MSI today announced that their in-house overclocker Kovan Yang has broken the world overclocking record for DDR4 memory. The record-breaking feat was achieved with a pair of HyperX Predator DDR4 memory modules paired with MSI's MPG Z390I GAMING EDGE AC motherboard, with a little help from liquid nitrogen cooling.

The overclock was achieved with some compromises: the Intel Core i9-9900K processor that powered the system was running in a pared-down configuration with only a pair of active cores, and the DDR4 memory was working in single-channel mode with a single 8 GB stick and highly relaxed timings of 31-63-6363-2. While this isn't usable in your regular machine, that's not the point of these extreme overclocking feats, anyway. The goal is to showcase component quality and stability whilst working way beyond specifications.

According to VideoCardz'es sources at ASUS, they have received confirmation that ASUS is working on new motherboards for AMD's unannounced chipset offerings, X590 and possibly even X599. In ASUS'es internal documentation two motherboards are appearing with X590 name, PRIME X590-PRO and ROG STRIX X590-E.

These motherboards are named similarly as the current offering from ASUS, the PRIME X570-PRO and ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming, so even though that we don't know if these models will ever hit the market, there is great possibility. Additionally, there is another chipset refresh coming, but now for the HEDT space. ASUS is working on ZENITH II EXTREME, an update to first ZENITH EXTREME motherboard (based on X399 chipset), which is expected to feature updated X599 chipset and should support new ThreadRipper 3000 series of CPUs. For now, we don't have any details of either two chipsets nor the improvements they will bring.

BIOSTAR expanded its AMD X570 chipset motherboard family with the micro-ATX Racing X570GT. The board ships with out-of-the-box support for 3rd generation Ryzen processors, and features PCI-Express gen 3.0 connectivity. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and a single 8-pin EPS power connector. A simple 4+3 phase VRM conditions power for the SoC, and even lacks cooling over the MOSFETs. Expansion options include one PCI-Express 4.0 x16, and two PCI-Express 4.0 x1 slots.

Storage connectivity of the Racing X570GT includes one M.2-22110 slot with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring. Display outputs include HDMI and D-Sub. The onboard audio solution features an entry-level Realtek ALC887 CODEC, and the board's sole network connectivity is care of a 1 GbE interface, driven by a Realtek RTL8111H PHY. USB connectivity includes four 5 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 1 ports on the rear panel, and two additional 5 Gbps ports via headers. The company didn't reveal pricing, but the Racing X570GT could be one of the cheapest AMD X570 motherboards, if not the cheapest.

Motherboard manufacturers seem to be rushing the fill the void of cost-effective motherboards with out of the box Ryzen 3000 support, as AMD X570 motherboards start at $170. The latest entrant is the Racing X470GTA by BIOSTAR, priced around the $120-mark, and packing an interesting mix of modern- and legacy connectivity. Built in the ATX form-factor, the board draws power from 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, conditioning it for the SoC with a simple 4+3 phase VRM. Out of the box, the board supports all Ryzen 3000-series processors launched so far, in addition to 1st and 2nd generation Ryzen, A-series, and Athlon "Bristol Ridge," which make up pretty much every socket AM4 chip launched so far.

The AM4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, and the board's lone M.2 slot. Two PCIe gen 2.0 x1, and a PCI-Express x16 slot with gen 2.0 x4 wiring, make for the rest of the expansion area; while six SATA 6 Gbps ports make the remaining storage options. This is probably the only AMD X470 motherboard to feature legacy PCI slots, using an ASMedia bridge chip. USB connectivity includes two 10 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 2 ports (from which one is type-C), and eight 5 Gb/s USB 3.1 gen 1 ports (from which four are by headers) The lone network interface is a 1 GbE driven by a Realtek 8118AS "DragonLAN" chip. The onboard audio solution is powered by an entry-level Realtek ALC892. Other legacy connectivity includes a PS/2 combo port and a serial COM header. Despite these, there are some wacky enthusiast-friendly features, including onboard buttons for automated overclocking, power/reset; dual-BIOS with a manual 2-way switch, and diagnostic LEDs.

MSI, the world's leading motherboard brand, is proud to announce AMD AM4 300- and 400- series MAX motherboards. Since AMD Ryzen 3000 series processors launched and have attracted public attention all over the world, AM4 socket compatibility has become a contentious topic for people who are interested in buying Ryzen CPUs. Currently AMD has 300-, 400-, and X570 platforms with the same AM4 socket, which might cause confusion. End users might feel a bit overwhelmed in terms of choosing a either a new CPU or a new motherboard or both a new CPU and a new motherboard.

