As we near the end of Intel's 12th Gen (Alder Lake) life cycle, its 13th Gen Core series is expected to be due by the end of the year; we're looking at a premium model from the Z690 chipset. As we already know, Intel's Z690 chipset (LGA 1700) will offer support for the impending 13th Gen Core series, so it does offer a viable upgrade path for users looking to build a 12th Gen Core series system today and potentially upgrade at a later date.

Today's model on the test bench is the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI with a solid feature set that includes 2.5 GbE and Wi-Fi 6E networking, two full-length PCIe 5.0 capable slots, four PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, as well as a large 19-phase power delivery. The MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI is positioned in the mid-range segment of the market, but at the $350-400 price point, MSI does have some stiff competition. It's time to see how the Z690 Carbon WIFI stacks up and if its gaming-focused model below its enthusiast-level MEG series can deliver the goods.

MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI Overview

MSI has a few key ranges that target users looking to build different types and levels of systems to differentiate its various levels of motherboards. Its Pro series targets professionals and SMBs, and its MPG (Performance Gaming) range is aimed at gamers looking to maximize frame rates and performance. It has motherboards for all different scenarios, including its MEG (Enthusiast Gaming) range reserved for its flagship and high-spec models and the MAG (Arsenal Gaming) series offering competitive controller sets and features at lower entry price points.

The flagship models, such as the MEG Z690 Godlike, offer almost everything any user could need on a desktop platform. Of course, any of MSI's Z690 models could be used for various and combined workloads, including rendering, image manipulation, and gaming. Still, each series focuses on different price points and varying levels of controller support.

Taking a look at the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI, it is based around a carbon fiber aesthetic, with black heatsinks covering an all-black PCB. MSI includes a customizable RGB Dragon logo on the rear panel cover, with an RGB Carbon logo that is also customizable on the chipset heatsink. Across the middle section of the board is another customizable RGB LED zone, with the M.2 heatsinks and chipset heatsink also encompassing a futuristic and neat grey and black patterning. MSI does offer users further customization avenues via one 4-pin and three 3-pin RGB LED connectors.

The board's PCIe and storage slots are on the bottom half of the MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI. Sandwiched between swathes of covers and heatsinks are a pair of full-length PCIe 5.0 slots that can operate at x16/x0 or x8/x8, with a third full-length slot electronically locked down to PCIe 3.0 x4. Regarding storage, MSI includes a total of five M.2 slots, three of which allow support for PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives, one with PCIe 4.0 x4 and SATA support, and a fifth with support for PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA. For conventional storage or devices such as optical drives, MSI includes six SATA ports in total, four of which are powered by the chipset and support RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays, and two via an ASMedia ASM1061 SATA controller.

Located in the top right-hand corner are four memory slots with support for up to DDR5-6666 (1DPC 1R), although users opting to populate all four slots can install up to DDR5-5600. In terms of capacity, users can install up to 128 GB across all four slots, although users can benefit from faster memory (up to DDR5-6000) when using 1DPC 2R memory (two sticks in dual-channel).

Focusing on the power delivery, MSI is using a direct 18+1+1 phase design with eighteen Renesas 220075R0 75 A power stages for the CPU VCore, and one Renesas 220075R0 75 power stage for the iGPU. Controlling the power delivery is a Renesas RAA229131 20-phase PWM controller with the power delivery operating at 18+1. It represents a straightforward one-phase-per-channel design without teaming, pairing, or doublers. Powering the board's CPU VCAUX voltage is a single Monolithic Power Systems M2940A PWM controller that drives one MP87992 70 A power stage, making the design an 18+1 (CPU VCore/iGPU) and 1+0 (VCCAUX), which by all accounts is a premium power delivery capable of overclocking Intel's unlocked 12th Gen Core even further.

The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI has a decent onboard audio solution that uses a Realtek ALC4080 HD audio codec. The HD audio codec itself doesn't have any EMI shielding, but it is slightly covered by an extended dual M.2 heatsink between the bottom two full-length PCIe slots. Seven Japanese Gold Nichicon audio capacitors supplement this, and MSI includes a line of PCB separation from the rest of the board's controllers and componentry.

