We just can’t seem to get away from light blues and purples in this generation as MSI’s MPG Z890 CARBON WIFI boast this neon ‘cyberpunk-inspired’ livery. Using it on the Carbon series - one known for a predominantly black colour-scheme, is certainly a choice, but it fits in with the AI theme many brands are leveraging for this round of platform updates.

Relevant technical highlights - Chipset, processor support, connectivity etc - are all featured on the front of the packaging.


MSI buck a relatively recent trend of sparse bundled accessories with the MPG Z890 CARBON WIFI:



Once again there is that focus on ‘EZ’ adaptations which makes the final platform easier to assemble and use whatever the experience level of the owner. The 802.11be antenna utilises a proprietary clip-in rather than threaded installation style, while the EZ Front Panel cable is a god-send as it allows you to connect up front panel jumpers outside of the confines of the dark and cramped case. The EZ M.2 Clip II meanwhile means you don’t have to deal with at least one of the tiny M.2 screws of typical motherboards.

As mentioned in our review of this design’s X870 counterpart, the longevity of MSI’s EZ-Conn connector and cable standard - which unifies fan, RGB and USB signalling into one proprietary header - remains to be seen. That being said, it’s a novel solution to the tangle of cables cooling and case lighting currently requires.

Sharp lines and a majority black colour-scheme are the hallmark of MSI’s CARBON series and their Z890 version doesn’t disappoint. A majority of its footprint consists of flat matte black heatspreaders or VRM heatsinks, giving the board a smooth and uncluttered appearance despite an extensive feature-set. The motherboard is equipped with five M.2 slots and three PCI-Express slots despite its ATX form factor, offering interesting configurations for discrete graphics and peripheral PSIe devices.


A straightforward ATX footprint will mean compatibility with almost every ATX PC case on the market. None of the connectors appear out of place at first glance and there shouldn’t be compatibility issues with the vast majority of LGA1700/LGA1851 coolers on the market either.

Once again however, we feel that MSI could perhaps tone down the branding and aesthetic detailing on this motherboard. Their CARBON series has historically been some of their most restrained, making them perfect to build around when customising your own system theme, so it’s a shame that so much iconography is so prominent. Particularly the circular MPG logo.
Closer Look

The MPG Z890 CARBON WIFI’s LGA1851 socket is surrounded on two sides by VRM heatsinks that channel air upwards through them, requiring modest air flow to work efficiently. VRM temps will benefit from air flow directed by the CPU cooler and it’s possible that the left-most heatsink and the area behind the I/O shield will become a heat trap if the air flow in an enclosed case is only incidental.


Intel’s LGA1851 socket incorporates a new ILM design (dubbed RL-ILM) which more evenly distributes mounting pressure around the CPU heatspreader, helping to reduce the chance of warping the chip when high mounting pressure is used. This should reduce the need for cooler ‘contact frames’ that replace the stock ILM (though one can still be used) and improve thermal performance more generally.

A 20+1+1+1 phase power delivery circuit (20-phase CPU, 1 for System Agent i.e. chiefly the IMC, 1 for GT i.e. Integrated Graphics, 1 for VNNAON) is fed by two 8-pin EPS 12V connectors in a non-standard location: the top-right of the board. This placement should be noted as not all ATX cases will have conveniently close gaps in the motherboard tray for cables, but on the other hand it makes connecting them, particularly when the motherboard is installed in a case, a lot easier. Sitting in the top-left is a single 4-pin PWM fan connector, and there’s just enough space between the VRM heatsinks to thread a CPU fan cable.

Below the EPS 12V connectors are the four DDR5 memory slots, and to the right connectors is a single 4-pin PWM fan connector. Turning the corner there are two further 4-pin PWM fan connectors, the top of which is indicated as appropriate for a water cooling pump. Below them is a 3-pin (5V) ARGB connector, next to which is a bank of EZ Debug Boot LEDs to show debug status of CPU, RAM, GPU and Boot device. The LED will remain illuminated when the boot process is hanging on that device. Below this is the traditional 2-digit Debug LED for status codes when troubleshooting.

The DIMM slots are identified as (from left to right) B1, B2, A1 and A2. MSI note that installation of DDR5 DIMMs should prioritise the A2 (outermost) slot in single-DIMM configurations, then the B2 (2nd) slot when adding a 2nd DIMM. This information is replicated on the PCB itself.

Coming further down the right edge of the motherboard alongside the DIMM slots we have the 24-pin ATX power connector and and EZ Conn-Header V2. The latter utilises the supplied 1 to 3 EZ Conn v2 cable to split out 4-pin PWM fan, ARGB Gen1/2 and a USB 2.0 header signalling to connect these devices behind the motherboard tray for cleaner cable management.

Note that some MSI CPU and system cooling hardware can interface with the EZ Conn-Header natively.

