There are plenty of components worth fawning over in MSI’s CES 2026 booth, but one motherboard in particular has caught my eye, the long-awaited MEG X870E Unify-X Max. That’s not all the brand has to offer, though, with plenty of more-mainstream B850 Max offerings to boot.
MEG X870E Unify-X Max
Before we take a closer look at the MEG X870E Unify-X Max, here’s some context that should fill you with excitement similar to my own. It’s been four years since MSI launched an AMD motherboard in this product line, with the company’s last effort being the MEG X570S Unify-X Max for AM4. With the launch of this board, the brand is finally giving AM5 CPUs their due, which should result in some awesome extreme overclocking results.
Looking at the MEG X870E Unify-X Max up close, it’s clear the motherboard shares many of the same design tendencies as the recent MEG Z890 Unify-X. For instance, we have two DIMM slots in a 1SPC (1 Slot Per Channel) configuration, which MSI claims provides solid support for DDR5-10,200 speeds. This design also broadly improves signal integrity and latency between the CPU and RAM, a prime concern for any memory overclock.
The lack of four DIMM slots gives MSI room to move the primary PCIe Gen 5 slot up towards the top of the motherboard, complete with an EZ M.2 Shield Frozr II heatsink. Since accessing storage can be fiddly after you install a large graphics card on a standard board layout, I’m glad to see the free space put to good use.
The MEG X870E Unify-X Max also comes with MSI’s ‘Tuning Controller’, a staple of other motherboards in the family. This little remote provides a means of on-the-fly overclocking, removing the need to go through multiple reboots as you shift through frequencies. It also features power, reset, and Clear CMOS buttons for added convenience.
MSI hasn’t provided a formal specifications sheet for the MEG X870E Unify-X Max, but we already know plenty about the motherboard from its appearance and ‘Max’ moniker. On the latter front, this entails a host of goodies, including MSI’s EZ DIY features, full PCIe Gen 5 bandwidth across M.2 and expansion slots, and a 64MB BIOS that prepares the board for “future upgrades” (which I’m reading as full Zen 6 compatibility).
Look round back, you’ll find a delectable amount of ports. Top of the pack are two 40Gb USB-Cs with DP Alt Mode support, complemented by a single 10Gb USB-C and a whopping eight 10Gb USB-A ports. MSI’s even found room for PS/2 ports, a common desirable among overlockers owing to their bulletproof stability and low latency. Finally, networking is suitably speedy with a 5Gb LAN port and support for WiFi 7.
There’s no word on how much the MEG X870E Unify-X Max will cost but don’t expect a motherboard of this calibre to be anything but expensive. Nor is there any indication of when MSI plans to launch the board, but I’d expect to see it hit store shelves before the year’s out at the very least.
MAG B850 Max series
MSI hasn’t forgotten about the mainstream market at CES 2026, sending out a salvo of MAG B850 Max motherboards. These models follow in the wake of other Max refreshes, including the MAG X870E Gaming Plus Max WiFi I reviewed towards the end of last year.
Details are slim on these models for the moment, but I expect them all to be broadly similar in specification to existing models but with some welcome quality-of-life upgrades. You can expect EZ DIY features like EZ PCIe Release, EZ M.2 Shield Frozr II heatsinks, and EZ M.2 Clip II to make an appearance, all providing a toolless installation experience.
Each of them will also arrive with WiFi7 and 5Gb LAN connectivity, for high-speed networking, regardless of your connection type preference. That’s not forgetting the 64MB BIOS either.
We know that these boards will launch in 2026, but MSI is playing coy with pricing save for the MAG B850M Mortar Max WiFi, which will debut at $250.
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