In our first X570 motherboard review we have the MSI MEG X570 Ace. This motherboard represents MSI's high-end range and sits in the top 3 of its product stack. The MEG X570 Ace has a black and gold theme which fits in with AMD's 50 year anniversary, and also includes an 'Infinity Mirror' on the rear panel cover. It's a beefy looking product, and the Ace has a trump card of a price tag of $369 as it offers enthusiast-level features such as a 2.5G Ethernet, a 12+2-phase power delivery, and three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, all at a fairly reasonable price.

MSI MEG X570 Ace Overview

The MSI MEG X570 Ace is one of seven motherboards that MSI has for the launch of the X570 chipset, sitting below the $699 Godlike model. The key thing with the MSI MEG X570 Ace is that it is a deviation of the new RGB standard, with similar aesthetics but an an all-black PCB, with black and silver heatsinks and gold accented text. This fits in nicely with AMD's 50-year anniversary theme, and marks it as one of the more unique looking models from the X570 product stack.

A notable design feature is MSI's RGB Infinity Mirror 2, which is integrated into the rear panel cover. The rear panel IO comes attached with a black and red preinstalled IO shield. There is also an LED Debug, a front panel USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, an overclockers toolkit with power/reset buttons, and an MSI Boost dial which gives users the option to use the onboard CPU overclocking profiles without entering the BIOS.

Important features on the MSI X570 Ace include an Intel AX200 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface, as well as a Realtek RTL8125 2.5 Gigabit NIC, and has support for up to three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives. Each M.2 slot comes supplied with its own individual heatsink and fits in with the design of the actively Zero Frozr cooled X570 chipset heatsink. MSI is advertising a 14-phase power delivery, but we know it's running an International Rectifier IR35201 PWM controller running in a 6+2 configuration with doublers. This means the CPU Vcore element is running a doubled phase design, and the VGT/SoC is running a 2-phase setup. This, in theory, should be more than capable of overclocking 16-core AMD Ryzen 3950X which is due later on this year. The design of the heatsinks means that both power delivery heatsinks are connected to the X570 chipset heatsink via a single heatpipe which runs around the memory slots and is designed to be more efficient at dissipating heat from the warm running chipset and VRMs. Other cooling options include seven 4-pin PWM fan headers which are dotted around the board's edge.

The advancements in AMD's Zen 2 architecture on the 7 nm manufacturing process stretches out to memory performance too as the MSI MEG X570 Ace supports DDR4-4633. Also supported in MSI's X570 product stack are the new 32 GB UDIMMsm which means the X570 Ace can run up to 128 GB of DDR4 memory. For graphics cards, the MSI MEG X570 Ace has two full-length PCIe 4.0 slots from the CPU, which operate in x16 and x8/x8 modes, and another full-length PCIe 4.0 x4 slot from the chipset. This also includes two PCIe 4.0 x1 slots which give users the option to add devices such as dedicated sound cards, and RAID controllers.

The storage capability of the X570 Ace is also impressive, with support for one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drive from the CPU and two from the chipset. There is also four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. Onboard audio is handled by a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec, while networking is provided by the Intel AX 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless CNVi interface and Realtek RT8125-AG 2.5 G / Intel I211-AT Gigabit NICs. MSI also includes three USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, a single USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel. The MSI MEG X570 Ace also features a clear CMOS button, a BIOS Flashback button on the rear panel. 


MSI MEG X570 Ace Block Diagram

Looking at the performance of the MSI MEG X570 Ace, power consumption is up overall when compared to previous B450 and X470 models we have tested. This is because the X570 chipset has a TDP of 11 W against the previous generations of chipset, which varies from 4 to 6 W. Performance in our updated testbed was favorable to the X570 Ace when paired with our Ryzen 7 3700X processor, and was marginally better when compared with B450 and X470 models we tested. The results will become more extensive as more X570 models make it onto our testbed, but the X570 does perform well, even if it's marginal. Performance in our game testing for the majority was to the benefit of the newer X570 model. 

One of the most talked-about aspects of the new Ryzen 3000 processors has been its ability, or lack of ability, to push high overclocks due to a number of variables. These include limitations on the electrical design current (EDC) and the high idle temperatures. Infantile firmware is also currently something that should mature in a progressive manner over the next couple of months, and until AMD work out some of the kinks in Precision Boost Overdrive, users gain most from manually overclocking through the BIOS, or with AMD's Ryzen Master overclocking utility.

In our overclocking performance testing, we managed a solid 4.3 GHz all-core on our Ryzen 7 3700X testbed CPU with a maximum stable voltage of 1.375 V. This is considered good compared to some silicon, but upon trying to push to 4.4 GHz, we hit a brick wall in terms of progression. Performance increased gradually in our POV-Ray benchmark as we increased the CPU core frequency and when we enabled Precision Boost Overdrive, it didn't have a any impact on the performance, but raised the power consumption.

