The MSI MEG Z390 ACE Motherboard Review: The Answer To Your USB 3.1 Needs
by Gavin Bonshor on December 17, 2018 12:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Killer
- MSI
- Coffee Lake
- i7-8700K
- Z390
- ACE
- Z390 ACE
Board Features
Recently MSI has slowly rebranded its new gaming range into three different segments. These consist of the MAG (Arsenal), MPG (Performance) and MEG (Enthusiast) series. All three of the ranges are primarily aimed at gamers, with MAG representing the entry level, MPG the mid-range and MEG the high-end.
| MSI MEG Z390 ACE ATX Motherboard | |||
| Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
| Product Page | Link | ||
| Price | $290 | ||
| Size | ATX | ||
| CPU Interface | LGA1151 | ||
| Chipset | Intel Z390 | ||
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 64 GB Dual Channel Up to DDR4-4500 |
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| Video Outputs | N/A | ||
| Network Connectivity | Killer E2500 Gigabit Intel 9560 802.11ac 2T2R |
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| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220 | ||
| PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 x16, x8/x8, x8/x4/x4 |
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| PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 | ||
| Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/5/10 | ||
| Onboard M.2 | 3 x PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA, RAID 0/1/5 | ||
| USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) | 4 x Type-A Rear Panel (Z390) 1 x Type-A Rear Panel (ASMedia) 1 x Type-C Rear Panel (ASMedia) 2 x Type-C Header (Z390) |
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| USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) | 2 x Header (four ports) (ASMedia) | ||
| USB 2.0 | 4 x Type-A Rear Panel 2 x Header (four ports) |
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| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 2 x 8pin CPU |
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| Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x CPU/pump (4-pin) 6 x System (4-pin) |
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| IO Panel | 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A 4 x USB 2.0 Type-A 1 x Network RJ45 (Killer) 5 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Output (Realtek) 1 x Clear CMOS Button 1 x BIOS Flashback Button 2 x Intel 9560 Antenna Ports |
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Although the MSI Z390 ACE is one of the more expensive Z390 motherboards with a price tag of $290, there is a certain something lacking. Some of the other boards in the same price bracket feature 2.5G Realtek LAN (ASRock), or 5G/10G Aquantia NICs, but in 'keeping up with the Joneses' MSI could have done their own implementations. The ACE does make the most of the Z390 native USB 3.1 Gen2 connectivity with a combined total of eight 10 Gbps USB ports, including five Type-A and a single Type-C on the rear panel. The rest come through the use of internal headers with two USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C internal connectors, with a further four USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports being available via two internal headers.
Test Bed
As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
While we have been able to measure audio performance from previous Z370 motherboards, the task has been made even harder with the roll-out of the Z390 chipset and none of the boards tested so far has played ball. It seems all USB support for Windows 7 is now extinct so until we can find a reliable way of measuring audio performance on Windows 10 or until a workaround can be found, audio testing will have to be done at a later date.
| Test Setup | |||
| Processor | Intel i7-8700K, 65W, $300, 6 Cores, 12 Threads, 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz Turbo) |
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| Motherboard | MSI MEG Z390 ACE (BIOS Version 7B12v12) | ||
| Cooling | Corsair H100i V2 | ||
| Power Supply | Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU | ||
| Memory | 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2400 Ran at DDR4-2666 CL16-18-18-35 2T |
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| Video Card | ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
| Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
| Case | Open Test Bed | ||
| Operating System | Windows 10 RS3 inc. Spectre/Meltdown Patches | ||
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
| Hardware Providers for CPU and Motherboard Reviews | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Silverstone Fans |
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New Test Suite: Spectre and Meltdown Hardened
Since the start of our Z390 reviews, we are using an updated OS, updated drivers, and updated software. This is in line with our CPU testing updates, which includes Spectre and Meltdown patches. As we are in the process of testing more Z390 boards, that data will be added in future reviews however at this point we only have Z370 on the old testing as a reference.
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rsandru - Monday, December 17, 2018 - link
Well, that's the problem, I'm already on an HEDT platform but I'm missing on the the fastest CPUs for gaming in exchange of many PCI-E lanes and quad-channel memory that I don't need.I suppose I just can't have it all on the consumer platform for the time being...
