MSI MEG X570 ACE Motherboard (AMD AM4, DDR4, PCIe 4.0, SATA 6Gb/s, M.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2, AX Wi-Fi 6, 2.5G LAN, ATX)

This review is for the MSI Review Rebate Program.With the release of Ryzen 3000, I thought it would be a great time to upgrade my aging i5-4670k system. I chose the 3800X and with my very positive previous experiences with MSI, I decided to go with the x570 ACE as it was in the price range and had the feature set I was looking for.My new system:⦁ 3800X(8C/16T)⦁ MSI MEG ACE X570⦁ NZXT Kraken x62 AIO(Yes, gotta fix the logo orientation in my pic)⦁ 16GB Patriot Steel 3600 (2 x 8GB)⦁ Samsung EVO 970 M.2 PCI-E SSD⦁ Sapphire Pulse Vega 56⦁ EVGA 850W G3 powersupply⦁ Fractal Define R-6 Case⦁ Windows 10 1903!UnboxingHere is what is included in the box:⦁ 4 SATA cables⦁ RGB LED splitter cable⦁ Corsair RGB and ARGB extension cables⦁ Corsair RGB to ARGB adapter cable⦁ WiFi antenna⦁ M.2 screws⦁ User manual/Quick Start guide⦁ Driver/App CD⦁ Sticker packThe Wifi antenna is actually impressive as it allows you to place it on a desk or stand next to your computer for better signal rather than the screw on attenas that are stuck on the rear I/O.Aesthetics⦁ Love the black and gold PCB theme. Came from a Z87-G45 and I favor this new color scheme over the red/black.⦁ The board looks and feels premium. Machined-aluminum heat sinks cover the M.2 slots and the VRM is well.⦁ Mystic Light Infinity mirror on the I/O has what seems endless configurations of color schemes and patterns. They advertise 16.8 million colors and 29 effects with the app.Notable Features⦁ 12 + 2 SOC VRM that uses IR35201 PWM controller running a 6+2 configuration with doublers. For the power stages, IR3555's are used that can handle 60A each totaling 720A. This will be more than capable of overclocking the 3950X coming later this year.⦁ Frozr cooled chipset heatsink. It looks like MSI put a lot of effort into a good chipset cooler that will hopefully past the test of time. There is also a heatpipe from the MOS heatsink to the chipset. I personally cannot hear the fan even when my radiator/video card/case fans are set to very low RPMs.⦁ Clear CMOS button on rear I/O. Great feature for overclockers without having to open the case to reset CMOS.⦁ BIOS flash back. Update the BIOS without a CPU - located right below the Clear CMOS button. Not useful currently IMO. Maybe this means Ryzen 4000 will also be on AM4?⦁ BIOS post code. Again, another great future for overclockers. Easier to troubleshoot than those silly debug LEDs. I do wish the BIOS post code was located near the top of the motherboard. At the bottom, the GPU can block the view unless your looking straight at it.⦁ Pre-installed I/O shielding. Nice not having to mess around with those shields anymore.⦁ MSI Boost dial. A little knob on the motherboard that allows you to use MSI pre-defined overclocking profiles. I personally have not used this yet as some users report higher-than-needed voltages when doing this.Specs⦁ 3 x PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots. All 3 slots capable of 4x PCIe - 2 provided via the chipset and 1 via the CPU.⦁ 4 x SATA ports that support RAID 0,1 and 10. 4 SATA ports seems low for some people, but for myself I have moved exclusively to M.2⦁ 2 full length PCIe 4.0 (x16 or x8/x8) slots from CPU and 1 full length PCIe 4.0 x4 via chipset.⦁ 7, 4-pin fan headers.⦁ Supports 4 DIMMS up to 4800 MHz. I have not tested RAM overclocking yet. Enabled XMP profile for my Patriot RAM and it worked flawlessly. Will test at a later time.⦁ 5 x USB 3.2(Gen2, 3A+2C) + 6 x USB 3.2(Gen 1) + 6 x USB 2.0⦁ Intel 1 GbE LAN⦁ Realtek 2.5 GbE LAN⦁ WiFi/BT - Intel 6 AX200⦁ Realtek 8 Channel audio with audio boostBIOSNavigating the BIOS was a very familiar scene as it looks similar to my Z87-G45 BIOS screen. The layout is easy to follow, especially the Overclocking area. The only compliant I have is that there is a delay when using a USB mouse, but that is very minor IMO.OverclockingThe first thing I tried out after installing Windows/Drivers/etc was overclocking. In the current state, Zen2 looks like a mediocre overclocker from other reviews and posts on Reddit that I have been following. However, I was easily able to get my 3800X @ 4.4 GHz all cores with 1.325v with all other settings auto. I tried to go to 4.5 with 1.4v, but the system would crash when trying to run stress tests. I left it at 4.4 for now, but will try to get 4.5 and mess with LLC and other voltage settings in the future. My temps under load are around 45-50C on the CPU. Chipset seems to run at a steady 54C and doesn't fluctuate much.SummaryAll-in-All, I love this board. From the looks, features and familiar BIOS screen I am glad I decided to go MSI once again. It is a pricey board for some people, but since I upgrade only every 5-6 years, the investment for me is worth it. Like mentioned above, only mirrors complaints I have is BIOS post code location, 4 SATA ports my be not enough for some people and the laggy BIOS when using a mouse.

