MSI MEG X670E ACE

[ir_cow]

Featuring a 22+2+1 VRM setup using 90 A power stages, DDR5 support, PCIe Gen 5, six M.2 sockets and loads of high-speed USB ports, the MSI MEG X670E ACE is the premium motherboard everyone is talking about. Follow along as we take a deep dive and check out all the features this motherboard has to offer!

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[Ravenas]

I love my X570 Ace. This is hella priced over that, but could be a good investment for a long term platform and feature rich board.

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

Expansion Slots:	1x PCIe 5.0 x16 slots 1x PCIe 5.0 x16 slot (Wired x8) 1x PCIe 5.0 x16 slot (x4 Mode)

Seiously Wired for 8x does it even work in 8x/8x at though? cause a lot of X570 claimed they did, but there is only like 5 boards that acutally do work that way. The rest all do 16x/4x which is really annoying.

 

[ir_cow]

@DemonicRyzen666 The second slot will always work at x8 as it splits the lanes wit the first slot. Just like AM4, only x16+4 lanes coming from the CPU. AM5 (Ryzen 70000) has 16+4+4.

 

[Asni]

This is what the official page states:

Spoiler

But these "high quality thermal pads" are crearly preventing heat from being dissipated properly. In a 22 power stages configuration with less than 10A per phase (heat dissipation <1w per phase cooled by a huge finned heatsink) you shouldn't see 70C.

Spoiler

They would run cooler without any heatsink.

 

[mama]

How does a company release a motherboard without a user manual? Bizarre.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

How does a company release a motherboard without a user manual? Bizarre.

I know, right? I get that it's "better" for the environment (but not really, in the grand scheme of things) but seriously...this is a rather complex product, not a simple electronic device/appliance -- meaning shit can go very wrong if you don't know what you're doing or don't have a paper manual handy. To not include something so basic is, well, stupid.

 

[Athlonite]

Getting tired of the mobo manufacturers lying about their VRM's phase counts. A doubled, ganged or Duet'd phase is still only one real phase not two

otherwise this mobo looks rather nice with plenty of connectivity options but would have been nice to atleast have a quick start guide (you can always download the full manual on your phone) if you need it

 

[ir_cow]

Getting tired of the mobo manufacturers lying about their VRM's phase counts. A doubled, ganged or Duet'd phase is still only one real phase not two

No its correct. Physically has that many phases that work. Two just share the same PWM signal.

otherwise this mobo looks rather nice with plenty of connectivity options but would have been nice to atleast have a quick start guide (you can always download the full manual on your phone) if you need it

It comes with a quick start guide. The usually pictures of showing how to install a CPU and DRAM.

 

[thewan]

i assume they might be appealing to some of them eco conscious consumers by using less paper and ink. Its even weirder that they bothered to include a usb flash drive with everything else but the manual. There might be instances where you have no or poor internet and you need to make ur PC. Such an expensive motherboard should include the manual on the flash drive AND an free OTG cable to plug into your phone to read it offline. (or use a dual USB A/USB C flash drive)

My Asus X670EEEEEE still has a paper manual, and the PCIE lanes are printed on the box. Guess thats what the Asus tax pays for now. A book and more ink used to print specs.

Edit:
I partially blame PCI SIG. They shouldve seperated the PCIE slot size/type from the PCIE lanes. I can see the benefit of having a longer/bigger addon card using the full slot plus the locking tab for extra stability while only using only x1 lane even. they shouldve seen this from the beginning.

 

[Athlonite]

No its correct. Physically has that many phases that work. Two just share the same PWM signal.

der8auer would like to argue that with you even he calls it nothing but marketing speak for we're too cheap to use better quality higher current capable mosfets

It comes with a quick start guide.

Oh sorry didn't see that well atleast there's that and if you need more you can just download the full manual

 

[ir_cow]

der8auer would like to argue that with you even he calls it nothing but marketing speak for we're too cheap to use better quality higher current capable mosfets

So what happens when 105 and 90A Mosfets are used? GB and ASRock use 105A. MSI is using 90A. They are all "high quality". That statement of being too cheap doesn't make any sense. Too cheap for what exactly? These controllers only support so many signals. I guess work around would be to throw the SoC on its own and go with direct PWM for all of them. That adds costs and I'm not entirely convinced it would make any difference outside of those XOC benchmark runs (if that). I get what der8auer was saying and he probably was actually talking about a lower end MB at the time. Like for example using 30A power stages with doubles instead of just x8 70A. Ends up being close to the same Amperage, but one is a lot better.