On the rear panel, MSI includes a large variety of input and output consisting of one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and four USB 2.0 ports. Also present is a pair of video outputs, including one HDMI 2.1 and one DisplayPort 1.4 output, as well as a decent networking array with a single Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller and an Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi. MSI also has a competitive onboard audio solution with five 3.5 mm audio jacks and single S/PDIF optical output powered by a Realtek ALC4080 HD audio codec.

Finishing off the rear panel is a small BIOS Flashback button with the associated USB port highlighted by a white rectangular ring. Users looking for the CMOS battery can find it sitting behind the audio input/output array, with the jumper pings located on the bottom row of the board's header selection.

Included with the board within the retail packaging is a modest yet ample selection of accessories to get users going right out of the box. This includes two black SATA cables, three RGB LED extension cables, a nifty cleaning brush, a case badge, a pair of screwdrivers, EZ install M.2 clips, a USB flash drive with the board's software and drivers, user manuals, and an Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E antenna.

The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI has an MSRP of $400, but it can be purchased (at the time of writing) at Amazon for $350 or at Newegg for the slightly higher price of $369. In terms of competition, several boards in the $350 to 400 price range also offer strong competition. These include models such as the ASUS ROG Strix Z690-F Gaming WIFI at $368, as well as GIGABYTE's popular Z690 Aorus Master, which we've previously reviewed and benefits from 10 GbE networking, and it is currently on sale at Newegg for $320 (at the time of writing).

Given the levels of solid competition at the price point with all the vendors looking to offer users the best value for their money, if you can consider a $350 to 400 value, then MSI has plenty to do. The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI does have plenty going for it, including Wi-Fi 6E, five M.2 slots, and a solid 19-phase power delivery. Still, the proof is always in the pudding (performance), and it's time to see how it stacks up against other Z690 models we've tested, including GIGABYTE's very attractive-looking Z690 Aorus Master.

Read on for our extended analysis.

BIOS

As we've seen across numerous of MSI's motherboards over recent years, its firmware of choice is Click BIOS 5. This is useful for keeping uniformity and familiarity for users consistently sticking with MSI models over multiple generations, including both Intel and AMD. The Click BIOS 5 firmware uses a primarily black background, with red highlights and white and grey text. MSI also includes two modes for users of varying experiences with firmware, an EZ mode for novice users and an advanced mode for the more experienced.

Accessing the board's firmware can be done by pressing either the Del or F2 key during system POST. For the first POST, users will be guided to the EZ mode, which features a list of one-click solutions for enabling things like X.M.P memory profiles, disabling or enabling TPM 2.0, and MSI's EZ LED control. In the center panel of the EZ mode is a list of information on the selected component which can be achieved by clicking on the appropriate component from the list on the left-hand side.

Users can access the advanced mode by pressing the F7 key, and this opens up a whole host of customizations on both hardware and chipset levels. The biggest and by far the area with the most options available to tweak is the OC section, where users can overclock the processor, memory, and even the integrated graphics on supported chips. MSI includes a wide variety of overclocking options, including P-Core and E-Core ratio overclocking, BCLK (base clock) adjustment, CPU AVX core offsetting, and CPU voltage options.

For memory, users can simply enable X.M.P profiles on compatible memory, or manually overclock memory by adjusting the frequency, selecting the desired Intel Gear Mode (1:1, 1:2, or 1:4), as well as fine-tune memory latencies with tonnes of primary, secondary, and tertiary latencies available to select from. MSI also allows users to select between three cooling profiles, which will determine the level of CPU power enabled based on the type of cooling being used. This includes a boxed cooler (stock) with a 241 W PL1/2 limit, a tower air cooler with a limit of 288 W, and a water cooler setting that essentially removes any power limitations (4096 W).

MSI's Click BIOS 5 firmware is intuitive, and it has plenty of options for both novice and advanced users too. As we've mentioned, we've used numerous MSI boards with Click BIOS 5 over the last couple of years, and we've had no issues with navigation, USB input device recognition, or any instabilities while testing with this board.

