PCPCTalk
Motherboard

MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi

A well-rounded Z790 board for 12th/13th/14th-gen Intel — strong VRM, Wi-Fi 6E, and four M.2 slots.

Pros

  • Solid 20+1+1 phase VRM for K-series CPUs
  • Wi-Fi 6E + 2.5 GbE
  • 4× M.2 with heatsinks
  • Mature, widely reviewed platform

Cons

  • LGA1700 is now a legacy socket
  • No PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot
  • Rear I/O less dense than flagships

Full specifications

Platform
SocketLGA1700
ChipsetZ790
Form factorATX
VRM (power stages)20+1+1 phase
Memory & Expansion
Memory typeDDR5
Memory slots4
Max memory capacity128 GB
Max memory speed7600 MT/s
PCIe slots1× x16 5.0, 1× x16 4.0, 1× x4 4.0
M.2 slots4
SATA ports6
Connectivity
Wi-FiWi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth5.3
LAN2.5 GbE
Rear USB1× USB-C 20Gbps, 7× USB 3.2