MSI's Upcoming MEG Z890 Unify-X Motherboard Leaks Ahead of Launch

[TheLostSwede]

Detailed specifications and a somewhat blurry slide showing off all the details of MSI's upcoming high-end MEG Z890 Unify-X motherboard have leaked courtesy of @ChamberTech_ on X/Twitter. The motherboard is likely to appeal to those looking to squeeze every extra bit of performance out of their new Ultra 200K series CPU when they launch next month. You get support for memory speeds of up to 10,000 MT/s and with only two DIMM slots, it might be able to go even higher with the latest DDR5 CUDIMMs. The board also sports a 110 Ampere 20+1+1+1 VRM design on an eight layer PCB, and it also ships with what MSI calls an OC Tuning Controller, suggesting the board is targeting overclockers.

MSI has included a pair of PCIe 5.0 x16 slots for GPUs that presumably operate in dual x8 mode when both slots are in use, and a third PCIe 4.0 x16 slot that operates in x4 mode, as well as a single PCIe 4.0 x1 slot. There's also no less than six M.2 slots, of which two are PCIe 5.0 and one PCIe 4.0, as well as six SATA ports. Where things get a bit interesting is in the network connectivity, as the slide claims that the board features a 5 Gbps Intel Killer Ethernet interface, which is the first we've heard of such a thing, as well as an Intel Killer Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 module for wireless connectivity.




Connectivity doesn't stop there though, as the board also has a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports, one front USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) USB-C header with 60 W USB PD support and 10 USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) USB port, of which two are USB Type-C. The Unify-X also features a Realtek ALC4080 audio codec and a pair of old school PS/2 ports for a keyboard and mouse. Other niceties are a full set of buttons around the rear for flashing and resetting the BIOS, as well as a debug LED display, which MSI seems to prefer to place right next to the power connector, just as we've seen on the previous leak of upcoming MSI boards. Also present is the somewhat mysterious ATX 3.1 power connector for additional power to the GPU, which MSI so far is the only motherboard manufacturer to have added to its boards.

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[ir_cow]

Ah yay! MSI is back with the Unfiy-X motherboards. I remember in a GN video Kingping talked about the BIOS guys going to MSI. I wonder if this ended up being true.

 

[dgianstefani]

Finally no USB 2.0 ports on the motherboard.

 

[N/A]

Finally no USB 2.0 ports on the motherboard.

And PS/2, spdif remains. who is using that. We should be given the option to move to USB-c completely. If i'm in the market today i buy Usb-c only. usb mouse keyboard, dp over usb and wifi antenna too.

 

[ir_cow]

And PS/2, spdif remains. who is using that. We should be given the option to move to USB-c completely. If i'm in the market today i buy Usb-c only. usb mouse keyboard, dp over usb and wifi antenna too.

USB sometimes doesn't well or at all with LN2.

 

[Sarajiel]

I really want to see the block diagram. That board must use quite a silly number of PCIe switches and redrivers for all that connectivity.

 

[Chaitanya]

USB sometimes doesn't well or at all with LN2.

In general USB is quite finicky with keyboards and then there are who want true n-key rollover which only PS/2 port offers.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Finally no USB 2.0 ports on the motherboard.

Apex Encore did away with them already. All of them 5, 10 and a 20Gbps port. Only 2.0 support is front header, guess some older cases still don't have 3.0 connectors (and tbh internal 3.0 connectors are unwieldy, so I'll have one of those I guess)

 

[Bones]

And PS/2, spdif remains. who is using that. We should be given the option to move to USB-c completely. If i'm in the market today i buy Usb-c only. usb mouse keyboard, dp over usb and wifi antenna too.

Me - And a whole lot of others too.

I MUCH prefer PS2 ports because even if the USB controller goes out you can still use it, if for nothing else than ordering it's own replacement.
Went through that with an Asus board - The USB controller went bad and the board was unuseable due to a USB "Voltage out of range" error the board was throwing.

So no, if you want it all USB that's your choice but it ain't mine and frankly I"ll pay a little extra TO HAVE PS2 port(s) if it comes down to it.

Also:
I guess you missed it about the board being for OC'ing, having the ability to use the board while disabling USB does help in some benchmarks because there are certain "Benefits" if you disable USB on the board.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Me - And a whole lot of others too.

