksvd when I had the Corsair ram, I can't recall what error code it would hang on. Now no errors, my system has been pretty stable.
@@s0lice Thanks for the answer
Are you doing a x870e nova unboxing/review? I can't find anything on youtube.
Same, no review or unboxing of nova. Atleast not in english.
The previous motherboard stream covers a pretty in-depth review without having the actual board. It would be nice to see though. I was able to find one for my next build and it's as incredible as claimed in this channel. Especially for the cost.
Have been looking for M.2 pci-e info on this board for awhile and you delivered the goods. Thanks for the comprehensive look at the boards pci-e/m.2 controller arrangement info. Looking forward to your assessment of the decision to make the second M.2 a gen5 and it's impact on USB 4 transfer speeds.
By the way. The 2nd gen5 nvme slot can get full 4 lanes as the first one if u disable the 2 type-c usb4 40 Gbps via bios.
It's beautiful and very useful motherboard, also price is good.
Great review! Thank you for sharing ❤
Only Asrock in X870/X870E series. Thank you for your videos ❤
Very good review, thank you!
Nice info, I'll take any "extra safety" regarding PCIE lanes.
My current Gigabyte Z97 has serious issues if I enable PCIE 3.0 so all this time I've been running my 1080 Ti in PCIE 2.0.
Wait and see. This board is quite popular now, it's price is going to go up soon.
Disabling lanes in the bios to the 40g usb ports and have the second m.2 slot also run at full bandwidth which is awesome 5.0 m.2 x2 max bandwidth and the 5.0 gpu slot using all 16 lanes. not see any other board that can do the same. 👍
Can't wait for the X870 Tier List
MSI Tomahawk x670> every x870 non-e.
@@TheSjuris I'm just excited for the content lol
I've always been using tomahawk board on my last 2 builds.
The m.2_4 slot although quick release is very tricky to install!
Only think I don't really like is the green msi logos, but great specs.
This is definitely the best value mobo ... but will it be able to last 10 years?
Great video, quick question for anyone who can answer. If I have two 980 Pro M.2 Drives, where should I put the second one? In the second Gen 5 slot or a Gen 4 slot?
when you say the usb on the back can power a monitor, is that only if paired with a chip with a graphics card?
Why have they made x870 no lane sharing and the E has sharing wth
Just got this bundle with the 9800x3d paired with gskill 6000 ddr5… should I got a higher ram kit ?
I just bought this Mb and pairing this with a Ryzen 7 7800 x3d. I hope it goes well, if not please let me know what you think.
do you have a video how I can hook up 7 rgb case fans and one 360 aio to this motherboard?
same mobo , had a bad experience with this board, if you want on my channel. maybe a one off but i dont think so, the gigabyte x870 worked perfect
How do you remove the chipset cover so you can replace CMOS battery?
How do you remove the plate covering the CMOS battery?
Hello can you please help me? I will have two M.2 discs but I wanna ask what slots to choose? Top one is for M.2 where I will instal windows and question is what is best position for second one where I will have games and other files? Thank you!
Hi, have you tried msi x870 gaming plus? Theres only few things i could find about it and its cheaper 60$ in my country than msi x870 tomahawk. Is it good motherboard, also what about msi x670 gaming plus wifi?
Quick question. Are those Rubber Cubs thats glued to the M.2 Slots meant to be removed (Particularly the M.2 Slot 1)? Or are they intended to hold up the M.2 SSD (As if it's levitating)?
why nvme slot 1 says remove peal if its not even touching nvme ? I fink it will collect more dusts.. or Im wrong ?
Thank for the overview. There appears to be a CMOS battery on the bottom-right of the motherboard but it's under some shielding. I was wondering if it is user replaceable?
Yes, it is.
I don't see the point of the second or middle PCie slot.Guaranteed a GPU will block that PCie slot,even if you're able to populate that slot,airflow for the GPU will be a 'serious' problem.
I've seen this problem on a lot of the mid-tier to lower end boards,X870E and X670E alike.
It's as if the manufacturer is 'MOCKING' the buyer.
Sigh....
It’s really sad they placed it like that. I was seriously considering the Tomahawk over the Nova because I want two Gen 5 M.2 drives running at 4x. Can’t do that on the Nova, but the Tomahawk allows it if you disable USB 4 that I don’t really need for my setup anyway.
@@johnraahauge4552 Would you be using the pcie slots for anything?
@@RKBenchmarker no, just GPU
@johnraahauge4552 That would be an awesome board then! And Newegg has had it for 250... that's what I got it for.
Can't use its WiFi on Win10. Win11 only.
I would really appreciate if you actually measure vCore and vSOC on the board. I had an MSI board frying a CPU in the past, I want to make sure MSI is not fooling around before buying another one.
That was an issue with all the manufactures, which was fortunately corrected with bios updates quite a while back.
