MSI X570 Tomahawk review: possibly the best $200 X570

Realtek lan, i'll pass

The board has 2.4 gigabit Intel WiFi 6 which is quite good at the price point and 2.5 gigabit LAN. Not sure how much more you can expect from a $200 motherboard. Some of the super high end boards have 10 gigabit Intel but I wouldn't expect it at this price.

People have debated this in a previous thread. (https://hardforum.com/threads/x570-realtek-vs-intel-lan.1989321/). I'm not seeing an issue that would really impact the vast majority of people at all. Even if you were dead set on intel for some reason, the board still might be a good value even if you were to get a $30 add in card with the 1 gigabit Intel LAN chip you prefer instead of the 2.5 gigabit Realtek.

Is there some specific use case I'm missing or something I'm not understanding here? The networking options on the board don't seem like a dealbreaker to me but then and again I'm no networking expert. The WiFi chip in particular seems to be well regarded from what Ive seen.
 
looks like a smashing board for £200, looking forward to it.

amused the google search page listing for the MSI product page is titled "return to honor"! :D
 
Looks like it's a good thing I waited - though I was already looking at TUF or Elite anyway; with the goal of a used 3900x (assuming I'm not allured by the 4000-series).
The thing is we'd be dealing with a launch bios - but that's a small price to pay. It'd be my first MSI build too. Last time I was close to using an MSI mobo was on s939...many moons ago.
 
Any idea when this will be available? It''s getting tough to find an X570 and I would prefer this one anyway.
 
Any idea when this will be available? It''s getting tough to find an X570 and I would prefer this one anyway.
With these soulless scalpers everywhere, not until after the coronavirus since production is probably taking a big hit. I've been trying to upgrade but all the x570 boards are like 150%-200% above msrp rn.
 
It was announced in January... Still zero availability... Some reviews, cool, still can't buy it. Haven't seen to many mother board paper launches, but, here we are. Maybe it'll be out before the b550's... Or at least before the x670's drop? They can say the MSRP is anything if they aren't actually making or selling them. When will they be available... heck, even in limited supply?
 
I'm likely gonna get this for my hopeful Ryzen 4000 build if they don't surprise us with a new chipset.
 
It was announced in January... Still zero availability... Some reviews, cool, still can't buy it. Haven't seen to many mother board paper launches, but, here we are. Maybe it'll be out before the b550's... Or at least before the x670's drop? They can say the MSRP is anything if they aren't actually making or selling them. When will they be available... heck, even in limited supply?
I wonder if MSI is trying to get rid of excess inventory of their mid-range X570s before releasing this one. Their existing X570 boards are bad at thermals (not the premium ones though), but average Joe public does not know that. Once the Tomahawk X570 comes out the rest of MSI's midrange X570 lineup will be a tough sell.
 
I know a couple local shops that just reopened that have inventory.

That's the upside to lockdown.

Sucks that my buddy didn't buy one of the known good cheaper x570 boards in lieu of a Tomahawk Max.
 
I wonder if MSI is trying to get rid of excess inventory of their mid-range X570s before releasing this one. Their existing X570 boards are bad at thermals (not the premium ones though), but average Joe public does not know that. Once the Tomahawk X570 comes out the rest of MSI's midrange X570 lineup will be a tough sell.
Anything is possible, just seems they've been dragging this out for a long time.
 
I wonder if MSI is trying to get rid of excess inventory of their mid-range X570s before releasing this one. Their existing X570 boards are bad at thermals (not the premium ones though), but average Joe public does not know that. Once the Tomahawk X570 comes out the rest of MSI's midrange X570 lineup will be a tough sell.

The tomahawk at $200 even competes with the top of the line MSI boards in terms of VRM. It's going to be the board of choice unless you're going for some insane OCs
 
I wonder if MSI is trying to get rid of excess inventory of their mid-range X570s before releasing this one. Their existing X570 boards are bad at thermals (not the premium ones though), but average Joe public does not know that. Once the Tomahawk X570 comes out the rest of MSI's midrange X570 lineup will be a tough sell.
What excess inventory? Just about everything has been sold. New Egg & Amazon both show unavailable on most MSI boards and every MSI board on the Frys website is sold out nationally. Micro Center shows out of stock at most stores too. Havent checked Best Buy yet but will be checking at lunch. I refuse to buy from Ebay at inflated prices and if I buy from Amazon, I buy from Amazon, not some place that is just listed under "buying options".
 