To make everything simple, MAX motherboards provide maximum compatibility for AM4 socket. This means users do not have to worry about the collocation of CPU and motherboard. We have clear information both on the packaging and product page if customers are still confused.

ASUS today rolled out of the WS C246-ACE, a sober-looking workstation motherboard in the ATX form-factor based on the Intel C246 chipset, which supports not just Intel Xeon E-series processors in the LGA1151 package, but also 8th and 9th generation Core processors. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, conditioning it for the processor with a 9-phase VRM that's cooled by heavy ridged heatsinks. The CPU socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots that support up to 128 GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory, and two metal-reinforced PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC or x8/x8). Two open-ended PCIe 3.0 x1 and a PCI-Express x16 (electrical gen 3.0 x4) make for the rest of the expansion area.

Storage connectivity on the ASUS WS C246-ACE include two M.2-22110 slots with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring, a U.2 port, and four SATA 6 Gbps ports. Networking is care of two 1 GbE interfaces, driven by a combination of Intel i211-AT and i219-LM controllers. The onboard audio solution combines a Realtek ALC1220S CODEC with EMI shielding, ground-layer isolation, and a headphones amp circuit. USB connectivity includes four 10 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 2 ports, all on rear panel, one of which is a type-C port; and six 5 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 1 ports, of which two are via headers. Display connectivity include HDMI and DisplayPort. The company didn't reveal pricing.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, announces the latest H310 series motherboard supporting the newest 9th and 8th Generation Intel Core, Pentium and Celeron Processors in a compact Micro ATX form factor, the BIOSTAR H310MHP. From casual office tasks to a complete home entertainment center, the new H310MHP is the little motherboard that can.

Designed for office workers and home users who do not need all the flashiness of a flagship product, but want to get things done, the Micro ATX H310MHP is the motherboard of choice that fits into most PC cases without compromising on connectivity and quality. With support for up to 32 GB of DDR4 memory at 2666 MHz, GbE LAN, HDMI for 4K resolution, the BIOSTAR H310MHP sports 6 USB ports to let you connect multiple devices without the need of an expansion card, and allows you to browse the web, run office applications, enjoy online high definition content and play games without having to worry about performance or quality. In addition, great attention has been made to the power delivery design of this motherboard. A 5 phase power delivery system and an 8 pin CPU power connector, compared to other brands, ensures that the most important part of your PC, your high-end CPU, is supplied with stable power for maximum performance.

BIOSTAR formally (officially) enabled PCI-Express gen 4.0 support for four of its socket AM4 motherboard models based on the AMD X470 and B450 chipsets, through BIOS updates. The updated BIOS lets you use PCI-Express gen 4.0 graphics cards on the topmost PCI-Express x16 slot, and the M.2 NVMe slot that's directly wired to the AM4 SoC. The expansion slots that are wired to the chipset are still restricted to PCIe gen 2.0. You will need a 3rd generation Ryzen "Matisse" processor for PCI-Express gen 4.0. Among the motherboards that receive PCIe gen 4.0 support through BIOS updates are the AB45C-M4S (B450MH), the AB35G-M4S (B45M2), the AX47A-A4T (X470GT8), and the AX47A-I4S (X470GTN). The links lead to the BIOS image files on BIOSTAR website, which you use at your own risk.

The latest version of AGESA ComboAM4 microcode that enables 3rd generation Ryzen support on AMD 400-series chipset motherboards has been deemed buggy and pulled from motherboard vendors. AGESA ComboAM4 1.0.0.3ABA (not to be confused with 1.0.0.3AB that's being widely distributed), was originally released to fix an application crash noticed with "Destiny 2." The microcode inadvertantly destabilizes PCI-Express on motherboards, with users of ASUS motherboards complaining of stability issues with the latest BIOS updates that include 1.0.0.3ABA.

Peter "Shamino" Tan from ASUS commented that the company was under a tight schedule to push 1.0.0.3ABA out as BIOS updates, and didn't have the time to properly validate it. "We just got told to pull (was undergoing validation prior) 1003 ABA version," he said, adding the root cause of the problem being "that PCIE speed of BXB-C downgraded from gen4 to gen2,..." He comments "so its not surprising that bugs emerge since the source has hidden bugs that only gets unraveled with thorough testing. combine that with trying to get firmwares out in a tight time frame, kinda damn if you do (release firmware quickly) and damn if you dont (dont release firmware quickly) situation." It's interesting to note that in their BIOS update change-logs, quite a few motherboard vendors omit the full version string of AGESA. You may encounter ComboAM4 1.0.0.3AB being referred to simply as "AGESA ComboAM4 1.0.0.3."

