MSI MPG B560I Gaming Edge Wifi

MSI is one of the mainstream companies when it comes to PC hardware manufacturing. Their products are divided into three categories. These include MSI Arsenal Gaming (MAG), MSI Performance Gaming (MPG), and the MSI Enthusiast Gaming (MEG) series. The MPG series focuses on products that can deliver wonderful performance at a considerable price point. The MPG B560I Gaming Edge Wifi is a product of this series. It is an ITX board, and measures 170mm x 170mm. It has some sizable heatsinks, and although they aren’t as beefy as the ones seen in ATX boards, they get the job done very well.

The MPG B560I Gaming Edge has some very interesting design decisions. The B560 chipset is placed just below a PCIe Gen4 M.2 slot. Add to that, the board comes with another PCIe Gen3 M.2 slot in the back of the motherboard. However, you would need the 11th gen Intel Rocket Lake processor to make use of the Gen4 speeds on the board. Also, the LGA1200 socket design limits the board to just one PCIe Gen3 x16 slot. This x16 slot is steel riveted to support heavy video cards without getting bent. The board comes with a plethora of fan headers, and MSI makes the form factor just a word with their sheer number and positioning. Out of the box, the board does not have any lighting. However, if you have appropriate ARGB products, the board can support them via two RGB headers. One of them is JRainbow, which means you can control the RGB via the motherboard through this header. The other header is JRGB or a single color header.

The B560I Gaming Edge Wifi has a dedicated wifi card manufactured by Intel. It supports Wifi 6E, with transfer speeds of up to 2400 MB/s. This is a dope feature. In the box, MSI packs SATA cables, product promos, an RGB extension cable, and a very unique gift. A pair of screwdrivers, a Phillips head, and a flathead. This motherboard is based on a 6+2+1 power phase design. That is backed by a decent heatsink mass of 192g. It has 8 PCB layers. Just for a little comparison, only the highest-end Z590 ACE and Godlike boards have 8 or more PCB layers.

The B560 chipset is a very good choice on a budget. From this year, Intel has introduced overclocking into these budget chipsets. That makes the B560 an even more sensible choice. Along with that, ITX boards are the best for memory overclocking. This B560I supports memory frequencies up to a whooping DDR4-5200. We tried overclocking a DDR4-3200 kit. It scaled up to DDR4-4166. Another DDR4-2400 kit made it up to DDR4-3468. The board has some fantastic memory overclocking capabilities.

At a price point of $169.99, the B560I Gaming Edge Wifi might be one of the motherboards to consider if you are planning to build a small form-factor PC. However, with Alder Lake processors dropping in, a B660 isn’t too far away. Also provided that Ryzen 3000 and 5000 series beat Intel Comet Lake and Rocket Lake by a huge margin, investing your money on a B560I board in late 2021 might not be the best, although good, decision.

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