On July 7, 2019 AMD set about unleashing its Zen 2 structure unto the shopper market within the type of its Ryzen 3000 processors. These chips have confirmed mighty widespread amongst players and motherboard producers, the latter offering stacks – literal stacks – of AM4 X570 motherboards able to hop on the check bench for a spherical of testing. The first one on the pile: the MSI MEG X570 ACE.
It’s value noting that the X570 chipset enters the market not as a substitute for both B450 or X470 chipsets however as a premium motherboard tier reigning from on excessive. Both 400-series chipsets stay in play must you determine in opposition to the enhancements the crimson staff has launched with its newest in-house design. This places explicit strain on the X570 platform to ship, because it’s not solely competing with Intel, but in addition the high-end AM4 motherboards of yesteryear – that are getting cheaper by the day.
Those of you contemplating an X570 pairing have doubtless fallen to the attract of PCIe 4.0, AMD’s AM4 platform marking the maiden voyage for the most recent customary’s ecosystem of SSDs, graphics playing cards, and CPUs. In that regard the ACE’s native PCIe 4.Zero assist ought to see you thru. But there’s lots to shout about on the MEG X570 Ace past the inherent modifications to the chipset platform.
The MEG X570 ACE is certainly one of MSI’s most interesting X570 chipset fashions with a price ticket of $395 (£360), and surpassed solely by the ludicrously costly MEG X570 Godlike. For this appreciable funding you obtain a motherboard with all of the bells and whistles out there to it.
The ACE is supplied with MSI’s IR Digital PWM, coming collectively for a complete 14-phase (12+2) VRM with twelve 60A IR3555 MOSFETs conserving Vcore energy in test. This is greater than sufficient in your common person, to not point out AMD Ryzen 3000 isn’t much of an overclocker in our expertise. This board acquired up there with the perfect of them at 4.3GHz all-core at 1.4375 volts, however no extra. And few cheaper X570’s – and even the MSI Gaming M7 X470 for that matter – did not no less than get that.
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A single warmth pipe runs from the chipset to the VRMs through the primary DIMM slot, guaranteeing chilly operation below load. As is required by AMD’s 12W X570 chipset, there’s a slight fan above the PCH. This whirs up awfully loud at startup, however for essentially the most half is silent, in zero RPM mode, or near-silent below stress.
| MSI MEG X570 ACE | |
| Form issue | ATX |
| CPU assist | AMD Ryzen 2000, AMD Ryzen 3000 |
| Socket | AM4 |
| Chipset | X570 |
| Memory | 4x DDR4 DIMMs, dual-channel, 4,600MHz+ (OC) |
| Expansion slots | PCIe x16 (2), PCIe x4 (1), PCIe x1 (2) |
| Storage | 3x M.2 (PCIe 4.0, x4), 4x SATA 6Gb/s |
| WiFi | Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 |
| LAN | 1x Intel WGI211AT Gigabit LAN controller 1x Realtek RTL8125 2.5 Gbps LAN controller |
| Audio | 5+ Optical S/PDIF (Realtek ALC1220 Codec) |
| USB (ext) | 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C, 3x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A, 2x USB 2.0, |
| USB (int) | 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C, 4x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A, 4x USB 2.0 |
| Price | $395 (£360) |
With I/O taking a entrance seat because of the funding on AMD’s behalf within the PCIe 4.Zero specification, now you can load your motherboard up with three M.2. NVMe drives directly – two offered through the chipset and one direct via the CPU. Each of those three slots is able to driving 4x PCIe 4.Zero connectivity in tandem with a Ryzen 3000 processor and PCIe 4.Zero SSD.
Right now which means one factor: the Phison PS5016 controller. In our testing this was put to good use throughout the Corsair Force MP600, it managing to tower above those who got here earlier than it in each sequential learn/write and 4k learn/write. Will players see a lot of that profit? Unlikely. But avid content material creators or professionals working with massive recordsdata throughout media could benefit from the pace up.
USB assist is strong too, however removed from the perfect we’ve seen. Prepare yourselves for the mess that’s USB’s naming schema: there are two USB 2.Zero ports, two USB 3.2 gen 1 ports (Type A), three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (Type A), and a single USB 3.2 gen 2 (Type C) port on the rear I/O of the board. Meanwhile inside there are headers for as much as 4 USB 2.Zero ports, 4 USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type A) ports, and one other solo USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type C) port. Phew.
On the temporary apart of aesthetics, the MEG X570 Ace comes with “endless light effects” because of the mirrored RGB lighting design on the I/O. MSI has additionally seen match to ditch its overwhelmingly dominant crimson and black colourway in favour of a much less immodest and somewhat flattering gold and black design.
Yet all of the RGB lighting on the planet doesn’t make for higher efficiency – as evident within the outcomes above. Motherboards have turn out to be a somewhat nuanced affair lately, with aesthetics, value, and ports pivotal to your common client’s choice making. Only essentially the most enthusiastic amongst us will take advantage of the intense LN2 overclocking performance that almost all high-end boards tout nowadays.
Where does that depart the MSI MEG X570 Ace? The reply is twofold. The X570 platform is itself a dear non-obligatory further. It’s not required, and it’s not all that helpful to players both, however it does provide spectacular bandwidth that some professionals and lovers will discover nice use for – particularly paired with excessive core-count processors such because the Ryzen 9 3900X.
The MEG X570 Ace is one more premium on prime of the high-end chipset. The Ace is grand, providing slick styling and unfaltering efficiency, however the place does that get you on AM4? No additional than an X570 that’s half the associated fee, or a value-centric B450 able to nigh-on the identical efficiency in all however artificial SSD benchmarks. It’s a tricky promote.
If you may’t accept something lower than the most recent tech, even when in identify solely, the MSI MEG X570 makes for an ideal pairing with the best Zen 2 chiplets, Navi GPUs, and PCIe 4.Zero controllers cash should buy. The age-old ‘future-proofing’ argument absolutely comes into play for a lot of with PCIe 4.0, too. Yet at no fault of MSI, the X570 platform isn’t a lot of a holistic improve over its extant 400-series predecessors.
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