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, announces the latest B365 series motherboard supporting the newest 9th and 8th Generation Intel Core Processor in a compact Micro ATX form factor, the BIOSTAR B365MHC. It is perfect for running office tasks to browsing the web and watching videos online.

The Micro ATX form factor allows the motherboard to fit in most PC cases making it perfect for office space saving while being packed with features including supporting up to 32 GB of DDR4 memory at 2666 MHz GbE LAN with Super LAN surge protection for enhanced bandwidth capacity, stability and superior performance. HDMI offers up to a 4K resolution with highly detailed content, while the PCIe M.2 expansion slot offers up to 32 Gb/s and supports for Intel Optane Technology which reduces boot times and improves overall performance. The BIOSTAR B365MHC is designed to offer unanimity with Intel's B365 chipset to give the power and performance needed for office and home multimedia uses.

ASUS believes that PCI-Express gen 4.0 support on older socket AM4 motherboards based on the AMD 400-series chipset is technically possible, even if discouraged by AMD. The company's latest series of motherboard BIOS updates that expose PCIe Gen 4 toggle in the PCIe settings, does in fact enable PCIe gen 4.0 to all devices that are directly wired to the SoC. These would be the PCI-Express x16 slots meant for graphics, and one of the M.2 slots that has PCIe x4 wiring to the SoC. Below is a list of motherboards scored by Chinese tech publication MyDrivers, which details the extent of PCIe gen 4.0 support across a number of ASUS motherboards based on the X470 and B450 chipsets.

AMD apparently did not explicitly block PCIe gen 4.0 for older chipsets. It merely suggested to motherboard manufacturers not to enable it, since the newer AMD 500-series motherboards are built to new PCB specifications that ensure PCIe gen 4.0 signal-integrity and stability. ASUS wants to leave it to users to decide if they want gen 4.0. If their machines are unstable, they can choose to limit PCIe version to gen 3.0 in their BIOS settings. Among other things, AMD's specifications for 500-series chipset motherboards prescribe PCBs with more than 4 layers, for optimal PCIe and memory wiring. Many of the motherboards on ASUS' list, such as the TUF B450 Pro Gaming, use simple 4-layer PCBs.

Our Monday story chronicled how MSI inadvertently erred in giving many of its AMD 400-series chipset motherboards 128 Mbit (16-megabyte) SPI flash ROM chips instead of larger 256 Mbit (32-megabyte) ones, which nearly jeopardized the company's "Zen 2" support deployment, forcing it to greatly thin its motherboard firmware feature-set, and break SATA RAID support on many of its boards. To be fair to MSI, the company may not have anticipated the AGESA microcode growing tremendously in size with its latest ComboAM4 1.0.0.3-series. We are now hearing from Polish tech publication PurePC that MSI has scrambled to remedy this by re-releasing many of its AMD 400-series chipset motherboards with larger 256 Mbit SPI flash ROM chips.

The PurePC report states that MSI will brand the revised motherboards "MAX" in the product name (eg: B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC MAX, B450M Bazooka MAX, etc.), although we don't know if the new model names will have the company's latest MEG/MPG/MAG prefixes. The 256 Mbit SPI flash ROM chip allows MSI to cram in AGESA 1.0.0.3a, which lets you use 3rd generation Ryzen processors to their full capabilities (barring PCIe gen 4.0 on these motherboards of course). More importantly, the larger ROM chip allows MSI to have AGESA 1.0.0.3a without sacrificing on its feature-rich Click BIOS 5 UEFI setup program, SATA RAID module, or losing support for any of the socket AM4 processors.

As the world leading motherboard brand, MSI is proud to announce that our X570 motherboards are available in the market with the launch of AMD Ryzen 3000 series processors. For all types of users such as gamers, overclockers, designers and professionals, MSI X570 motherboards include MEG, MPG, PRESTIGE, and PRO series to meet a great variety of needs.