 

[Athlonite]

So what happens when 105 and 90A Mosfets are used? GB and ASRock use 105A. MSI is using 90A. They are all "high quality". That statement of being too cheap doesn't make any sense. Too cheap for what exactly? These controllers only support so many signals. I guess work around would be to throw the SoC on its own and go with direct PWM for all of them. That adds costs and I'm not entirely convinced it would make any difference outside of those XOC benchmark runs (if that). I get what der8auer was saying and he probably was actually talking about a lower end MB at the time. Like for example using 30A power stages with doubles instead of just x8 70A. Ends up being close to the same Amperage and phase count, but one is a lot better.

You can believe whatever you like I'm not going to argue with you about it and der8auer was talking about a rather high end mobo at the time

 

[The Von Matrices]

My biggest gripe with these expensive X670 motherboards is how a majority of the chipset goes unused. The X670 chipset has a ton of USB ports including 2 gen 2x2 ports plus 8 separate gen2 ports but all the manufacturers use half of these and then add hubs. I was looking at B650 motherboards and except for the number of M.2 slots they basically have the same available features as the X670 motherboards.

 

[ir_cow]

You can believe whatever you like I'm not going to argue with you about it and der8auer was talking about a rather high end mobo at the time

I'm just trying to understand what makes a teamed power stage setup interior to direct PWM at the higher end of the spectrum. It absolutely makes sense for the lower end when the goal is to market more power stages with cheap components to make it look better. On a technically level doublers do have a larger overshoot in voltage, but that not teamed. Is that what your trying to get at?

Here is a great video about VRM, Its not really about AMD Threadripper. It is just the example that was used.

 

[Ravenas]

I'm a little curious how you arrived at "Editor's Choice" for this mobo, in comparison to the AsRock X670 Tachi C. The Tachi may have less "features", but it is priced nearly $200 less, which makes up for the less features.

Is the primary problem the BIOS issues? I thought the issues had been resolved.

 

[Chaitanya]

CMOS battery is another Con, atleast in case of Gigabyte it was inconvinient to replace but this one far more stupid location and "connector".

 

[ir_cow]

I'm a little curious how you arrived at "Editor's Choice" for this mobo, in comparison to the AsRock X670 Tachi C. The Tachi may have less "features", but it is priced nearly $200 less, which makes up for the less features.

Is the primary problem the BIOS issues? I thought the issues had been resolved.

Good question. Unfortunately this is a problem being a launch review of a new platform. It isn't a refresh of a chipset using the same socket. So at the time it was written before the launch and only one other motherboard on same to compare to for quirkness. If were to review it now, I would change a few things but I'm not sure if it would received Editors Choice. price is always a concerning thing to consider but and I try my best NOT to base the review around it because it changes per region and everyone has different ideas of what is a good value. Unless it is a exceptionally good value and just runs over everyone else.

What puts this X670E ACE over the top would be a clean BIOS among a few other things. I updated the Taichi to 1.08 and it is the same. Memory support hasn't changed either. The Xpander card, a 3rd PCIE Gen5 slot and more internal and external USB ports. considering it is a X670E, USB ports/headers should be one of the reasons to consider buying it over the B650. All Ryzen 7000 CPUs have 16+4+4 Gen5 lanes. whether it's B650E or X670E, it is just how the vendor splits it up. ASRock used the extra x4 for the USB4 (Thunderbolt 4), where MSI put it towards the 3rd slot. ASrock took away some rear USB ports and used it for the additional 4 SATA ports. What I am getting at is, while the ASRock price is $200 cheaper, it is trade off on features. I think MSI did it better. That does come with a increase cost though. Without those USB4 ports on the Taichi, it would be "meh" in terms of using the X670E chipset to the fullest. If the ACE was $1000, it wouldn't get a award. just to much in my opinion. Really hard to justify that unless its limited run or adds something really unique and not found elsewhere. So there is considering of price, but its small factor.

 

[The Von Matrices]

The Xpander card

This feels to me like a marketing gimmick for the MSI. It allows them to advertise that they can offer 3 PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots, but that's only if you're willing to sacrifice lanes from the X16 slot.

Which brings up the question - who are these people who need so many M.2 slots anyway? The board has a total of 6 M.2 slots, and even mid-range boards now have 4 M.2 slots. I have a single M.2 disk in my system, and maybe I could see myself using two, but six?