Software

Another familiar element we've seen with MSI's motherboards over the last year is a more streamlined and uniform software package being offered. At least for Z690, MSI has amalgamated all of its usual software applications such as Mystic Light, LAN Manager, MSI Companion, True Color, and its Hardware Monitor all into one easy-to-navigate MSI Center application.

Looking at the MSI Center software, it acts as a central hub for all of MSI's included software applications. This includes functions such as Live Update where users can download and update the systems drivers and applications to the latest versions over an internet connection. Another software application is Mystic Light which allows users to customize the integrated and external RGB devices for a uniform or custom-themed aesthetic. 

The software also comes with an integrated hardware monitor which keeps tabs on multiple sensors across the board including the CPU itself, the LGA 1700 socket, power delivery, and memory slots. Users can also monitor and track various voltages in real-time including CPU VCore, CPU Aux, and DRAM voltages. 

Overall MSI's software package has plenty for users to sink their teeth into, although MSI hasn't included any overclocking software with its models of late. This is likely due to Intel and AMD both having their own software for users to download, which has actually been getting better year on year. This includes Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) and AMD's Ryzen Master software which both work really well.

The only downside to the software is that users looking to make auditory adjustments will need to download the associated Realtek software directly from the Microsoft Store, although MSI does provide the drivers on the USB flash drive included with the accessories.

Board Features

The MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI is a mid-ranged ATX motherboard that represents MSI's Performance Gaming series. As expected from a motherboard aimed at gamers, it has a relatively premium feature set that conforms to what other companies offer in the mid-range with their Z690 offerings. The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI has a good variety of storage options, including three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2, one PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA M.2, and one PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA slot. For SATA, MSI includes a total of six SATA ports, four of which are driven by the chipset and support RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays, while the other two are powered by an ASMedia SATA controller.

In terms of PCIe support, the Z690 Carbon WIFI has three full-length PCIe slots in total, two of which support PCIe 5.0 x16/x0 and x8/x8, while the third slot is electronically locked to PCIe 3.0 x4. MSI also includes four memory slots with support for up to DDR5-6666 with 1DPC (1R), but broadly support is limited to DDR5-5600 with all the memory slots populated. The MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI can also accommodate up to 128 GB.

Focusing on cooling support, the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI has eight 4-pin cooling headers in total. These consist of one dedicated to a CPU fan, one dedicated to a water pump, and six dedicated to chassis fans.

MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI Motherboard
Warranty Period	3 Years
Product Page	Link
Price (MSRP/Amazon)	$400/$350
Size	ATX
CPU Interface	LGA1700
Chipset	Intel Z690
Memory Slots (DDR4)	Four DDR5 Supporting 128 GB Dual-Channel Up to DDR5-6666
Video Outputs	1 x HDMI 2.1 1 x DisplayPort 1.4
Network Connectivity	1 x Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC4080
PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU)	2 x PCIe 5.0 x16 (x16/x0, x8/x8)
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH)	1 x PCIe 3.0 (x4)
Onboard SATA	Four, RAID 0/1/5/10 (Z690) Two, ASMedia ASM1061
Onboard M.2	3 x PCIe 4.0 x4 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA
Onboard U.2	N/A
Thunderbolt 4 (40 Gbps)	N/A
USB 3.2 (20 Gbps)	1 x USB Type-C (Rear panel)
USB 3.2 (10 Gbps)	5 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 1 x USB Type-C (One header)
USB 3.1 (5 Gbps)	2 x USB Type-A (One header)
USB 2.0	4 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 4 x USB Type-A (Two headers)
Power Connectors	1 x 24-pin Motherboard 2 x 8-pin CPU
Fan Headers	1 x 4-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin Water pump 6 x 4-pin Chassis
IO Panel	2 x Antenna Ports (Intel) 1 x USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C 5 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-A 4 x USB 2.0 Type-A 1 x RJ45 (Intel) 1 x HDMI 2.1 Output 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 Output 5 x 3.5 mm Audio jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Optical output (Realtek) 1 x BIOS Flashback button

The MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI is using many features of Intel's Z690 chipset including native support for USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C which MSI includes one of these on the rear panel, along with a header for an additional USB 3.2 G2 Type-C port. Also on the rear panel are five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A and four USB 2.0 ports, as well as an HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 video output pairing for users planning on leveraging Intel's UHD graphics.

