MSI has prepared Intel's LGA 1851 and AMD AM5 budget B860, B850 & B840 motherboards for existing & upcoming Intel & AMD CPUs.
Intel & AMD 800-series MSI Tomahawk, Pro, & Gaming Plus Motherboards Surface In Leak, B860, B850 & B840 Designs For Masses
As we know from various reports, both Intel and AMD will be releasing newer CPUs at CES. While for Intel, it's more about the budget and non-overclockable Arrow Lake chips, AMD will be focusing on higher-end Ryzen 9000X3D CPUs. Nonetheless, both have budget 800-series motherboard lineups missing at the moment, which will be revealed in their respective turns.
For Intel Arrow Lake desktop processors, there are two 800 chipsets: B860 and H810, and for AMD, there are B850 and B840. The leaker @momomo_us has posted pics of four models with three of these chipsets, namely: Intel B860, AMD B850, and AMD B840. All of them are from MSI with models as follows:
- MAG B860 Tomahawk WiFi
- PRO B850-P WiFi
- B850 Gaming Plus WiFi
- PRO B840-P WiFi
The first one, i.e., MAG B860 Tomahawk WiFi is for Intel processors, featuring the classic black PCB design with greenish accents. The board will feature 4x DIMMs, 2x PCI-E x16 slots, 1x PCI-E x1 slot, at least 3x M.2 connectors, 4x SATA ports, and built-in WiFi 7. It will feature Thunderbolt 4 ports on the I/O as well, as seen on the box. The motherboard has 2x 8-pin EPS connectors above the DIMM slots, which we saw previously as well, and there is an additional 8-pin PCI-E connector at the bottom, which will provide up to 150W of power to the GPU alongside 75W from the PCI-E x16 slot.
The next three are all AM5 motherboards. The first one is the MSI PRO B850-P WiFi, featuring a black PCB with white/silverish heatsinks. The board features 4x PCI-E x16 slots, which is rare on budget motherboards these days, and also has that 8-pin connector at the bottom. There are 3x m.2 slots and 4x SATA ports for storage drives.
The third one is the MSI B840 Gaming Plus WiFi, offering a unique appearance with white heatsinks and grey-blue accents. There are even more PCI-E x16 slots on this one than you will see on the PRO B850-P WiFi. A whopping 5x PCI-E x16 slots are available on this board, which is too many, but apparently, you won't be able to fully populate all of them at the same time due to PCI-E lane limitations. It misses the bottom 8-pin PCI-E connector and appears to be an entry-level board.
The last one is the MSI PRO B840-P WiFi, which also gets 5x PCI-E x16 slots, 4x DIMMs, 2x M.2 connectors, 4x SATA ports, and some basic connectivity. All of these are expected to be unveiled at CES, where their detailed specs, features, pricing, and availability will be disclosed.
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
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