You can use a maximum of three M.2 SSDs on this board without compromising on the GPU slot's bandwidth - you'll have to install the three SSDs on the first Gen 5 M.2 slot, and the two Gen 4 M.2 slots. As long as you have a drive (regardless of PCIe generation) installed on the second Gen 5 M.2 slot, the GPU slot will drop to x8 mode! That said, the performance impact of having your GPU running at x8 instead of x16 tends to be quite small, where in some instances there may not be any observable performance impact at all. Hope this helps!
Brilliant up close look. I just received this board today and started my build. I thought the square rubber things on the m2 slots might be for supporting single sided nvme drives and need to be removed for double sided (Asus do this but you have to add rubber blocks). However when you peel the tape, the rubber blocks come off as they are attached to the outside of the tape. Stange. They just must be dummy placeholders for the M2.
I had the exact same thoughts too, and only realised it when installing a M.2 drive that the rubber blocks (and corresponding protective film) had to be removed cos the drive wouldn't fit - my thinking is that they're there to...serve as a protective buffer of some sort to protect the thermal pads from getting squished during shipping/transit? Your guess is as good as mine!
I find both ASUS Armoury Crate and MSI Center pretty similar in terms of performance, where both are a little laggy to use from time to time 😅 how's the pricing difference between both boards where you're from?
@@ALKtech MSI is cheaper. Asus is generally more expensive. LED controls in the Armory Crate program are very good but Driver download area bad. I am currently using asus x670e-f with 4070TI Rog. It also causes USB problems. I want to buy a motherboard and graphics card with a more stable program. My Asus x670e-f motherboard is under warranty, but Asus authorized service cannot find a solution. It cannot provide a brand new motherboard. Maybe if it does, the same problems will continue. Unfortunately, consumer rights are weak in Turkey.
@@mob411gs I see, sorry to hear about the issues that you're having. My main issue with the MSI Center app is its loading time - for some reason all the boards that I've used it with, it usually takes awhile to initialise before finally loading - I do get this too with Armoury Crate too 😂
What's the price difference between both boards where you're from? The Crosshair Hero in all likelihood will have the ASUS tax (i.e. much more expensive)...no surprises as it has a more "complete" high-end package with a more blingy appearance, a metal backplate for the rear of the board, five M.2 slots (but with the usual PCIe lane sharing stuff) and an onboard DAC chip among others. If you don't really care for these additional bells and whistles, the MSI would probably be the board to go for - in any case, both boards should handle the upcoming 9000 series X3D chips with ease!
@@ALKtech I'm from Belgium and there is €150 between them. And that is also what I like about the Hero that it has a metal backplate looks very good and u see that build quality
@@NoahAyva95 I see! Yeah I don't disagree, I'm sure you do get a more premium product with the Hero for sure. That said, my personal opinion is that I'd save the €150 and use that for something else, perhaps faster RAM or even a better graphics card 😅
i dont think it matters, but does installing any sata ssd interfere with the pcie for the graphics card? or all i need to do is avoid putting anything in the M_2 and 2nd pcie and everything else is fair game to use fully?
The SATA III ports don't share bandwidth with anything, so no issues there to install SATA SSDs/other storage drives/optical drives etc. And yeap, you got that right regarding not installing anything in M2_2 and the second Gen5 PCIe x16 slot so as to avoid any lane sharing!
Damn, Wish i would of watched this before ordering this board. Was planning on running 2 Gen 5 SSD (one for main and one for editing) but sense it slows down the GPU slot i guess ill just get a Gen 4 m.2 for my main drive and use the top Gen5 drive for my editing drive sense really the operating system doesnt benefit from the faster gen5 speeds. Just wish MSI wouldnt be cheeky and keep that under wraps. Great board other then that tho
these things motherboard manufatures dont say what is said in the video , Also i recommend you to install operating system on the gen 5 first pcie slot as its directly connected with the processor and overall your pc will utitlize its full potential and in video he didnt mention that using gen4 drives will not share the pcie speeds . That has to be confirmed.