In regards to networking, MSI has opted for a mid-ranged Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller with an Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi providing both access to the 6 GHz band and support for BT 5.2 devices.

Test Bed

With some of the nuances with Intel's Alder Lake processors including the new P and E-cores, our policy is to see if the system gives an automatic option to increase the power limits of the processor. If it does, we select the liquid cooling option. If it does not, we do not change the defaults.

Test Setup
Processor	Intel Core i9-12900K, 125 W, $589 8P + 8E Cores, 24 Threads 3.2 GHz (5.2 GHz P-Core Turbo)
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI (BIOS 7D30v14)
Cooling	ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360mm AIO
Power Supply	Corsair HX850 80Plus Platinum 850 W
Memory	Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5-4800 CL 14-14-14-34 2T (2 x 16 GB)
Video Card	MSI GTX 1080 (1178/1279 Boost)
Hard Drive	Crucial MX300 1TB
Case	Corsair Crystal 680X
Operating System	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit: Build 21H2

We must also thank the following:

Hardware Providers for CPU and Motherboard Reviews
Sapphire RX 460 Nitro	MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC	Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs	Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs
G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX	Crucial Ballistix DDR4	Silverstone Coolers	Noctua Coolers

System Performance

Not all motherboards are created equal. On the face of it, they should all perform the same and differ only in the functionality they provide - however, this is not the case. The obvious pointers are power consumption, POST time and latency. This can come down to the manufacturing process and prowess, so these are tested.

For Z690 we are running using Windows 10 64-bit with the 21H2 update.

Power Consumption

Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single MSI GTX 1080 Gaming configuration with a wall meter connected to the power supply. Our power supply has ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real-world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.

While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our testbed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers. These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.

Non-UEFI POST Time

Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized. A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized). As part of our testing, we look at the POST Boot Time using a stopwatch. This is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows-specific features.)

DPC Latency

Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests such as audio will be further down the line. If the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled.

If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time. This can lead to an empty audio buffer and characteristic audible pauses, pops, and clicks. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is taken processing DPCs from driver invocation. The lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds.

CPU Performance, Short Form

For our motherboard reviews, we use our short form testing method. These tests usually focus on if a motherboard is using MultiCore Turbo (the feature used to have maximum turbo on at all times, giving a frequency advantage), or if there are slight gains to be had from tweaking the firmware. We put the memory settings at the CPU manufacturers suggested frequency, making it very easy to see which motherboards have MCT enabled by default.

For Z690 we are running using Windows 10 64-bit with the 21H2 update.

Rendering - Blender 2.79b: 3D Creation Suite

A high profile rendering tool, Blender is open-source allowing for massive amounts of configurability, and is used by a number of high-profile animation studios worldwide. The organization recently released a Blender benchmark package, a couple of weeks after we had narrowed our Blender test for our new suite, however their test can take over an hour. For our results, we run one of the sub-tests in that suite through the command line - a standard ‘bmw27’ scene in CPU only mode, and measure the time to complete the render.

Rendering - Crysis CPU Render

One of the most oft used memes in computer gaming is ‘Can It Run Crysis?’. The original 2007 game, built in the Crytek engine by Crytek, was heralded as a computationally complex title for the hardware at the time and several years after, suggesting that a user needed graphics hardware from the future in order to run it. Fast forward over a decade, and the game runs fairly easily on modern GPUs, but we can also apply the same concept to pure CPU rendering – can the CPU render Crysis? Since 64 core processors entered the market, one can dream. We built a benchmark to see whether the hardware can.

For this test, we’re running Crysis’ own GPU benchmark, but in CPU render mode. This is a 2000 frame test, which we run over a series of resolutions from 800x600 up to 1920x1080. For simplicity, we provide the 1080p test here.​

Rendering - Cinebench R23: link

Maxon's real-world and cross-platform Cinebench test suite has been a staple in benchmarking and rendering performance for many years. Its latest installment is the R23 version, which is based on its latest 23 code which uses updated compilers. It acts as a real-world system benchmark that incorporates common tasks and rendering workloads as opposed to less diverse benchmarks which only take measurements based on certain CPU functions. Cinebench R23 can also measure both single-threaded and multi-threaded performance.

