MSI MEG Z390 Ace Review

Overclocking

We used the MSI MEG Z390 Ace as our testbed for Intel's Core i9-9900K so if you've read that you'll see similar results here. Overclocking was fairly painless and from here on in we'll be aiming for 5GHz but seeing just how little voltage is needed to get there with our CPU with every board we test. 

5GHz was stable with 1.26V with the MEG Z390 Ace and this was tameable using a modest 140mm liquid cooler. 5.1GHz was bootable but required well over 1.3V which would also need beefier cooling, but the potential is there. Something we did spot is a sneaky base clock tweak by MSI, which added 40MHz to the overclocked frequency.

Performance Analysis 

As we're using a different CPU to our Z370 results as well as tweaked benchmark tests, we don't have any comparable results for the MSI MEG Z390 Ace yet but we'll be adding to the graphs with more boards very soon.

The audio results were maybe a tad disappointing with dynamic range of 103dBA and noise level of -102dBA, but this is only going to be an issue for audiophiles. Everything else was right on the money and as we mentioned earlier, the M.2 heatsink performed exceptionally well, knocking 24°C off the load temperature, which seemed to boost the write speed by 100MB/sec too - 3,371MB/sec read and 1,807MB/sec were the final numbers for the M.2 benchmark.

Conclusion

We can't say definitively if this board is exceptional yet having not tested others, but with Z370 and Z390 being so similar and CPUs being backwards compatible, there's clearly a strong case for saving some cash and opting for a previous-generation motherboard - nearly £300 is a lot to pay for a mainstream motherboard, even if the Core i9-9900K is stepping on HEDT CPU shoes. However, for premium features such as USB 3.1 Gen 2, overclocking tools, M.2 heatsinks, RGB lighting and extensive power delivery, MSI doesn't have any options in the price range with Z370 instead leaping from the likes of the much cheaper Z370 GAMING M5 up to the hugely expensive Godlike Gaming. The MEG Z390 Ace, despite its price, actually has the Asus Maximus XI Hero in its sights with the latter costing a similar and sizeable £270. All we can say for now is that the MEG Z390 Ace is hugely impressive and the other manufacturers will have to pack a mighty sub-£300 punch in terms of features and aesthetics to beat it.