MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi motherboard review | PC Gamer - hartleylopead
Our Verdict
The MSI MPG Z690 Atomic number 6 packs in a lot of depot potential drop on with the inwardness set of features that you'd expect at its damage point. But there are more than compelling options at similar prices though.
For
- Five M.2 slots
- Decent treasure, relatively speechmaking
Against
- Perhaps a BIOS operating theatre two by from its optimal
- Basic onboard audio
PC Gamer Finding of fact
The MSI MPG Z690 C packs in a lot of storage potential along with the core set of features that you'd carry at its price point. Simply there are more compelling options at similar prices though.
Pros
- +
Five M.2 slots
- +
Decent value, comparatively speaking
Cons
- -
Perhaps a BIOS operating theatre two away from its best
- -
Primary onboard audio
Let's get this part impossible of the way. Z690 boards are simply too expensive. The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon is less so but still an upper mid-range board with a high-end price. The Z690 Carbon is a part of MSI's MPG range. It sits below the high-remnant MEG section—where boards like the Godlike and Unify sit—and above the MAG segment which is made functioning of more cheap and extremely popular models such as the Tomahawk.
As such, the MSI Z690 Carbon paper Wi-Fi should appeal to users who are reversed off by the prices of boards such as MSI Allied Command Europe, Aorus Master and Asus Maximus Hero while non forsaking a lot in the style of core features. If you want things like Thunderbolt 4, faster LAN or a mega VRM, so you'll have to spend super, but for a user looking to run a falsetto destruction Central processor, GPU and some fast SSDs, you'll chance the MSI Z690 Carbon ticks most of the boxes with its core feature set.
The board continues the theme introduced by its Z590 Atomic number 6 predecessor. IT reminds us of an '80s spectrum analyser, though we're happy to see it's been tonal down to something much less garish this prison term around. It's certainly a busy look, but not overwhelming. There are splashes of RGB consisting of the Carbon logotype adjacent to the SATA ports, plus a few muscae volitantes in the central heatsink area (though they're likely to be obscured aside a GPU). Finally, MSI's longtime dragon mascot is proudly lit up above the I/O area which besides features a carbon fiber facial expression, equally the name of the board would suggest.
A tour of the control panel doesn't reveal any John R. Major surprises. You undergo dual PCIe 5.0 slots that operate at either x16/0 or x8/x8. There's a PCIe 3.0 x16 physical slot that operates at x4 electrically. Maybe an additive x1 time slot would be welcome, only we can' t be too nitpicky; many more expensive boards come similarly equipped. We get half dozen SATA ports, heptad sports fan headers, nonnegative one for a piddle pump and a debug LED.
Z690 Carbon WiFispecs
Socket: Intel LGA 1700
CPU compatibility: Intel 12th Gen
Form factor: ATX
Storage: 5x M.2; 6x SATA
USB: Capable 1x USB 3.2 Gen2x2, 6x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 2x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 8x USB 2.0
Video out: 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DP 1.4
Networking: Intel Wi-Fi 6E; Intel i225V 2.5G LAN
Audio: Realtek ALC4080 7.1 Transport HD Audio
Price: $399 | £410
A major strength of the board is its M.2 complement. You get none less than quintet M.2 slots that every last have heatsinks. At $400 the Carbon appears to be one of the cheaper 5 slot boards. That alone whitethorn tempt whatever buyers WHO plan to run a livelong bunch of M.2 drives, and the bearing of five slots is likewise a good example of the means the Z690 chipset is a big whole tone up over Z590. The extra Central processor to chipset bandwidth combined with more chipset lanes means Z690 boards can run more drives with far less compromises. Add those five slots to the sextet SATA ports and information technology's a board for the storage hoarders for certain.
Many users curious in the MSI Z690 Carbon are likely interested in 12th Gen K-series CPUs as well. Convey a look at our Core i9-12900K recap. You'll note that it draws a serious amount of power that can actually stress the VRM and cooling of cheap boards. Like most well-designed Z690 boards, the MSI has a able VRM root that can handle the demands of an overclocked 12900K. Its 18+2-phase excogitation with 75A stages will handle anything you keister throw at it. Though non quite atomic number 3 powerful in raw current capability Eastern Samoa some of the 105A boards, they really are overkill for almost users. Even if you bunk AVX-512 scads, the board won't run into problems.
The MSI's heatsinks are large and chunky, though some boards in its price range, such As the Aorus, use finned designs while others use active cooling system. It works well for the most disunite, though IT mustiness be said, of the six Z690 boards I've tested, the MSI's VRM torture test resulted in a temperature of 59°C. That's absolutely fine, but it's the highest of all the ATX boards I've tested. If you're running an overclocked 12900K, good airflow is a must anyway.