The tomahawk at $200 even competes with the top of the line MSI boards in terms of VRM. It's going to be the board of choice unless you're going for some insane OCs
Hopefully they will be released Thursday along with the Ryzen 3 3100 & 3300X. I had thought about waiting until June for B550 but if the Tomahawk board is $200.00 or below then building a system now with the MSI Tomahawk and a Ryzen 3 3300X as a place holder until the Zen 3 chips come out seems like a good ides for some of my stimulus.
 
I wonder if MSI is trying to get rid of excess inventory of their mid-range X570s before releasing this one. Their existing X570 boards below the MSI Unify / MSI Ace are bad at thermals (not the premium ones though), but average Joe public does not know that. Once the Tomahawk X570 comes out the rest of MSI's midrange X570 lineup will be a tough sell.

Fixed that for you. You're right that the cheaper MSI X570 boards had bad VRMs on them. However, from the Unify on up those boards have some of the better VRMs. I bought a Unify for my Nov build and I've been extremely happy with it. This was my first MSI board in at least 10 years too so I'm not an MSI homer.
 
Fixed that for you. You're right that the cheaper MSI X570 boards had bad VRMs on them. However, from the Unify on up those boards have some of the better VRMs. I bought a Unify for my Nov build and I've been extremely happy with it. This was my first MSI board in at least 10 years too so I'm not an MSI homer.

Weren't the Unify and Ace released much later? I believe all of the original MSI X570 boards were pretty garbage, and the Unify and Ace came out and corrected the issue.
 
Fixed that for you. You're right that the cheaper MSI X570 boards had bad VRMs on them. However, from the Unify on up those boards have some of the better VRMs. I bought a Unify for my Nov build and I've been extremely happy with it. This was my first MSI board in at least 10 years too so I'm not an MSI homer.
Good info to know, thank you.
 
What excess inventory? Just about everything has been sold. New Egg & Amazon both show unavailable on most MSI boards and every MSI board on the Frys website is sold out nationally. Micro Center shows out of stock at most stores too. Havent checked Best Buy yet but will be checking at lunch. I refuse to buy from Ebay at inflated prices and if I buy from Amazon, I buy from Amazon, not some place that is just listed under "buying options".
Good time to build a Threadripper system since boards and CPUs are at or below MSRP.
 
I know some local shops I can get x570 for msrp.
They’re trying to retain their walk in customers by NOT purging their inventories online.
They were not letting scalpers clear their shelves.
I respect the sentiment, I don’t know if it’s in their best interests to proceed with biz as usual in the long run with Newegg/BH/etc.

Theres a certain hands in the air the world is against you thinking right now I find tiring.
Find a way to get what what you want beyond a quick scan of your phone, and you might be surprised what you find.

There are still small stores and small local chains trying to serve the local community of whatever.
 
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Weren't the Unify and Ace released much later? I believe all of the original MSI X570 boards were pretty garbage, and the Unify and Ace came out and corrected the issue.
AFAIK only the Unify and the Tomahawk were released after the first wave.

Everything under the ACE was garbage, and the Unify (cut down ACE) came in to have competition at the $300 price point.

The Tomahawk now takes over at the 150 to <300 price point.

From a consumer's point of view, the only MSI X570s you should be considering are the Tomahawk, Unify, ACE and Godlike, though the latter two are for the ultra high end builds.
 
This might be a topic for a different thread. Does anyone know exactly what is going on regarding computer parts shortages and price hikes? Seems to be related to the pandemic. Examples are X570 boards like this one and also some of the cpu coolers. I noticed the Arctic Freezer 34 esports is selling over msrp over at amazon. Hopefully the situation will pass quickly, it seems like a bad time to build a computer vs a month ago.
 
This might be a topic for a different thread. Does anyone know exactly what is going on regarding computer parts shortages and price hikes? Seems to be related to the pandemic. Examples are X570 boards like this one and also some of the cpu coolers. I noticed the Arctic Freezer 34 esports is selling over msrp over at amazon. Hopefully the situation will pass quickly, it seems like a bad time to build a computer vs a month ago.

Ive bought parts for 3 PC builds, another Glock bc it was $350 otd, and toilet paper in the past week or 2.

What shortages are you talking about?