@alimansoor78 He said in the other comments that you can use 1 Gen5, And 2 Gen 4s without limiting the PCIE lane. Secondly I need and prefer the faster speeds of Gen 5 for editing as I do 6 and 8K video editing. Gen 4 is way fast enough for a operation system and other apps to run on imo.
Just jumping in on this conversation - @fourwheelerjock for your instance, I'd indeed do what you just mentioned, have your Windows boot drive on a Gen 4 M.2 drive installed on either of the two Gen 4 M.2 slots on the X870E CARBON WIFI, and have your Gen 5 M.2 drive installed on the first Gen 5 M.2 slot for video editing purposes. But that said, it's worth pointing out that the performance penalty of going from x16 to x8 on the GPU isn't really thaaaaaat large in gaming and productivity contexts. Just sharing an article here that I find to be quite useful in quantifying the said performance impact: www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/impact-of-gpu-pci-e-bandwidth-on-content-creation-performance/
Can someone help clear up some confusion I'm having. At time stamp: 13:39 the m2 slots layout. Starting from the top Top PCIe - video card sloted (4090) 1. gen 5 - can be used with a x16 graphics card and not downgrade the x16 to x8 2. gen 4 - can be used with a x16 graphics card and not downgrade the x16 to x8 3. gen 4 - can be used with a x16 graphics card and not downgrade the x16 to x8 4. gen 4 - can be used with a x16 graphics card and not downgrade the x16 to x8 No sata drives connected.
@ALKtech Thanks for the reply. So my assumption is right that the 3rd Gen4 drive would be totally fine for booting with no noticeable lagging or anything?
Assuming you've got a Ryzen 9000/7000 CPU installed (and not a Ryzen 8000 APU that doesn't support PCIe 5.0), we're looking at one Gen 5 SSD installed on the first M.2 slot, and two Gen 4 SSDs installed on the third and fourth M.2 slots to avoid losing any lanes from the PCIe Gen 5 x16 slot for a GPU! You'll also have to avoid installing any PCIe device on the second PCIe Gen 5 x16 slot that operates at x4 mode, as this said slot also shares bandwidth with the primary GPU slot. Hope this helps!
@@ALKtech Thanks for that clarification, I wasn't sure during the video. So to clarify if we do take advantage of a new Gen 5.0 GPU, we can only have one Gen 5.0 M.2 nvme, the other M.2s' have to be Gen 4.0?
@@lolly_bread to clarify, if you don't wanna affect your GPU lanes at all, you can only install one SSD on the first (M2_1) Gen 5 slot and a SSD each on the third and fourth M.2 slots (M2_3 and M2_4) respectively, for a total of three SSDs. Which gen of SSD you have installed on these three slots, e.g. PCIe 4.0 or even 3.0, will not affect the lane sharing aspect in any way, though you would obviously want to install a PCIe 5.0 SSD on M2_1, and PCIe 4.0 SSDs on M2_3 and M2_4 to maximise the transfer rates - you can of course install a PCIe 5.0 SSD on M2_3 and M2_4, but it will operate at Gen 4 speeds instead as these two slots are limited to PCIe 4.0! Likewise, if you install a Gen 4 SSD on M2_1 which is a Gen 5 slot, the SSD will still operate at Gen 4 link speeds. If you wanna avoid GPU lane sharing, you will have to avoid installing any add-on card on the second Gen 5 x16 slot and any SSD (regardless of Gen 3/4/5) on the second Gen 5 M.2 slot (M2_2) - as long as you have any one of these two things happening, the primary GPU slot will drop down to x8 mode. Hope this helps!
