MSI MPG B760I Edge Wi

MSI's MPG B760I Edge Wi-Fi ($219.99) is a Mini-ITX form factor motherboard from the budget side of the menu. ("Budget" is relative with ever-pricey Mini-ITX boards, though.) While its size restricts what it can offer, you still get big features for the price. The B760I Edge doesn't support PCI Express 5.0 (neither a slot nor an M.2 socket), but it does provide plenty of storage (two M.2 sockets and four SATA ports), sufficient power delivery for flagship CPUs, rear I/O with plenty of USB ports, and more. Its black-on-silver styling is handsome and a bit bolder than its competitors. All told, the board gives you a comprehensive feature set at a reasonable price, though it's not an untouchable value.

To state the obvious, small-form-factor motherboards like the Mini-ITX platform don't have much real estate to work with compared to larger boards. The B760I Edge uses a 10-layer, all-black PCB with 2-ounce thickened copper to help connectivity. The gray heatsinks provide a stark contrast against the black PCB; they bear MSI branding including the company's gaming dragon on the left VRM bank and its MPG moniker on the top. The M.2 heatsink at the bottom carries the Edge label.

There are no integrated RGB LEDs, though you'll find two onboard headers where you can connect your own lighting. Overall, it's a good-looking motherboard, especially for builders looking to break away from the common all-black appearance.

The motherboard supports Intel's 12th and 13th Generation processors. Hardware-wise, it has a 10-phase power design using 90A SPS MOSFETs (eight dedicated to Vcore). The total 720A available isn't a lot, but it didn't hold our Intel Core i9-13900K back in our testing. The VRM heatsinks do a great job of keeping the power bits running cool. While you can't overclock the CPU on Mini-ITX boards (except those with BCLK generators), you can overclock the RAM.

Memory support is listed up to DDR5-7200+ (OC), which is about average for this Intel platform. Small boards tend to have more overclocking headroom, but since this isn't an enthusiast platform, the ceiling is a bit lower than that of more costly Z790 ITX options. MSI lists memory capacity at 96GB, supporting the new 48GB sticks and kits. That should be enough for an overwhelming majority of users; if you want more than 96GB, you'll need to find a board with four slots.

As mentioned, if you're into overclocking your RAM to get the last couple of percentages of performance out of your system, you can do so. The BIOS offers loads of memory-tweaking options including voltage, primary, secondary, and tertiary timings. We tried our base DDR5-5600 and DDR5-7200 kits, both stable by setting the internal profile (XMP on one kit, EXPO on the other), so all was well, even reaching the maximum speed listed for the board.

Starting with the upper left corner, there's a single 8-pin EPS connector to power the CPU. Above the top VRM heatsink are a slew of headers, starting with 3-pin ARGB and 4-pin RGB headers to add your own compatible lighting. Next are three 4-pin fan headers. Each header supports DC and PWM-controlled devices. The CPUFAN1 header outputs up to 2A/24W, the PUMPFAN1 a whopping 3A/36W, and finally the SYS_FAN1 header 1A/12W. That's plenty of power for your pump or even to piggyback a couple of fans on a header; just be sure not to overload them. You can control any LEDs through the MSI Center app and Mystic Light applet while the fans adjust through the BIOS.

Next are the two unreinforced DRAM slots with the sole locking mechanism at the top. As mentioned, MSI specifies support up to 96GB of DDR5-7200. Along the right edge you'll spy a 24-pin ATX connector to power the board; four vertically mounted 6Gbps SATA3 ports; a front-panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type-A port, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Type-C port.

Next to the USB-A port are four EZ Debug LEDs that light up during the POST process. If one of the areas (CPU, DRAM, VGA, Boot) causes a non-boot situation, the LED stays lit, giving you a clue where the problem lies. Along the bottom edge of the board, the left corner holds a Realtek ALC897 audio codec, the front-panel audio header, and a couple of audio capacitors. Next to the 4-pin speaker header is a USB 2.0 port. The PCIe slot and primary M.2 socket are in the middle of the board.

Tiny Mini-ITX motherboards are limited to a single expansion slot. The B760I Edge Wi-Fi's is a reinforced slot with PCIe 4.0 x16 bandwidth. As with other boards of this class, it doesn't share lanes or bifurcate with anything else as slots on boards with more slots, sockets, and ports often do.