Granted I've sold cases of jhp, 12ga 00, pistols for way over MSRP that had +20k rds on them logged to gibbering full moon cases in the past month.

Is it a matter of life and death to put a build together a few weeks before a launch?

Bc inventory being low is normal bc no retailer wants to get stuck with unsaleable loss leaders.

Oh, notably my local PC parts stores are limiting people bc scum bags are buying inventory to flip.

That's should be a mark of defective character publicly visible to all.
 
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Can anyone translate this paragraph? I have no idea what it means.
Crazy people insta buying things they don’t need for prices that aren’t logical is a thing right now.
Means he has sold many cases of his stockpiled ammunition and some of his older pistols (hand guns) that were basically worn out after having 20,000 rounds of ammunition fired through them. JHP is jacked hoillow point ammunition and 12ga 00 is 12 gauge double ought buck shotgun shells. It's a Texas thing. Now let's start praying that it starts raining Tomahawk boards real soon.
 
Means he has sold many cases of his stockpiled ammunition and some of his older pistols (hand guns) that were basically worn out after having 20,000 rounds of ammunition fired through them. JHP is jacked hoillow point ammunition and 12ga 00 is 12 gauge double ought buck shotgun shells. It's a Texas thing. Now let's start praying that it starts raining Tomahawk boards real soon.
Doesn't look like the situation is going to change anytime soon. They say China is back at full steam, but somehow Boards are completely sold out. Maybe they are not doing as good as they say...
 
Doesn't look like the situation is going to change anytime soon. They say China is back at full steam, but somehow Boards are completely sold out. Maybe they are not doing as good as they say...
Usually they don't use super fast shipping plus if they were stopped for 3 mo it means there will be a 3 mo shortage.
 
Usually they don't use super fast shipping plus if they were stopped for 3 mo it means there will be a 3 mo shortage.

Motherboard margin gets mentioned every so often as very low. The ratio of low end to high end motherboard sales is cited as steeply in favor of low end boards.

I would think that it's on the high volume retailer to eat expedited shipping on top of whatever volume contract they have going if they want to fulfill their next ski cpu preorders.
 
Usually they don't use super fast shipping plus if they were stopped for 3 mo it means there will be a 3 mo shortage.
Motherboard margin gets mentioned every so often as very low. The ratio of low end to high end motherboard sales is cited as steeply in favor of low end boards.

I would think that it's on the high volume retailer to eat expedited shipping on top of whatever volume contract they have going if they want to fulfill their next ski cpu preorders.
A lot of US divisions of computer component manufacturers order motherboards, video cards,. and the other items they sell by the multiple container load. Would be kind of expensive to load all of that product on multiple aircraft for expedited shipping.
 
A lot of US divisions of computer component manufacturers order motherboards, video cards,. and the other items they sell by the multiple container load. Would be kind of expensive to load all of that product on multiple aircraft for expedited shipping.

That’s literally the only sensible way to pursue this kind of retail business.
I remember enterprise projects in the late 90s where I was working with blue shirt IBM staff waiting on containers to populate data centers.
The early enthusiast hardware guys in the peltier and no ihs athlon/celeron 300a era were pulling in gear in fractional container shipments instead of buying from Ingram Micro.
In fact that era of San Jose there were a lot of people doing import/export becoming small distributors themselves.
I’m pretty sure that’s how Mushkin and G.skill got started bc I remember guys at the small stores combing thru electronics catalogs and overseas distributor catalogs looking for parts most people didn’t understand or care about back then.
 
It is the best $200 X570 that you could never buy. LOL
I bet B550 is coming earlier than this motherboard. I wonder why RAM is still available.
 
Fixed that for you. You're right that the cheaper MSI X570 boards had bad VRMs on them. However, from the Unify on up those boards have some of the better VRMs. I bought a Unify for my Nov build and I've been extremely happy with it. This was my first MSI board in at least 10 years too so I'm not an MSI homer.

How are the VRMs on the Prestige Creation X570? That's the one I'm leaning towards.
 
How are the VRMs on the Prestige Creation X570? That's the one I'm leaning towards.

I don't know, I haven't shopped for 7 months. I'd recommend seeing if hardware unboxed has reviewed that board.
 
Here is the buildzoid review of the board



I had mostly decided on this board already at the point this came out, mainly due to having enough PCIe slots and USB ports. He gave it a good review, and Ive been happy with my purchase.
 
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