Synthetic - GeekBench 5: Link

As a common tool for cross-platform testing between mobile, PC, and Mac, GeekBench is an ultimate exercise in synthetic testing across a range of algorithms looking for peak throughput. Tests include encryption, compression, fast Fourier transform, memory operations, n-body physics, matrix operations, histogram manipulation, and HTML parsing.

Compression – WinRAR 5.90: link

Our WinRAR test from 2013 is updated to the latest version of WinRAR at the start of 2014. We compress a set of 2867 files across 320 folders totaling 1.52 GB in size – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are small 30-second 720p videos.

3DPMv2.1 – 3D Movement Algorithm Test: link

3DPM is a self-penned benchmark, taking basic 3D movement algorithms used in Brownian Motion simulations and testing them for speed. High floating point performance, MHz, and IPC win in the single thread version, whereas the multithread version has to handle the threads and loves more cores. For a brief explanation of the platform agnostic coding behind this benchmark, see my forum post here.

NAMD 2.13 (ApoA1): Molecular Dynamics

One frequent request over the years has been for some form of molecular dynamics simulation. Molecular dynamics forms the basis of a lot of computational biology and chemistry when modeling specific molecules, enabling researchers to find low energy configurations or potential active binding sites, especially when looking at larger proteins. We’re using the NAMD software here, or Nanoscale Molecular Dynamics, often cited for its parallel efficiency. Unfortunately the version we’re using is limited to 64 threads on Windows, but we can still use it to analyze our processors. We’re simulating the ApoA1 protein for 10 minutes, and reporting back the ‘nanoseconds per day’ that our processor can simulate. Molecular dynamics is so complex that yes, you can spend a day simply calculating a nanosecond of molecular movement.

Gaming Performance

For Z690 we are running using Windows 10 64-bit with the 21H2 update.

Civilization 6

Originally penned by Sid Meier and his team, the Civilization series of turn-based strategy games are a cult classic, and many an excuse for an all-nighter trying to get Gandhi to declare war on you due to an integer underflow. Truth be told I never actually played the first version, but I have played every edition from the second to the sixth, including the fourth as voiced by the late Leonard Nimoy, and it is a game that is easy to pick up, but hard to master.

Benchmarking Civilization has always been somewhat of an oxymoron – for a turn based strategy game, the frame rate is not necessarily the important thing here and even in the right mood, something as low as 5 frames per second can be enough. With Civilization 6 however, Firaxis went hardcore on visual fidelity, trying to pull you into the game. As a result, Civilization can taxing on graphics and CPUs as we crank up the details, especially in DirectX 12.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX12)

The latest installment of the Tomb Raider franchise does less rising and lurks more in the shadows with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. As expected this action-adventure follows Lara Croft which is the main protagonist of the franchise as she muscles through the Mesoamerican and South American regions looking to stop a Mayan apocalyptic she herself unleashed. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the direct sequel to the previous Rise of the Tomb Raider and was developed by Eidos Montreal and Crystal Dynamics and was published by Square Enix which hit shelves across multiple platforms in September 2018. This title effectively closes the Lara Croft Origins story and has received critical acclaims upon its release.

The integrated Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark is similar to that of the previous game Rise of the Tomb Raider, which we have used in our previous benchmarking suite. The newer Shadow of the Tomb Raider uses DirectX 11 and 12, with this particular title being touted as having one of the best implementations of DirectX 12 of any game released so far.

Strange Brigade (DX12)

Strange Brigade is based in 1903’s Egypt and follows a story which is very similar to that of the Mummy film franchise. This particular third-person shooter is developed by Rebellion Developments which is more widely known for games such as the Sniper Elite and Alien vs Predator series. The game follows the hunt for Seteki the Witch Queen who has arisen once again and the only ‘troop’ who can ultimately stop her. Gameplay is cooperative-centric with a wide variety of different levels and many puzzles which need solving by the British colonial Secret Service agents sent to put an end to her reign of barbaric and brutality.