How. Many sata conntions are there as I can’t see any info in the specs is it just 4 connections ? What’s that to the right top I can’t work it out is it another sata with the 45w below if only 4k I’m out completely I need 6 minimum 8 preferred
Does anyone know if signal rgb works with the motherboard lights or if you can turn them off in the bios (but still leave on debug leds). No interest in rgb really. It's my first msi board and I have heard to install mystic lights you need to use msi center which is supposed to be trash like asus armoury crate. So will turn off auto windows install of msi center in bios, turn off rgb lights in bios if I can (or using signalrgb), set fan curves in bios, and probably use fancontrol to control fans. Want to avoid motherboard manufacturer bloatware if I can. I had a terrible time with asus software.
At 9:00 of the video, there is a LED Control Switch that can be used to physically disable all the RGB LEDs of the board and RGB devices hooked up to the onboard RGB headers; the debug LEDs will continue to operate even with the switch enabled - I've tried it while testing the board and it works! That said, I've not had the chance to test it with Signal RGB...
![MSI X870E CARBON WIFI Review [Gaming, Thermals, Power & VRMs Tested!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/P_xtqB130l8/mqdefault.jpg)
Check out the written review for this motherboard here: www.alktech.co/articles/review-msi-mpg-x870e-carbon-wifi-am5-motherboard
This is by far the best review of the X870E Carbon MB I have seen so far! Great work. You got yourself a new subscriber, keep up the good work!
Thanks for the kind words, cheers!
I like this channel. You even replies to comments and questions. :)
Good video too - and a mobo im going to buy soon :P
Thanks for the kind words! What's the specs of the build that you're intending to put together with this mobo?
Wow! That new BIOS looks clean! Finally MSI got at least a visual update of their BIOS UI :D
Yeah I'm totally digging the new look, hopefully MSI's gonna port it over to the AMD 600-series motherboards too with future BIOS updates!
Outstanding job! Very thorough.
Appreciate the detail here, thanks!
Awesome review man. Great job!!!!. Just bought this board. I only have 1 M.5 SSD so I dont think that will be an issue for me.
Glad you enjoyed the video! What CPU and GPU will you be using with this board?
Great review.
I have 4 gen 4 SSDs. Can I use then without compromise the PCI Slots?
You can use a maximum of three M.2 SSDs on this board without compromising on the GPU slot's bandwidth - you'll have to install the three SSDs on the first Gen 5 M.2 slot, and the two Gen 4 M.2 slots. As long as you have a drive (regardless of PCIe generation) installed on the second Gen 5 M.2 slot, the GPU slot will drop to x8 mode!
That said, the performance impact of having your GPU running at x8 instead of x16 tends to be quite small, where in some instances there may not be any observable performance impact at all. Hope this helps!
Is that 8-pin supplemental PCIe power connector just a standard 8 pin PCIe cable socket? If not, does the box come with a cable / adapter?
Brilliant up close look. I just received this board today and started my build. I thought the square rubber things on the m2 slots might be for supporting single sided nvme drives and need to be removed for double sided (Asus do this but you have to add rubber blocks). However when you peel the tape, the rubber blocks come off as they are attached to the outside of the tape. Stange. They just must be dummy placeholders for the M2.
I had the exact same thoughts too, and only realised it when installing a M.2 drive that the rubber blocks (and corresponding protective film) had to be removed cos the drive wouldn't fit - my thinking is that they're there to...serve as a protective buffer of some sort to protect the thermal pads from getting squished during shipping/transit? Your guess is as good as mine!
@@ALKtech I agree. lol. Just waiting on my ram now and hopefully have build done by end of week. That was a great up close look at the board.
@@flaccus123 nice! What are the specs of your upcoming PC build with this board?
Thanks for the review. I'm between asus x870e-e and MSI carbon wifi x870e. Which one do you think I should choose? Is MSI center stable?
I find both ASUS Armoury Crate and MSI Center pretty similar in terms of performance, where both are a little laggy to use from time to time 😅 how's the pricing difference between both boards where you're from?
@@ALKtech
MSI is cheaper. Asus is generally more expensive. LED controls in the Armory Crate program are very good but Driver download area bad. I am currently using asus x670e-f with 4070TI Rog. It also causes USB problems. I want to buy a motherboard and graphics card with a more stable program. My Asus x670e-f motherboard is under warranty, but Asus authorized service cannot find a solution. It cannot provide a brand new motherboard. Maybe if it does, the same problems will continue. Unfortunately, consumer rights are weak in Turkey.
