The MSI MAG B760M Mortar is a Micro ATX board developed on a budget. Those considering the B760 chipset will find it limited in features compared to his Z790 platform, which is more expensive with all the bells and whistles, but it will still allow you to build a fast and capable system within your budget. increase. Most of his B760 boards cannot overclock the processor (you need a board with a BCLK generator), but you can overclock the memory. Priced at $189.99, it comes with full support for 12th and 13th Gen Intel processors, a PCIe 5.0 slot, two M.2 sockets, integrated Wi-Fi 6E and 2.5 GbE networking, and an affordable Realtek audio codec are all available for less than $200.
The silver-on-black look is a nice contrast, albeit a bit plain and standard for this type of motherboard. It doesn’t have an integrated RGB LED (Gigabyte and ASRock equivalents do), but you can add your own header. It may not look like a high-end motherboard, but it has some nice features like one PCIe 5.0 x4 slot, good power delivery and a 20 Gbps Type-C port on the rear IO panel. It contains what you need to get up and running, but few extra features.
The B760M Mortar’s performance is similar to other B760-based boards we’ve reviewed. Some of the boards tested are power (and therefore performance) limited, but surprisingly our MSI doesn’t use Intel’s limits. Instead, the board thermally throttles the processor because some of the highly multithreaded, long-running benchmarks make the processor too hot, so all caps are in place. However, it works well for games and lightly threaded applications with average results. When using this board with flagship-class processors and pushing heavily threaded workloads, it’s best to lower the voltage to prevent thermal throttling of the CPU.
Below, we’ll dig into the details of the board to see if the cheap price points our product. best motherboard list. Before we get into the details, here are the detailed specs from the MSI website:
Specifications: MSI MAG B760M Mortar Wi-Fi
| socket | LGA1700 |
| chipset | B760 |
| form factor | MicroATX |
| voltage regulator | 14 phases (12x 75A Dr. MOS MOSFET for Vcore) |
| video port | (1) DisplayPort |
| (1) HDMI (v2.1) | |
| USB port | (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps) Type-C |
| (3) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Type-C | |
| (4) USB2.0 (480Mbps) | |
| network jack | (1) 2.5GbE |
| audio jack | (5) Analog + SPDIF |
| Other Ports/Jacks | ✗ |
| PCIe x16 | (1) v5.0 (x16) |
| (1) v4.0 (x4) | |
| PCIe x8 | ✗ |
| PCIe x4 | ✗ |
| PCIe x1 | (1) v3.0 (x1) |
| Crossfire/SLI | AMD multi-GPU support |
| DIMM slots | (4) DDR5 7000+(OC), 192GB capacity |
| • 1DPC 1R max speed 7000+ MHz | |
| • 1DPC 2R max speed 6600+ MHz | |
| • 2DPC 1R max speed 6400+ MHz | |
| • 2DPC 2R max speed 5600+ MHz | |
| M.2 socket | (1) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) |
| (1) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64Gbps) / PCIe + SATA (up to 80mm) | |
| SATA port | (4) SATA3 6Gbps (supports RAID 0/1/5/10) |
| USB header | (1) USB v3.2 Gen 2, Type-C (10Gbps) |
| (1) USB v3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) | |
| (2) USB v2.0 (480Mbps) | |
| fan/pump header | (6) 4-pin (CPU, pump, system fan) |
| RGB header | (2) aRGB (3 pin) |
| (1) RGB (4 pin) | |
| diagnostic panel | (1) EZ debug LED |
| Internal button/switch | ✗ |
| SATA controller | ✗ |
| ethernet controller | (1) Realtek RTL8125BG (2.5GbE) |
| Wi-Fi/Bluetooth | Intel Wi-Fi 6E (2×2 axis, MU-MIMO, 2.4/5/6 GHz, 160 MHz, BT 5.3) |
| USB controller | ✗ |
| HD audio codec | Realtek ALC897 |
| DDL/DTS | ✗ / ✗ |
| guarantee | 3 years |
Inside the MSI MAG B760M Mortar Wi-Fi box
Inside the MSI package are some accessories to get you started. This is from a budget point of view, so you only get the basics.
- Quick install guide
- SATA data cable
- EZ M.2 Clip, M.2 Screw/Standoff
- Wi-Fi antenna
- cable sticker
B760M Mortar Wi-Fi Design
image 1 of 3
The all-black board with silver heatsink is built on a 6-layer PCB. A silver heatsink represents a familiar military theme in the Mortar and Tomahawk lines. His VRM heatsink and chipset on top have the brand’s logo on them. Otherwise, it’s a simple design. If you’re looking for integrated RGB lighting, you’ll need to look elsewhere. However, there are some that allow you to add your own headers.
