Review MSI MEG X870E Godlike Motherboard Review: Seven USB-C and M.2 sockets, $1100 price

[Admin]

The X870E Godlike offers the most M.2 connectivity and USB Type-C ports for the platform, plus an LED screen and lavish looks, but it costs a pretty penny.

MSI MEG X870E Godlike Motherboard Review: Seven USB-C and M.2 sockets, $1100 price : Read more

 

[HardwiredWireless]

Lose the lights and name logo, give it an Intel chipset and socket and I'll buy two for my upgrades that I've been putting off. I need the processor that does best in compute tasks as I don't just use it for playing games and currently that's Intel.

 

[thestryker]

Lose the lights and name logo, give it an Intel chipset and socket and I'll buy two for my upgrades that I've been putting off. I need the processor that does best in compute tasks as I don't just use it for playing games and currently that's Intel.

You can turn off all the lights on MSI boards (first thing I did with mine though I did have to use software to turn off the RGB on my DRAM) and they will have a Z890 version: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MEG-Z890-GODLIKE

 

[8086]

Premium to me these days is having lots of fully functional x16 pci-e slots so I can add more USB or NVME at my own leisure or even upgrade my sound or networking as needed.

Just a few years ago the X570 Godlike sold for around $600 and had more PCI-e connections... so in my mind the X870E is a $600-650 motherboard with a "$500 gamer tax added"

In many ways now, the PC gamer hobby is going the way of the Audiophile.... simply charging more for something because you give it a more special sounding name which appeals to a certain group of enthusiasts. It reminds me of about 10 years ago when a bunch of hi-fi brands were gutting Oppo players and then sticking them in to their own billet faced chassis with no other improvements made and charging 10x the price.

 

[HideOut]

Lose the lights and name logo, give it an Intel chipset and socket and I'll buy two for my upgrades that I've been putting off. I need the processor that does best in compute tasks as I don't just use it for playing games and currently that's Intel.

LOL no it isnt. The AMD 9950x is the best. But ok.

 

[newtechldtech]

$1100 price and no PLX chip for dual 16 lanes slots ?

Given the huge Gen 5 PCIe bandwidth , a switch chip 16 to 16+16 is a must for such high end Priced motherboards. like in old times. in old times for $400 only we could get a PLX motherboard .

 

[Li Ken-un]

$1100 price and no PLX chip for dual 16 lanes slots ?

Given the huge Gen 5 PCIe bandwidth , a switch chip 16 to 16+16 is a must for such high end Priced motherboards. like in old times. in old times for $400 only we could get a PLX motherboard .

It’s a choice between consumer motherboard with server PCIe switch or a workstation/server system.

I’m running the former, and the PCIe switch alone is $1,500 plus the cost of cabling and enclosure/adapter. The workstation/server route looks a lot more attractive now for lots of PCIe lanes. Built-in PCIe switch on a consumer platform motherboard might not be much cheaper than a PCIe switch AIC.

 

[SomeoneElse23]

Joe TH: the specs list on page 1 has incorrect data for the network jacks. You correctly state in a few places there are 10GbE and 5GbE, but on the specs list you says 2.5GbE and 5GbE for network jacks.

 

[logainofhades]

No consumer board is worth $1100.

 

[pug_s]

The only godlike thing about this motherboard is the price.

 

[FITCamaro]

No consumer board is worth $1100.

This.

I get inflation but high end boards used to be $400, maybe $500. $1100 is an entire computer. Tell me what this does significantly better than a $200-300 board.

 

[Soaptrail]

No consumer board is worth $1100.

I sure would love to see a breakdown of how many people buy these boards and what the percentage is to cheaper boards.

 

[8086]

It’s a choice between consumer motherboard with server PCIe switch or a workstation/server system.

I’m running the former, and the PCIe switch alone is $1,500 plus the cost of cabling and enclosure/adapter. The workstation/server route looks a lot more attractive now for lots of PCIe lanes. Built-in PCIe switch on a consumer platform motherboard might not be much cheaper than a PCIe switch AIC.

Just two gubernations ago of the MSI GODLIKE you got multiple x16 slots. I mean, how many friggin NVME drives do you really need? More than 3 is useless and if I need more than that, then I can use my x16 slot for what ever the heck i want it for, including more SSDs.

 

[thestryker]

Just two gubernations ago of the MSI GODLIKE you got multiple x16 slots.

The X570 Godlike had 4 full length slots, but the same 16 lanes as everything else. That meant it only worked in 16/0/0, 8/0/8, or 8/4/4 and the last slot is 4 lanes off the chipset. What are you doing on a desktop platform that needs full length slots, but also doesn't need the lanes?

I do think the bottom slot should be open or full length even though it's only 4 lanes, but for a desktop board the general design doesn't seem unreasonable. More than 2 slots off the CPU seems of minimal benefit for anyone.

 

[Li Ken-un]

how many friggin NVME drives do you really need? More than 3 is useless

for a desktop board the general design doesn't seem unreasonable. More than 2 slots off the CPU seems of minimal benefit for anyone.

