MSI MEG Z590 Ace Motherboard Review: Premium Rocket Lake with TB4 and 4x M.2
by Gavin Bonshor on May 26, 2021 1:00 PM ESTBoard Features
The MSI MEG Z590 Ace is a premium ATX motherboard that sits just below its flagship MEG Z590 Godlike model in the product stack and is aimed at content creators, gamers, and enthusiasts using Intel 11th Gen Rocket Lake processors. The Z590 chipset is also backward compatible with the previous 10th Generation Comet Lake processors. There are plenty of features, including two full-length PCIe 4.0 slots that can operate at x16 or x8/x8, with a third full-length PCIe 3.0 slot electronically locked to x4, and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. For storage, MSI includes a total of four M.2 slots, with one PCIe 4.0 x4, two PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA, and one PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot. There are also six SATA ports that feature support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. In regards to memory support, there are a total of four slots that can support up to DDR4-5600, with a maximum capacity of up to 128 GB. Looking at cooling compatibility, the Ace has eight 4-pin headers in total including one dedicated to a CPU fan, one for water pump, and six for chassis fans.
MSI MEG Z590 Ace ATX Motherboard | |||
Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
Product Page | Link | ||
Price | $500 ($470 at Amazon) | ||
Size | ATX | ||
CPU Interface | LGA1200 | ||
Chipset | Intel Z590 | ||
Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 128 GB Dual-Channel Up to DDR4-5600 |
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Video Outputs | 1 x HDMI 2.0b | ||
Network Connectivity | Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E |
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Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC4082 ESS Sabre 9018Q2C DAC |
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PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 2 x PCIe 4.0 (x16, x8/x8) | ||
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 2 x PCIe 3.0 x1 |
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Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/5/10 (Z590) | ||
Onboard M.2 | 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 2 x PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA |
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Thunderbolt 4 (40 Gbps) | 2 x Type-C 2 x Mini-DisplayPort Inputs |
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USB 3.2 (20 Gbps) | N/A | ||
USB 3.2 (10 Gbps) | 2 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 1 x USB Type-C (One header) |
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USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) | 4 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 2 x USB Type-A (One header) |
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USB 2.0 | 2 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 4 x USB Type-A (Two headers) |
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Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin Motherboard 2 x 8-pin CPU 1 x 6-pin PCIe |
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Fan Headers | 1 x 4-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin Water Pump/chassis 6 x 4-pin Chassis |
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IO Panel | 2 x Antenna Ports (Intel AX210) 1 x HDMI 2.0 output 2 x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C 2 x Mini-DisplayPort inputs 2 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-A 4 x USB 3.2 G1 Type-A 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A 1 x RJ45 (Intel) 1 x BIOS Flashback button 1 x Clear CMOS button 5 x 3.5 mm audio jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Optical output (Realtek) |
The rear panel of the MSI MEG Z590 Ace has a wide variety of premium input and output, including dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C with two mini-DisplayPort inputs, two USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. MSI also includes more USB capacity through front panel headers, including one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C (one header), two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A (one header), and four USB 2.0 (two headers) ports. Integrated audio is also impressive, with five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical powered by Realtek's latest ALC4082 HD audio codec and an ESS Sabre 9018Q2C DAC. For network connectivity, the Ace includes one Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller and the latest Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi, which also offers BT 5.2 connectivity. Users looking to use Intel's integrated graphics will find the HDMI 2.0b video output very useful.
Test Bed
With some of the nuances with Intel's Rocket Lake processors, our policy is to see if the system gives an automatic option to increase the power limits of the processor. If it does, we select the liquid cooling option. If it does not, we do not change the defaults. Adaptive Boost Technology is disabled by default.
Test Setup | |||
Processor | Intel Core i9-11900K, 125 W, $374 8 Cores, 16 Threads 3.5 GHz (5.3 GHz Turbo) |
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Motherboard | MSI MEG Z590 Ace (BIOS 7D04v11) | ||
Cooling | Corsair iCue H150i Elite Capellix 360 mm AIO | ||
Power Supply | Corsair HX850 80Plus Platinum 850 W | ||
Memory | G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 CL 14-14-14-34 2T (2 x 8 GB) | ||
Video Card | MSI GTX 1080 (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
Case | Corsair Crystal 680X | ||
Operating System | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit: Build 20H2 |
We must also thank the following:
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TVTAPPRO - Sunday, June 20, 2021 - link
it has best features latest updated..MSI love to create some of the best motherboards out and they do a good job at offering users what they need. The MSI MEG Z590 ACE is an enthusiast-grade..analytics