MSI B850 motherboards: The best choice for work or play

When building your own PC, or considering the virtues of a pre-built model, the choice of motherboard is of paramount performance. Not only does it dictate what sort of processor you can use, but also how much storage you can attach, the speed of the RAM you’ll need, and whether or not you can include additional PCIe cards beside the GPU.

MSI’s boards based on the B850 chipset are ideal for whatever you want to build. With a Socket AM5 for the latest AMD processors, they’re the most advanced PC motherboards available, with the mighty Ryzen 9000 series 3D chipsets – some of the best CPUs for gaming – able to slip straight into their waiting embrace. The latest Zen 5 architecture of these processors delivers 16% increased performance, on average, over the prior generation, making them among the fastest CPUs currently available. MSI’s motherboards also have future-proofed features such as PCIe 5.0 support for fast GPUs and NVMe storage, so you’ll be able to upgrade them as new products appear.

EZ to build

There’s more to a motherboard than just the processors it supports, however. MSI’s B850 boards have features that make them easy to set up and live with in the long term, facilitating easy upgrades and allowing you to change the configuration of your PC without too much stress. Chief among these is the EZ PCIe Release clip, which releases a PCIe card from the slot with a press of an easily accessible button rather than you having to fumble for a switch and wiggle the card about, meaning you can switch in a new graphics card – or whatever else you fill your expansion slots with – more easily. The x16 PCIe slot is also 121% stronger than in previous designs, thanks to its second-generation Steel Armor soldering, ready for ever-bulkier graphics cards.

There are other EZ DIY features on the MSI boards, making the insertion of internal cables easier; the connection of Wi-Fi antennas smoother; and M.2 SSD mounting a less fiddly process. The EZ ethos is that it takes one finger to install the parts, one hand to build the system, one glance to debug, one click to boost performance, and to do more with one step instead of many.

Latency Killer

The code that a motherboard runs – its BIOS – is also important, and with its latest AGESA 1202b Beta updates MSI has elevated the B850 chipset to new heights. A huge new feature is the Latency Killer, which can drop memory latency to just 66.6ns using a Ryzen 9 9900X processor, down from 76ns, making the already screamingly fast DDR5 RAM seem quicker than ever. Add to this the memory overclocking profiles in the Memory Try It! screen, and you can easily test and discover the fastest stable RAM configurations for your rig.

X3D Gaming Mode

The B850 chipset also has many advantages over the previous B650 design. AMD Ryzen processors unlock the MSI motherboard’s X3D Gaming Mode, which adjusts the processor’s SMT (Simultaneous Multi Threading) settings in search of a performance boost, and can increase frames by up to 20% in 1080p gaming by adjusting the CPU core count to take best advantage of the chip’s cache memory and seeking out the highest clock speeds. Add to this MSI-exclusive features such as the Optimized Memory Design that can see suitable RAM hit speeds of 8400MT/s or even more, and you’ve got a motherboard that will be able to handle even the most demanding of games and applications.

Faster than ever before

Elsewhere, MSI’s B850 motherboards have the latest features for connectivity and data transfer. There’s fast Wi-Fi 7 for wireless connection speeds that can leave Ethernet in the dust – but all MSI B850 motherboards support 5Gbit LAN in case you prefer a wired connection. PCIe 5.0 allows you to use the fastest internal SSD drives for speedy boot times and loading that’s barely there at all, as well as providing the data-transfer power behind the latest graphics card releases. The boards are ready to support the ATX 3.1 standard, with PCIe 5.0 power supply compatibility, and supplemental PCIe power connectors to meet the high demands of modern GPUs and AI computing. They are also able to run high-powered cooling systems at the same time.

And talking of AI, MSI’s B850 boards are ready for advanced AI hardware, with an AI Boost function that can increase the performance of NPUs in AMD’s 8000G series of processors by up to 17%. They can also tie in with MSI’s AI Engine software to automatically adjust CPU performance, cooling fan speed, lighting effects and more to match the computing scenario it’s being used for.

And if it’s a powerful gaming PC you’re wanting to create, look no further than the MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max Wi-Fi: it’s a top-quality full-size ATX board ready for a tower case, and can seat two PCIe 5.0 SSDs for the fastest loading times. There are a ton of USB ports on the back, including one that runs at a massive 20Gbps, and the top expansion slot runs at future-proof x16 PCIe 5.0 speeds for the latest GPUs.

Alternatively, check out the B850 Gaming Plus Wi-Fi, a good-looking and particularly well-priced board. It’s built for optimal thermal efficiency with extended heatsinks, pump fan support, and a cooling shield for the M/2 SSD. It also has a power supply system designed for heavy gaming loads, with an aggressive VRM design that combines 8 + 8-pin power connectors and exclusive Core Boost technology to wring every last frame from your games.

Ready for AI

If you want to build a compact AI PC, the MSI PRO B850M-A Wi-Fi might be the board for you. It allows you to connect two internal SSDs, with four SATA sockets for expanded storage, and can connect to fast external devices through a whopping six USB ports running at 10Gbps. It’s an mATX design, which means it can be placed in a smaller case, but still has the Frozr AI Cooling and AI Boost features to power through those AI workloads.

For a good-looking build you’ll want to show off, the MSI B850 Edge Ti Wi-Fi comes in an attractive silver-white colour scheme that’s begging to be viewed through a glass panel and illuminated by RGB lighting. That it also comes with MSI’s standard suite of performance enhancements and future-proof expansion slots just makes it even better.

There’s a whole range of MSI B850 motherboards to choose from, to suit any build or budget. Whichever board you choose, MSI’s latest features, combined with the power of AMD’s Zen 5 processors, means you’ll be building the best PC you possibly can, ready for many years of gaming and entertainment.