Above the PCIe slot under the heatsink is the first of two M.2 sockets. The socket on the front of the board connects through the CPU, supporting up to 80mm solid-state drives at up to PCIe 4.0 x4 (64Gbps) speeds. The second socket, on the back of the board, connects through the chipset and supports up to 80mm modules with either PCIe or SATA interfaces. The four vertically mounted SATA ports are capable of RAID 0, 1, 15, and 10 modes.

The rear I/O of the tiny board features a preinstalled plate with a silver background and black port labels. There are are a total of eight USB ports, including one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) port; one USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) port; four USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) ports, and two USB 2.0 (480Mbps) connectors. The processor's integrated graphics are supported by DisplayPort and HDMI 2.1 ports. The audio stack consists of three 3.5mm analog jacks. Last are the Realtek 2.5Gbps Ethernet port and two Wi-Fi antenna connections.

This MSI's BIOS, like nearly all motherboards', starts in Easy Mode. This mode is informative with system details listed across the top, and functional with the ability to change a few options including boot priority, XMP profiles for the memory, Game Boost, and so on. Overall, it provides plenty of data and enough versatility to be helpful.

The advanced version of the BIOS looks different than most: Instead of arranging the major headings across the top, you'll find them off to the sides with the details and all the info the BIOS offers in the middle. The system summary remains visible up top.

In the Settings section, you'll find details on the system, boot, and security functionality and options to adjust things like peripherals, USB, graphics, and more.

The overclocking page holds everything you need to tweak the processor and RAM. Users can manually overclock the processor or adjust PBO settings for a more prefabricated (and recommended) experience. If you're into overclocking memory, there are more timings than you can wrap your head around (as is the norm with most of these boards). In short, the BIOS won't hold your overclocking back.

The Hardware Monitor section displays relevant system info ranging from CPU and motherboard temperatures to fan speeds and voltages. Within this section, you can adjust the fan speeds of the onboard 4-pin fan headers and set up custom profiles for all items attached to them.

MSI's BIOS is as easy to navigate and offers just as many options as competitors'. The X670 platform allows complete control, so there are plenty of opportunities to tweak. Our system remained stable during our brief testing period, with no concerns, glitches, or hiccups.

On the software side, MSI offers an updated MSI Center, a single app from which you can download and use other utilities including MSI Companion, Gaming Mode, Super Charger, and Mystic Light (RGB control). It also offers hardware monitoring, though it lacks overclocking features.

MSI Center's hardware monitoring is detailed, displaying CPU usage, frequency, and temperature. It also lists several system temperatures including DRAM, CPU, MOSFETs, chipset, and critical voltages. It's informative, but again lists nothing you can tweak or adjust.

I mentioned MSI Center's Mystic Light app. While the board doesn't have integrated RGB lighting of its own, it offers four headers and an integrated control header to add more RGB bling. You can set profiles, change brightness, sync RGBs, and adjust each part individually.

Ultimately, the MSI B760I Edge Wi-Fi is a solid choice for budget-conscious Mini-ITX Intel builders. While the platform doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Z790-based motherboards, many people don't need or don't want to spend the additional money for them.

The B760I Edge is a well-equipped example of the platform, including two M.2 sockets (one supporting SATA-based modules), a quartet of SATA ports, ample power delivery, and a stylishly contrasting black and silver look that's sure to bring attention to your chassis. Our test platform performed well, especially in gaming where our Core i9-13900K strutted its stuff.

The main thing keeping this MSI board to a 3.5-star rating and shy of an Editors' Choice award is Asus' ROG Strix B760-I Gaming Wi-Fi, which offers a 20Gbps port and a superior albeit previous-gen audio solution for the same $219.99 price, though it lacks the flexibility of a SATA-based M.2 socket. You can save a little money by opting for Gigabyte's B760I Aorus Pro DDR4 or ASRock's B760M-ITX Wi-Fi, but those boards don't support DDR5 and have only one M.2 socket apiece.

MSI's MPG B760I Edge Wi-Fi is a full-featured, good-looking, and good-performing Mini-ITX motherboard with power delivery that supports flagship-class processors. It's a good deal at $219.99, though rival Asus does have a better-equipped option at the same price.

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