CES 2026: MSI Has A Lot To Show Off

Displays, AI Laptops, Peripherals, Portable Gaming And More

MSI has taken their CES 2026 releases to the MAX with a completely new product line spanning monitors, full desktops, motherboards and more.  There are new MAX branded AMD motherboards, an X870(E) and three B850 models, all featuring MSI’s new OC Engine that enables asynchronous BCLK control.  The new feature lets you adjust your BCLK from within Windows, or Linux, so no more tweaking the BIOS and then booting up to see what effect your changes offer.  The motherboards also feature a 64MB BIOS chip which should ensue support for new AMD chips that use the current chipset.

They aren’t ignoring Intel users either, releasing a new motherboard with support for 4-Rank CQDIMM memory modules, which come in sizes of up to 128GB per stick.  Getting 256GB of RAM from a dual channel build is impressive, if you can afford it during RAM-ageddon.

If you are looking for a monitor bigger than the G-SYNC Pulsar that MSI showed off before, the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36, is a 34” UWQHD 360Hz 3440 x 1440 gaming monitor with a 5th-gen QD-OLED panel and an RGB Stripe sub-pixel layout.  This new generation of QD-OLED will reduce both colour fringing and make text clearer and even better, it is more robust than previous generations.  That’s not to say you should poke it, but it will be more forgiving to those who might be a bit rougher with their monitors than they should be,

The monitor also includes PureBlack QD-OLED technology to significantly increase the accuracy of blacks and reduce glare from light sources around you.  You are likely asking yourself how MSI incorporated AI into this monitor, but don’t worry as they found a way with MSI OLED Care 3.0 AI Care Sensor.  Using a built in NPU the monitor will detect if you are in front of it or not, and if you’ve stepped away it will immediately go into power management or Pixel Refresh mode to extend it’s lifetime.

But wait; there’s more!  The MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36, also includes AI Tracker, AI Gauge, AI Vision+, AI Scene, AI Goggle, and AI Scope!  If you aren’t immediately disgusted, take a look here for details on what those features will do for you.

The MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 3MG is another AI infused product and proof that no matter if the NUC is officially dead or not, we still keep seeing new ones.  The shell is 119.60 x 115.20 x 37.50 mm (4.71 x 4.54 x 1.48″), or 0.51 litre (1.08 pint) if you prefer but can still handle the heat produced by an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H, Ultra 7 355 or Ultra 5 322.  The network connectivity is impressive, with two Intel I226V 2.5Gbps ports as well as Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE213 or Wi-Fi 7 BE200.

Thunderbolt 4, USB 10Gbps in both Type-C and Type-A  as well as some legacy ports and HDMI offer a lot of connectivity for a tiny box and it’s worth mentioning the Cubi is made with Post-Consumer Recycled materials.

There’s also a slightly larger Ryzen powered Edge AI Platform.

For laptops you will see the Prestige series for business and updates to the Raider, Stealth, and Crosshair series.  The Prestige 14 and Prestige 16 weigh in at 1.32 kg and 1.59 kg respectively and are powered by Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3.  They will also include Intel Arc B390 graphics for better graphic performance you would expect from 2 in 1 business laptop.  The two Prestige models ship with a MSI Nano Pen, which is fully infected with Copilot, a good idea for executive usage.  Same with magnesium-aluminum Prestige 13 AI+ model.

The Raider 16 Max HX on the other hand is not light at all.  It is the world’s first gaming laptop which delivers 300W total system power, 175W to the RTX 5090 or 5080, and 125W to the Intel Core Ultra 200HX CPU.  That insanity is cooled by three fans, six heat pipes, five exhaust vents, and phase-change thermal compound and ships with a 2.5K 240Hz OLED display!  There is something even more impressive about the Raider 16 Max HX, it has a quick-access bottom panel to give you the ability to upgrade your RAM and SSD without disassembling the entire bloody laptop.

If that  Raider 16 Max HX is a bit too much for you, the Crosshair 16 Max HX and Crosshair 16 HX offer 200W of power delivery for a Core Ultra 200HX and RTX 5xxx GPU.  The QHD+ 165Hz OLED display isn’t as impressive but will also drive the price down a wee bit, it will probably be the DDR5 which adds the most cost.  Three USB-A ports, two USB-C ports of which one is Thunderbolt 4 are found on the sides, while MSI moved the HDMI and RJ-45 LAN to the back.

There is more, but that’s a good idea of what to expect from MSI this year.