The game supports both the DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs and houses its own built-in benchmark which offers various options up for customization including textures, anti-aliasing, reflections, draw distance and even allows users to enable or disable motion blur, ambient occlusion and tessellation among others. AMD has boasted previously that Strange Brigade is part of its Vulkan API implementation offering scalability for AMD multi-graphics card configurations. For our testing, we use the DirectX 12 benchmark.

Overclocking

When it comes to overclocking on Intel's 12th generation processors, Alder Lake has a new yet important variable to consider. This is because not all of its cores are equal. Intel's latest Alder Lake processors feature a hybrid design with P-cores (performance) and E-cores (efficiency). Focusing on the Core i9-12900K, it has 8 P-Cores, 8 E-cores, and 24 threads in total. While Hyperthreading isn't a new technology, the hybrid nature of Alder Lake combining two different types of CPU core is. The basic idea is that the P-cores do much of the front-loaded heavy lifting, the grunt work, so to speak, while the E-cores assist in the background with high-threaded workloads with a much lower overall power draw than the P-cores.

Having personally taken some time to investigate overclocking ability with the Core i9-12900K before diving into motherboard reviews, I found that the P-cores offer much more in terms of performance. In contrast, the E-cores don't have as much headroom or scalability as the P-cores. Fundamentally when paired with a Z690 motherboard, both the P-core and E-cores are unlocked. This gives two areas for users to consider when it comes to overclocking.

Another point of note when overclocking with Alder Lake, like with 11th gen and 10th gen, performance out of the box on both sets of cores are squeezed out via turbo, e.g., the P-Core Turbo on the Core i9-12900K is 5.2 GHz, while the E-Core turbo is 3.9 GHz. Make no mistake about it, Alder Lake is power-hungry, even more so from personal experience when overclocking than was the case with 11th gen Rocket Lake. This means adequate power being made available from a reliable and quality power supply is needed, as well as good quality and premium cooling such as AIOs, or even custom water cooling.

Experience with the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI

Looking at the overclocking functionality of the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI, all of the overclocking options can be found within the OC section of the Advanced mode in the firmware. MSI offers plenty of CPU overclocking options, including separate P-Core and E-Core ratio multiplier controls, CPU AVX ratio offsetting, as well as CPU Ring Ratio, and integrated graphics ratio multipliers. In terms of voltages, MSI also includes an extensive list of voltages including CPU VCore, iGPU (CPU GT) voltages, as well as individual P-Core and E-Core VCore voltage options. 

When it comes to memory overclocking, MSI also provides plenty of options for overclocking the frequency, adjusting Intel's Geared memory mode in either 1:1, 1:2, or 1:4 ratios, as well as lots of primary, secondary, and tertiary latencies to customize. For fine-tuning of the board's power profiling, MSI includes multiple levels of loadline calibration (LLC) profiles, with levels that can increase or decrease CPU VCore VDroop depending on the complexity and intensity of the workload. It should be noted that Level 4 is typically the sweet spot for balancing CPU VCore voltage, power, and stability while ensuring less frequent/softer spikes in voltage.

Overall the MSI Click BIOS 5 firmware has pretty much everything a typical user could need to overclock their Intel 12th Gen Core processor, memory kit, and even integrated graphics on supported processors.

Overclocking Methodology

Our overclocking methodology is as follows. We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with the Intel XTU 2.0 benchmark and Prime95 to simulate high-end workloads. These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.

For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from the previous testing, start off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed. The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed. The process is repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (105ºC+). Our testbed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air.

Note: For the purposes of overclocking in our Z690 reviews, we will only be focusing on the P-cores (performance) as these simply scale better. The E-core (efficiency) will subsequently be set at 3.9 GHz throughout the entirety of our Z690 motherboard reviews.

Overclocking Results

Focusing on the overclocking performance using our Core i9-12900K with the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI, we observed pretty decent performance on the whole. Using the board at default settings as our baseline, MSI's Game Boost profile does improve performance somewhat, with very economical power (if you can consider 352 W economical) consumption when compared to default settings. The caveat to using Game Boost is it does run on the hot side, as we reported temperatures of 83°C with our premium 360 mm AIO cooler; this is still well within the rated specifications, however.

