MSI MEG Z490 ACE

MSI Adds PCIe 4.0 Support to Z490 Motherboards

March 2, 2021 by Stephen

[Taipei, Taiwan] All of the MSI Z490 motherboards will be supporting PCIe 4.0 with the coming Intel 11^th Gen Intel Processors. Through an update to the latest BIOS, MSI Z490 motherboards offer great bandwidth and performance for PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs and graphics cards.

To be PCIe 4.0 compatible, several components on the motherboards are necessary, including PCIe 4.0 ready clock generator, lane switch, redriver, PCIe slots, and M.2 connectors. Thanks to the complete PCIe 4.0 solutions, MSI Z490 motherboards provide the most stable design for PCIe 4.0 and unlock the full performance of PCIe 4.0 devices.

To enjoy the unlocked performance of PICe 4.0, please update the Z490 motherboards with the latest BIOSes optimized for PCIe 4.0.
MSI Z490 BIOSes optimized for PCIe 4.0 performance:

Find more details @ MSI

September 16, 2020July 16, 2020 by Stephen

A slick-looking premium board for 10th Gen Intel, the MEG Z490 Ace has an attractive feature set and wise PCB arrangement, but issues with the firmware suggest waiting for some patching-up, especially considering the price.

MSI MEG Z490 ACE

September 11, 2020June 9, 2020 by Stephen

The MSI MEG Z490 Ace brings a slew of modern connectivity, including USB 3.2 Gen2 (20 Gbps), Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, robust high-quality power delivery, and good (though not the best) performance. It’s a viable option in the $400 range, though other boards we looked at sport similar features at slightly lower prices.

MSI MEG Z490 ACE

September 14, 2020June 5, 2020 by Stephen

The VRMs delivered all the power we needed for rock solid performance and that meant we were able to focus on the CPU and those ten cores of 4.9GHz goodness. We also used the BIOS to overclock the CPU to hit 5.2GHz, however there were plenty of features we ignored and we didn’t get too hung up on the £400 price, or at least, not until now.

MSI MEG Z490 ACE

September 13, 2020May 26, 2020 by Stephen

MSI uses eight Intersil phase controllers with 16 power stages (actually, 16+1 in total) rated at 90A and as we’ve mentioned, these are actively cooled. However, even in the fan’s boost mode where it spins up at the lowest temperature and after 10 minutes of full non-AVX load with our Core i9-10900K, the VRMs sat below 55°C and the fan failed to reach its start-up temperature.

MSI MEG Z490 ACE

September 10, 2020May 20, 2020 by Stephen

In this review we look at the MSI Z490 ACE. The new series is aimed to become the more high-end solution priced in a 439 USD ran ge, it comes with AX WIFI, and has that intel 2.5 Gbps ethernet jack. That and some pretty awesome design choices from an aesthetic point of view.

MSI MEG Z490 ACE

September 16, 2020May 20, 2020 by Stephen

Aesthetics are certainly a strong point with this motherboard, offering up plenty of RGB lighting and effects, but it’s certainly function before form here. Enormous heatsinks, a massive INTELSIL Digital PWM setup with 16+1 phases and a 90A power stage, built-in WiFi 6 and 2.5G LAN. Plus you get extensive support for M.2, all complimented with M.2 Shield Frozr. ESS DAC & Nahimic for audio, and much more.