MSI MEG X399 Creation Threadripper Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts

How Much Does it Cost?

The price of the MSI MEG X399 Creation E-ATX Motherboard varies quite a lot right now. Some retailers like Amazon have it listed at £550.58. However, you can find it at other retailers for up to £100 less than that. This changes all the time, so be sure to shop around!

Wait, it costs HOW MUCH!? Yeah, it’s an expensive motherboard, but not much more so than say the flagship Z390 motherboards really. There are high-end motherboards, there are extreme motherboards, then there’s the MEG. This many features, this much hardware, this much build quality; it does not come for free, unfortunately.

Overview

I am floored by this motherboard, as it seems MSI dialled everything up to 11 with it, and still tried to crank it up higher. As a bit of technology, it’s very impressive and one of the most competitive consumer/workstation class motherboards we’ve ever seen. It does come with a hefty price, but you do get a few extra features included such as the PCIe M.2 Xpander, and you’ll not find more for less from any other brands offerings either.

Build Quality

The money you spend goes a long way here. The X399 is easily one of the best-built motherboards on the market today. It features huge and robust heatsinks in all the right places. When you’re powering the mighty 2900WX, you’re pulling over 400w at full load on the CPU alone while overclocking. However, that massive 19-phase power design is as robust as they come. Furthermore, there are three large heatsinks covering the M.2 mounts. All of the 8 x DIMM slots and the four full-size PCIe slots are all armoured, so you can mount your hardware with confidence.

Connectivity

Storage is clearly not an issue here, with triple M.2 onboard, and 8 x SATA ports giving you lots of options. However, the Xpander PCIe mount adds another four M.2 mounts should you need them for some extreme RAID configurations or StoreMI setups. Furthermore, built-in WiFi and dual Gigabit LAN mean you’ll not be left short on networking options either. However, my favourite aspect has to be the cooling capabilities, with 10 x PWM headers on the motherboard fulfilling all your needs for air and water cooled systems. Of course, you get plenty of RGB headers, Hi-Res audio support, and a plethora of USB connections. No matter how big your system is going to be, it’s unlikely many, if any, will saturate all the connections this motherboard offers.

Should I Buy One?

There are a few extreme X399 solutions on the market right now, and they’re all packed to the brim with features and £400+ price tags. However, the MEG is just edging out a lead in my opinion. It has such an extensive array of features, connectivity options, expandability, and world-class build quality. Admittedly, it’s complete overkill for most system builds. However, for those of you who need a can-do-it-all workstation type build, you’ll have a hard time beating the MEG. Of course, it’s also one of the coolest looking motherboards ever, and that’s got to count for something.