In particular, all MSI X570 motherboards support the latest Lightning Gen 4 solution, including both PCIe and M.2 slots for up to 64 GB/s bandwidth. Moreover, the MSI exclusive new feature Frozr Heatsink integrates the heatsink and a patented fan with double ball bearings for better durability, combining with Propeller Blade Technology to generate more airflow, lower noise and Zero Frozr Technology to auto-adjust fan speed for chipset temperature, and based on personal preference. MSI X570 motherboards also apply IR digital power design and server grade PCB construction to ensure precise and undistorted power delivery and better signal transfer effectiveness.

AMD succeeded in delivering on its backwards-compatibility promise for the 3rd generation Ryzen processors on motherboards based on AMD 300-series and 400-series chipsets. This promise was very close to being derailed suggests a community thread on MSI forums. According to MSI representatives active on the forum, the capacity of the SPI flash EEPROM chip that stores the motherboard UEFI firmware is woefully limited to cram in the AGESA ComboAM4 1.0.0.3a microcode on many of its motherboards.

The company had to make several changes to its UEFI BIOS package that's currently being circulated as a "beta," to accommodate support for 3rd generation Ryzen processors along with AGESA ComboAM4 1.0.0.3a. First, it had to kick out support for A-series and Athlon processors based on the 28 nm "Bristol Ridge" silicon. Second, it had to [and this is a big one], kick the RAID module, breaking SATA RAID on many of its motherboards. Third, it had to replace its feature-rich Click BIOS 5 setup program with a barebones "GSE Lite" Click BIOS program, which lacks many of the features of the original program, and comes with a dull, low-resolution UI. This program still includes some essential MSI-exclusive features such as A-XMP (which translates Intel XMP profiles to AMD-compatible settings), Smart Fan, and M-Flash.

The leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, is pleased to officially announce the launch of the new AMD X570 motherboard series, previewed during Computex 2019. The series offers ten motherboard models for every role from affordable performance to gaming to content creation to power users. ASRock's X570 boards get the most from the next generation PCIe 4.0 interface and from the newest, most powerful AM4 processors, including the AMD Ryzen 2000 and 3000 Series. These new boards continue the tradition of trusted ASRock names such as Taichi and Phantom Gaming.

The new design for ASRock's X570 motherboards is a huge step forward. ASRock has combined both aesthetics and functionality to create a board that not only looks fascinating, with its bold angular lines, but performs as good as it looks. The stunning full coverage aluminum heatsink cools and protects the PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSDs as well as the chipset. The neatly designed color LED system is eye-catching but also classy. If you need even more enhanced RGB effects, you can customize your PC with Polychrome SYNC full-color RGB LED lighting, which provides both 3-pin addressable RGB headers and traditional 4-pin RGB LED headers which allow users to connect RGB strips directly to the motherboard and sync their lighting system using the app provided.

ASUS today rolled out an entry-level mini-ITX motherboard for the AMD socket AM4 platform, the Prime A320I-K. Based on the AMD A320 chipset, the board supports 1st and 2nd generation Ryzen processors out of the box, including the 8-core models. The tiny A320 chipset is tucked away behind a metal heatspreader underneath the M.2-2280 slot. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it with a 6-phase VRM that makes do without a heatsink.

Storage connectivity on the A320I-K includes four SATA 6 Gbps ports, and an M.2-2280 slot with PCI-Express 2.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring from the SoC. The board's lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 3.0 x16. USB connectivity includes six USB 3.1 gen 1 ports, four on the rear-panel and two via headers; and four USB 2.0 ports, of which two are via headers. Display connectivity includes one each of DisplayPort and HDMI. Networking is care of a single 1 GbE interface driven by a Realtek RTL8111H controller, and the onboard audio solution is an entry-level Realtek ALC887. We expect the Prime A320I-K to be priced around $60.

Last week, we brought you an exclusive report of an ASUS AMD X570 motherboard price-list leak that foretells a $50-150 average price increase over launch-prices of motherboards based on the previous-generation AMD X470 chipset. European PC component price aggregator Geizhals has a partial list of X570 motherboards by another major manufacturer, MSI. It must be noted here, that while the ASUS price-list was for day-one retail prices, these prices of MSI boards are early listings, and could be marked-up by the retailer.

