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MSI MEG X570 ACE Motherboard Preview & Unboxing

MSI MEG X570 ACE

The latest AMD X570 chipset is here at last, well, it’s in our office at last. Unfortunately, you can’t play with it for a little while yet. However, while we’re not allowed to show you benchmarks, we can dive in for a quick look at what the new motherboards have to offer. The first up is the MSI MEG X570 ACE. We first saw this motherboard at Computex 2019 on the MSI Booth, but this is the first time we’ve got hands-on with it in the office. For starters, it has a pretty cool product name, but also comes packing many of the latest features that we’re sure you’re going to love!

Features

Supports 2nd and 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ / Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics Desktop Processors for AM4 socket
Supports DDR4 Memory
Mystic Light Infinity: Customize and set up your own colour scheme with MSI Mystic Light, combining exclusive mirror reflection to generate the special endless light effects, the ACE makes your system come alive and infinity.
Lightning Fast Game experience: PCIe 4.0, Triple Lightning Gen4 x4 M.2 with M.2 Shield Frozr, StoreMI, AMD Turbo USB 3.2 Gen2.
Dual LAN with latest Wi-Fi 6 solution: Onboard 2.5G plus Gigabit LAN with gaming LAN manager, combining latest Wi-Fi 6 solution which supports MU-MIMO and BSS colour technology, delivering the best online gaming experience.
Frozr Heatsink Design: Designed with the patented fan and double ball bearings to provide the best performance for enthusiast gamers and prosumers.
Extended Heat-pipe Design: Enlarge the surface of heat dissipation, connecting from VRM heatsink to chipset heatsink.
Audio Boost HD: Isolated audio with dedicated processor combining ESS audio DAC with amplifier, deliver the breathtaking, game-changing sound to create the most exciting gameplay.
Pre-installed I/O Shielding: Better EMI protection and more convenience for installation

3rd Gen Ryzen Support

Obviously, with the AM4 socket, you get support for 2nd and 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs. There’s no 1st Gen support though, as we covered in our X570 Buying Guide here. Of course, with 3rd Gen, you can unlock the full capabilities of this motherboard, such as PCIe 4.0 functionality.

Latest Features

With this motherboard, you get MSI’s Lightning Fast Game Experience hardware. That includes PCIe 4.0, Triple Lightning Gen4 x4 M.2 with M.2 Shield Frozr, StoreMI, AMD Turbo USB 3.2 Gen2. That means future proof support for next-gen graphics cards and storage devices, to name but a few. They’ve also thrown in ESS audio DAC, ensuring you get premium onboard audio.

Networking

You’re not left shy of options here either, with dual LAN backed up by the latest WiFi 6 hardware. There are 2.5G and Gigabit LAN built-in, with gaming LAN manager, MU-MIMO and BBS Colour Technology.

Frozr

As with most high-end motherboard, you get a robust VRM configuration, and plenty of premium cooling hardware too. The MEG features a 12+2+1 IR Digital Power setup. It also features their extended heat-pipe design, ensuring the VRM and the chipset heatsink get the maximum amount of performance. Of course, like pretty much all X570 solution, it has that active fan on the chipset. However, it does feature a double ball bearing design, so it should be durable, long living and quiet.

Mystic Light Infinity

Of course, you get loads of fancy lighting on this motherboard. There’s also a gorgeous mirror finish on sections of the motherboard, which are RGB back-lit, so you can really mix up the effects. Of course, with the Mystic Light software and ARGB/RGB headers, you can expand on this. You’ll be able to pair up fans, light strips, coolers, RAM and more to sync all of your effects; with compatible hardware of course.

Performance

Unfortunately, there are no figures we can show you at this time. We’re allowed to test them on our test bench, but you will have to wait for the NDA to pass before we can share those figures. Of course, we’ll have a review for you soon enough. For now, though, you can check out our X570 Buying Guide, Ryzen 3rd Gen Buying Guide and why not also check our Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT Buying Guide while you’re at it!

4K Video Preview

You can also watch it directly on YouTube in 4K here.

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Check out our other AMD X570 Motherboard Previews below:

For further information, please check out the official MSI product page here.

Peter Donnell

As a child in my 40's, I spend my day combining my love of music and movies with a life-long passion for gaming, from arcade classics and retro consoles to the latest high-end PC and console games. So it's no wonder I write about tech and test the latest hardware while I enjoy my hobbies!