MSI B760M Gaming Plus WiFi: A cheap motherboard with a surprise

Conclusion

The seemingly inconspicuous motherboard hides something you probably wouldn’t expect, it has both HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs doubled, in pairs. Otherwise, the B760M Gaming WiFi is an affordable solution also suitable for higher-end Intel Core processors designed for the LGA 1700 platform with DDR5 memory. Meanwhile, due to the smaller MicroATX format, you can also fit the motherboard into smaller cases.

Conclusion

A solid, affordable mATX motherboard with the added value of four video outputs. When considering a purchase, this may be a crucial aspect that you don’t see in competing models. With such (video) equipment, it is possible to take full advantage of the “output” capabilities of an integrated graphics core. In builds with other motherboards, a graphics card is required to connect four monitors, which makes the computer rather unnecessarily expensive in cases where both the performance and multimedia capabilities of an Intel iGPU are sufficient.

Aside from the above, the B760M Gaming Plus WiFi is still a motherboard that, even at its lower price, can run even a 300-watt processor without the slightest difficulty. Sure, the VRM efficiency is weaker at this high power, temperatures (VRM) higher, with smaller headroom, but it “still runs”. Although, of course, this board is primarily intended for use with lower-power, non-K processors of lower classes or even higher, but with limited power (for example, to the PL2 level of the more powerful Raptor Lake Refresh models – 253 W). Under such conditions, the VRM will not melt even in PC cases with weaker/quieter system cooling.

But either way, the power efficiency of the B760M Gaming Plus WiFi is below average, even at lower or very low loads, where this model is at the very tail end of LGA 1700 motherboards, with the highest power consumption. In some places, you’ll be able to tame it by a bit, in others you won’t, but either way, you should know about these characteristics. It’s nothing terrible, nothing that stands out, but we have to say that it’s below average in this respect.

In sifting through the results of the gaming and computational tests, we didn’t come across anything that was below or above average. In short, everything is as you’d probably expect. This is also the case regarding the speeds of M.2 slots, ethernet or USB ports. Among the latter, some may miss a faster (than 10-gigabit) port, but the B760M Gaming Plus WiFi internally has up to four USB-A 3.2 gen. 1 standard ports. Even MSI’s more expensive model – the MAG B760M Mortar WiFi – only has two, making the cheaper board paradoxically more suitable in terms of PC cases with more (than two) 5-gigabit USB ports on the front panel.

The lower class (Gaming Plus) here also means, for example, fewer PWM headers (4) for connecting fans, “only” a Realtek ALC897 audio adapter, but you still have a 2.5-gigabit LAN. There are also fewer, and this has a bit to do with space constraints, M.2 slots for SSDs. There are two of them, and the first one has a cooler. Its results compared to other coolers can also be found in our database. They are not dazzling by any means, but still the SSD temperature is lower than without a cooler.

This MSI motherboard needs to be evaluated with respect to its price class. For about 150 EUR, it is hard to complain about anything here and on the contrary, we can recommend the B760M Gaming Plus WiFi with a clear conscience. For that kind of money, it won’t be a step in the wrong direction, unless there is something missing in the features that you need. And those four video outputs…

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

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)

• Contents
• MSI B760M Gaming Plus WiFi in detail
• What it looks like in the BIOS
• Methodology: Performance tests
• Methodology: How we measure power draw
• Methodology: Temperature and frequency measurements
• Test setup
• 3DMark
• Borderlands 3
• F1 2020
• Metro Exodus
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Total War Saga: Troy
• PCMark and Geekbench
• Web performance
• 3D rendering: Cinebench, Blender, ...
• Video 1/2: Adobe Premiere Pro
• Video 2/2: DaVinci Resolve Studio
• Visual effects: Adobe After Effects
• Video encoding
• Audio encoding
• Photos: Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Photo, ...
• (De)compression
• (De)encryption
• Numerical computing
• Simulations
• Memory and cache tests
• M.2 (SSD) slots speed
• USB ports speed
• Ethernet speed
• Power draw without power limits
• Power draw with power limits
• Achieved CPU clock speed
• CPU temperature
• VRM temperature – thermal imaging of Vcore and SOC
• SSD temperature
• Chipset temperature (south bridge)
• Conclusion