MSI MEG Z790 ACE

[ir_cow]

Featuring a 24+1+2 VRM setup using 105 A power stages, DDR5 support, PCIe Gen 5, five M.2 sockets and loads of high-speed USB ports, does this motherboard have what you're looking for? Follow along as we take a deep dive into all the features to see if MSI really does have an ACE in the hand!

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[Chrispy_]

The problem with these "expensive, but not money-no-object flagship" boards is that they're stuck in no-man's land.

If your budget is unlimited, you'd buy an insane $1000+ flagship board that's basically ridiculous but indisputably the best on offer.
If you're trying to save money, then buy a $250 board. What does almost tripling your outlay actually get you? An extra NIC, one more Thunderbolt port? Is that really worth $450?

 

[ir_cow]

The problem with these "expensive, but not money-no-object flagship" boards is that they're stuck in no-man's land.

If your budget is unlimited, you'd buy an insane $1000+ flagship board that's basically ridiculous but indisputably the best on offer.
If you're trying to save money, then buy a $250 board. What does almost tripling your outlay actually get you? An extra NIC, one more Thunderbolt port? Is that really worth $450?

This sums up the entire generation. When the price gap was $100-200, not a so bad. Now its 300+

 

[Chrispy_]

This sums up the entire generation. When the price gap was $100-200, not a so bad. Now its 300+

Not only do you have this crazy price hike for the midrange this gen, but it's also being destroyed by both the past and the future.

In the future is a dead end, because 14th Gen will be LGA1851. RIP Z790.
In the past you have the Z690 ACE which is basically the same thing for $220 less.

Z790 is extremely close to Z690 and if you genuinely need the minor bump in chipset bandwidth that Z790 offers then you're just buying the wrong entire platform altogether.

 

[ir_cow]

The chipset refreshes alone generally offer little to nothing for the average users. The smartest thing would be for these companies to discontinue the previous one months ahead so stock runs out. Instead when the new one drops, everything is a firesale to dump old stock. The Z690 ACE is $490 right now. Last month EVGA Z690 Classified was $350. The Gigabyte Z690 Tachyon was $300 in Dec.

Basically if you tally up everything YOU want and the Z690 version has that, it's some good saving. Only works until the stock runs out. Usually 2-3 months after the launch. Been this way for years.

 

[Ferrum Master]

It is like watching only fans here now... you look but cannot touch it ever because of the price

 

[AKBrian]

Re: Suggestions on conclusion page, an additional dual M.2 storage via Expander card isn't possible. Alder and Raptor Lake CPUs do not support x8/x4/x4 or x4/x4/x4/x4 bifurcation modes. Only x16/x0 or x8/x8.

This is why on boards which do feature an onboard switched Gen5 M.2 slot, any secondary PCIe slot is disabled rather than reduced to Gen5x4 when an NVMe is populated.

 

[Chrispy_]

The chipset refreshes alone generally offer little to nothing for the average users. The smartest thing would be for these companies to discontinue the previous one months ahead so stock runs out. Instead when the new one drops, everything is a firesale to dump old stock. The Z690 ACE is $490 right now. Last month EVGA Z690 Classified was $350. The Gigabyte Z690 Tachyon was $300 in Dec.

Basically if you tally up everything YOU want and the Z690 version has that, it's some good saving. Only works until the stock runs out. Usually 2-3 months after the launch. Been this way for years.

Yeah, for the last decade or so, the smartest time to buy an Intel platform has consistently been when the mid-socket refresh gets launched. You know that the original chipset is going on clearance and by then most of the bugs have been ironed out, decent-quality mature BIOSes and RAM compatibility exists, and there's rarely any benefit to getting the new refreshed board, even if you're getting the new gen of CPU to go in that board.

 

[ir_cow]

Re: Suggestions on conclusion page, an additional dual M.2 storage via Expander card isn't possible. Alder and Raptor Lake CPUs do not support x8/x4/x4 or x4/x4/x4/x4 bifurcation modes. Only x16/x0 or x8/x8.

This is why on boards which do feature an onboard switched Gen5 M.2 slot, any secondary PCIe slot is disabled rather than reduced to Gen5x4 when an NVMe is populated.

A dual expansion card is possible. ASUS Z690 Hero has one I can think of off the top of my head. When slotted into the second 16x slot it will use all 8 lanes as you stated.

Doesn't mean it's easy to do.

ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero Review

Intel's 1700 socket is ready to party! ASUS brings the motherboard, so we are all set. The ROG Maximus Z690 Hero sports an assortment of new features along with PCIe Gen5 and DDR5 support, five M.2 sockets, Thunderbolt 4, and a powerful VRM design with 90 A power stages. ASUS has really thought...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Cowboystrekk]

4dimm=limited ram oc vs 2dimm like Apex or Tachyon that do 8000+...

 

[hineighbor]

This board just oozes sophistication.

 

[bug]

Between this and a 4080/7900XTX, you can spend two grand and still not have half of a functional PC. Just lovely.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I've been looking at LGA1700 motherboards for my upcoming i9-13900KS build, and the prices in general have been nothing but baffling. I still need to buy DDR5 memory, too!

