They say that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Everyone knows that Intel basically does a tick-tock with their motherboard chipsets and two generations is about all you can hope to get out of it before it is superseded by a newer/stronger/faster chipset. As such it is all but unheard of for a motherboard manufacture to ‘waste’ time and effort on making a third revision of a given chipset based series. That is, unless they royally messed up and have to make a third revision. Well apparently, MSI did not get the memo. For yes, MSI has not only willingly but seemingly joyfully decided to put the money and time into updating their Z790 motherboards for a third time. Mere months before “Z870” lands and resets the scoreboard. All without any need… as the Carbon motherboards were already outstanding and offered an excellent admixture of performance, flexibility, and price. Today we will be looking at the, $400 USD / $580 CAD, MSI MPG Z790 Carbon MAX WiFi II to see what has changed from its predecessors, and what has required MSI to give it a third name revision… instead of the more typical ‘v1.’ or ‘v2.1’ silent upgrade.
Make no mistake, unlike others who do ‘silent’ upgrade/revisions, MSI is in no shape nor form ‘hiding’ what they have changed. The exact opposite is true… as they give major revisions an entirely new model name – thus the “II” at the end. In fact, with this third Z790 Carbon WiFi revision they are proud of the various improvements they have been able to bake into this upper-mainstream motherboard model. In fact, you do not even have to read through marketing speak to understand the changes. They are all right there in black and white on the Z790 Carbon MAX WiFi II’s webpage. First and foremost is the underlying PCIe and hardware layout, power delivery sub-system, PCB layer count (eight) and even the overall aesthetics has not been radically changed. Instead, the changes that seemingly warranted the quick replacement of the MSI MPG Z790 Carbon MAX WiFi with the MSI MPG Z790 Carbon MAX WiFi II boils down to a few key new features. These features are: “Improved” WiFi (more on this later in the review) and 5GbE Ethernet(!). To be fair compared to the original Z790 Carbon WiFi this new 3rd revision also adds in dual USB 4.0 / USB 40Gbps goodness in the form of the PD100W Add In Card.
If all that sounds more like what one would find on a ‘premium’ or ‘enthusiast’ grade motherboard… you would be correct. For example, Asus released their upgraded RoG Maximus Hero and called it the ‘Dark Hero’ (while also increasing the MSRP to nearly $580 USD). Furthermore, up until the launch of this particular model MSI only offered above 2.5GbE on their MEG (aka boards that start north of 1K USD) Z790 models. As for the competition like the new RoG Maximus Dark Hero? Asus only offers above 2.5GbE on their (well above 1K USD) RoG Maximus Extreme. Gigabyte? They technically have two models that do the same on many of their mainstream options. For example the both the Pro X and Pro X WiFi 7 offer it. While slightly cheaper at about 375USD both have ‘interesting’ compromises baked into their designs (e.g. wonky WiFi card location, lower tier VRMs, squirrelly BIOS, squirrelly DIMM voltage regulation, etc. etc.). Compromises that can be deal-breakers and as such the ‘true’ competition is the $500USD Aorus Master X and its 10GbE NIC.
So no. There is no actual mystery to why MSI wanted to make a third revision. They simply wanted to keep offering options that are better, and better value, than the competition. This is why in addition to all the improvements they have baked in, and unlike certain other manufactures who take every opportunity to increase the MSRP, MSI has not really increased the MSRP over the earlier revisions. Instead the MAX WiFi II is still only about $400 USD / $580 CAD… or nearly two hundred USD / 275 CAD less than what the competition demands.
So instead of clickbait “mysteries” to solve, the point of this review is to help you understand what these changes actually mean in the real world. Is it all sunshine and lollipops or, are there tangible downsides to these changes? If the later is true, are they large enough that warrant you thinking about the viability of the MSI MPG Z790 Carbon MAX WiFi II for your next build… or are you simply better off tracking down the OG version – the MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi – and using it like you probably have in countless builds since the Z790 was first released? That is a lot of grounds to cover so let’s dig in.
