Our top-recommended Intel motherboard

Our top-recommended Intel motherboard — the MSI Z690 CARBON WIFI — drops to its lowest price ever, but not for long!

Image of the MSI MPG Z690 CARBON WIFI Motherboard.

If you're like I was, you might have an older generation CPU that is bottlenecking your entire PC. For me, upgrading my CPU took so long due to having to find the perfect motherboard. Don't worry; the MSI MPG Z690 CARBON WIFI motherboard perfectly fits any 12th, 13th, or 14th Gen Intel CPU using the LGA 1700 socket. Jump on over to Amazon, where this motherboard is a whopping $186 off, coming in at $194.92

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We voted the MSI MPG Z690 CARBON WIFI motherboard the best overall LGA 1700 socket motherboard. If you want more information about this motherboard or other LGA 1700 socket motherboards, check out our best Intel LGA 1700 motherboard guide.

Earlier this year, I upgraded from an Intel Core i7-4770k to a 12th Gen Core i7-12700k, and I spent hours researching the best motherboard to get. I wish I had known about this deal back then. The MSI MPG Z690 CARBON WIFI motherboard supports 12th, 13th, and 14th Gen Intel CPUs, though MSI does state that a "BIOS update may be required when used with some 14th generation Intel Core processors."

The motherboard has all of the features you need. Check out what this beast of a board can do.

Supports DDR5 Memory, up to 6666+(OC) MHz.
Lightning Fast Game experience: PCIe 5.0 slots, Lightning Gen 4 x4 M.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2.
Enhanced Power Design: Direct 18+1+1 phases power, dual 8-pin CPU power connectors, Core Boost, Memory Boost.
Premium Thermal Solution: Enlarged heatsink with heat-pipe, MOSFET thermal pads rated for 7W/mk, additional choke thermal pads and M.2 Shield Frozr are built for high performance system and non-stop gaming experience
MYSTIC LIGHT: 16.8 million colors / fancy lighting effects controlled in one click. MYSTIC LIGHT SYNC supports RGB, RAINBOW(ARGB), Corsair LED strips, and Ambient devices.
2.5G LAN with LAN Manager and Intel Wi-Fi 6E Solution.

New motherboards built with the Gen 14 Intel CPU in mind are coming out, with more bandwidth to take advantage of the speed boosts in the new generation, but those motherboards will put you back a pretty penny. At $250, the MSI MPG Z690 CARBON WIFI motherboard is dollar for dollar, the best motherboard you can pick up this Black Friday. You get DDR5 RAM with support up to 6666+(OC) MHz, two PCIe Gen5 slots, and five M.2 sockets. You won't regret picking up the MSI MPG Z690 CARBON WIFI motherboard, especially not for $250.

Once you grab the motherboard, come back here and check out this deal on a 4TB WD_BLACK SN850P NVMe SSD for just $299.99. Also, check out our best deals on DDR4 or DDR5 RAM guide.

Not sure how to install a motherboard? We have you covered with our motherboard installation guide.

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