There are no reasonably priced motherboards, practically everything in the $400 range is using problematic, low-performance NICs like the i226-V (i225-V rev. 4), and/or has undersized VRM, is missing M.2 slots... the best compromise I have found so far is the board I was looking at from the start, which is the Biostar Z790 Valkyrie. Its primary drawback is the use of i226-V networking, but otherwise ticks my personal checkboxes rather well, strong VRM, plenty of M.2 slots.

This one, at $700... I can't even consider it.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Underwhelming and those usb ports are so slow.

 

[bug]

I've been looking at LGA1700 motherboards for my upcoming i9-13900KS build, and the prices in general have been nothing but baffling. I still need to buy DDR5 memory, too!

There are no reasonably priced motherboards, practically everything in the $400 range is using problematic, low-performance NICs like the i226-V (i225-V rev. 4), and/or has undersized VRM, is missing M.2 slots... the best compromise I have found so far is the board I was looking at from the start, which is the Biostar Z790 Valkyrie. Its primary drawback is the use of i226-V networking, but otherwise ticks my personal checkboxes rather well, strong VRM, plenty of M.2 slots.

This one, at $700... I can't even consider it.

Generally, you can solve a lot of problems if instead of Z, you go with a H chipset. But if you're going for a KS CPU, you will want those overclocking features. So you'll have to pay

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Generally, you can solve a lot of problems if instead of Z, you go with a H chipset. But if you're going for a KS CPU, you will want those overclocking features. So you'll have to pay

For many generations now the h series is the smart buy, and instead of waiting your money, get a F or standard series CPU and simply up the TDP/BOOST time and get 99% of the performance for half the price

 

[D007]

Honestly, this mobo seems very disappointing at the price point.
Dual 2.5g lan? Dafuq?

An enthusiast board with wonky overclocking mechanics?
Who do they think buys these things? Lol.

3 slot space for GPU? Really?
So fans in the bottom makes vertically mounting a 4090 what? Impossible? Lol

And icing on the cake.. $700 and NO manual of any kind, neither physical or digital… Wow…
Somebody wasn’t paying attention here..

I could buy a better mobo for hundreds less..
Solid review Cow.

 

[Chrispy_]

I've been looking at LGA1700 motherboards for my upcoming i9-13900KS build, and the prices in general have been nothing but baffling. I still need to buy DDR5 memory, too!

There are no reasonably priced motherboards, practically everything in the $400 range is using problematic, low-performance NICs like the i226-V (i225-V rev. 4), and/or has undersized VRM, is missing M.2 slots... the best compromise I have found so far is the board I was looking at from the start, which is the Biostar Z790 Valkyrie. Its primary drawback is the use of i226-V networking, but otherwise ticks my personal checkboxes rather well, strong VRM, plenty of M.2 slots.

This one, at $700... I can't even consider it.

Uh, have Intel commented on the i226-V yet?
My quick search came up empty, and that's bad.

 

[Max(IT)]

There is no reason for a 24 phase 105A VRM… not a single reason beside trying hard to justify an unreasonable high price tag.

 

[P4-630]

Expensive compared to my Z690 Aorus Master, also why no manual included, you can probably download a pdf from MSI I think but still...

 

[ir_cow]

@P4-630 yes you can download the manual, but doesn't help without internet access. Most of us spending $$$$ have access to Internet and a second computer (laptop or old computer) so having it on the flash drive isn't so bad. This is just inconvenient since you don't get one and must venture to the web page.

There is no reason for a 24 phase 105A VRM… not a single reason beside trying hard to justify an unreasonable high price tag.

Whatever you do. DO NOT look at the godlike

 

[Dr. Dro]

Uh, have Intel commented on the i226-V yet?
My quick search came up empty, and that's bad.

They haven't as far as I know and they clearly do not care as long as it sells, because it's the same, deeply flawed Ethernet controller and it is prone to the same unfixable connection dropout issues.

PSA: Intel I226-V 2.5GbE on Raptor Lake Motherboards Has a Connection Drop Issue: No Fix Available

The Intel Ethernet i226-V onboard 2.5 GbE controller appears to have a design flaw that causes the Ethernet connection to drop at random times for a few seconds. The I226-V is the latest version of Intel's cost-effective 2.5 Gbps Ethernet networking chips meant for PC motherboards with chipsets...

www.techpowerup.com

Intel should have just canned the entire Foxville product line instead, they're a blight...

Generally, you can solve a lot of problems if instead of Z, you go with a H chipset. But if you're going for a KS CPU, you will want those overclocking features. So you'll have to pay

I ordered the i9-13900KS more over its generous binning and increased default power limits than overclocking per-se, I would not mind an H770 chipset board if they didn't cost almost as much and have limitations...

 

[Max(IT)]

Expensive compared to my Z690 Aorus Master, also why no manual included, you can probably download a pdf from MSI I think but still...

Gigabyte always has the better bags for the buck... on the other hand their BIOS....

 

[P4-630]

Gigabyte always has the better bags for the buck... on the other hand their BIOS....

Yeah, I prefer Asus' BIOS but besides that it's a top notch high quality board.

 

[bug]

For many generations now the h series is the smart buy, and instead of waiting your money, get a F or standard series CPU and simply up the TDP/BOOST time and get 99% of the performance for half the price

Yeah, kinda. I mean, for the 6-series, I was lucky to get one design from Asus. When I was looking around, it looked like everybody was using just the B chipset. But hey, one design is all I needed (even if I would have gladly bought from someone else, just to stay away from Asus' pathetic software).