Switching to manual overclocking, and we managed to achieve a maximum stable overclock of 5.2 GHz on the P-Cores of our Core i9-12900K processor at 1.35 V. This translated to a maximum load VCore of 1.408 which is a considerable amount of VDroop, despite using the automatic option on the LLC profile selector menu. This also hit 100C and did thermal throttle a little, but not as much as 5.3 GHz at 1.40 V, which did run stable but was not economical from a power consumption (over 450 W) nor a heat point of view. Going from 4.7 GHz to 5.1 GHz, we saw an incremental increase in XTU 2.0 performance, with pretty consistent and tight VDroop all-around.

Power Delivery Thermal Analysis

One of the most requested elements of our motherboard reviews revolves around the power delivery and its componentry. Aside from the quality of the components and its capability for overclocking to push out higher clock speeds which in turn improves performance, is the thermal capability of the cooling solutions implemented by manufacturers. While almost always fine for users running processors at default settings, the cooling capability of the VRMs isn't something that users should worry too much about, but for those looking to squeeze out extra performance from the CPU via overclocking, this puts extra pressure on the power delivery and in turn, generates extra heat. This is why more premium models often include heatsinks on its models with better cooling designs, heftier chunks of metal, and in some cases, even with water blocks.

The 19-phase (18+1) power delivery on the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI

Testing Methodology

Our method of testing is if the power delivery and its heatsink are effective at dissipating heat. We do this by running an intensely heavy CPU workload for a prolonged method of time. We apply an overclock, which is deemed safe and at the maximum that the silicon on our testbed processor allows. We then run the Prime95 with AVX2 enabled under a torture test for an hour at the maximum stable overclock we can, which puts insane pressure on the processor. We collect our data via three different methods which include the following:

• Taking a thermal image from a birds-eye view after an hour with a Flir Pro thermal imaging camera
• Securing two probes on to the rear of the PCB, right underneath CPU VCore section of the power delivery for better parity in case a probe reports a faulty reading
• Taking a reading of the VRM temperature from the sensor reading within the HWInfo monitoring application

The reason for using three different methods is that some sensors can read inaccurate temperatures, which can give very erratic results for users looking to gauge whether an overclock is too much pressure for the power delivery handle. With using a probe on the rear, it can also show the efficiency of the power stages and heatsinks as a wide margin between the probe and sensor temperature can show that the heatsink is dissipating heat and that the design is working, or that the internal sensor is massively wrong. To ensure our probe was accurate before testing, I binned 10 and selected the most accurate (within 1c of the actual temperature) for better parity in our testing.

To recreate a real-world testing scenario, the system is built into a conventional desktop chassis which is widely available. This is to show and alleviate issues when testing on open testbeds, which we have done previously, which allows natural airflow to flow over the power delivery heatsinks. It provides a better comparison for the end-user and allows us to mitigate issues where heatsinks have been designed with airflow in mind and those that have not. The idea of a heatsink is to allow effective dissipation of heat and not act as an insulator, with much more focus from consumers over the last couple of years on power delivery componentry and performance than in previous years.

For thermal imaging, we use a Flir One camera to indicate where the heat is generated around the socket area, as some designs use different configurations, and an evenly spread power delivery with good components will usually generate less heat. Manufacturers who use inefficient heatsinks and cheap out on power delivery components should run hotter than those who have invested. Of course, a $700 flagship motherboard is likely to outperform a cheaper $100 model under the same testing conditions, but it is still worth testing to see which vendors are doing things correctly. 

Thermal Analysis Results

We measured 58.4ºC on the hottest part of the CPU socket during our testing

The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI has a 19-phase power delivery, which is controlled by a Renesas RAA229131 20-channel PWM controller that is operating in an 18+1 configuration. The CPU section includes eighteen Renesas 220075R0 75 A power stages, while the SoC is using one Renesas 220075R0 75 A power stage. Keeping the power delivery cool is a large metal heatsink that is interconnected by a single heat pipe. It includes six deep channels within the heatsink pairing that are designed to direct the passive airflow to aid in heat dissipation.

