MSI MAG X670E TOMAHAWK WIFI Motherboard Review UK 2026

Pick the wrong motherboard and you've basically set a ceiling on everything else in your build. Wrong VRM and your CPU throttles under load. Wrong chipset and you're out of upgrade options in two years. Wrong board entirely and you're fighting BIOS bugs, flaky USB ports, and a creeping sense of regret every time you open your case. The MAG X670E TOMAHAWK WIFI is MSI's answer to the question "what do I buy if I want a proper AMD AM5 board without paying flagship prices?" And honestly? It's a convincing answer.

The verdict up front: this is one of the best-value X670E boards on the market right now. The 14+2 phase VRM with 80A power stages is genuinely overbuilt for most Ryzen 7000 and 9000 series chips, the quad M.2 setup with a Gen5 slot is ahead of what most people actually need today, and the Wi-Fi 6E plus 2.5Gbps LAN combo means you're not compromising on connectivity. If you're building around a Ryzen 7 7700X, 7800X3D, 9700X, or 9900X and you want a board that won't become the weak link, start here.

485 owners have rated this ★★★★☆ (4.4), which for a motherboard is genuinely impressive. People are notoriously harsh about boards because the pain points are so specific and so annoying when they hit. The pattern across those reviews is consistent: solid out of the box, good BIOS, handles high-end Ryzen chips without drama. There are some grumbles about BIOS update requirements for newer CPUs, which we'll get into, but nothing that should put you off.

Storage is where this board really earns its keep. Four M.2 slots, one of them Gen5 capable at 128Gbps, the other three running Gen4 x4 at 64Gbps each. All four come with M.2 Shield Frozr heatsinks, which matters more than people think. NVMe drives under sustained load get hot, and thermal throttling on a storage drive is one of those things that causes mysterious system slowdowns that are genuinely maddening to diagnose. Having heatsinks on all four slots, not just the primary, is a proper quality-of-life feature.

Rear I/O includes USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C running at 20Gbps, HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 outputs (useful if you're running a Ryzen chip with integrated graphics or testing without a GPU), 7.1 HD Audio with Audio Boost and S/PDIF output, and the 2.5Gbps LAN port. The full spec table is below.

There is one thing to sort before you build: BIOS updates. If you're pairing this board with a Ryzen 9000 series chip, you'll need a compatible BIOS version installed first. This is standard across the industry for newer CPU generations, not specific to MSI, but it does mean you either need to check the board ships with a BIOS that supports your chip, or you need an older Ryzen 7000 CPU to boot into the BIOS and update it first. Owner reviews mention this, and a handful were caught out by it. MSI's BIOS Flashback feature (where it exists) can help, but check the MSI product page for the exact process before you build rather than after.

The CPU compatibility question comes up a lot in searches, so let's be direct: the Tomahawk works with Ryzen 5 7600, Ryzen 7 7700X, Ryzen 7 7800X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 9 7950X, and their X3D variants, plus the equivalent 9000-series lineup. The 80A power stages in the VRM mean even the 170W TDP chips like the Ryzen 9 7950X are handled without thermal stress on the power delivery. You're not buying more board than you need with a Ryzen 5, but you're also not bottlenecking a Ryzen 9.

Overclocking is fully unlocked on X670E. Memory overclocking via EXPO (AMD's equivalent of Intel XMP) is supported, and the Memory Boost isolated circuitry on this board is specifically designed to reduce signal noise on the memory traces, which helps when you're pushing DDR5 past 6000MHz. The board is rated to 6600+ MHz in 1DPC (one DIMM per channel) configuration, which is genuinely fast. Real-world DDR5 kits at 6000MHz to 6400MHz are the sweet spot for Ryzen 9000 performance, and this board handles that without needing exotic settings.

The X670E chipset also provides a healthy number of USB and SATA lanes beyond what the CPU itself exposes. This is why X670E boards tend to have more rear USB ports and more M.2 slots than B650 boards at the same price point. The chipset is doing real work here, not just sitting there looking expensive. For a content creator running multiple NVMe drives, a capture card, and a bunch of USB peripherals, the lane count of X670E versus B650 is the difference between everything working and playing musical chairs with your ports.

The heatsink design backs this up. MSI uses 7W/mK MOSFET thermal pads, which are high-conductivity pads that pull heat away from the power stages efficiently. The heatsink is extended rather than the minimal cover you see on cheaper boards, and there's a dedicated pump-fan cooling header if you're running a water-cooling setup and want to tie your pump speed into the board's thermal management. The 8-layer PCB with 2 oz. thickened copper is a genuine differentiator: more copper means lower resistance in the power traces, which means less heat generated in the PCB itself. This is server-grade PCB construction applied to a consumer board, and it shows in the long-term reliability numbers.

