MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi Review

1. Introducing the MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi2. Performance and Testing: CPU3. Performance and Testing: Games4. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

The MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi motherboard has a huge amount in common with the more expensive MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi that we reviewed in recent times. The combination of high quality, decent features and low price grab our attention and make this a compelling buy.

Timestamps
00:00 Start
01:18 Chipset Tech details
02:42 MSI Product lineup
03:44 Tomahawk Differences
04:28 Hardware setup
07:24 BIOS
07:40 Thermal Camera
08:00 Cinebench 2024 Multicore
08:32 Cinebench 2024 Singlecore
08:44 Geekbench 6 Multi Core
09:01 CPU Power Consumption
09:25 Far Cry 6 (1080p)
09:54 Far Cry 6 (1440p)
10:16 Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora (1080p)
10:36 Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora (1440p)
10:54 Assassins Creed Mirage (1080p)
11:12 Assassins Creed Mirage (1440p)
11:41 Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p)
12:02 Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p)
12:18 Total War Pharaoh (1080p)
12:35 Total War Pharaoh (1440p)
13:10 Leo’s Closing Thoughts

Key features

• Flagship VRM Design
  • 14+2+1 Duet Rail Power System with 80A Smart Power Stages.
  • Controller is MPS2412 and VRMs are MPS2433 rather than MPS2402 and MPS2429 on X870 Tomahawk
• EZ PCIe Release
  • An easy to access physical button release mechanism that can help remove any PCIe card with a single tap.
• EZ M.2 Shield Frozr II
  • MSI’s exclusive EZ M.2 Shield Frozr II makes M.2 installation seamless.
• Fast and Future-ready Storage
  • Quadruple M.2 connectors – 2x Gen 5 M.2 and 2x Gen 4 M.2
• Networking
  • High Bandwidth and Low Latency Network with 5G Land Wi-Fi 7

Specification:

• Chipset: AMD B850
• CPU Support: AMD Ryzen 9000/8000/7000 desktop processors.
• VRMs: 14+2+1 x 80A Smart Power Stages
• Memory support:
  • 4 DIMMs, Dual Channel DDR5, Maximum Memory Capacity 256GB
  • Max. overclocking frequency:
  • 1DPC 1R Max speed up to 8400+ MT/s
  • 1DPC 2R Max speed up to 6400+ MT/s
  • 2DPC 1R Max speed up to 6400+ MT/s
  • 2DPC 2R Max speed up to 4800+ MT/s
• Expansion slots:
  • 1x PCIe Gen 5.0 x16 slot (from CPU)
  • 1x PCIe Gen 3.0 x1 slot (from chipset)
  • 1x PCIe Gen 4.0 x4 slot (from chipset, shared with one M.2 slot)
• Storage:
  • 2x M.2 Gen 5.0 x4
  • 1x M.2 Gen 4.0 x4
  • 1x M.2 Gen 4.0 x2 (shared with PCIe Gen 4.0 slot)
  • 4x SATA 6Gbps
• USB support:
  • 1x USB 20Gbps Type-C (Front)
  • 3x USB 10Gbps Type-C (Rear)
  • 2x USB 10Gbps Type-A (Rear)
  • 1x USB 5Gbps Type-A (Rear)
  • 4x USB 5Gbps Type-A (Front)
  • 4x USB 2.0 (Rear)
  • 4x USB 2.0 (Front)
• Ethernet: Realtek 8126 5Gbps LAN
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Audio: Realtek ALC4080 7.1-Channel Audio
• Form Factor: ATX 244mm x 305mm

Performance and Testing: CPU

Test system

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• Motherboard: MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WIFi BIOS 2A13 AGESA 1203a
• Memory: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000
• CPU Cooler: Phanteks Glacier One 360D30
• Graphics card: MSI RTX 4090 Ventus 3X 24GB
• Power supply: Seasonic Focus GX-1000 ATX 3.1
• SSD: 1TB Crucial T700 M.2 NVMe
• OS: Windows 11 24H2

Cinebench 2024 Multi Core

In Cinebench 2024 Multi Core we see mediocre performance from Ryzen 7 9800X3D as it gets trounced by processors with 12, 16 and more cores. The important point for this review is that the four blue bars representing different AMD AM5 motherboards are all very similar and the MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi does a good job.

Cinebench 2024 Single Core

In Cinebench 2024 Single Core the four blue bars score at an identical level, exactly as we hope and expect.

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

In Geekbench 6 Multi Core the four blue bars are packed together with the MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi taking a narrow win over the competition.

Power and Clock Speeds

When we look at CPU power draw in Cinebench 2024 we see a surprising amount of separation where we might expect to see identical figures. In all four instances the CPU is running at 5.22 to 5.25GHz however the MSI X870 Tomahawk only requires 110W, The MSI B850 Tomahawk takes 115W, the MSI Carbon WiFi uses 122W and the Asus ROG Crosshair uses 126W.

Performance and Testing: Games

Far Cry 6 at 1080p

We tested these four motherboards over a period of three months and were pleasantly surprised at the consistency of the gaming data. In Far Cry 6 at 1080p the MSI B850 Tomahawk is effectively tied with the MSI X870 Tomahawk.

Far Cry 6 at 1440p

Far Cry 6 at 1440p shows similarly close performance between the two Tomahawks, which suggests the B850 chipset is effectively identical to the X870.

Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p

Moving on to Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p we again see great results from the two Tomahawks and storming performance from the B850.

Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p

We finish with Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p, although you can refer to our video for more gaming results (Spoiler alert: the Tomahawk B850 does well in all of the games.)

The results in Cyberpunk 2077 are impressive and there is very little to choose between any of the four blue bars.

AMD's launch of the B850 and B840 chipsets alongside the existing X870E and X870 chipsets and previous-but-still-relevant X670E, X670 and B650 leaves us in a state of minor confusion.

The most simple approach is to compare the MSI X870 Tomahawk and MSI B850 Tomahawk as they have a huge amount in common. With the cheaper B850 the two USB-C 40Gbps ports on the rear IO have been downgraded to 10Gbps, you lose two of the 5Gbps USB-A ports and you also lose the debug display.

On the plus side, cutting a few USB ports reduces the price from £285 to £240 and that feels like a positive move. We would be perfectly happy had MSI also cut a couple of SATA ports and lost one or two of the PCI Express expansion slots to reduce the price even further.

The important thing is that the build quality, VRMs and WiFi/Ethernet connectivity are high end and support the latest Zen 5 CPUs effectively, and that makes us incredibly happy.

You can buy the MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi for £240 inc VAT HERE.

Pros:

• DIY features make life easy.
• Fast WiFi 7 and 5 Gigabit Ethernet.
• Loads of M.2 and SATA storage.
• Solid VRM and good cooling.

Cons:

• Rear USB-C ports are 10Gbps.
• The shared M.2/PCIe slot is annoying.

KitGuru says: MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi is a budget winner.

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