MSI MEG Z390 Ace Review

EFI 

MSI's EFI is pretty much the same as you'd see on a Z370 motherboard and that's no bad thing. The layout is excellent with overclocking controls generally grouped in one section or on a single page, unless you start delving around with loadline calibration and the like. MFlash again, for some reason, requires a reboot whereas on most other boards you just switch to a different section. Finally, the hardware monitor section still scores highly although Gigabyte offers more features here, especially when it comes to switching between temperature inputs. It's not particularly clear, but you can set fan speeds for system fans to zero speed at certain temperatures.

Software

Mystic Light worked without a hitch and was lag-free and responsive and even managed to control some Corsair RGB Pro memory we had to hand without issue, syncronising it to the lighting effects we applied to the motherboard.

MSI's new Dragon Center software marks a big change compared to previous efforts for Windows-based overclocking and fan control. For the most part we like it, although it does feel a bit large and clunky. Still, live control of frequencies, multipliers and fans worked fine. You get slightly more granular fan control in the EFI but there's also a fan tuner here to calibrate system fans for better speed control.