The cheapest model on the list is the MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus, which succeeds the roughly-120€ X470 Gaming Plus at a whopping 201.30€. Interestingly, the MPG X570 Gaming Edge WiFi, which is supposed to be a slightly toned-down variant of the Gaming Pro Carbon, is priced only 18€ more, at 219.50€. The MEG X570 ACE, which will be a fast-moving high-end product, is priced at 414.60€, or roughly on par with HEDT motherboards based on the Intel X299 or even AMD X399 chipsets. For 100€ more, you get the better equipped MEG X570 Creation. Record-seeking enthusiasts will have their sights on the MEG X570 GODLIKE, though, which can be yours for 780.40€.

MSI's CEO Charles Chiang, quoted by Tom's Hardware at COMPUTEX 2019, laid out what we were already seeing with motherboard designs from all vendors of AMD's X570-based motherboards: pricing is likely increasing across the board, and AMD's market positioning won't be of the alternative, lower-value brand.

As quoted, Chiang said that ""Lots of people ask me, what do you think about today's AMD? I say today's AMD is completely different company compared to two, three, five years ago. They have nice technology and they are there to put the higher spec with the reasonable pricing. But right now they say, "Hey Charles, let's push to marketing to the higher [end]. So let's sell higher-pricing motherboards, higher-spec motherboards, and let's see what will happen in the market. So I don't think that AMD is the company that wants to sell low cost here, low cost there." Which does make sense: AMD isn't in the position of the underdog anymore -at least technology and product-portfolio wise when it comes to consumer CPUs. With better products, comes a desire for higher margins, and a change in direction for a company that was basically forced to almost cut itself out of the market in terms of profits with its previous, non-competitive CPU designs.

This shouldn't really need to be spelled out, but AMD clarified that you can't have PCI-Express gen 4.0 running an upcoming Ryzen 3000 "Matisse" processor on older socket AM4 motherboards based on AMD 300-series and 400-series chipsets, and that the processor's PCIe root-complex will run at PCI-Express gen 3.0 speeds. AMD's official reason for this is that the older motherboards can't guarantee reliable signaling needed for PCI-Express gen 4.0 and hence the company decided to blanket-disable PCIe gen 4.0 for the older platforms. This statement was put out by Robert Hallock, senior technical marketing head for CPUs and APUs, on Reddit.

Unofficially, though, we believe there are technological barriers standing in the way of PCI-Express gen 4.0 on the older motherboards, the least of which are the lack of external PCIe gen 4.0-certified re-driver/equalizer components, and lane-switching on boards that split one x16 PEG link to two x8 links. There may be other less technical issues such as PCI-SIG certification for the older platforms. Intel faced a similar challenge with its 3rd generation Core "Ivy Bridge" processors, which introduced PCI-Express gen 3.0 to the mainstream desktop platform, and were backwards-compatible with Intel 6-series chipset (eg: Z68 Express). The older 6-series motherboards could only put out PCIe gen 2.0 with the newer processors.

Motherboard vendors are betting big on the success of AMD's "Valhalla" desktop platform that combines a Ryzen 3000-series Zen 2 processor with an AMD X570 chipset motherboard, and have responded with some mighty premium board designs. GIGABYTE deployed its full spectrum of Aorus branding, including Ultra, Elite, ITX Pro, Master, and Xtreme. The X570 I Aorus Pro WiFi mini-ITX motherboard is an impressive feat of engineering despite its designers having to wrestle with the feisty new PCIe gen 4 chipset. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin and 8-pin connectors, and conditions power for the SoC with an impressive 8-phase VRM that uses high-grade PowIRstage components. A rather tall fan-heatsink cools the X570 chipset, with a 30 mm fan.

Connectivity options on the X570 I Aorus Pro WiFi are surprisingly aplenty. The sole expansion slot is a PCI-Express 4.0 x16, but the storage connectivity includes not one, but two M.2-2280 slots (reverse side of the PCB), each with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring. Four SATA 6 Gbps ports make for the rest of the storage connectivity. Networking options include 2.4 Gbps 802.11ax WLAN, Bluetooth 5.0 (Intel , and 1 GbE, all pulled by Intel-made controllers. USB connectivity includes six 5 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 1, and two 10 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 2 ports (of which one is type-C), and two 5 Gbps ports by headers. The onboard audio solution has 6-channel analog output, but is backed by a premium Realtek ALC1220VB Enhance CODEC (114 dBA SNR).

At Computex 2019, we spotted three new socket LGA2066 motherboards from GIGABYTE, and several other manufacturers. At its Computex 2019 keynote, Intel announced that in Q3 2019, the company is launching new Core X series HEDT processor models "for creators." When combined with the handful new LGA2066 motherboard models we've spotted, it becomes highly likely that the processors Intel is launching this Fall could be LGA2066-compatible. Without further ado, the X299G Aorus Master, the X299G Aorus Xtreme Waterforce, and the X299G Designare 10G.

