Final Thoughts
Pricing
Unfortunately, at the time of writing, I didn’t have up to date pricing information. However, the MSI Mortar Micro-ATX Motherboard is available for under £100 for AM4 chipsets, and the older 2xx series one is still around £100, so I would assume a near identical price for this new one. It’s just launched, so check with your local retailer for stock.
Overview
MSI really knocked it out of the park with this motherboard. It’s not packing a huge amount of features, but it still ticks all the right boxes for a mATX build. For those spending around £100 on a motherboard that uses a non-overclocking CPU, any features that you would find on a more expensive Z-series motherboard, likely wouldn’t be needed anyway.
Aesthetics
By far, this is one of the better looking mATX Intel motherboards on the market right now. The black PCB with grey and silver hardware will match up with virtually any colour scheme too. It may not have the RGB lighting we see on many other motherboards, but I imagine this is good news to a half the market as it is bad news for the other half. The large heatsinks, the armour on the PCIe slot, and other little details all add up though.
Performance
B360 is the bottom of the Intel 8th Gen foodchain right now, with H370 and Z370 acting as the more premium and high-end chipsets. That being said, the B360 still offers some pretty darn competitive performance. For those looking for something more affordable for their more affordable CPUs, it’s a perfect match. If you work out this motherboard and something like an i3-8100 would still leave you with a little change from £200, it’s a great deal. For gaming, it’s really no slouch, and that’s pretty much what most customers will be looking at.
Should I Buy One?
If you can find a more affordable motherboard that looks this good, performs this good, and still offers support for the latest 8th Gen CPUs, great audio hardware, and fast storage support, but it. However, I don’t think you’ll beat what MSI is offering here, and I myself will be ordering one this week for a system build, literally putting my money where my mouth is.
