5 Best MSI Motherboards For Gamers

Modern PC gaming is, at its heart, about pushing the limits of technology and having reliable upgrade paths. The modern PlayStation and Xbox consoles are good enough for most people, especially since most major titles are cross-platform these days, but hardcore PC gamers are not most people. They want to extract the highest possible display resolution and frame rates out of every game they play while also getting the most responsive possible gameplay experience. This can get very expensive, and it can be pretty daunting if you're new to it. 

MSI has emerged as one of the leading brands of PC components and PC hardware in general, particularly among gamers. Its product slate includes prebuilt PCs, handheld gaming PCs, graphics cards, motherboards, and more, as well as the MSI Afterburner GPU overclocking tool, the company's custom user interface for the popular RivaTuner app, a free download that works with all graphics cards. 

MSI is a respected full-service source for quality PC hardware products across various price points. Its motherboards, in particular, tend to get a lot of attention, especially for PC gamers, so let's take a look at some of the best SKUs that MSI has on the market that you can build your next system around.

One mid-range MSI motherboard that's done quite well in professional reviews is the MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WiFi, which retails for $219.99 but is usually available for less at Amazon. The board has an AM5 socket for AMD Ryzen 9000/8000/7000 series CPUs, which is AMD's current/most recent socket type. Its basic specs are pretty up to date, with support for DDR5 RAM, M.2 SSDs, Wi-Fi 6E, and 2.5Gbps wired networking, but it lags behind the latest and greatest by having USB ports running at USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds and PCI Express lanes at PCIe 4.0 speeds instead of the newer USB 4.0 and PCIe 5.0. MSI's official website for the board, meanwhile, boasts that it has features for optimized cooling in terms of both fan control and running liquid-based cooling systems.

As professional reviews go, XDA Developers named this model MSI's best midrange AMD motherboard, citing its relatively low price, the presence of three separate M.2 slots at PCIe 4.0 speeds, and its voltage regulation abilities. PC World was very enthusiastic as well, awarding the board a four out of five stars rating, and celebrating the feature set for the relatively low price, with specific plaudits for the networking and audio features. Tech4Gamers, meanwhile, gave out an even better score, 8.8 out of 10 with a Recommended badge, singling out many of the same pros while also pointing out the utility of the board's impressive array of 23 USB ports.

This one can get a little confusing, but since they're largely pretty similar, we're going to lump in all of the MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi series boards together, including the MSI MPG Z790 Carbon MAX WiFi and the MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi II. These higher-end gaming motherboards support Intel Socket LGA 1700, which can take 12th, 13th, or 14th-generation Intel CPUs. The shiniest and newest variation, the WiFi II, retails for about $375 but can often be found on Amazon for a good bit less. There are some differences in LAN speed between the different models, but the basics are the same, including support for DDR5 RAM, PCI Express 5.0 speeds, Wi-Fi 7, and USB 3.2 Gen2 speeds. The Carbon MAX WiFi II, though, adds USB 4.0, which, at a comparable price to the regular Carbon WiFi II, probably makes it the best deal of the bunch.

In an incredibly comprehensive review, Real Hardware Reviews gave the MAX WiFi II a 90% score and an "RHR Real Deal Award" recommendation badge, highlighting the improvements in the area of USB, networking, and MSI's BIOS, proclaiming that the board "solidifies MSI's top position in Intel motherboards." Tech4Gamers, meanwhile, gave the regular Carbon WiFi II a strong rating of 8.8 out of 10 and a "Recommended" badge, with the board's cooling features (like seven fan headers) and a slew of connectivity options as major positives.

One MSI motherboard that's backed by a veritable throng of glowing professional reviews is the MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi, an AMD socket AM5 board that sells for $499.99 at Amazon. It's got all of the latest and greatest bells and whistles: Support for AMD Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 Series processors, DDR5 RAM, PCI Express 5.0, M.2 Gen5, USB 4.0, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and 5Gbps local networking. Looking at the I/O panel hammers home the connectivity options and overall flexibility and ease of use, featuring nine USB Type-A ports with 10 gigabits per second speeds, two USB Type-C ports at the same speeds, and another pair of USB Type-C ports running at a breakneck 40 gigabits per second, plus a Flash BIOS button, a Clear CMOS button, and a programmable Smart Button.