Just one M.2 slot is already too much. You know where they always put it? Sandwiched between the CPU (which almost always means a huge heat sink) and a full-length PCIe slot (which is almost always occupied by a GPU). It’s a challenging topography. I dread having to swap out M.2 SSDs or vacuum dust from the crevices. God forbid I drop a screw while working in that area.

Sure, there are M.2 slots on other parts of the motherboard, but they are usually not CPU-connected PCIe lanes or they share lanes with another slot. That first slot’s lanes are exclusive to the first slot and can’t be accessed any other way.

My solution is to not use M.2 slots as they were intended, but to attach OCuLink or MCIO adapters to each and every one that comes with the motherboard so I can connect devices of my choice to them at the other end of the cables.

 

[8086]

Just one M.2 slot is already too much. You know where they always put it? Sandwiched between the CPU (which almost always means a huge heat sink) and a full-length PCIe slot

I think it was ASUS who, with in the last few years came out with a daughterboard for NVME drives that was slotted near the ram on the front side of the motherboard, near the CPU. I think this is a pretty good solution for freeing up slot space and still allowing for plenty of x16 Slots.

 

[thestryker]

Just one M.2 slot is already too much. You know where they always put it? Sandwiched between the CPU (which almost always means a huge heat sink) and a full-length PCIe slot (which is almost always occupied by a GPU). It’s a challenging topography. I dread having to swap out M.2 SSDs or vacuum dust from the crevices. God forbid I drop a screw while working in that area.

Sure, there are M.2 slots on other parts of the motherboard, but they are usually not CPU-connected PCIe lanes or they share lanes with another slot. That first slot’s lanes are exclusive to the first slot and can’t be accessed any other way.

My solution is to not use M.2 slots as they were intended, but to attach OCuLink or MCIO adapters to each and every one that comes with the motherboard so I can connect devices of my choice to them at the other end of the cables.

M.2 has always been, and will always be, a terrible solution for desktop users. U.2 drives have always been a superior choice, but they have wires and they have to be mounted in the case. They also tend to cost a bit more to manufacture than M.2. People spoke with their wallets though so M.2 is never going anywhere. The only boards currently which have CPU connected lanes in a remotely convenient place are all 2 DIMM. It might be possible for CAMM2 boards to have more convenient M.2 slots but who knows if/when that will be a real option on desktop.

I'd be happy with motherboards moving to SlimSAS or U.2 for storage as these both can do SATA/NVMe. My two X99 systems have M.2 drives in 2.5" U.2 adapters and my W680 system uses a SlimSAS to SATA breakout for 4 drives. If someone wants to use U.2 drives on desktop platforms now there are M.2 to U.2 adapters which slot in to a standard M.2 slot and either have a built in cable or a plug for your own. This is what my current system uses to connect the 905p.

I think it was ASUS who, with in the last few years came out with a daughterboard for NVME drives that was slotted near the ram on the front side of the motherboard, near the CPU. I think this is a pretty good solution for freeing up slot space and still allowing for plenty of x16 Slots.

They do this with the Apex boards and some of their ITX boards. I think they also did it with the last Gene they released.

 

[Li Ken-un]

I think it was ASUS who, with in the last few years came out with a daughterboard for NVME drives that was slotted near the ram on the front side of the motherboard, near the CPU. I think this is a pretty good solution for freeing up slot space and still allowing for plenty of x16 Slots.

I have one, but mine happen to have the primary M.2 slot in that difficult to reach spot. The secondary one is right in front of the RAM on a daughterboard. In order to use all the PCIe lanes granted to me, I still have to go through that tiny crevice between the GPU and CPU heatsink.

 

[Dreadpirateflappy]

Lose the lights and name logo, give it an Intel chipset and socket and I'll buy two for my upgrades that I've been putting off. I need the processor that does best in compute tasks as I don't just use it for playing games and currently that's Intel.

Nope. All benchmarks put amd ahead for everything at the moment. Want a CPU for gaming? The 9800x3d. Want it for a mix of productivity and gaming, the 9950x beats anything intel has by quite a margin.

Intel is behind for everything unless you're a deluded fanboy that just can't let go. Which is weird.

 

[HardwiredWireless]

Nope. All benchmarks put amd ahead for everything at the moment. Want a CPU for gaming? The 9800x3d. Want it for a mix of productivity and gaming, the 9950x beats anything intel has by quite a margin.

Intel is behind for everything unless you're a deluded fanboy that just can't let go. Which is weird.

Nope Intel is best You just have to tweak the internchip timing slightly and it blows AMD away but that's real world not some testing bench.

 

[drivinfast247]

Lose the lights and name logo, give it an Intel chipset and socket and I'll buy two for my upgrades that I've been putting off. I need the processor that does best in compute tasks as I don't just use it for playing games and currently that's Intel.

Cool story, bro!

 

[I]

I am in favor of them building anything that makes them absurd profits that allow them to fund the basic boards that peons like me, enjoy buying at 1/6th the price.

Let the rich fund my hobby!
... though full disclosure, I used to build custom systems for profit too, and seldom did anyone want a post-$150 motherboard. Granted this was back in the day, the era before there were any motherboards that cost over $250.