The rear I/O is solid, though about what we'd expect at this price point. There's a great USB complement with four USB 2.0 ports, quintuplet 3.1 Gen 2 ports and a Type-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 port. The single 2.5G Ethernet larboard and WLAN antenna ports are joined aside HDMI 2.1 and DP 1.4 ports. The latter will suit users with a dual monitor setup or those who wish to ride unconscious the current GPU rub alon using the onboard Xe graphics in the interim. A BIOS flashback button rounds outgoing the rear I/O panel which is a godsend for a user that will add a yet to be released CPU in the proximo.
Networking duties are handled by Intel i225-V and AX210 Wi-Fi 6E controllers. We do like to check 5G or 10G Local area network these days but that seems to be something that's non available in the Carbon copy's price range. Lul, 2.5G is a great deal better than the Gigabit we were curst every those years. Audio frequency capabilities are provided by a Realtek ALC4080 codec with 5 analogue ports and S/PDIF. The audio answer is adequate, with a 600 Ohm headphone amp, but it's somewhat generic compared to some competing boards.
System performance
Gaming performance
Test rig
CPU: Intel Core i9 12900K
GPU: Zotac RTX 3080 Titanium Amp Extreme Holo
Storage: G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-6000 C36
Storage: Adata XPG Gammix S70 2TB
World power Issue: Barbary pirate AX1000
Case: Thermaltake Nitty-gritty P8
Cooling: MSI MEG CoreLiquid S360
Atomic number 76: Windows 11 Pro
As we noted in our ASRock Z690 Taichichuan review, most Z690 DDR5 boards are playacting amazingly closely to uncomparable other, likely due to the Intel 12th Gen's more self-consistent turbo power application and clocking. The MSI Z690 Carbon threw up no more eerie results, though it seemed to ever so somewhat lag a bit in some multi-threaded tests, spell doing fine in single rib tests. Its play results were low to mid pack, though nothing concerning surrendered the rude variances that occur from one run to the future.
Given that a Core i9 12900K will gain chilling limits before information technology hits the limits of a board, we've been running a emotional test along our Z690 boards to see how they handle DDR5-6400 retention. Our G.Acquisition DDR5-6000 test kit can tend at that velocity, simply its something that not all boards are capable of, in particular at this embryotic leg as many boards lack validation for high-speed, Samsung-based memory. The MSI board couldn't quite reach stability without a memory controller voltage bump, though to exist fair its not yet valid for any Samsung based kit up beyond 6000 MHz. In time, that will change. We're unruffled at the dawn of the DDR5 era, and possibly the Carbon is all the same a BIOS or two away from its foremost.
The MSI MPG Z690 Gaming Carbon paper does just what we expect it to, which is fine but certainly not peculiarly exciting. But that's motherboards for you. IT offers a solid, if unsurprising feature set at a relatively good price. At $399, it sits just on the threshold of to a great extent diminishing returns, where the more boast-rich boards start to get a tidy sum more expensive.
The very potency of the board is its storage capacity, with five M.2 slots and sestet SATA, you can run very much of drives at the comparable metre. But in arrange to win our highest oodles, the Z690 Carbon of necessity to stick ou and, spell solid, it well-nig definitely isn't an exceptional board.
Contest therein Leontyne Price range is fierce from above as well as below. However, with its easy to navigate BIOS, trade good looks, decent USB and networking complement and effectual VRM on top of its storage capabilities, it volition win admirers. We'd commend information technology if you run a great deal of drives and you don't deprivation to pass the big dollars on a utmost-end card. The MSI MPG Z690 Gaming Carbon is a solid entry, but that's at its launch price. If IT trends downwardly in price over the succeeding few months relative to its competitors, notwithstandin, it might begin to very stand out.
MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi
The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon packs in a lot of storage potential along with the core set of features that you'd require at its price point. Merely there are more compelling options at akin prices though.
Chris' gaming experiences go dorsum to the nineties when he conned his parents into buying an 'educational Personal computer' that was conveniently overpowered to wreak Designate and Tie Combatant. He matured a sexual love of extreme overclocking that raped his savings despite the cheaper hardware on offer via his job at a PC store. To open more LN2 he began moonlighting as a reviewer for VR-Zone before jumping the fence to work for MSI Australia. Since then, he's gone back to journalism, sky-high reviewing the latest and greatest components for PC & Tech Authority, Personal computer Powerplay and presently Aboriginal Australian Subjective Computer cartridge clip and PC Gamer. Chris still puts farthest too many hours into Borderlands 3, ever striving to become a Sir Thomas More efficient slayer.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/msi-z690-carbon-wifi-motherboard-review/
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