Owner reviews don't report VRM thermal issues even with sustained all-core loads on the 7950X and 9950X. That's the real test. Synthetic thermal benchmarks are one thing, but owners running Blender renders and video encoding for hours are the proof. The pattern in the reviews is consistent: this board runs cool and stable under heavy CPU load. For anyone who was burned by a budget board throttling their CPU under sustained workloads, the Tomahawk's power delivery is a genuine relief.

The 1DPC (one DIMM per channel) note is important. With four slots and two channels, running one stick per channel (so two sticks total) gives you the best overclocking headroom. If you fill all four slots with two sticks per channel (2DPC), you'll typically need to run lower speeds or tighter timings. This isn't a Tomahawk limitation, it's a DDR5 electrical reality across every platform. Most people building a gaming or workstation rig will run two sticks of 16GB or 32GB each, which is the optimal configuration anyway.

For gaming, DDR5-6000 in EXPO mode is the current sweet spot for Ryzen 9000 performance, and the Tomahawk reaches that without drama. Reviewers pushing to 6400MHz and beyond report success, though as with any memory overclocking, results depend on your specific kit's ICs. Samsung B-die and Hynix A-die kits tend to do best at the top end. The board itself isn't the bottleneck at those speeds.

All four slots have M.2 Shield Frozr heatsinks fitted. This is a bigger deal than the marketing makes it sound. NVMe drives throttle when they get hot, and they get hot faster than most people expect under sustained sequential writes. If you're doing large file transfers, video editing scratch drives, or just copying a big game library, a drive without a heatsink will hit thermal limits and slow down. Having heatsinks on all four slots means you can fill every slot without worrying about which one runs hot.

Beyond M.2, the board supports SATA connections for traditional drives, which is useful if you're migrating from an older build and want to keep your existing storage. RAID configurations are supported through the chipset. For most people, the four M.2 slots are more than enough and SATA ports are a nice bonus for older drives rather than a primary storage strategy.

The secondary x16 slot runs at PCIe 4.0. This is fine for a capture card, a 10GbE NIC, a PCIe RAID controller, or any other expansion card that isn't a primary GPU. It's not designed to run a second GPU at full speed, and AMD's platform doesn't support SLI or CrossFire in any meaningful way anyway. Think of it as a very capable expansion slot rather than a second GPU lane.

The slot layout on an ATX board gives you enough physical space between the primary x16 and secondary x16 to run a triple-slot GPU without blocking the secondary slot entirely, though this depends on your specific GPU cooler design. Owner reviews don't report clearance issues with standard triple-slot cards, which is reassuring. The overall expansion story here is strong: PCIe 5.0 for your GPU now, PCIe 4.0 for everything else, and four M.2 slots handling your storage so you're not wasting PCIe slots on storage controllers.

Audio is 7.1 HD Audio with MSI's Audio Boost implementation, plus S/PDIF output for anyone connecting to a DAC or AV receiver digitally. Audio Boost isolates the audio circuitry from the rest of the board electrically, which reduces the interference that causes the faint whine or hiss you sometimes hear on cheaper boards. Whether you notice the difference depends on your headphones and how picky your ears are, but the implementation here is better than budget-board audio and most people won't need a separate sound card.

There's no mention of a Clear-CMOS button or BIOS Flashback button in the verified specifications, so if those features matter to your build workflow, check MSI's full product page for confirmation. The rear I/O shield is pre-installed on the board, which sounds minor but saves a genuinely irritating step during case installation. Owner reviews mention the I/O shield situation positively, which tells you how much people care about small quality-of-life details when they're elbow-deep in a case build.

Is it worth getting a Wi-Fi motherboard rather than a wired-only board plus a separate PCIe Wi-Fi card? Generally yes, at this price point. The integrated module saves a PCIe slot, the antennas are designed to work with the board's layout, and the Bluetooth 5.3 is included without any additional faff. The AMD Wi-Fi module used here is a known quantity with good driver support, not some no-name chipset with flaky Windows drivers. Owner reviews don't flag wireless connectivity issues, which is the main thing you want to know.