@@mob411gs I see, sorry to hear about the issues that you're having. My main issue with the MSI Center app is its loading time - for some reason all the boards that I've used it with, it usually takes awhile to initialise before finally loading - I do get this too with Armoury Crate too 😂
Good work.
I cant choose between this board or the crosshair hero would like to combine it with ryzen 9800x3d or 9950x3d. What are your thoughts?
What's the price difference between both boards where you're from? The Crosshair Hero in all likelihood will have the ASUS tax (i.e. much more expensive)...no surprises as it has a more "complete" high-end package with a more blingy appearance, a metal backplate for the rear of the board, five M.2 slots (but with the usual PCIe lane sharing stuff) and an onboard DAC chip among others. If you don't really care for these additional bells and whistles, the MSI would probably be the board to go for - in any case, both boards should handle the upcoming 9000 series X3D chips with ease!
@@ALKtech I'm from Belgium and there is €150 between them. And that is also what I like about the Hero that it has a metal backplate looks very good and u see that build quality
@@NoahAyva95 I see! Yeah I don't disagree, I'm sure you do get a more premium product with the Hero for sure. That said, my personal opinion is that I'd save the €150 and use that for something else, perhaps faster RAM or even a better graphics card 😅
@@ALKtech Will do it like that 😁 smart thinking will go for the carbon and faster RAM 💪💪
Super!! THX
i dont think it matters, but does installing any sata ssd interfere with the pcie for the graphics card? or all i need to do is avoid putting anything in the M_2 and 2nd pcie and everything else is fair game to use fully?
The SATA III ports don't share bandwidth with anything, so no issues there to install SATA SSDs/other storage drives/optical drives etc. And yeap, you got that right regarding not installing anything in M2_2 and the second Gen5 PCIe x16 slot so as to avoid any lane sharing!
Damn, Wish i would of watched this before ordering this board. Was planning on running 2 Gen 5 SSD (one for main and one for editing) but sense it slows down the GPU slot i guess ill just get a Gen 4 m.2 for my main drive and use the top Gen5 drive for my editing drive sense really the operating system doesnt benefit from the faster gen5 speeds. Just wish MSI wouldnt be cheeky and keep that under wraps. Great board other then that tho
these things motherboard manufatures dont say what is said in the video , Also i recommend you to install operating system on the gen 5 first pcie slot as its directly connected with the processor and overall your pc will utitlize its full potential and in video he didnt mention that using gen4 drives will not share the pcie speeds . That has to be confirmed.
@alimansoor78 He said in the other comments that you can use 1 Gen5, And 2 Gen 4s without limiting the PCIE lane. Secondly I need and prefer the faster speeds of Gen 5 for editing as I do 6 and 8K video editing. Gen 4 is way fast enough for a operation system and other apps to run on imo.
Just jumping in on this conversation - @fourwheelerjock for your instance, I'd indeed do what you just mentioned, have your Windows boot drive on a Gen 4 M.2 drive installed on either of the two Gen 4 M.2 slots on the X870E CARBON WIFI, and have your Gen 5 M.2 drive installed on the first Gen 5 M.2 slot for video editing purposes.
But that said, it's worth pointing out that the performance penalty of going from x16 to x8 on the GPU isn't really thaaaaaat large in gaming and productivity contexts. Just sharing an article here that I find to be quite useful in quantifying the said performance impact: www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/impact-of-gpu-pci-e-bandwidth-on-content-creation-performance/
Can someone help clear up some confusion I'm having.
At time stamp: 13:39 the m2 slots layout.
Starting from the top
Top PCIe - video card sloted (4090)
1. gen 5 - can be used with a x16 graphics card and not downgrade the x16 to x8
2. gen 4 - can be used with a x16 graphics card and not downgrade the x16 to x8
3. gen 4 - can be used with a x16 graphics card and not downgrade the x16 to x8
4. gen 4 - can be used with a x16 graphics card and not downgrade the x16 to x8
No sata drives connected.
