Finished Looks

Getting a closer look at the MSI MEG Z790 ACE motherboard while it's powered on, we can see the RGB lighting implementation. From a distance, the motherboard has a glossy black finish with different sections blended with RGB lighting. Upon closer inspection, we can see a finer mosaic triangle pattern sprawled throughout various parts of the motherboard and heatsinks. Three areas of the motherboard have RGB lighting baked in. First is the rear IO with the MSI dragon logo. Next is the bottom left "ACE" logo and in the right corner is the familiar triangle used in the patterns. The MEG text on the VRM heatsink catches the light in just the right way to look illuminated from behind, though it does not have any RGB implementation.


Those who prefer no RGB in their system have the option to turn off the RGB elements in software, or with the physical switch.

Test System

Supporting Hardware

Testing is performed with the newest available version of the BIOS at the time of review. All BIOS settings related to the CPU are left untouched. XMP is enabled for the memory. However, if the primary, secondary or tertiary memory timings are incorrectly set by the BIOS, it is tested as-is, to mimic a standard user. The same goes for the CPU. Unless it is a bug in the current BIOS—i.e., not present in other versions—any and all CPU boost parameters are left alone.