Why would any company use a lime green font or logo in anything?
How are you suppose to match that?
who cares about matching lol just use it for its performance
@@adamkatona7784 You can have both, ypo choose one.
I'm sorry but Im a bit confused, you showed at the beginning the 8400 MHZ memory but are opening a X870 AMD motherboard. Does that work with the MSI board you are reviewing?
The memory kit and the motherboard were loaned to me by a viewer so I could create video content about them.
anyone has the issue with EXPO increasing the SOC voltage to 1.316V?
also anyone achieving 60celsius idle temps for CPU?
This mobo is so unstable for me. Constantly getting POST issues and having to reset CMOS often
what about the 8 pin connector pcie do i need to plug it in? i have a 3070 and 2 nvme 7400mts...next year ill have a 5080, do i plug that in?
My motherboard x870 tomahawk can only do 2 sticks of ram. I want to use all four sticks. What do you think I should do
why can't it use all 4? tbh though 2 sticks is always faster, hence dual channel.
This board ok then with no performance issue's?
Ive read about the 9800x3d performance being worse and better on the old 600 series boards ?
Im swaping my asus x870e for one of these as the network adapter is causing packet loss unless i use default drivers dated 2015.
the asus pocket loss can be fixed by disabling energy efficient ethernet
@MFN073 I sent it back got full refund... The MSI replacement runs much better with zero issues. The CPU even benchmarks faster. Runs cooler ..
@@russc5269 unfortunate the asus was a good one. Msi is very slow with bios updates. Like until last week they only had beta bios versions which is pretty absurd considering the mb is a coupke months old now
@@MFN073 my Asus was dog poo. I'm not a fanboy of products, just want a working one.
The MSI is just working and perfectly even with the beta bios.
Works great with the 9800x3d and 4090....
Is this AI ready?
that doesn't mean anything... literally nothing.
nice
You may popoulate all the ssd slots and still have the PCIE run at x16 but the ssd PCIEs Gen 5 slots run at x4 and Gen 4 slots at x2...what on earth?
The M.2 gen5 slots are x4, so no problem there as that is what they are supposed to be. And the Gen4 PCIE x2 has an option to run at x4 in the bios if that 3rd M.2 is not used. When that M.2 is used, at x2 it will still run at about 4GB/sec. Those are actually quite good options for a non-E $250-$300 mobo!
@@RKBenchmarker Oh, I was completely unaware that x4 lanes are what M2 slots use in general. I thought the more lanes, the better
@@drimiteros_21 That's understandable as there is so much going on. But, I hope it was helpful :)
@@RKBenchmarkerQuick question, I have a gen5 ssd I plan on putting in the first slot but I plan on getting a gen4 sdd later on. Would the best place for the gen4 ssd be the bottom slot?
@@NutsorSomethingBerserk for bulk storage, seems fine no?
I'm having issues connecting it to ethernet, anyone else?
I think msi has some of the best looking boards, too bad my track record with them has been severly tainted, maybe I'm cursed or maybe it was the fire lol.
For me it's Asus. truly awful company when it comes to customer service. Tried to RMA a TUF board years ago than was still under warranty, they told me to send the board and include 10 pound in cash for return shipping. :/ why the fuck would I send loose cash to a multi million dollar company? They refused the RMA when I said I wasn't willing to do that.
@@Dreadpirateflappy Yeah f that, customer already paid, now it's on them to make it right.
If i slot in a pcie 4.0 m.2 ssd drive to the second pcie 5.0 capable m.2 slot does it still share bandwidth with the usb 4.0. If thats the case which would be the optimal slot for a pcie 4.0 ssd?
Best motherboard with crapy audio codec. Even Asrock use updated version of this audio codec. 375EU with problematic audio codec, naaaaaaaaaaa.
"M.2_3 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x2 , supports 2280/2260 devices"
"*PCI_E3 slot will run at x2 speed when installing device in the M2_3 slot. You can switch PCI_E3 slot to x4 in the BIOS, but this will disable the M2_3 slot"
Pretty shit tier mobo right there.
Nowe compare it to Asrock X870 pro rs wifi. To me Tomahawk is not worth it compared to Asrock.
The Tomahawk has been going for 250 on Newegg (and that's what I got it for), and that is only 40 more than the Pro RS Wifi. The Tomahawk offers much more. The Pro RS only has 3 M.2s and one of those is gen 3. And if M.2_2 is coccupied, then PCIE_2 will be disabled. And if SATA_1 or _2 is used, M.2_3 will run at Gen3x2. Also, the Pro uses the 160MHz channel bandwidth Wifi, which cuts in half the wifi7 speed, the Tomahawk use the 320MHz version. These are just some thing to consider.
@@RKBenchmarker In my country Tomahawk is $100 more. I only use two m2 ssds. Tomahawk is great board but not $100 better.