It's clear that the MSI MEG X570 Ace is intended for users looking to create a high-end gaming system with enthusiast-level features. It is designed to squeeze performance out of the new Ryzen 3000 series CPUs. Compared to a number of extreme models, it still has a high price tag of $369, which slots it into the high-end X570 motherboard segment. But it comes with a number of favorable features for those that want to load a system up with the latest hardware.

The MSI MEG X570 Ace is also in direct competition with GIGABYTE's X570 Aorus Master ($359), and the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi ($399) which both on paper, are very similar in terms of specifications. These models certainly aren't the respective flagship models, but all three trump the premium models that were available for AMD's X370 and X470 chipset launches, and it shows manufacturers have pumped its support and faith in AMD's new 7 nm Ryzen 3000 series.


Our new motherboard thermal testing starts today!

Read on for our full review.

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  • rocky12345 - Monday, July 22, 2019 - link

    If you were replying to me I don't think I ever said what I had hooked up to the Sata ports. SO here goes I have a Samsung 860 Pro 512GB as my C drive and 3 4TB WD blacks hooked to the system as just pure storage and game drives. When I upgrade to a new platform I probably will go with a 1TB NMVe drive as my C drive and pick up 3 6TB WD blacks for storage.

    I may also installed a second cheaper 1TB NMVe drive in the second M.2 slot so can install most played games on that drive.
  • TheUnhandledException - Saturday, July 20, 2019 - link

    How about the horrible lack of punch card reader support. 4 SATA is fine these days. The future is m.2 (or ideally also u.2 but that seems server only). I am glad that OEMs aren't wasting PCIe lanes putting in 6 or 8 or 10 SATA ports. If you really need 8 SATA ports then get an expansion card and connect all your drives to that.
  • rocky12345 - Monday, July 22, 2019 - link

    4 ports for most are fine even my own needs only need up to 4 ports since on my current system I have 1 Sata SSD and 3 Sata hard drives installed and got rid of the Blu-Ray drive a long time ago.

    I think the point being made was for this amount of money for the board it seems like they cut some of the features. I think I have seen other recent Ryzen boards with 6 sata ports maybe even 8 ports and cost less also. Right now I require up to 4 ports on my current system and have 5 ports free.

    In my next build I will only need 3 ports because of switching to NMVe m.2 SSD drive but I do plan on getting 3 hard drives for large storage needs because SSD drives can not match the price to storage size yet of a regular hard drive. My plan just like last time I got my drives is to get the fastest possible drives on the market in the consumer segment which is the WD Black drives. I probably will get 6TB drives this time around and would like to get the 8TB drives but they seem to be hard to find right now so 6TB will have to do I will just get 3 of them to fulfill my storage needs.
  • Tomyknee - Saturday, August 31, 2019 - link

    Thank you. Why does no one see this? This is the first new PCIe upgrade in a decade and people are fretting about 6gb SATA? Stay with a stinking X399 board if you are going to continue to use SATA
  • Azurael - Friday, July 19, 2019 - link

    Are you ever planning to do native EFI post time? I'm not sure how relevant BIOS-emulation boot is any more.

    I certainly haven't had CSM enabled for about 5 years - just leaving it on, even if you're booting in EFI mode, easily doubles POST time on most of the Gigabyte boards I've used in that period - and that's without enabling AMI Fast/Ultra Fast boot mode where it doesn't bring up unnecessary things like AHCI and XHCI controllers which aren't hosting a boot device and will have to be initialised by the OS anyway.

    My current machine starts booting Windows about 2 seconds after I press the power button (which is much faster than any of the OEM machines I've observed booting in EFI mode and leads me to suspect that the relative differences between boards will be totally different in EFI mode.)
  • marcle - Friday, July 19, 2019 - link

    How much noise does the chipset fan make? Can I use the X570 chipset in an audio production environment that requires a (virtually) silent computer?
    Right now I've got an i7-4771 with 84w TDP that's inaudible in an insulated case, and stays under 60C (usually well under) even at load.
    How would the X570 fare in that situation?
  • DillholeMcRib - Friday, July 19, 2019 - link

    Is there any reason why the vendors have gone from reasonably priced X470 boards to overbuilt Intel-level price gougers on X570?
  • zer0hour - Friday, July 19, 2019 - link

    Ridiculously priced motherboard.
  • Qasar - Friday, July 19, 2019 - link

    nope.. that would be MSI's godlike x570 board..
  • zer0hour - Saturday, July 20, 2019 - link

    That one is even more ridiculous.

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