MSI Z790 MAX Series Motherboards Brings Wi-Fi 7, Offers USB4 Expansion

MSI Z790 MAX Series Motherboards Brings Wi-Fi 7, Offers USB4 Expansion

It’s the motherboard launch season, and MSI has got their parts to unveil today: the new models will be dubbed “Z790 MAX“, encompassing six new models under the MEG, MPG, MAG and PRO series motherboards.

The common theme of the new motherboards is the new Wi-Fi 7 standard – succeeding the existing Wi-Fi 6E, the new standard is expected to deliver up to 5.8Gbps wirelessly thanks to its doubled bandwidth from 160MHz to 320MHz, as well as the new 4096-QAM signaling. MSI says all Z790 MAX series models will come with Wi-Fi 7 as standard.

Another upgrade for the MAX series comes courtesy of PCIe 5.0 SSD and PCIe expansion slots, and comes with MSI’s own screw-less magnetic installation mechanism on select models (other models will use a clip to secure the SSD in place, instead of magnets). For MPG and MEG models, MSI is also introducing a new “JAF1” connector that functions as an additional ARGB and fan header from a single cable.

Additionally, MSI is also introducing a new USB 4.0 PD100W Expansion Card – first introduced in Computex this year – set to launch within this month. It runs on the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface and offers two USB4 ports as well as a pair of DisplayPort 1.4 outputs. As the name implies, this expansion card is also capable of supplying 100W of power through USB-PD (Power Delivery) standard, so you’ll need a 6-pin PCIe connector for this.

MSI has also announced that BIOS updates for existing 600/700 series are now available to facilitate the Intel 14th Gen upgrade.

Pokdepinion: The expansion card seems like a pretty interesting addition.