I MUCH prefer PS2 ports because even if the USB controller goes out you can still use it, if for nothing else than ordering it's own replacement.
Went through that with an Asus board - The USB controller went bad and the board was unuseable due to a USB "Voltage out of range" error the board was throwing.

So no, if you want it all USB that's your choice but it ain't mine and frankly I"ll pay a little extra TO HAVE PS2 port(s) if it comes down to it.

Also:
I guess you missed it about the board being for OC'ing, having the ability to use the board while disabling USB does help in some benchmarks because there are certain "Benefits" if you disable USB on the board.

Another thing I love about the Apex Encore - it has the traditional PS/2 ports! Both keyboard and mouse, none of the weird combo ports that are plugged into a USB controller - this is the real deal

I presume the Unify-X's will be the same - these are so you can run benchmarks on older OSes that no longer support the modern USB controllers like XP.

 

[HBSound]

I love how motherboards are putting more PCI lanes on the motherboard for access and options. But if I am reading this correctly, there are so many PCI lanes for GPU support and M.2 support that at some point, if you install something in everything, the CPU will collapse and not offer anything to the end user. Am I misreading this?

Would you have to give or take some of these items, take advantage of some of them, and ignore the others?

 

[Dr. Dro]

I love how motherboards are putting more PCI lanes on the motherboard for access and options. But if I am reading this, right, that are so many PCI lanes for GPU support, and M.2 support, at some point, if you installed something in everything, the CPU will collapse, and not offer anything to the end user. Am I reading this incorrectly?

You would have to give or take some of these items, take advantage of some of the items, and ignore the others?

This is an XOC motherboard. They're all about pure performance, this means lowest latencies and highest clocks - and to that extent, they'll sacrifice a few things to achieve that effect. These will provide the chipset's bare capabilities, have a "good enough" NIC and audio codec, and an extremely overengineered power delivery area. For extreme overclocking, the least memory mapped (this includes devices connected), the better the system will withstand extreme conditions, that's why often CPU WRs are done with a single stick of memory, practically every controller disabled - and basically just a slot power card like a GT 520 or 710, often with MaxMem applied to limit even that single stick to just a fraction of its capacity.

Boards like the Aorus Tachyon, ROG Apex and the MEG Unify-X series aren't meant for 24/7 use on your flashy gaming rig, even though they can do that - so most folks will generally be better served by opting by a board like the MEG Ace/Godlike, ROG Hero/Formula or Aorus Master/Xtreme boards instead. They're more flexible, have better audio codecs, 4 memory slots often more PCIe slots.

 

[HBSound]

Thank you so much for the clarity!

 

[Ferrum Master]

And PS/2, spdif remains.

Why are you complaining about added ports, as hardware wise it resides in every PC, it is a matter just soldering the ports and enabling it BIOS.

 

[Gigaherz]

"Targeting overclockers"
-has no on and safeboot buttons,

yeah... no.


I mean apart from that I avoid to oc on msi just for the sake of their godawful bios layout.

 

[Dristun]

Finally no USB 2.0 ports on the motherboard.

Just 10 more years until $200 boards move on!

 

[TheLostSwede]

I mean apart from that I avoid to oc on msi just for the sake of their godawful bios layout.

Not just me then.

 

[Tomorrow]

In general USB is quite finicky with keyboards

Which keyboards? Under what conditions?

But if I am reading this correctly, there are so many PCI lanes for GPU support and M.2 support that at some point, if you install something in everything, the CPU will collapse and not offer anything to the end user. Am I misreading this?

Bifurcation has always been the case. I actually prefer this to rigid, manufacturer set lanes that cannot be assigned to anything else.
Obviously it will not "collapse" if you connect too many things. Linus Tech Tips did a video where they tried to overload the system by connecting massive amount of USB devices:

most folks will generally be better served by opting by a board like the MEG Ace/Godlike, ROG Hero/Formula or Aorus Master/Xtreme boards instead. They're more flexible, have better audio codecs, 4 memory slots often more PCIe slots.

4 memory slots are pretty meaningless in the DDR5 era and yet most manufacturers keep using it for some reason.
Who actually needs 4 DIMM slots these days? Is 96GB (128GB hopefully soon) not enough with two slots?

