A: The Intel Core i5-3470 (77W), but only if you modify the BIOS to remove power limits or add active VRM cooling. For a safe, daily-driver system, the i5-2400 (65W) is the recommended maximum.
A: Not officially (no TPM 2.0). However, you can install Windows 11 using the registry bypass method, and verified CPUs run it fine.
MSI manufactured this board in different PCB revisions. The Version 1.0 board has distinct physical differences from later revisions (Ver 2.0/3.0) that impact high-end CPU support. ms7869 ver 10 cpu support verified
| CPU Model | Cores/Threads | Base Freq. | TDP | Status | |-----------|---------------|------------|-----|--------| | Intel Core i7-4790 | 4 / 8 | 3.6 GHz | 84W | ✅ Fully supported | | Intel Core i5-4590 | 4 / 4 | 3.3 GHz | 84W | ✅ Fully supported | | Intel Core i3-4160 | 2 / 4 | 3.6 GHz | 54W | ✅ Fully supported | | Intel Pentium G3250 | 2 / 2 | 3.2 GHz | 53W | ✅ Fully supported | | Intel Celeron G1840 | 2 / 2 | 2.8 GHz | 53W | ✅ Fully supported |
We classify CPUs into three tiers: Verified Stable, May Work (Not Reliable), and Unsupported. A: The Intel Core i5-3470 (77W) , but
We tested three configurations using Cinebench R15 and a SATA SSD.
| CPU | Cinebench R15 (Multi) | Max Temp (Stock Cooler) | Power Draw (Wall) | |-----|----------------------|------------------------|--------------------| | Celeron G1610 | 185 cb | 52°C | 38W | | Core i3-2120 | 312 cb | 61°C | 55W | | Core i5-2400 | 468 cb | 73°C | 88W | | Core i5-3470 | 527 cb | 81°C (throttled) | 102W | Throttling on the i5-3470 began at 82°C
Throttling on the i5-3470 began at 82°C. For sustained video encoding, downclock to 3.2 GHz.
A: No. The H81/B85 chipset and Haswell desktop CPUs do not support ECC.
The MS-7869 Ver 1.0 supports Intel Haswell (4th Gen) and, with a BIOS update, some Haswell Refresh (Devil’s Canyon) and select Broadwell (5th Gen) desktop processors. Below is the fully verified CPU list.