Review MSI MEG Z790 Ace Motherboard Review: Fully Loaded, Overpriced

[Admin]

The MSI MEG Z790 Ace is a premium mid-range motherboard loaded with features. You get five M.2 sockets (one PCIe 5.0 x4), flagship-class audio, overbuilt VRMs and a unique black and gold style. But the $699.99 price is tough to take as other, less expensive and similarly equipped options are available.

MSI MEG Z790 Ace Motherboard Review: Fully Loaded, Overpriced : Read more

 

[Friesiansam]

A "mid-range" motherboard for £732.55 @ Amazon UK? And they say AM5 motherboards are over-priced...

 

[PlaneInTheSky]

The price of motherboards is just as bad as the price of GPU.

Both Taiwanese monopolies.

 

[Ogotai]

The price of motherboards is just as bad as the price of GPU.

the prices for GPUS, yes, still way too much, mother boards, not so much, about the same price for the same "model " regardless if it is intel or amd

 

[AgentBirdnest]

And I considered the X570 ACE to be a huge splurge at $330, just three and a half years ago... Jeez... I gotta admit that I love the looks of it, at least.
Odd that this doesn't have an M.2 X-Pander card (or whatever it's called) like the X670E version of the ACE does, but both boards are $700.

Thanks for the review, Joe. Was a good read.
I'm surprised at the Far Cry 6 results. About 5% faster than the Gigabyte board? What can that be attributed to?

 

[KwazyIvan]

For such an overpriced mainboard, its sad that its not really up to spec.
The mainboard specifications from MSI website states the following:

EXPANSION SLOT	3x PCI-E x16 slot PCI_E1 Gen PCIe 5.0 supports up to x16 (From CPU) PCI_E2 Gen PCIe 5.0 supports up to x8 (From CPU) PCI_E3 Gen PCIe 4.0 supports up to x4 (From Chipset) *PCI_E1 slot will run at x8 speed when installing device in the PCI_E2 slot or M2_4 slot. **M2_4 slot will be unavailable when installing device in the PCI_E2 slot.

STORAGE

5x M.2 M.2_1 Source (From CPU) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 , supports 22110/2280/2260 devices M.2_2 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 , supports 2280/2260 devices M.2_3 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 / SATA mode, supports 2280/2260 devices M.2_4 Source (From CPU) supports up to PCIe 5.0 x4 , supports 2280 devices M.2_5 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 / SATA mode, supports 22110/2280/2260 devices 6x SATA 6G *M2_4 slot will be unavailable when installing in the PCI_E2 slot. **SATA7 will be unavailable when installing M.2 SATA SSD in the M2_5 slot.

Notice what happens to the PCI_E1 Gen PCIe 5.0 x16 if one uses the M.2_4 PCIe 5.0 x4 slot.
So how is one supposed to make the most with PCIe 5.0 x4 NVME, when the GPU then runs at x8 speed ?

 

[Ogotai]

So how is one supposed to make the most with PCIe 5.0 x4 NVME, when the GPU then runs at x8 speed ?

welcome to the joy of not enough pcie slots to go around so you cant use all they put on the boards at the same time. amd or intel. they need to increase the pcie lanes on boards. part of the reason why its so difficult for me to let my x99 based comp go, and upgrade it. what used to be in my main comp, is partly in that 2nd comp now.