Next up is a USB Type-C (supporting 20Gbps) front panel header, two USB 3.2 Gen1 (5Gbps) headers, and two banks of two SATA III 6Gbps ports. Note that each of these connectors are angled parallel to the motherboard, leading to clean cable management when installed in a case.

Also located just to the right of the DIMM slots is the EZ PCIe Release button. Pressing this releases the card retention latch of the main PCIe x16 slot, a considerably easier process than manually unclipping it. This feature is getting all the more essential as GPU cooling solutions become heavier and more elaborate, and as a result the pressure on the latch increases.


Continuing around the bottom edge we’re greeted by a 3-pin (5V) ARGB header and then the front-panel header block. The supplied EZ Front Panel cable plugs directly into this, or individual front-panel cables can be hooked up on a piecemeal basis. Just above this block is an independent LED switch, 12-pin TPM module connector, and 4-pin auxiliary header for speaker and buzzer that has been divorced from the standard block of front panel headers.

Next as we move to the left is a safe-boot header that when closed boots the PC with a default config and lower PCIe speed, followed by a Clear CMOS jumper, and then a chassis intrusion detection sensor header. A 3-pin Water Flow meter header is to the right of three 4-pin PWM fan headers, two USB 2.0 headers, thermal probe sensor header, Thunderbolt 5 header (for optional expansion card) 3-pin 5V ARGB header and RGB LED demo header.

One differentiating feature of this design that’s up next is the supplemental 8-pin PCIe power connector for on-board components. This optional connector can supply up-to an additional 252W (12V, 21A) to the motherboard when under the heaviest load, ensuring component stability when tested to the limit.

The last two items of significance along this bottom edge are the motherboard’s single 4-pin (12V) RGB LED header and the HD AUDIO front panel header.

Despite its minorly idiosyncratic connector positioning there’s not a lot unexpected in terms of onboard connectivity. It’s logically laid out, though the positioning of 12V EPS and PCIe power connectors will fox some case designs, and so will pose few problems to novice and inexperience system builders. The inclusion of two debug pathways - a simple LED indicator and two-digit panel - will help immeasurably if troubleshooting is required, and of course anything that helps to hook up those pesky front panel switches is always welcome.

With the heatspreaders removed the M.2 slots are exposed. The top-most slot is wired for PCIe Gen5 x4 operation off-CPU with four dedicated lanes off-CPU, supporting up-to 80mm-long and 25mm-wide 2580 form factor M.2 NVMe SSDs as well as more conventional 22mm side models. MSI have joined GIGABYTE to support up-to this wider M.2 drive footprint. A long thermal pad is installed on top of the motherboard PCB to improve heat dissipation on dual-sided drives.

The top slot’s M.2 Shield FROZR II heatspreader acts as heatsink for the NVMe SSD installed, allowing it to dissipate heat more readily and cool high-performance PCIe Gen5 SSDs. Just to the left of the M.2 drive retention clip is a 4-pad header for the RGB embedded in the heatspreader. Each M.2 slot has thermal pads on both the underside of the heatspreader and facing the drive from below.

Below the primary M.2 slot is the primary PCIe x16 slot. This is wired for 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes off-CPU, stepping down to x8 operation depending on the status of additional installed PCIe devices in the lower slots. Both the primary and secondary slot have been reinforced to better support heavy graphics cards but additional support in the form of anchor points on the case or a bracing strut at the end of the card are still recommended. As noted, the primary x16 slot is augmented by the MSI EZ Release system.

Of the bank of four M.2 slots between the first and second PCIe slots, only the top-most is off the CPU. The rest are provided by the chipset, and all are configured for PCIe 4.0 signalling. Only one is long enough to accommodate 110mm-long M.2 drives (22110 form factor) while the rest all handle up-to 80mm (2280) SSDs. The PCIe slot below them is wired for up-to PCIe 5.0 x8 operation that’s ideal for supplementary high-speed storage, while the final PCIe slot is wired for PCIe 4.0 x4 operation and hence suitable for other high-bandwidth components.

We’d like to mention here that MSI provides no information on how or if off-CPU and off-Chipset PCIe lanes are shared between each M.2 and PCIe slot. That’s in stark contrast to some of their competitors who go to great pains to break down how populating a slot could impact the operation of another device.


MSI have preinstalled the rear I/O shield, removing a significant install pinch-point. Located on the rear I/O panel are:



This motherboard’s WiFi antenna sockets are non-standard and may not be compatible with standard high gain 802.11be antenna.

MSI have opted to pair 5G and 2.5G LAN for this board’s wired networking rather than higher performance 10GbE. The latter’s utility remains somewhat limited compared to 5GbE, but having an option above 2.5GbE is a wise consideration at this price bracket.