MSI MEG Z490 Ace

Intel’s new chipset finally hits our lab

LET’S JUST PREFACE this by saying, yes, this is a $400 motherboard. However, we’ve already featured the Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Pro AX in our build this issue, and the motherboard Intel sent us with its media package is the insanely expensive Asus ROG Maximus XII Extreme, which currently clocks in at no less than $750. So weirdly this is currently our only “mid-range” motherboard, so far as it’s the middle one in our office right now. How odd. That’s not to say there aren’t budget options out there—there’s a bevy of boards below the $150 mark still harboring the Z490 chipset spec, and on top of that manufacturers have launched H470 chipset motherboards too, which are even cheaper than that. So what makes the MSI MEG Z490 Ace so special?

Well, in a similar manner to Asus’s Apex series of mobos, or EVGA’s Dark lineup, it’s all about providing a solid overclocking platform, alongside a swathe of modern connectivity and aesthetic design appeal. Now that might not sound very appealing to the average Joe, but you’ve got to understand that a lot of stock processor performance relies on that same overclocking heritage. It’s all about the capacity of both your cooling solution and the motherboard’s power delivery. Whether that’s with Ryzen’s PBO and auto-overclocking features, or Intel’s Turbo or TVB (Thermal Velocity Boost) frequency tech, there’s now no longer a fixed max clock-speed.

Take the core i9-10900K as an example: You’ve got the base clock at 3.7GHz; the Turbo 2.0 frequency—what it can achieve across all cores when under load—listed at 5.1GHz; the Turbo Boost 3.0 frequency—what the processor can achieve across its four best or fastest cores in lightly threaded tasks—at 5.2GHz; and finally TVB, which takes those same two to four cores beyond Turbo 3.0’s max prescribed frequency, if the processor is still under its target temperature and there’s still available power budget. What that means is that every single 10th-gen processor will clock differently and behave differently across lightly threaded tasks, depending on the silicon lottery, cooling solutions, and motherboard power delivery.

ACE OF SPADES

To that end, the MSI MEG Z490 Ace comes packing a 16+1 power-phase design (16 for CPU VCore, one for the SOC), and dual eight-pin EPS power connectors. What that means is you have a perfectly balanced, mirrored power arrangement, further backed up by an Intersil digital PWM controller feeding eight Intersil phase controllers. That then goes into 16 individual 90A power stages MOSFETs, each paired with a titanium choke III. In comparison, last-gen’s Z390 Ace features a 12+1 setup, with a maximum amperage of 720A, half that of the 1440A in the Z490 MEG Ace. That in part is why we’ve seen a new chipset and a new socket as well. Intel’s clearly seen that its Comet Lake processors will pull more power and generate more heat, and has reengineered the chipset and motherboard requirements to compensate for that.

Ultimately, what that leads to with MSI’s MEG Z490 Ace is a fantastically well-equipped motherboard, not only in its connectivity but also in its capacity to deliver strong stock performance if the conditions are right. We’ve of course also seen improvements with the onboard connectivity, with Wi-Fi 6, 2.5G Ethernet, improved audio, support for up to three M.2 drives—all with heatsinks—a bevy of USB ports littered everywhere, and impressive memory support topping out on capacity at 128GB (4x32GB) @ 4,000MHz, or max memory frequency at 4,800MHz with 32GB (2x16GB) sticks.

If you’re after a mid-ranged king of a motherboard, have $400 to spare, and don’t quite mind the eccentric stylings and those copper/gold accents, then the MSI MEG Z490 Ace is a fine choice for your rig. The only caveat is it is quite expensive, especially compared to some of the perhaps better-equipped competitors at a similar price. MSI’s banking on that power delivery bearing fruit, and as the platform matures and BIOS updates bring more performance, we hope so too. Is that enough to offset the price? Well we’ll leave that one up to you.