CES Presentation: MSI presents new AM5 motherboards with B850/B840 and X870E 24 comments
Image: MSI
AMD’s board partners used CES 2025 to present their new AM5 motherboards based on the mainstream and entry-level B850 and B840 chipsets. In addition to Asus, ASRock and Gigabyte, MSI is also launching new boards on the market and, unlike the competition, also has two new motherboards based on the X870E in its luggage.
New B-chipset boards only in ATX format
MSI is the only one of the four major motherboard partners not to offer any new motherboards in Micro-ATX or even Mini-ITX format; all new boards are available in the classic large ATX form factor. A total of four new boards with B850 and two with B840 were presented.
In terms of equipment and features, MSI provides the entire range with a number of amenities from top to bottom. All boards have WiFi 7, the B850 offshoots also all have 5 Gigabit LAN, while the B840 motherboards have to make do with 2.5 Gigabit/s wired. Interestingly, even the entry-level B840 has an integrated slot cover and even BIOS Flash and Clear CMOS buttons on the back.
B850 and B840 motherboards in detail
The spearhead of the new B850 motherboards are the silver-white MPG B850 Edge TI Wifi and the traditionally black MAG B850 Tomahawk, which are almost twins in terms of equipment and features. Aside from the color, the biggest difference is that MSI has given the Edge TI a full debug code display, while the Tomahawk has to do without.
Below that are the slightly simpler B850 Gaming Plus Wifi and Pro B850-P Wifi. According to the datasheet, these two motherboards only differ from each other in details; the pictures show that the board layout is almost identical.
The portfolio is completed at the bottom by the two B840 Gaming Plus Wifi motherboards and the Pro B840-P Wifi based on the B840 chipset. Besides the smaller chipset, which significantly limits PCIe capabilities, significant compromises must be made in terms of power compared to the B850 versions. The number of M.2 slots is reduced to two due to the chipset.
Restock also for X870E
In addition to cards equipped with the new B chipsets, MSI also presented new cards equipped with the high-end X870E chipset. It also receives new cards from the MPG Edge TI Wifi and MAG Tomahawk Wifi series. As usual, the Edge TI Wifi comes in white, while the Tomahawk comes in black.
Once again, the features of the two cards are virtually identical. Compared to the B850 offshoots, the larger chipset comes with a lot more rear ports – including the AMD-specified USB-4 port – as well as a fourth M.2 slot. The Tomahawk also has a full debug code display here.
Prices and availability
MSI has not announced a suggested price for the new motherboards, and a market launch date is also still pending. None of the boards are currently listed in the price comparison.
Topics: AM5 AMD CES 2025 MSI Motherboards Source: MSI
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