LGA 1851 is here. MSI MAG Z890 Tomahawk WiFi tested

The information embargo on Z890 motherboard tests (and also Intel Core Ultra 200S/Arrow Lake CPUs) is over. We kicked off our tests with an in-depth analysis of the MSI MAG Z890 Tomahawk WiFi motherboard, which also sheds light on the features of the Core Ultra 7 265K CPU. Primarily though, this will now be about the Z890 Tomahawk, which in some places has some major changes from its last generation.

Conclusion

The MSI MAG Z890 Tomahawk WiFi motherboard is definitely a piece of well-made hardware. Don’t be fooled by the relatively weaker rankings in compute and gaming tests. These are caused primarily by the fact that “only” a Core Ultra 7 class processor is used for the tests, while on other platforms it is categorically always a higher-end model (Core i9 or Ryzen 9), but at the time of testing we did not have a Core Ultra 9 at hand.

But purely from a workload perspective, the Core Ultra 7 265K processor is also good. Its results, by the way, also show that while speed is not something this generation is moving forward in (and in many scenarios, stagnation can be practically stated in this regard), if there is anything in which it does, it is lower power consumption. And quite significantly so. It’s also dozens of watts versus the Core i7-14700K in the case of gaming workloads, where the Core Ultra 7 265K in the title Shadow of the Tomb Raider is well under a hundred watts (instead of about 133 watts of the Ci7-14700K).

But back to the Z890 Tomahawk, a detailed analysis of the processor is yet to come. For now, we’re going to look at the features of the motherboard itself, which isn’t shook even the power draw approaching 250W. Even with these, the hottest point of the power delivery is only about 75 °C (and about 63 °C on average), and that’s without (VRM) coolers. That’s enough margin even for the Core Ultra 9 285K without power limits, which will already be part of the standard methodology in the next Z890 motherboard test.

The SSD transfer speeds in the first M.2 slot are relatively lower, but still only 3% below the fastest result. In the other slots it is already above average and the sequential read in the third slot is actually the fastest we have recorded so far. The USB interface doesn’t fall short of its standard speeds, and the 5-gigabit Ethernet lives up to its promises as well. The network connectivity of the Z890 Tomahawk WiFi is also characterized by super-fast Ethernet, not just WiFi (7).

The SSD coolers are as we know them from MSI – average to below average.
That is, as far as cooling efficiency is concerned. The (de)mounting system is clever, fast. This too is perhaps a tax for the eventual weaker downforce and slower heat transfer from the SSD to the heatsinks. These are quite massive here, they are no clamshells, but proper aluminum slabs.

However, if we come to the overall evaluation, it must be somewhat positive. An important role here is played by the available features in relation to the price. The latter has not increased much compared to the last generation, or is at a comparable level, but the features here are richer. We’ve already written about the fast 5Gb Ethernet, then there are also two fast USB4/Thunderbolt 4 ports on the rear panel, and compared to the Z790 Tomahawk Max WiFi there’s also a more robust VRM. Of course, there are some cut corners here and there, such as the SATA ports (there are only four of them) and among the video outputs you won’t find a DisplayPort connector (this interface can be brought out via USB-C, however). Nevertheless, the Z890 Tomahawk WiFi can be considered a very well prepared mid-range motherboard for the Intel LGA 1851 platform. Equipped with, among other things, two PCIe 5.0-enabled slots (first PCIe ×16 slot for a graphics card and one M.2 slot for an SSD).

There will probably always be some reservations about the price, but from an editorial point of view, it qualifies for the “Smart buy!” award.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

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Some of the tested boards are also available in the Datacomp e-store

Special thanks also to Blackmagic Design (for the license to DaVinci Resolve Studio) and Topaz Labs (for the licenses to DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI)