MSI's Tomahawk motherboards are usually highly regarded MSI's Tomahawk motherboards are usually highly regarded MSI's Tomahawk motherboards tend to focus on a core feature set rather than the premium level features that are common on more expensive boards. They tend to be.

The MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk WiFi (opens in new tab), as its name suggests, is part of MSI's second-tier sub-brand, the MAG series, which is above the Pro series and below the MPG series and below the high-end MEG series. Priced at $319/337 pounds/569 Australian dollars, it is not cheap, but it is not a bad price compared to what premium-class boards are selling for. However, competition from other vendors in the same price range is stiff.

The DDR5 version is reviewed here; a DDR4 version is also available, but if you have enough DDR4 memory on hand, the DDR5 version is recommended; DDR4 is pretty much at the end of its life, and the 13th generation platform will almost certainly be the last hurrah.

Tomahawk uses a tried and true all-black theme with lots of brushed metal heatsinks. There is no onboard RGB, but there are four headers, three of which are addressable. Personally, I prefer this kind of understated design to one that displays blatant RGB ads every time I look into the case.

Tomahawk supports four M.2 drives, but does not support PCIe 5.0 SSDs. However, this is not essential at this time, as there are no PCIe 5.0 drives at all, and the Z790 platform requires 16x primary slots and M.2 slots to be split into 8x/8x slots. A good PCIe 4.0 drive will be more than adequate for the next few years, just as a good PCIe 3.0 drive is still adequate today.

Unlike boards that support PCIe 5.0 SSDs, such as the expensive Gigabyte Aorus Z790 Master (opens in new tab) with its huge M.2 heatsink, the Tomahawk does not need a heatsink.

The Z790 Tomahawk has seven SATA ports. For bulk storage, SATA still has a place, and these seven ports alone may be a deciding factor for some users. Some more expensive boards have only four SATA.

The VRM is truly impressive when compared to competitors in the same price range: the 16+1+1 phase solution with 90A stage can easily push an overclocked Core i9 13900K. However, the surface area of the heatsink is not that large, so you need to make sure there is active airflow over the heatsink. We looped Cinebench R23 on a Core i9 13900K with no power restrictions, and the peak VRM temperature was 69°C. This is fair, but in a sealed case with poor airflow, the temperature would likely be higher than that. Of course, a less demanding i5 or i7 CPU would do better.

The rear I/O is particularly impressive, with a total of 10 USB ports, led by 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 and a Gen 2 Type-C port. In addition, there are four USB Gen 2 ports and four Gen 1 ports, 2.5G LAN and Wi-Fi 6E, a full set of audio ports with Realtek ALC4080 codecs, CMOS and BIOS flash buttons, and finally HDMI 2.1 and DP 1.4 ports.

This is a very comprehensive set of options, especially at this price where USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 are not expected. These are features that manufacturers use to justify boards twice the price.

MSI's BIOS has changed little in the last few years. If you are familiar with MSI boards from the first UEFI, you will quickly become accustomed to them. Which layout you prefer is up to you, but I prefer MSI's interface. I especially like MSI's fan control system. I don't like to leave my system's fans on automatic.

You could say I'm a fan. You could say I'm a fan.

The MSI BIOS presents a simple CPU TDP selection at first boot. There is a default "Boxed Cooler" setting that enforces Intel's power limits, a "Tower Cooler" option that raises the TDP to 288W, and finally a "Water Cooling" option that removes all limits. This will never be needed, but it will allow for a hypothetical 4096W.

System Performance

Gaming Performance

I was lucky enough to get both the DDR4 and DDR5 versions of the Z790 Tomahawk. This gave me the perfect opportunity to look at comparable systems with both types of memory. One thing that is consistent when talking about memory is that fast memory is only useful in very specific situations. In this case, I was using a good set of DDR4-3600 C14 memory. This means that unless you have really top class B-die memory at 4000 MHz+, DDR4 results are about the same.

Handbrake's video encoding tests benefit greatly, and the file compression tests benefit even more.

As for gaming, the differences apply to specific games; now that DDR5 prices have dropped, it makes sense to choose DDR5 Tomahawk over DDR4. Of course, better graphics cards and CPUs bring more tangible performance benefits.

Comparing the DDR5 Tomahawk to several other Z790 DDR5 boards, the results are generally within the margin of error: leaving the CPU power limit off will increase power consumption and require very good cooling, but will yield faster multi-threaded results.

With modern CPU turbo designs, it is almost pointless to evaluate a CPU by overclocking. Any mid-range board can handle a Core i9 13900K, and if overclocked will reach its cooling limits before overstressing the VRM. As mentioned, the Z790 Tomahawk needs airflow to keep it from getting too hot, and the Tomahawk needs a little BIOS optimization to support fast memory. Not many mid-range boards will run 7600 MHz or higher. Also, Tomahawk does not officially support speeds beyond DDR5-7200, so it cannot be blamed for not running "bonus" speeds.

Thanks to inflation, supply chain issues, and a little (or a lot) of greed, motherboard and graphics card prices are soaring. This means it's important to find a great deal on a motherboard so you can reallocate your money to a faster GPU or CPU. If you make a checklist of what you want in a motherboard, the MSI Z790 Tomahawk should have most of what you need; things like USB4 and 10G LAN are what board manufacturers use to justify the price of a motherboard twice the price of the Z790 Tomahawk.

For most users, the checklist is perfect: Wi-Fi 6E, 2.5G LAN, a powerful VRM that can handle 13900K, many USB ports including 3.2 Gen 2x2, a solid BIOS, and a discrete design that can blend into any build theme. Ask yourself if you need more.

The lack of PCIe 5.0 M.2 support may work against it, and good airflow is necessary for high loads, but the MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk is still a solid, feature-rich board that offers a core feature set that suits 95%+ of users It is still a solid, feature-rich board that offers a core feature set that fits over 95% of users. Need to spend more?