I think motherboard manufacturers could implement a thing or two from the XOC boards to most of their lineup. Starting with 1 DIMM per channel.
Memory speed matters far more than memory capacity for consumer use. Workstation and server focused boards could still use four slots.

I would say the only thing XOC boards are really lacking are USB ports. Other than that i see them as pretty much fully featured with not much missing.

 

[Dr. Dro]

4 memory slots are pretty meaningless in the DDR5 era and yet most manufacturers keep using it for some reason.
Who actually needs 4 DIMM slots these days? Is 96GB (128GB hopefully soon) not enough with two slots?

I think motherboard manufacturers could implement a thing or two from the XOC boards to most of their lineup. Starting with 1 DIMM per channel.
Memory speed matters far more than memory capacity for consumer use. Workstation and server focused boards could still use four slots.

I would say the only thing XOC boards are really lacking are USB ports. Other than that i see them as pretty much fully featured with not much missing.

Point being, these motherboards are generally better endowed. 5 or 10GbE NICs, ALC4082 codec, can support more memory even if 2 sticks already generally do the job, etc.

I am satisfied with what these XOC boards offer feature-wise (I built a gaming PC designed for extreme performance with a singular focus on that), but they might not be the best choice for everyone given the bare feature set and very high price (they cost as much as the ultra high end board). My previous Z690 Ace was a better board in some respects, like dual LAN, more M.2 slots, etc.

 

[Tomorrow]

Point being, these motherboards are generally better endowed. 5 or 10GbE NICs, ALC4082 codec, can support more memory even if 2 sticks already generally do the job, etc.

I am satisfied with what these XOC boards offer feature-wise (I built a gaming PC designed for extreme performance with a singular focus on that), but they might not be the best choice for everyone given the bare feature set and very high price (they cost as much as the ultra high end board). My previous Z690 Ace was a better board in some respects, like dual LAN, more M.2 slots, etc.

I agree with what you say. I too would be satisfied with these XOC boards feature wise. I almost feel like a broken record at this point yelling about the four memory slots on most boards. What irks me the most is the disappearance of Dual-BIOS and the accompanying switches from non-XOC boards. Im still on X570 Master that has these.

With AM5 there are (were?) only three boards with Dual-BIOS. Two are MSI models costing 700+ 1500+ and one was made in limited quantities and is essentially unavailable. One or both of these MSI models is now EOL or soon will be and thus the absurd prices. Only one was actually with 1DPC. The others were just high end boards with Dual-BIOS thrown in (without the switches).
With Intel LGA1700 there are 10 boards with Dual-BIOS and staring at less than 200 for Z790. Try imagining X670E or much less X870E with Dual-BIOS for less than 200...
Four of those are XOC boards and three of those cost around 500 which sound like a bargain compared to AMD boards. Two also have BIOS switches and with two different chipsets no less.

I also very much doubt MSI will bring back the Unify line to AM5 like they had it with AM4. And with this, Tachyon and Apex available for Intel (at cheaper prices too) i feel like motherboard manufacturers are simply not interested in AMD XOC.

Don't get me wrong. I like AMD CPU's. I use 5800X3D myself and it's amazing but the motherboard prices and features...
I swear this is hurting AMD more than any underwhelming Zen 5 launch they could do. DDR5 prices have fallen, CPU prices have fallen but AM5 motherboard prices are as high as ever. And no i don't count launching A620 that is maybe 10 bucks cheaper than B650 as some sort of great achievement.

 

[Chaitanya]

Which keyboards? Under what conditions?

Bifurcation has always been the case. I actually prefer this to rigid, manufacturer set lanes that cannot be assigned to anything else.
Obviously it will not "collapse" if you connect too many things. Linus Tech Tips did a video where they tried to overload the system by connecting massive amount of USB devices:

4 memory slots are pretty meaningless in the DDR5 era and yet most manufacturers keep using it for some reason.
Who actually needs 4 DIMM slots these days? Is 96GB (128GB hopefully soon) not enough with two slots?

I think motherboard manufacturers could implement a thing or two from the XOC boards to most of their lineup. Starting with 1 DIMM per channel.
Memory speed matters far more than memory capacity for consumer use. Workstation and server focused boards could still use four slots.

I would say the only thing XOC boards are really lacking are USB ports. Other than that i see them as pretty much fully featured with not much missing.