The X299G Aorus Master is different from the X299 Aorus Master launched last November, and the X299G Designare 10G is different from the X299 Designare EX launched way back in 2017. The X299G Aorus Xtreme Waterforce is the first "Xtreme" sub-branded LGA2066 product. What's common to these three boards is out-of-the-box support for the upcoming HEDT processor models, besides 9th generation "Skylake-X" Refresh processors, and the original "Skylake-X" chips.

ASRock is ready with its own mini-ITX motherboard based on the AMD X570 chipset, the X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3. This tiny powerhouse one-ups other mini-ITX motherboards in its category by offering 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 connectivity over USB type-C, in addition to USB 3.2. This Thunderbolt port also includes a DP pass-through from your discrete graphics card.

Expansion includes one PCI-Express 4.0 x16. Storage connectivity includes one M.2-2280 with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps connectivity; and four SATA 6 Gbps ports. Networking options include 2.4 Gbps 802.11ax WLAN, Bluetooth 5.0, and 1 GbE driven by Intel i211-AT. The board pulls power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it for the SoC with a 6+2 phase VRM. A chunky fan-heatsink cools the chipset, shedding some of its heat to the enlarged VRM heatsink cloaked under the I/O shroud.

Colorful Technology Company Limited, professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and high-performance storage solutions is thrilled to introduce its latest product to gamers, enthusiasts, power users and system builders with the release of the COLORFUL first AMD X570-based motherboard. The new COLORFUL CVN X570 GAMING PRO V14 serves as a foundation for new AMD builds and supports AM4 socket processors including 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processors.

The CVN X570 GAMING Pro is ready for the future with support for AMD's new 7nm processor based on their Zen2 architecture, while still supporting both 2nd Gen and 1st Gen Ryzen products. This provides and easier and more cost effective upgrade path into the latest hardware. Making its debut is PCIe 4.0 on this motherboard giving it extra bandwidth for high-speed connections with devices. The motherboard also comes rich with USB connectivity including USB3.1 Gen2 and also features wireless LAN.

With motherboard vendors going big on the AMD "Valhalla" platform (a combination of 3rd generation Ryzen processor and AMD X570 chipset), we got to see MSI pull out every single high-end motherboard label it has, including MEG GODLIKE and MEG Creation. We sneaked into the MSI booth to take some snaps of the other X570 boards, including a close-up of the MEG X570 Ace, and three other MPG series boards. The MEG X570 Ace is largely carved out of the MEG X570 GODLIKE with a little toning down of the style and features. This is still a formidable board built for serious manual overclocking. We also get the sense that MSI is replacing its "Gaming M7" moniker with MEG Ace in its product stack, as we couldn't find an "X570 Gaming M7" anywhere.

With the MEG GODLIKE and MEG Creation expected to be priced north of $300, the MEG X570 Ace could be priced around the $260-mark. Positioned below it around $200-220, is the MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon. This board offers everything you need to build a super high-end rig where the focus is on gaming. It has decent CPU overclocking chops, too. The onboard audio and networking features are premium, and we expect MSI to deploy 802.11ax Wi-Fi. The new MPG X570 Gaming Edge is a lighter variant of the Gaming Pro Carbon, and is largely based on the same PCB. If you don't care all that much about board design, the MPG Gaming Edge is the way to go, with its roughly-$180 price. The MPG X570 Gaming Plus is a cost-effective product, and has all of the essentials gamers need for this platform. It is expected to go for around $150.

ASUS at a private pre-Computex event gave us a closer look at a treasure of upcoming products. The star-attractions, however, were its AMD X570 motherboard family that's spread across nearly every brand: ROG Crosshair, ROG Strix, TUF Gaming, Prime, and for the very first time for the AM4 platform, the WS series. The crown jewel of course is the mini-ITX form-factor product, the ROG Strix X570-I Gaming. This board is quite an engineering feat considering the ≥15 Watts TDP of the X570 chipset, which requires active cooling in most cases. An intricate network of heatsinks suspended along heat-pipes leading up to a dense aluminium fin-stack ventilated by a 30 mm fan, cools both the chipset and CPU VRM. ASUS designed this board to handle even the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X, but we don't expect too much overclocking headroom.