This review is for the MSI Review Rebate Program.A review is required to receive a rebate on the products listed above.Update on 24/07/2019:I've had this for 10 days now. I've actually encountered a number of issues during these time. One of the issue I had was that my windows task manager was not showing the information of my ram. I think I figured out what the problem was.. Whoever buy this motherboard now, do not install windows 10 version 1903!! Install 1809 or older version. It seems like a lot of the programs/drivers are crashing with the new version now. After installing 1809, most of the problems I had are solved. I'll have to test a little bit more with it but for now my first advise on this is to use the board with version 1809. Furthermore, I would recommend to download the dragon center first and use their "live update" to update the drivers and move to MSI website for the rest. I'm pretty sure there could be better ways to do this but this was my favorite way on my experience.Old review from 13/07/2019--------------------------------------------I bought this to pair with 3900X.I compared it with a few different boards in similar price range, and decided to buy this one since it has all the features I wanted and I like gold and black. The only downside I could think before buying was it has 4 SATA ports, which is enough for me.I received the item 2 days after the order. I built my new system as soon as I received it and here are my thoughts so far.Appearance: I personally think it looks actually better than I thought from the picture. I like the RGB on IO cover too.Setup: I had to download all the updates, drivers, and utilities from the MSI website since I don't have optical driver on my build. It wasn't that hard but some of the software seem to crash against each other.. I couldn't have Dragon center to work in the first few trials. It's working now without installing other drivers or utilities. Not really sure what's causing this but pretty sure MSI will fix this soon. It maybe easier if I use the CD came with the package and that's what I'm trying to do pretty soon.Performance: I've only used it for 2 days so I can't really give much experience with it but it seems it works pretty well so far. Basically, everything in my system works above average if you run it with "extreme performance" mode from userbenchmark.In general, I like it so far. It pretty much has all the features you want and BIOS is easy to use.Happy with the board and hoping to use it for a long time.Update: I tried with the CD enclosed and it works perfect now. Even though some of the drivers are not up to data, I would recommend to use the enclosed CD for the set up as of 13/07/2019.

Pros: Honestly, almost everything. I haven't had any issues yet, a month later. Great to build on, with plenty of features for all but the top-end elites of users. Overkill for basic gaming and use, but money for this particular build wasn't really an issue. Saying that, this is still an expensive board, but you get what you pay for, in this regard. Having read about the terrible temps on the cheaper 570 MSI boards, I was very bummed, as I love MSI. I decided to just pay more for an incredibly solid, mostly future-proof board, and I'm happy I did. Utilizing the PCI 4.0 with a Seagate Firecuda feels like it should be criminal, in regards to loading and transfer speeds. There are plenty of fan headers, sufficient standard USB ports, and it includes both a USB C port on the I/O with a USB C header for a front panel. I can't really comment on the VRMs, as I haven't tried to manually overclock, but I can say my 3900x auto-boosts to 4.2-4.3 right out of the box. They do look pretty beefy, however, and temps on hardware monitor lead me to believe there is headroom to push it a bit. Ram overclocked to target speeds with no issues. BIOS is accessible to newer users getting into building, but that leads us to...Cons: Voltage settings out of the box are a bit wonky, and need to be tweaked. I don't feel this is worth removing a star, as anyone spending this kind of money SHOULD know to be checking something like this after post. While not a con for me, this board only has 4 sata ports, which could be an issue for some folks. I feel the three M.2 slots negate the issue, personally. My final con also isn't really a big deal to me, but if you are going for a color theme other than red, you will need to cover the Power and Reset buttons with a little electrical tape or something, as they only shine red, and are very bright.