MSI MAG B850M Mortar WIFI Motherboard Review – Solid mATX Design For AM5 Builders For $200

Conclusion - Top-Choice For AM5 Builders & Gamers

Since the arrival of B850 motherboards, AM5 builders have been getting good options for their new Ryzen 9000/7000 CPUs. While B650 motherboards have been decent, B850 options do an upgrade & that's compelling enough to reconsider your choice if you're coming from an older AM4 board. MSI has several B850 options that can be considered by AM5 builders, and today we tried out its MAG Mortar offering.

Starting with the performance, the MSI MAG B850M Mortar WIFI features a 12-phase CPU power delivery rated at 60A, with a maximum memory support of up to 8200 MT/s. This is higher than most of the 8000 MT/s options that B850 gets. The motherboard performed superbly in apps & gaming tests while running cooler than the options that we tried, and also consuming lower power.

Expansion slots are also decent with a single PCIe 5.0 x16 and a PCIe 4.0 x4 for further AICs.  The motherboard gets triple M.2 slots, of which two are fully cooled under a Frozr heatsink and one is located on the back without any heatsink. Audio is also better with ALC4080 codecs, & connectivity options are great, with WIFI7, BT 5.4, and 5 GbE LAN ports. Following is the full list of USB ports on the motherboard:

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

MSI MAG B850M Mortar WIFI Pros & Cons

• + Great pricing for mATX AM5 Builders
• + M.2 slots with thermal solutions
• + EZ DIY design for M.2 and PCIe slots
• + Great cooling for VRMs
• + 5 GbE LAN
• + ALC4080 Audio & WIFI7 Networking
• - The color scheme might put some off

Other features include Toolless M.2 Gen5 slots. There are four M.2 slots, and the PCIe 5.0 slot also comes with an EZ release mechanism.

The MSI MAG B850M Mortar WIFI motherboard is priced under $200 US, making it one of the best motherboards in the B850 segment. In terms of availability, the motherboard is hard to come by, but for those investing in powerful mATX options that don't break your wallet and run great with Ryzen 9000 CPUs, the MAG Mortar is one you should be eyeing.

 

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