Comparing the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI motherboard against other Z690 models we've tested so far, we found it performed extremely well against the competition. Although it doesn't quite offer the same levels of performance as the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master and ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero, it still performed respectably. We took a reading of 76°C from the integrated temperature sensor, while our pair of K-type thermocouples gave us readings of 79°C and 80°C respectively. Even with an aggressive overclock of 5.2 GHz on all P-Cores with our Core i9-12900K, overall VRM thermal temperatures were below 80°C and well within the rated specifications.

Conclusion

It looks to be an interesting time for consumers in what is likely to be our last couple of months before Intel announces and launches its next generation of Core series (Raptor Lake) processors. AMD already announced its Zen 4-based offerings through the Ryzen 7000 series, and the new AM5 platform comes with it. Despite the following offerings coming over the next month or two, the Intel Core 12th gen Core series and Z690 platform still has plenty to offer consumers looking to build a decent system or even something a little more modest on the wallet with chips such as the Core i3-12300 offering fantastic bang for buck performance. 

Even with the expected introduction of Intel's 13th Gen Core series processors sometime in the not too distant future, Intel announced that its LGA 1700 socketed Z690 series would offer support, albeit not much is known about what limitations Z690 might offer when compared to the next-gen of chipset if any at all. This means Z690 options such as the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI can still offer something to the market, even for Intel's Raptor Lake processors.

On the surface, the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI has plenty of solid features, including support for up to five M.2 drives, with only one of these sharing bandwidth with a single SATA port. Users can install up to three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2, one PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA M.2, and one PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA M.2 drive. MSI also provides a total of six SATA ports. However, only four offer RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 array support, as two of the SATA ports are powered by an ASMedia SATA controller; this is a relatively normal thing today. 

Other features of the Z690 Carbon WIFI include plenty of USB real estate on the rear panel, with one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C port, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports, and four USB 2.0 ports. Other connectivity options include one Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller and an Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi. It would have been good to see a slightly better Ethernet controller, given the competition at the same price point offers more; the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master, which we reviewed, has 10 GbE, which is impressive for the price, and it's a good performer too.

Touching on the performance, the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI is competitive with other Z690 models on test, with a decent showing in our system tests such as power consumption, POST time, and DPC latency. In our computational and gaming benchmarks, we saw no anomalies, and everything is level with the rest of the models we've tested to date.

It also performed well in our overclocking tests, with 5.3 GHz on our Core i9-12900K's P-cores more than achievable if it weren't for the crazy temperatures at 1.40 V on the CPU VCore. Throughout our testing, CPU VCore VDroop was at acceptable levels until we hit 5.2 GHz at 1.35 V, with the CPU VCore hitting close to 1.40 V at full load. Another element where the Z690 Carbon WIFI performed well was in our VRM thermal testing, with temperatures around and below 80°C, which is good. However, similar models such as the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero and GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master performed better by around 15°C. Despite this, the MSI is still well within the rated specifications.

Final Words: The Competition is Very Strong, Price is too High

At the time of writing, users can purchase the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI from Amazon for $350, which is a fair price until you look at the competition's offering. For around $30 cheaper, users can pick up the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master for $320 at Amazon, which has one fewer M.2 port but adds 10 GbE networking. The Z690 Aorus Master is the better buy because it has a better quality power delivery. Although overclocking performance is similar, the thermal VRM performance on the Master is considerably cooler. 

Given the price the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master is currently selling, it's tough to recommend the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI. If MSI were to drop the pricing on the MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI by around $50, it would be much easier to recommend it in the current climate, as the original launch MSRP pricing for MSI was/is cheaper than GIGABYTE. Unless you prefer the MSI Click BIOS 5 firmware, like the aesthetic better, or have had great experiences in the past with MSI, the Z690 Aorus Master represents much better value for money.

Overall the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI is a decent option with decent all-round performance, but for the more shrewd users looking for a better buy at a better price, there is more value to be had with a few other models at the $350 to 400 price point.