Storage Interfaces

MSI MEG X670E ACE Block Diagram

Storage Performance

The MSI MEG X670E ACE has a few more high-speed USB ports than its B650 counterpart, thanks in part to the X670 chipset. While the B650 has less of everything, depending on the motherboard configuration and bandwidth allocation, it may actually have more external USB ports. While some may argue the lack of USB4 is unfortunate, there is still enough bandwidth for many users that are just looking for any USB ports, regardless of the rated speed. These are good for headphones, USB Audio DACs, web cameras, game controllers, keyboards and mice. Those who need a little bit extra bandwidth will find eight 10 Gbps USB Type-A ports, and two USB-C 20 Gbps on the rear panel. Internally, even more can be connected from headers as well.

*ORICO USB4 NVMe Enclosure (ORICO-M208C3-U4) used for USB bandwidth tests.

AIDA64 (SATA 6 Gb/s)

AIDA64 (USB 3.2)

The external USB-C enclosure is rated for 40 Gb/s over USB4 or Thunderbolt 3/4. The fallback is 10 Gb/s for everything else. 1040 MB/s is right on target for a USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) enclosure. The USB 3.2 headers are connected to a ASM1074 controller as shown in the block diagram. This translates to lower throughput when benchmarked.

AIDA64 (NVMe M.2)

Using a PCIe Gen 4 x4 M.2 drive, testing shows that all M.2 sockets are at least Gen 4 x4. Without access to a Gen 5 NVMe, those M.2 slots cannot be fully tested. The M.2 Gen 5 sockets are always connected to the CPU directly, regardless of the motherboard in question, as the X670E/X670/B650 chipsets do not have the throughput available for Gen 5 devices.

Included with the MEG X670E ACE is the PCIe add-on card for additional two Gen 5 NVMe drives. The main issue many will encounter with Gen 5 NVMe drives is thermal throttling. This has been brought up in previous reviews, though to reiterate here, the first generation of Gen 5 NVMe drives get extremely hot. If you're doing quick reads or writes it won't be a problem using the included heatsinks. However, if you plan on using the drives for sustained read and writes for a extended period of time, the first generation of Gen 5 SSDs will require active cooling. The MSI Xpander card has a large heatsink with an attached fan for active cooling. The rest of the M.2 slots will rely solely on the passive airflow of the case.