My old G15(07 revision) and G13 both had habit of randomly disconnecting and reconnecting on Z87X-UD3H and 990FXA-UD3 boards that I used in past. Another thing I have noticed is Mechanical keyboards(have Gigabyte K85 and Corsair K70) BIOSes on some boards dont accept inputs to enter BIOS or even when in BIOS they wont work. Thats just keyboards, even USB mice sometimes wont work with old(Win Xp era) games but they work perfectly when connected using a USB to PS/2 adapter to a PS/2 port(on that Z87X-UD3H board).

 

[Tomorrow]

My old G15(07 revision) and G13 both had habit of randomly disconnecting and reconnecting on Z87X-UD3H and 990FXA-UD3 boards that I used in past. Another thing I have noticed is Mechanical keyboards(have Gigabyte K85 and Corsair K70) BIOSes on some boards dont accept inputs to enter BIOS or even when in BIOS they wont work. Thats just keyboards, even USB mice sometimes wont work with old(Win Xp era) games but they work perfectly when connected using a USB to PS/2 adapter to a PS/2 port(on that Z87X-UD3H board).

Sorry to hear that. Im glad to say that i have not encountered such troubles. I used to have G11 with P67 (ASUS TUF board). Worked fine. Using G910 currently.
I have not used any GB or Corsair keyboards so i cant speak to that but i've heard the Corsair iCUE software is "problematic".

My problems seem to be centered around NIC's more than anything. My current Realtek 2.5G NIC used to be fine but after moving to Win11 (after 23H2 update) it's has issues where it randomly goes down and needs to be disabled/enabled. Manually limiting to 1G reduced these occurrences but they're still there. Have gone trough like five plus different driver versions and nothing. I can only conclude that it's 23H2's fault.

Not that Intel NIC's are any better. I had previously issues with their NIC on Win10. No it was not the infamous 225 series but and earlier 211. It was a while ago so i dont remember what the actual problem was but that's when i started to use Realtek instead. Now this has developed issue too. And it's not like there's a sea of these to choose from. I will likely have to go 3rd party with an addon card like Aquantia 10G to see what that's like.

 

[efikkan]

And PS/2, spdif remains. who is using that. We should be given the option to move to USB-c completely. If i'm in the market today i buy Usb-c only. usb mouse keyboard, dp over usb and wifi antenna too.

If they bother to include an audio chip, they might as well add an S/PDIF port, as it's the only useful built-in audio port, and is an excellent low-latency port to connect to an external DAC or other audio equipment (e.g. amplifier for HTPC).

PS/2 is stable and low-latency, and works flawlessly in the BIOS menu etc. Not to mention the greatest keyboards of all time use PS/2.

I really want to see the block diagram. That board must use quite a silly number of PCIe switches and redrivers for all that connectivity.

I assume 4 of those M.2s are through the chipset, along SATA, Ethernet, USB, etc., so you're probably running those M.2 slots at x1 lanes. (what a waste…)

But once again, they would be much better off providing these as PCIe slots, so the end-user could choose to use them for any kind of expansion cards etc.

Plus having 6 SSDs under that metal blob will result in terrible cooling. These "stupid" motherboard designs needs to end.

4 memory slots are pretty meaningless in the DDR5 era and yet most manufacturers keep using it for some reason.
Who actually needs 4 DIMM slots these days? Is 96GB (128GB hopefully soon) not enough with two slots?

I think motherboard manufacturers could implement a thing or two from the XOC boards to most of their lineup. Starting with 1 DIMM per channel.
Memory speed matters far more than memory capacity for consumer use. Workstation and server focused boards could still use four slots.

As you allude to, 2 DIMMs per channel works poorly for DDR5 without compromising speed, whether it's mainstream, workstation or server segments. While there are probably users who don't mind downgrading speed for higher capacity, I'm fine with some motherboards dropping this. For some inexperienced enthusiasts with overclocked memory, this might actually prevent them from having major issues after adding more memory.

With current CPUs you downgrade to 4400 MHz (from 5600 MHz JEDEC speeds) with 2 DIMMs per channel. I would hope Arrow Lake moves to at least 6400 MHz (Xeon 6 supports 6400 MHz by comparison), but considering how sensitive DDR5 is at higher speeds, the downgrade with two DIMMs might be actually greater.