CheapSushi - Monday, December 17, 2018 - link
Are you talking just about the cheapest platforms? Because it does exist already.oRAirwolf - Monday, December 17, 2018 - link
Stopped reading as soon as I saw the word "Killer."The_Assimilator - Monday, December 17, 2018 - link
Ditto; that trash does not belong on a board that costs nearly three hundred dollars.CheapSushi - Monday, December 17, 2018 - link
Why? Why are people still throwing out this old garbage of a viewpoint? They're just rebadged Qualcomm Atheros chips. The "Killer" part is just a software addon that makes it function like a router if you want. Do want router like function? Already have a dedicated router? Cool. Don't install the software. Are you saying Atheros are crap? There's nothing wrong with it. Everyone just says "Intel" because they're bog standard and had better support for Linux unlike Realtek but don't know much about it detail wise. Hell, other companies are doing better add-on chips now, especially past 1Gpbs, like Aquantia. But according to the mindshare....who cares right?PeachNCream - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link
For a desktop PC with a full ATX motherboard, the presence of a Killer network adapter is a problem that can be overcome by simply adding a cheap RealTek or whatever else in an expansion slot. Its almost a non-issue since you can just disable it and forget it exists. It becomes a more significant issue on a laptop where you may have motherboard integrated hardware and no alternative or a warranty that would discourage a surgical procedure to remove and replace the hardware in question.As for Rivet Networks, the issue there is the fact that the company is basically rebranding 3rd party hardware, adding worthless traffic prioritization software that while finally not entirely unstable still serves no useful purpose, and presenting it as a premium solution to the point that even journalists like those at Anandtech were, for a time, mindlessly touting them as a desirable feature despite having zero supporting evidence and not a single review for years. Even earlier than that, Killer NIC drivers were awful and thusly earned a well-deserved reputation as a pig wearing a lot of lipstick. People picking up Killer NICs in the post "my network adapter runs a Linux OS and has a freakish metal K heatsink on the SoC" era were under the impression they were getting superior hardware but actually ended up with a rebranded whatever that was festooned with iffy drivers and saddled with a dumpster fire attempt at filtering and prioritizing packets.
In the end, people are bitter. That historic distaste keeps getting reinforced by the number of times the brand has been spun off, bought, and sold. They got sick of being sold something that didn't work and are sick of seeing Killer hardware slung at them as premium or magically better without evidence to verify the software actually does anything more than eat CPU cycles for no reason. That breeds discontent and no small number of outspoken, fed up people that hope tech journalists will eventually get feedback up to OEMs like MSI so the company stops sticking buyers with Rivet's ethernet and wireless products because the companies don't understand the mindset of their potential customers. Its taken us years of railing in comments about Killer NICs to even get to the point where Anandtech doesn't tell us "It's got a primo-uber-tuber-you-have-to-love-it-Killer-NIC lol disclaimer no benchmarkz whatsoever hahaha!" when a product passes through here with Rivet's rebadged gear soldered on it. Its a good change when the Killer NIC just gets noted with a neutral comment on the opening page, but I think a lot of us are waiting with our sour grapes for the day when Rivet Networks goes out of business so we can happily buy a computer with literally any other network adapter in it.
Aikouka - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link
Honestly, I've been wary of them ever since I ran into a driver issue that caused some nasty memory leaks. That was a fun one to diagnose... "Hm, why is it that whenever I download anything, my memory usage shoots through the roof?" All I can say is that it's a good thing that I build my main machines with 32GB+ of memory!sharathc - Monday, December 17, 2018 - link
I hate to see Spectre/Meltdown this that shit patches in the OS row under Test Setup. Thanks Intel for your performance turned security risks features.sharathc - Monday, December 17, 2018 - link
I hate to see Spectre/Meltdown this that shit patches in the OS row under Test Setup. Thanks Intel for your performance turned security risks features.hapkiman - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link
I recently purchased this mobo, and I have to say I am very pleased with it and it looks great with the grey/gun metal color and RGB panel (really does look pretty cool). This is a very solid high quality board. You can just feel the "heft" and quality of it when making your build. I have typically been an ASUS fan over the years, but I am very happy with this MSI board. I'm currently getting a 5GHz OC on all 8 cores on my i9 9900K at 1.3v and no other settings changed. But I'm just starting to play with it. Thanks for the review.