Reminds me of boards a decade ago that would put 10-12 SATA ports onboard just to advertise that they had the most.

 

[Tek-Check]

I know, right? I get that it's "better" for the environment (but not really, in the grand scheme of things) but seriously...this is a rather complex product, not a simple electronic device/appliance -- meaning shit can go very wrong if you don't know what you're doing or don't have a paper manual handy. To not include something so basic is, well, stupid.

Premium priced product without manual is a total not go. MSI, get your act together.
They should always use recycled paper. It's a no brainer in this day and age.

This feels to me like a marketing gimmick for the MSI. It allows them to advertise that they can offer 3 PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots, but that's only if you're willing to sacrifice lanes from the X16 slot.

They are not the only once. Consumers need to get educated about this. Anything more than two M.2 Gen5 drives will steal GPU lanes.

Which brings up the question - who are these people who need so many M.2 slots anyway? The board has a total of 6 M.2 slots, and even mid-range boards now have 4 M.2 slots. I have a single M.2 disk in my system, and maybe I could see myself using two, but six?

This board is intended for people with deep pocket. It's a halo product, or for professional workloads with multiple NVMe RAIDs. Very niche.

 

[Super Firm Tofu]

Premium priced product without manual is a total not go. MSI, get your act together.
They should always use recycled paper. It's a no brainer in this day and age.

How many people buying a $700 motherboard don't have another computer, a tablet, or a fscking phone that you can read the manual on? What's the point of a dead tree version? I download the PDF version before the product even arrives.

 

[Tek-Check]

Premium board wihtout onboard HDMI 2.1 port?

How many people buying a $700 motherboard don't have another computer, a tablet, or a fscking phone that you can read the manual on? What's the point of a dead tree version? I download the PDF version before the product even arrives.

You should never assume that entire world behaves as you do or as you would expect it to. You should also not assume that a user of any board would always have access to internet or mobile phone coverage when they need to find some information about motherboard. Default position is that offline time can happen anytime for whatever reason and traditional manuals for any device can be used.

I have a premium 5G phone with allegedly great coverage in my local area. Only two days ago I was not able to access even basic google search for 8 hours. No one knew how long people would not have been to use services when disconnection occured. A few weeks ago, we had weather related internet outage that cut entire area from online for 12 hours. You need paper manual in edge situations.

If you already want to get rid off paper manuals, vendors can charge for it $/€ 1 and you tick a box whether you want it included or not while buying motherboard.

 

[Broken Processor]

ATM pcie 5 is a complete waste of money and the addage of future proofing especially at this price is imo foolishness atm because you never know what next gen boards will have and given AMD artificially blocked CPU upgrades on am4 I've no faith they won't do it again.

The use of vrm doublers at this price point.... Vrm cooling they need to find a better way I know they want the board to look cool but honestly when the pads are poor quality blocking cooling it's a problem.

Considering the pcie lanes the CPU's have the choices manufacturers made are strange and with memory compatibility issues still on going I couldn't justify spending this amount.

 

[The Von Matrices]

You should never assume that entire world behaves as you do or as you would expect it to. You should also not assume that a user of any board would always have access to internet or mobile phone coverage when they need to find some information about motherboard. Default position is that offline time can happen anytime for whatever reason and traditional manuals for any device can be used.

I have a premium 5G phone with allegedly great coverage in my local area. Only two days ago I was not able to access even basic google search for 8 hours. No one knew how long people would not have been to use services when disconnection occured. A few weeks ago, we had weather related internet outage that cut entire area from online for 12 hours. You need paper manual in edge situations.

If you already want to get rid off paper manuals, vendors can change for it $/€ 1 and you tick a box whether you want it included or not while buying motherboard.

This is the "but sometimes..." argument, which is a fallacy. People aren't assembling their PCs in the middle of rural fields; they are assembling them at home where there is already an internet connection.

If a storm knocks out internet connectivity for 12 hours, then people can just wait for service to be repaired. It's not like assembling a PC is not an essential need that cannot wait.

And if the buyer already knows that internet service is intermittent, then they should be prepared by downloading the manual ahead of time. This is no different than a homeowner with frequent electrical blackouts might buy a battery backup or a generator to prepare for those times.

 

[Pepamami]

wait, does it have only one phase for 4 dimms of RAM?