Today we are checking out the first MAG board from MSI, the MAG Z390 Tomahawk. This board has a very aggressive look which lends itself to gamers and MSI has added the pre-installed I/O shield as well.

– Looks like a highend board; – Preinstalled I/O shield; – Dual LAN ports; – Dual M.2 slots; – Great overall performance

– No SLI support

i received it in great package but didnt use it because i havnt got my i9-9900K Processor :)

I installed this motherboard with my latest build, and so far so good! Everything feels high quality and it was easy to set up. The only negative was that the RAM DIMMs are a little close to the CPU, so my cooler is pretty close. Otherwise, I'm really happy with my purchase.

The MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk is the cheapest motherboard in this group of eight Z390 slates – and its £140 price offers a significant discount on rivals that all arrive at £160 or more. The low price doesn't mean that you get a plain-looking slab of PCB.

Solid gaming performance; Good specification for single-GPU builds; Impressive on-board connectivity; Cheaper than rivals

Weaker in applications; Better multi-GPU options available elsewhere; Mediocre storage and memory performance

If you're the type of person who prefers a level of subtlety in their hardware rather than the modern predilection for gaudiness then you'll delight in the understated aesthetics of the Tomahawk. Often when a motherboard comes in at this price the first thing to go is any sense of looking nice.

MSI’s board is the cheapest Z390 product in this group, and it certainly punches above its weight: it has a decent specification that can support mainstream builds with single GPUs and overclocked CPUs, and it has solid gaming performance. Its weaker application performance restricts where this board will succeed, but it’s a good alternative if you want to build a gaming system on a budget.

Solid gaming performance; Good specification for single-GPU builds; Impressive on-board connectivity; Cheaper than rivals;

Weaker in applications; Better multi-GPU options available elsewhere; Mediocre storage and memory performance;