The 2.5Gbps LAN is the right call for a premium board in 2026. Gigabit is the old standard, and 2.5Gbps is increasingly common on mid-range routers and switches. If you have a NAS, a 2.5Gbps switch, or any network storage that can push beyond 1Gbps, the 2.5Gbps port means you're not leaving bandwidth on the table. For pure gaming and streaming, you won't notice the difference over gigabit, but for anyone moving large files around a home network, it's a genuine upgrade.

Fan curve control is flexible, with multiple fan headers and the ability to set curves based on CPU temperature, motherboard temperature, or a combination. The dedicated pump-fan header is a nice touch for AIO or custom loop users who want their pump running at full speed regardless of temperature. Owner reviews specifically mention fan control as a positive, which is meaningful because bad fan control is one of those things that drives people absolutely mad during quiet workloads when the fans hunt up and down.

BIOS update frequency from MSI has been good for the X670E Tomahawk, with updates addressing EXPO compatibility, CPU microcode, and stability improvements. The AGESA updates that AMD pushes out to improve Ryzen 9000 compatibility have been applied promptly. One genuine gripe from some owners is that BIOS updates can reset certain settings, which is annoying if you've spent time dialling in a custom fan curve or memory OC profile. Not unique to MSI, but real. Keep a note of your settings before updating. Overclocking headroom is excellent given the VRM quality: the board doesn't limit you, your CPU's silicon lottery results do.

Aesthetically, the Tomahawk has a dark, relatively understated look. It's not covered in RGB lighting strips, which will either disappoint or delight you depending on your build aesthetic. There's some RGB present but it's not the main event. The heatsinks are substantial and well-fitted, the chipset heatsink covers the X670E chipset properly, and the overall board looks premium without screaming for attention. If you're building in a case with a glass side panel and you want the internals to look good, the Tomahawk holds up. If you want a light show, you'll want to add your own RGB components elsewhere.

The physical build quality reported by owners is consistently positive. No reports of bent pins on the AM5 socket (which is on the board rather than the CPU, so damage is more expensive than on AM4), no reports of M.2 heatsink mounting issues, and the Steel Armor on the primary PCIe slot feels solid when you're installing a heavy GPU. The overall impression from owner feedback is a board that feels as premium as its price suggests, which isn't always the case in this category.

The Tomahawk's advantages over both are the 7W/mK MOSFET thermal pads (which are better than what most competitors use), the full Shield Frozr coverage on all four M.2 slots, and the 8-layer server-grade PCB. The ASUS board wins on BIOS aesthetics and the brand's enthusiast community support. The Gigabyte wins on price if you catch it on sale. For most builders, the Tomahawk sits in a sweet spot: better VRM thermal management than Gigabyte, better M.2 heatsink coverage than ASUS, and typically priced competitively against both.

If you're considering stepping down to a B650E board to save money, the main things you lose are total PCIe lane count, the Gen5 primary PCIe slot on some boards, and typically some rear USB bandwidth. The B650E TOMAHAWK is the obvious sibling comparison, and it's a genuinely good board for builders who don't need the full X670E feature set. If you're running a Ryzen 7 7700X or 9700X for gaming and you're not planning to fill four M.2 slots or push extreme memory overclocks, the B650E saves you real money without meaningfully hurting your build.

Who is this for? Anyone building around a Ryzen 7000 or 9000 series CPU who wants a board that won't be the limiting factor in their system for the next four or five years. Content creators who need multiple fast NVMe drives and reliable sustained performance. Gamers who want to run a high-end Ryzen chip at full tilt without VRM throttling. Anyone who's been burned by a cheap board before and wants to buy once and be done with it. The Wi-Fi 6E and 2.5Gbps LAN mean you're not compromising on connectivity either, which matters if you're not running an Ethernet cable to your desk.

Who should skip it? If you're building a gaming PC around a Ryzen 5 7600 or Ryzen 7 7700X and you're not planning to upgrade the CPU or add multiple NVMe drives, the B650E TOMAHAWK does 90% of what this board does for noticeably less money. The X670E features you're paying for (Gen5 PCIe, maximum lane count, full OC support) are genuinely useful, but only if you're going to use them. Don't spend premium money on headroom you're not going to need. The Tomahawk earns its price for the right build. For a mid-range gaming rig, the B650E is the smarter buy.

Overall score: 8.5 out of 10. The VRM and PCB quality alone justify the premium over most competitors. The BIOS could be more polished and the BIOS update process for new CPU generations is a mild faff, but neither is a dealbreaker. If you're putting together a serious AMD AM5 build and you want a board that's going to handle whatever you throw at it without drama, the MAG X670E TOMAHAWK WIFI belongs on your shortlist.