The $229.99 MSI B850 MPower offers ample M.2 storage and fast networking. But to get the most out of this BN850 board, you should be overclocking, or look at other, less expensive options.
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Years ago, MSI released its first MPower motherboards. Starting with Z87, the boards had a black and yellow aesthetic and were designed for extreme overclocking (think Asus Apex, Gigabyte Tachyon, and ASRock OCF). Before the Z790 MPower (we did not see these in the States), the last iteration was in 2017 with Z170. Fast forward to today, and MSI has resurrected an AM5 model in the B850 MPower. The latest version comes in a Micro ATX form factor and, with its 2-DIMM configuration, is made to push the boundaries of memory overclocking (along with MPower Alliance-approved memory).
If you've seen these models before, you’ll know the current version screams MPower with its black-and-yellow appearance, but it doesn’t have any integrated RGB lighting. Keep in mind that it is an overclocking board where people generally don’t care for bling in the first place, and you can always add your own. On top of its listed memory prowess (over 10,000 MT/s with 8000 series APU), the B850 MPower offers four M.2 sockets (two PCIe 5.0), a quality audio solution, fast networking, and that signature MPower design for $229.99 , available only via the US MSI Store.
Performance on the MPower in stock form was above average in most of our tests. It proved to be a good performer across a wide variety of benchmarks, including productivity and gaming. We tried our fastest non ‘CK’ sticks, our Klevv DDR5-8000 kit, but it barely booted to Windows, so we settled on our DDR5-7200 kit, as is quite common on this platform. We’re in the process of procuring an APU to test higher memory speeds more thoroughly, as this may be a factor with our CPU’s IMC (though we’ve seen that Klevv kit work twice on AM5 before).
Below, we’ll examine the board's details and determine whether it deserves a spot on our list of the best motherboards . But before we share test results and discuss details, here are the specifications from MSI’s website.
Specifications of the MSI B850 MPower
Swipe to scroll horizontally Socket AM5 (LGA 1718) Chipset B850 Form Factor Micro ATX Voltage Regulator 15 Phase (12x 60A MOSFETs for Vcore) Video Ports (1) HDMI (v2.1) USB Ports (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C
(3) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)
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