The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI (DDR5) Motherboard Review: A Decent Mid-Ranged Z690
by Gavin Bonshor on September 8, 2022 8:00 AM ESTConclusion
It looks to be an interesting time for consumers in what is likely to be our last couple of months before Intel announces and launches its next generation of Core series (Raptor Lake) processors. AMD already announced its Zen 4-based offerings through the Ryzen 7000 series, and the new AM5 platform comes with it. Despite the following offerings coming over the next month or two, the Intel Core 12th gen Core series and Z690 platform still has plenty to offer consumers looking to build a decent system or even something a little more modest on the wallet with chips such as the Core i3-12300 offering fantastic bang for buck performance.
Even with the expected introduction of Intel's 13th Gen Core series processors sometime in the not too distant future, Intel announced that its LGA 1700 socketed Z690 series would offer support, albeit not much is known about what limitations Z690 might offer when compared to the next-gen of chipset if any at all. This means Z690 options such as the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI can still offer something to the market, even for Intel's Raptor Lake processors.
On the surface, the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI has plenty of solid features, including support for up to five M.2 drives, with only one of these sharing bandwidth with a single SATA port. Users can install up to three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2, one PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA M.2, and one PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA M.2 drive. MSI also provides a total of six SATA ports. However, only four offer RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 array support, as two of the SATA ports are powered by an ASMedia SATA controller; this is a relatively normal thing today.
Other features of the Z690 Carbon WIFI include plenty of USB real estate on the rear panel, with one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C port, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports, and four USB 2.0 ports. Other connectivity options include one Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller and an Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi. It would have been good to see a slightly better Ethernet controller, given the competition at the same price point offers more; the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master, which we reviewed, has 10 GbE, which is impressive for the price, and it's a good performer too.
Touching on the performance, the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI is competitive with other Z690 models on test, with a decent showing in our system tests such as power consumption, POST time, and DPC latency. In our computational and gaming benchmarks, we saw no anomalies, and everything is level with the rest of the models we've tested to date.
It also performed well in our overclocking tests, with 5.3 GHz on our Core i9-12900K's P-cores more than achievable if it weren't for the crazy temperatures at 1.40 V on the CPU VCore. Throughout our testing, CPU VCore VDroop was at acceptable levels until we hit 5.2 GHz at 1.35 V, with the CPU VCore hitting close to 1.40 V at full load. Another element where the Z690 Carbon WIFI performed well was in our VRM thermal testing, with temperatures around and below 80°C, which is good. However, similar models such as the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero and GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master performed better by around 15°C. Despite this, the MSI is still well within the rated specifications.
Final Words: The Competition is Very Strong, Price is too High
At the time of writing, users can purchase the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI from Amazon for $350, which is a fair price until you look at the competition's offering. For around $30 cheaper, users can pick up the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master for $320 at Amazon, which has one fewer M.2 port but adds 10 GbE networking. The Z690 Aorus Master is the better buy because it has a better quality power delivery. Although overclocking performance is similar, the thermal VRM performance on the Master is considerably cooler.
Given the price the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master is currently selling, it's tough to recommend the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI. If MSI were to drop the pricing on the MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI by around $50, it would be much easier to recommend it in the current climate, as the original launch MSRP pricing for MSI was/is cheaper than GIGABYTE. Unless you prefer the MSI Click BIOS 5 firmware, like the aesthetic better, or have had great experiences in the past with MSI, the Z690 Aorus Master represents much better value for money.
Overall the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI is a decent option with decent all-round performance, but for the more shrewd users looking for a better buy at a better price, there is more value to be had with a few other models at the $350 to 400 price point.
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worldsenvy - Sunday, September 11, 2022 - link
It would be more apt to compare it to if they made the price of eggs $24 for a dozen. 390 for a Mid range board is ridiculous.PeachNCream - Thursday, September 8, 2022 - link
Agreed that PC component prices are utterly absurd at the moment. Some of the cost is tied up in inflation but there is also cost passed onto consumers through the addition of non-functional additions like plastic coverings and lighting. The establishment of various chipset categories (remember when there was basically one chipset to support a CPU generation and it had all the features instead of a set of progressively more stripped down alternatives that now supposedly justify the higher component cost of less feature-limited motherboards?) has done a lot to build a market segment that snags the extra dollars once lost to tinkerers and overclockers that were actually getting extra performance for free instead of pay a price premium for unlocked parts that basically roll the price of overclocking performance gains into said parts.Probably the best thing you can do to shut this sort of garbage from OEMs down is to buy a good enough for work/communication laptop - something lower cost - and either work within its capabilities to play games it can run well. There are lots and lots of games that do not need anything beyond a bottom feeder budget laptop with a garbo iGPU that can keep you amused for the rest of your life. Alternatively, you can always use the cost of a motherboard like this plus a few extra dollars to buy a console. The money you save in additional components can go into the somewhat higher cost of the games on a closed console platform and still buy you a LOT of amusement for the same total price as a desktop gaming PC without any software.
Basically, at this point, gaming PCs are not very cost-effective purchases on just hardware alone. Nevermind the power demands and, if you live in a warm climate, the secondary power costs incurred moving their waste heat out of your home. It's a no-brainer to just change how you entertain yourself a little bit to move the needle to more practical alternatives and you ultimately don't really have to compromise on the end goal of killing time in a fun way either.
meacupla - Thursday, September 8, 2022 - link
List of things making mobos more expensive these days:PCIe 5.0 capable traces
DDR5 capable traces
VRM design that can handle overclocked 12900K
Copper prices have gone up
Supply chain issues
Tariffs
Inflation
That and this mobo is not mid-range. It is high end. It's not a halo product, but it is packed with above average features. IDK why anandtech insists on calling it "mid-ranged", when it's price point is 5th from the top in MSI's intel 12th gen lineup.
MSI Z690 Tomahawk Wifi, and Z690-A Wifi are significantly cheaper.
timecop1818 - Saturday, September 10, 2022 - link
> DDR5 capable tracesThe price difference between PRO-A Z690 and PRO-A Z690 DDR5 is like $15.
meacupla - Thursday, September 8, 2022 - link
Those memory overclock speeds from the corsair kit are abysmal.Is the corsair kit using Micron dies? because I am getting a lot of info that those are trash and can barely hit 5400.
You really need to get your hands on some SK Hynix or Samsung die DDR5, preferably SK Hynix, to see what the mobo is really capable of.
sonny73n - Saturday, September 10, 2022 - link
18 true phase for CPU VRM is way overkilled. Back in Sandy Bridge day, 6-8 true phase considered premium and we could overclock the hell out of the chip. Nowadays processors get heat up too fast, I'd rather leave them on stock clock or underclock in case of GPU.They should instead implement a better audio design with a high end DAC (ESS or AKM comes to mind) and a good headphones amp to drive 600 Ohms headphones.
RestChem - Sunday, September 18, 2022 - link
What kinda baffles me is how quickly all the manufacturers spat out not just a couple but five or more Z690 boards, then for good measure additional some SKUs with tacit DDR5 support (though in all cases I've bothered to check so far the claimed support for dual-rank configs is limited to about five kits total from reference up to 6000) but all their top-end stuff is loused up with WiFi and blinky dragons and various, often questionable airguide/heatsink/EMF-shielding combos as though that's what's going to sell a board to hardcore OCers. Who the hell buys a $500-1000 mobo and connects through WiFi, or would want that on-board? Why not lots of room, great cooling, great unadorned boards and, I don't know, some free GPU braces? How do you sell this thing against the Pro Z690-A at a bit over half the price?