The MSI MEG X570 Godlike Motherboard Review: Thor's Flagship
by Gavin Bonshor on August 28, 2019 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- MSI
- 10G Ethernet
- Ryzen
- PCIe 4.0
- Ryzen 3000
- X570
- X570 Godlike
- MEG
Board Features
The MSI MEG X570 Godlike is its flagship X570 model and as a result, costs a whopping $700. MSI includes a formidable accessories bundle with an Aquantia AQC107 10 G Super LAN add-on card, an M.2 Xpander-Z Gen4 dual M.2 slot adapter, as well as some classy looking red and black braided SATA cables. The highly premium controller set is heavily focused on networking and audio and includes two Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codecs, two rear-panel Ethernet ports controlled by a Killer E3000 2.5 G, and Killer E2600 Gigabit powered NIC. On top of that is a Killer AX1650 Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax wireless interface which adds BT 5.0 connectivity as well. Also on the rear panel is a 6.3 mm headphone output which is powered by an ESS 9018 DAC.
MSI MEG X570 Godlike E-ATX Motherboard | |||
Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
Product Page | Link | ||
Price | $700 | ||
Size | ATX | ||
CPU Interface | AM4 | ||
Chipset | AMD X570 | ||
Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 128 GB Dual Channel Up to DDR4-4800 |
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Video Outputs | N/A | ||
Network Connectivity | Aquantia AQC107 10 G (Add-on) Killer E3000 2.5 G Killer E2600 Gigabit Killer AX1650 Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax |
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Onboard Audio | 2 x Realtek ALC1220 ESS 9018 DAC (6.3 mm jack) |
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PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 3 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (x16, x8/x0/x8, x8/x4/x4) |
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PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 | ||
Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/10 | ||
Onboard M.2 | 2 x PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4/x2 2 x PCIe 4.0 x4 (add-on) |
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USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) | 3 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Header |
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USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) | 2 x Type-A Rear Panel | ||
USB 2.0 | 2 x Header (four ports) | ||
Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 2 x 8pin CPU |
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Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x Water Pump (4-pin) 7 x System (4-pin) |
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IO Panel | 3 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-C 2 x USB 3.1 G1 Type-A 2 x Network RJ45 (Realtek) 5 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Output (Realtek) 1 x 6.3mm Headphone Jack (ESS) 2 x Intel AX200 Antenna Ports 1 x Flash BIOS Button 1 x Clear CMOS Button 1 x PS/2 Combo Port |
The rear panel includes a pre-installed rear IO shield and also features three USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C and two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports, while there is also a front-panel header for a USB 3.1 G2 Type-C and two USB 2.0 headers offering up to four ports. The MSI MEG X570 Godlike is geared up for enthusiasts with nine 4-pin PWM enabled headers, with two 2-pin temperature sensors, a 14-phase power delivery for the CPU VCore, as well as 4-phases for the SoC. The storage options on offer include three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots with two including support for SATA drive, with an MSI Xpander-Z Gen4 dual PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot add-on card, and six SATA ports.
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 | AMD Ryzen 3700X, 65W, $329 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 3.6 GHz (4.4 GHz Turbo) |
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Motherboard | MSI MEG X570 Godlike (BIOS 7C34v12) | ||
Cooling | ID Cooling Auraflow 240mm AIO | ||
Power Supply | Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU | ||
Memory | 2x8GB G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 16-16-16-36 2T | ||
Video Card | ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
Case | Open Benchtable BC1.1 (Silver) | ||
Operating System | Windows 10 1903 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.
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. We are also running the testbed with the new Windows 10 1903 update for AMD's Ryzen 3000 series CPUs, and X570 motherboard reviews. The Windows 1903 update improves multi-core and multi-thread performance on AMD's Ryzen processors with topology awareness meaning previous issues in regards to latency have been known to affect performance. As users are recommended to keep their Windows 10 operating system updates, our performance data is reflected with the 1903 update.
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web2dot0 - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - link
At this price. Get an Epyc 7302P and an MB that goes with it. 128Lanes of PCIE4.0.DigitalFreak - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - link
But then you are missing out on the wonderful RGBeees!Kevin G - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - link
The Ryzen parts should run at higher clocks than the low core count Epyc chips so there is a bit of a performance trade off. If that is acceptable and/or you need lots of fast IO, a low core count Epyc system would indeed be the better choice in this price range. The big catch is that Epyc server boards don't have things like on board audio which is pretty much expected for consumer parts.The real varible will be where the next Thread Ripper parts land in cores, clocks and dollars.
austinsguitar - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - link
that rear io is NOT ACCEPTABLE!Orange_Swan - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - link
yeah, that's what i was thinkingAndy Chow - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - link
Finally a x570 board that does not have HDMI/DP ports which are completely ridiculous for 80%+ of people buying rizen CPUs. However, they replace that by nothing. Dual Realtek ALC1220 HD? No one will use that. And five (5!!!!) usb ports? How much is that board again?Tunnah - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - link
lol holy crap, check the difference between game boost 2 and 11. Povray 4613, 172w. For an extra 5% performance you need 36c, 0.25v, and 100w, or about 60% more, power!They really did squeeze all they could out of this. I wish people would get past the clock speeds, or voltages, or power usage, etc. differences and just focus on the performance PER clock PER watt. This is just an exciting time for CPUs, and doubly exciting as a consumer!
hansmuff - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - link
If I'm gonna spend that amount, I want to fan-free Gigabyte board.yetanotherhuman - Thursday, August 29, 2019 - link
Right?Qasar - Thursday, August 29, 2019 - link
have you even heard the fan on the board ?? unless you have.. complaining about the fan, is moot, as the noise it makes, may be drowned out, buy the other fans in your system.