MSI B850 Tomahawk MAX WIFI II Motherboard Review – Upgraded Features, Similar Sub-$250 Price

Conclusion - Excellent Mainstream Motherboard

AMD's Ryzen CPUs, especially the cost-effective X3D options, are currently selling like hotcakes. This huge demand has led motherboard makers to offer new, cost-optimized, and feature-rich options based on the X870 chipset since that is the most popular choice for mainstream builders. MSI has also upgraded its AM5 lineup to meet the growing demand for new motherboards and new feature sets, and is rolling out the "MAX" and "EVO" series. These boards continue to build upon existing designs with an improved set of features. Today, we tested and took a deeper look at the MAG B850 Tomahawk MAX WIFI II, extending the great mainstream feature-set of the Tomahawk series.

The MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk MAX WIFI II retains mostly the same specifications as the previous B850 Tomahawk design. Some minor changes include the new OC Engine, which adds an external BCLK chipset for enhanced overclocking support, a new PinSafe Design on the backside of the PCB, and a bigger 64MB BIOS. Another change is the slightly modified power delivery, which is the same amount at 14+2+1 VRMs but with different controllers, leading to slightly better operation. There is also an updated color scheme, which is now all-black with a few silver hints, a major uplift over the lime green colors used on the last offering.

• 4x USB 2.0 (Rear)
• 4x USB 2.0 (Front)
• 1x USB 5Gbps Type A (Rear)
• 4x USB 5Gbps Type A (Front)
• 2x USB 10Gbps Type A (Rear)
• 3x USB 10Gbps Type C (Rear)
• 1x USB 20Gbps Type C (Front)

Besides that, the motherboard has an ample array of IO capabilities with three full-length PCIe slots, including a Gen5 x16 design with EZ PCIe release, four M.2 slots, including two Gen5x4 with EZ M.2 release design, 19 USB ports, and 5GbE LAN with WIFI 7 & BT 5.4 support.

Following are our Pros/Cons for the MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk MAX WIFI II motherboard:

• +Solid Performance & Features at a solid price
• +Good VRM design with a decent cooling solution
• +256 GB Memory Support with up to 8400 MT/s
• +Great Color scheme with a black and silver theme
• +Dual Gen5 M.2 slots + 1 PCIe Gen5 x16 slot
• +All M.2 slots are Frozr cooled
• +EZ Release design for PCIe & M.2 adds user-friendliness
• +5GbE + WIFI7 + BT 5.4 combo for networking (wired+wireless)
• +21 USB ports, including dual USB4
• +BCLK OC Engine is a step up for mainstream overclockers
• +64 MB Large BIOS paves the way for future Ryzen firmware updates
• - No Debug LED
• -Just one M.2 slot with EZ release mechanism

We find the B850 Tomahawk to be much closer to its higher-end X870 sibling. Versus the last B850 Tomahawk, it features higher, faster memory support (8400 MT/s vs 8200 MT/s), better heatsinks on the VRMs, all M.2 slots covered by heatsinks, and the new OC Engine & 64 MB BIOS features. At a sub-$250 US price range, the MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk MAX WIFI II is easily going to be a great option for budget builders.

You can find additional information about our hardware review process and ethics policy here.

Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.