MSI MAG B760 TOMAHAWK WIFI Motherboard Review

[Dan_D]

Introduction MSI is a well-known staple of the DIY computing industry. It’s been serving the computing enthusiast for decades in all manner of price points and product types. Though MSI has diversified in recent years, the company remains primarily known as a motherboard manufacturer though it’s more of a gaming brand than anything else. Even so, motherboards are one of its core products. Today we are taking a look at the MSI MAG B760 TOMAHAWK WIFI which is the DDR5 version of the motherboard. As a B760-based board, it is squarely in the mid-range to budget segment of the market […]

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[Peter_Brosdahl]

Thanks for the review and also good to know about the budget 2.5G NICs.

 

[Dan_D]

They have to cut the costs somewhere. To be fair, this isn't normally going to be an issue. I think Realtek NICs are fine most of the time. Most people aren't running 16+ port managed switches in their homes like I do.

 

[LazyGamer]

They have to cut the costs somewhere. To be fair, this isn't normally going to be an issue. I think Realtek NICs are fine most of the time. Most people aren't running 16+ port managed switches in their homes like I do.

The Realtek 2.5Gbit NICs might even be more reliable for some folks than the Intel ones, if going by internet complaints. I know I've seen some weird behavior off and on myself with the i225 and i226 NICs that are very atypical of Intel network controllers.

 

[Space_Ranger]

The Realtek 2.5Gbit NICs might even be more reliable for some folks than the Intel ones, if going by internet complaints. I know I've seen some weird behavior off and on myself with the i225 and i226 NICs that are very atypical of Intel network controllers.

Yeah. I was kinda taken-aback at the level of complaints made against the current Intel i225/i226 solutions. Intel used to have rock solid adapters, and was what you'd strive for getting.

 

[LazyGamer]

Yeah. I was kinda taken-aback at the level of complaints made against the current Intel i225/i226 solutions. Intel used to have rock solid adapters, and was what you'd strive for getting.

I'm just surprised it's been going on this long. You don't hear those complaints from the Linux community really, and on the Windows side it seems to be a driver / firmware thing.

Main symptom I've seen personally is that the interface just drops its connection and ceases passing traffic, seemingly at random, but regularly enough to be annoying. Fixing it is as simple as disabling and re-enabling the interface in Control Panel, or unplugging and replugging the cable.

Either way, complaints have largely died down, but Intel is likely going to have to get another spin with another name ("Odd-Windows-Release-Syndrome") to regain consumer faith. Could be that they just move up to producing 5Gbit controllers.

 

[Dan_D]

The Realtek 2.5Gbit NICs might even be more reliable for some folks than the Intel ones, if going by internet complaints. I know I've seen some weird behavior off and on myself with the i225 and i226 NICs that are very atypical of Intel network controllers.

The i225v and i226v's are indeed problematic. I've had my share of issues with those as well. Though more recently, I've had fewer issues with them as the firmware problems have been pretty well ironed out.

More recently, I've had good luck with Aquantia, Marvell, and newer Realtek adapters. This adapter, as I recall is an older one.