Whether 96 GB is enough? That depends on the user. But heavy web browsing alone can easily fill 64 GB today, and the way things are going it wouldn't be long before 96 GB is too little. I would say power users planning to use a such system for ~5 years should buy the largest DIMMs they can, as it will affect the longevity of the system.

 

[tps3443]

This is an XOC motherboard. They're all about pure performance, this means lowest latencies and highest clocks - and to that extent, they'll sacrifice a few things to achieve that effect. These will provide the chipset's bare capabilities, have a "good enough" NIC and audio codec, and an extremely overengineered power delivery area. For extreme overclocking, the least memory mapped (this includes devices connected), the better the system will withstand extreme conditions, that's why often CPU WRs are done with a single stick of memory, practically every controller disabled - and basically just a slot power card like a GT 520 or 710, often with MaxMem applied to limit even that single stick to just a fraction of its capacity.

Boards like the Aorus Tachyon, ROG Apex and the MEG Unify-X series aren't meant for 24/7 use on your flashy gaming rig, even though they can do that - so most folks will generally be better served by opting by a board like the MEG Ace/Godlike, ROG Hero/Formula or Aorus Master/Xtreme boards instead. They're more flexible, have better audio codecs, 4 memory slots often more PCIe slots.

These motherboards are exactly meant for 24/7 usage. Most of us do not need more memory slots than two. Most ram kits are sold in sets of two sticks anyways, with 2x24GB or 2x48GB or someone could run older dual rank kits which are 2x32GB which are even cheaper now in 2024. If someone needs more than 96GB of ram, they can opt for a (4) Dimm motherboard. But I think 96GB is probably enough ram for most gamers and overclockers all around. I cannot recommend any of the (4) Dimm motherboards right now, unless someone needs more than (6) M.2 slots which was available on the Z690 Unify-X from 2021, it also had like (10) fan headers, or they need more than 96GB of ram for their daily usage. These 4 dimm boards have very weak ram overclocking abilities, and there are literally no advantages to going with a (4) Dimm motherboard to the average person. I run DDR5 8800c36 on an Apex Z790 and I’m not limited in any single way whatsoever, as for codecs I am pretty sure they all use the ALC4080 or ALC4082 going back to Z690 to current Z790 boards. Absolutely no differences. These modern (2) Dimm boards offer everything anyone could ever need. Now looking at Z890 chipset, these boards are going to be even better with even more features. Why would I want to run (4) sticks of ram, and why would anyone want to have (2) unused ram slots?

 

[Dr. Dro]

These motherboards are exactly meant for 24/7 usage. Most of us do not need more memory slots than two. Most ram kits are sold in sets of two sticks anyways, with 2x24GB or 2x48GB or someone could run older dual rank kits which are 2x32GB which are even cheaper now in 2024. If someone needs more than 96GB of ram, they can opt for a (4) Dimm motherboard. But I think 96GB is probably enough ram for most gamers and overclockers all around. I cannot recommend any of the (4) Dimm motherboards right now, unless someone needs more than (6) M.2 slots which was available on the Z690 Unify-X from 2021, it also had like (10) fan headers, or they need more than 96GB of ram for their daily usage. These 4 dimm boards have very weak ram overclocking abilities, and there are literally no advantages to going with a (4) Dimm motherboard to the average person. I run DDR5 8800c36 on an Apex Z790 and I’m not limited in any single way whatsoever, as for codecs I am pretty sure they all use the ALC4080 or ALC4082 going back to Z690 to current Z790 boards. Absolutely no differences. These modern (2) Dimm boards offer everything anyone could ever need. Now looking at Z890 chipset, these boards are going to be even better with even more features. Why would I want to run (4) sticks of ram, and why would anyone want to have (2) unused ram slots?

It's all about a build's philosophy, we built extreme systems that only regard pure performance, but it's undeniable that our motherboard lacks some features and scales down on others compared to other boards of the same (sky-high) price. The Dark Hero and Formula are better motherboards to the average joe which won't be pulling ultra fast memory speeds and will focus on gaming or media consumption without regard for every last drop of performance as we do. Bit worse codec, no 10 Gbps ethernet port, etc.

As for comparison with the Apex Encore specifically (not sure about the OG Apex) - this Unify-X board is pretty much identical aside from the CPU socket type and a slightly better 5 Gbps NIC.