MSI MEG X570 ACE Review

Conclusion

Please note this review was written prior to the AGESA 7C35v15 BIOS update. Our graphs have been updated to reflect the new results, but the text remains the same as the fast single threaded stock performance affects so few of our results and none of our overall opinion.

Given some of the feedback we’ve been getting in our forums about the latest X570 chipset we feel it’s important to start off with a reminder. PCI Express 4.0 and the hardware necessary to run it to its fullest potential is expensive. Much more expensive than the components on PCI Express 3.0 motherboards. Coupling this to the redesigned Zen 2 motherboards and the days in which an AMD motherboard, even a premium one, was somewhere around the £200 mark are in the past. By bringing the design up to the state of the Intel models will always increase the pricing, but by introducing the PCI Express 4.0 the X570 chipset is a seriously expensive item to develop. It’s akin to having a Z390 and X299 chipset on the same motherboard. So please, dispense with your preconceived notions of how much an AMD motherboard should cost and accept the reality that if you want the latest and greatest that comes with a certain cost. You can’t get 10G networking, USB 3.2 Gen2 and PCI Express 4.0 for a song, and nor should you. Here endeth the lesson.

One area that we have discovered is uniform to all the X570 motherboards is their consistency. The gaps between the lowest and the highest are fairly tight, which means that each individual motherboards placing in our graphs is fairly fluid. After all, when a handful of points is enough to drastically change the ordering then you’re bound to have to focus more upon the extras than you do the foundations. The MSI MEG X570 ACE is the first motherboard to somewhat change that approach. As we discussed with the ASUS Crosshair VIII Formula and Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme it used to be the case that motherboards which could overclock to the stratosphere usually were a little below average at stock. If you’ll allow us a simile it’s like a racecar. Brilliant at what it’s designed for but not much use going to the shops. However, until now the X570 motherboards we’d tested sidestepped this particular issue but the MEG ACE seems to be much happier running in the overclocked setup than it was at stock. We’re not saying it’s bad at stock, it definitely isn’t, but taken as an average it generally was near the bottom of the graph at stock and generally was at the top with the meaty overclock in place. Almost like it’s champing at the bit to be unleashed and begrudgingly runs at AMD rated speeds but is delighted to show you the fruits of your overclocking efforts when you put in the time.

The aesthetics are very much a matter of personal taste. Certainly if you like the black and gold combination then you’ll find much to like with the MEG ACE. Ourselves? We find there is perhaps a tiny bit too much gold, particularly on the lower half of the motherboard with gold lettering on the audio EFI shield, gold on all of the M.2 heat spreaders as well as a gold MSI Dragon logo on the chipset heatsink. It dominates slightly too much and might limit the creativity you’re able to explore with the RGB lighting. As we say, that’s entirely down to you and maybe you love the looks. They certainly aren’t objectively bad in the way that old motherboards with their ten different colours of plastics used to be. Rather it’s an acquired taste.

Elsewhere the MSI MEG X570 ACE has everything you could hope to find on a premium motherboard with plenty of places to plug in your fans, USB devices, and M.2 drives too. You might need to consolidate your SATA drives if you have a lot as the MEG ACE only has four SATA ports, but that’s the only area that could cause the slightest moments pause to a potential purchaser.

With easy overclocking and tremendous results if you are willing to put the time in to extracting the maximum from your setup, the MSI MEG X570 ACE is a strong performer in every scenario and wins our OC3D Performance Award.

  

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