@ALKtech Thanks for the reply. So my assumption is right that the 3rd Gen4 drive would be totally fine for booting with no noticeable lagging or anything?
Thank you. How many SSD(s) can you setup on this mobo without degrading PCI/E 16x5 GPU slot ?
Assuming you've got a Ryzen 9000/7000 CPU installed (and not a Ryzen 8000 APU that doesn't support PCIe 5.0), we're looking at one Gen 5 SSD installed on the first M.2 slot, and two Gen 4 SSDs installed on the third and fourth M.2 slots to avoid losing any lanes from the PCIe Gen 5 x16 slot for a GPU!
You'll also have to avoid installing any PCIe device on the second PCIe Gen 5 x16 slot that operates at x4 mode, as this said slot also shares bandwidth with the primary GPU slot. Hope this helps!
@@ALKtech Thank you.
@@ALKtech Thanks for that clarification, I wasn't sure during the video.
So to clarify if we do take advantage of a new Gen 5.0 GPU, we can only have one Gen 5.0 M.2 nvme, the other M.2s' have to be Gen 4.0?
@@ALKtechSo you can't use 2 Gen 5 m.2 slots without slowing down the GPU slot????
@@lolly_bread to clarify, if you don't wanna affect your GPU lanes at all, you can only install one SSD on the first (M2_1) Gen 5 slot and a SSD each on the third and fourth M.2 slots (M2_3 and M2_4) respectively, for a total of three SSDs.
Which gen of SSD you have installed on these three slots, e.g. PCIe 4.0 or even 3.0, will not affect the lane sharing aspect in any way, though you would obviously want to install a PCIe 5.0 SSD on M2_1, and PCIe 4.0 SSDs on M2_3 and M2_4 to maximise the transfer rates - you can of course install a PCIe 5.0 SSD on M2_3 and M2_4, but it will operate at Gen 4 speeds instead as these two slots are limited to PCIe 4.0! Likewise, if you install a Gen 4 SSD on M2_1 which is a Gen 5 slot, the SSD will still operate at Gen 4 link speeds.
If you wanna avoid GPU lane sharing, you will have to avoid installing any add-on card on the second Gen 5 x16 slot and any SSD (regardless of Gen 3/4/5) on the second Gen 5 M.2 slot (M2_2) - as long as you have any one of these two things happening, the primary GPU slot will drop down to x8 mode. Hope this helps!
There is no display port on this motherboard ??
Yeap - you'll have to use either the HDMI port or USB4 ports for video output from the processor's integrated graphics!
How. Many sata conntions are there as I can’t see any info in the specs is it just 4 connections ? What’s that to the right top I can’t work it out is it another sata with the 45w below if only 4k I’m out completely I need 6 minimum 8 preferred
This board has four SATA 3 ports - see 11:16 of the video for their location.
@@ALKtech what a shame hopefully the tichi light maybe better for me
Does anyone know if signal rgb works with the motherboard lights or if you can turn them off in the bios (but still leave on debug leds). No interest in rgb really. It's my first msi board and I have heard to install mystic lights you need to use msi center which is supposed to be trash like asus armoury crate. So will turn off auto windows install of msi center in bios, turn off rgb lights in bios if I can (or using signalrgb), set fan curves in bios, and probably use fancontrol to control fans. Want to avoid motherboard manufacturer bloatware if I can. I had a terrible time with asus software.
At 9:00 of the video, there is a LED Control Switch that can be used to physically disable all the RGB LEDs of the board and RGB devices hooked up to the onboard RGB headers; the debug LEDs will continue to operate even with the switch enabled - I've tried it while testing the board and it works! That said, I've not had the chance to test it with Signal RGB...
🥺🥺🥺
What is the release date on the 870e godlike ? MSI has the board on the website but there is no info.