Is this a good price? Anyone had experience with this mobo?
For a refurbished Z790 chipset motherboard, this price is competitive. And while I have not used this exact board, I have used similar ones that are of the same generation, as well as other MSI refurbished products, which have almost all been of reasonably good quality and condition.
In this case, the Z790 is the current chipset for Intel 12/13/14th gen chips, with the ability to overclock (chips that end in a “K” SKU, like i7-13700K)… The DDR5 compatibility is decent - not great, since DDR5 is still relatively new. I do not like MSI’s UEFI BIOS, which is only used for basic system configuration on the lowest levels… After setting it up, that BIOS should often never matter again, so that little quibble is really not a big deal unless you are more into tinkering. The number of SATA, m.2, and other ports for storage are quite good, but I would recommend checking with the user manual to determine how many can be used, without them interfering with one another, or being limited by the CPU that is being used. The power delivery and thermal design should be fine for most users. And looks are subjective, but this would look nice in a themed white build.
Regarding the condition, I have had good luck with the refurbished products that came with a MSI warranty… However, I would recommend buying this only if you have plans to build soon, so that if problems arise, you are better able to address them within that limited warranty window. A good deal and a good track record are nice, but I wouldn’t want to tempt fate.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for the insight. I bought it and am planning to build soon with a 13700k and 4070s!