Laudatory reviews for this motherboard are so easy to find that it's hard to know where to start. The biggest site to weigh in, Tom's Hardware, gave it four stars out of five, pointing to the power delivery, a pair of ethernet/LAN ports (both 2.5Gbps and 5.0Gbps), ease of use, and quantity of USB Type-C ports. TechPowerUp was very positive, singling out the M.2 cooling and toolless M.2 installation, plentiful USB ports, BIOS interface, and an easy-to-use graphics card release mechanism. Igor's Lab awarded the board a 4.8 stars out of five rating and Editor's Choice badge, concluding that it "didn't have any weaknesses in any of the tests."

If you're looking for a particularly beefy motherboard and money is no object, then the MSI MEG Z790 Godlike series — the regular version and a MAX variant — is well worth looking into. The exorbitantly priced MAX variation seems like it's becoming difficult to find, but the regular version is still readily available at Amazon and Walmart for $479.99, 13 percent off the $549.99 retail price. (Walmart.com doesn't stock it directly, but the third-party sellers stocking it include credible ones like NewEgg's Walmart store.) Both versions are Intel Socket LGA 1700 motherboards with PCI Express 5.0, 10 Gbps local area networking, a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports, and seven M.2 slots, but the MAX adds two USB 4.0 ports, Wi-Fi 7 (instead of Wi-Fi 6E), and support for DDR5 RAM running at speeds of more than 8,000 MHz.

TweakTown gave the standard version of the motherboard a 94 percent score and an Editor's Choice Award recommendation badge, with the reviewer being particularly tickled by the DDR5 and PCI Express 5 support, Thunderbolt 4 ports, 10 gigabits ethernet, and the massive number of M.2 slots, while also taking issue with the price. TweakTown's review of the MAX variant, meanwhile, carried an identical score and recommendation, with similar plaudits to the standard model plus further praise for its 24-phase voltage regulator module and support for faster RAM. At Tom's Hardware, the MAX got four stars out of five, with particular praise for the board's audio output.

If you're looking to build out a smaller form factor gaming PC with a Mini-ITX footprint, then the MSI MPG Z790I Edge WiFi looks like a good choice for $299.99 at Amazon and Walmart. It's an Intel Socket LGA 1700 motherboard with support for DDR5 RAM (at more than 8,000 MHz) plus PCI Express 5.0, 2.5 gigabit ethernet, USB 3.2 Gen2, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3. Despite the small form factor, it has three M.2 slots, so you should have plenty of room for multiple blazing-fast solid state drives in your tiny build.

As professional reviews go, they're glowing for the MSI MPG Z790I Edge WiFi. PCGamesN awarded it a score of eight out of 10, heaping praise on the quantity of M.2 slots, the board's UEFI BIOS interface, above-average onboard audio, and good cooling abilities. Reviewer Antony Leather concluded that though the board lacked state-of-the-art features like Thunderbolt 4, USB 4.0, and PCI Express 5.0 speeds for the M.2 slots, it was still good for those building mini-ITX PCs with tons of storage. At GameRant, they've named it MSI's best compact gaming motherboard, singling out the form factor, CPU overclocking features, and high-speed DDR5 memory support. If you're looking to build a gaming PC that fits in a TV stand, this motherboard looks like a good choice.

To make sure that we were focusing on motherboards that you can actually buy, we stuck with models that came out after 2023 at the absolute earliest. From there, we sorted through reviews and recommendations from websites that do in-depth reviews of PC components and attempted to pare down the various options to some of the best examples at different price and size classes. For the sake of convenience, availability at mainstream retailers like Amazon or Walmart was also a plus.

For reviews we cited, we made sure to closely scrutinize them for any chance of them being made with generative AI chatbots or otherwise of low, content farm-level quality. When you get to the granular level of product reviews like high-end, gamer-oriented PC components, some of the best, most detailed reviews come from websites that aren't established big-name, heavy hitters, so it's best to scrutinize all of them carefully to point our readers to both the best-written third-party reviews and weed out those faking being knowledgable sources. With so many motherboards on the market, it's not always easy to find multiple reviews for all of them, but we still made a point of only including motherboards — or, in some cases, a series of motherboards with multiple variations — with at least two very positive reviews.