Focusing on the top half of the board, we come across a large VRM heatsink covering the ugly IO bits. Like the other heatsinks on the board, the heatsink is engraved with his MSI branding and other black and gray design elements. Between the VRM heatsinks are two 8-pin EPS connectors (one required) for powering the CPU.
To the right of the socket area are four DRAM slots with one locking mechanism on top. The MSI list supports up to DDR5-7000+(OC) on one DPC (DIMM per channel), which is close to platform parity. The DDR5-6000 kit (2x16GB) worked fine in my testing. I didn’t want the Teamgroup DDR5-7200 kit to work, but this was to be expected as it was beyond the range the board was supposed to work. To ensure compatibility, use RAM according to the listed specifications.
Just above the left socket is the first 3-pin ARGB header. A second he ARGB header and a 4-pin RGB header are on the bottom edge of the board. Connected RGB devices are controlled via the MSI Center utility and the Mystic Light applet. This worked fine for limited operations.
Above the DRAM slots in the right corner are two 4-pin fan headers (6 total). Each header supports her PWM and DC type fans/pumps. CPU_FAN1 and SYS_FAN1~4 headers output up to 2A/24W, while PUMP_FAN1 is 3A/36W. You can easily piggyback some fans on these headers if you want. Be careful not to overload it. Fan control is handled through the BIOS and worked well using preset curves or custom settings.
Continuing down the edge, the next feature is the EZ-Debug LED. Four LEDs (labeled CPU, DRAM, Boot, and VFA) light up during the POST process. If there is a problem, the problematic section’s LED will stay lit, giving you a rough idea of where the problem is. Below are the 24-pin ATX headers that power the board, the front panel USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C port, and the front panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) headers.
The B760M Mortar’s power delivery can easily handle our flagship-class processors at standard speeds (note that this platform does not overclock the processor). From the 8-pin EPS connector, power is sent to a Renesas RAA229132 PWM controller and then to 12x 75A Renesas RAA220075R0 DrMOS MOSFETs dedicated to Vcore. The 900A available in processors isn’t that much, but it’s still good enough. Intel Core i9-13900K.
The bottom half of the board shows the affordable Realtek ALC897 codec, starting on the left side, along with the familiar audio isolation lines (separate the audio from the rest of the board) and some dedicated audio caps. Audiophiles will certainly continue to ask for better, but many users will find the integrated solution sufficient. If not, there’s a spare PCIe slot for adding a sound card.
When it comes to slots, the B760M comes with two full-length slots and one x1 slot. The top slot is reinforced and connects through the CPU, running at up to PCIe 5.0 x16 speeds. The bottom full-length slot connects through the chipset and runs at PCIe 4.0 x4. The small middle slot also connects via the chipset, but runs at PCIe 3.0 x1 speeds.
There are two M.2 sockets mixed in the slot. The top socket M.2_1 sits under a thin heatsink and connects through the processor, running at PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) speeds. The second socket M.2_2 (no heatsink) connects via the chipset and runs at PCIe 4.0 x4 speeds. M.2_2 supports PCIe and SATA based modules, which is a great added value for users in this price range. Not everyone can use his fast and expensive PCIe-based M.2 modules. Both sockets support devices up to 80mm. Finally, along the right edge are two (out of four) SATA3 6 Gbps ports. When RAIDing these, the board supports RAID0/1/5/10 modes via his SATA port (not listed for M.2).
Some headers are exposed at the bottom. It has an extra USB port, an RGB header and a power/reset button. Below is the complete list from left to right.
- front panel audio
- 3-pin RGB header
- (2) system fan header
- thunderbolt header
- 4-pin ARGB header
- (2) USB 2.0 headers
- (2) SATA3 6Gbps ports
- TPM header
- system panel
The B760M Ace uses a gray background with black labels on all ports with pre-installed rear IO. The MSI MAG brand is here. Otherwise, ports and labels dominate real estate. There are a total of eight USB ports, including one 20 Gbps Type-C port, three USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports, and four USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) ports. Video output consists of DisplayPort and HDMI ports. A 2.5 GbE port and a Wi-Fi antenna connection also take up space along with a 5-plug analog and SPDIF audio stack.
more: best motherboard
more: How to choose a motherboard
more: All Motherboard Content
