MSI MEG Z490 Ace Motherboard Review

1. Introducing MSI MEG Z490 Ace2. Digging in to the hardware3. Testing and Performance4. PCI Express, Power Draw and VRM Temperatures5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

Testing, Performance and Overclocking

To test the MSI MEG Z490 Ace we used the same hardware you saw in our review of Intel Core i9-10900K with the addition of performance figures from Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero Wi-FI and Gigabyte Z490I Aorus Ultra.

Test system

• CPU: Intel Core i9-10900K
• CPU Cooler: Fractal Design Celsius S36 with 3x Noctua Chromax NF-F12 fans
• RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3600MHz 16-18-18-36
• Motherboard: MSI MEG Z490 Ace
• Graphics: Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super 8GB
• SSD: 1TB WD Blue M.2 NVMe
• Power Supply: Seasonic Prime Platinum 1300W

We discuss in our video that MEG Z490 Ace performs impressively well but we didn’t labour the point that MSI has achieved this feat by ignoring Intel’s advice on power limits. The idea is that Core i9-10900K receives PL2 250W for 28 seconds, which should allow it to run to the limits of Thermal Velocity Boost, and will then drop back to PL1 125W which will pull the speed down to a much lower speed. Add in Tau and you have a fair amount of uncertainty about exactly how fast your new Core i9-10900K will run, on how many cores and for how long but MSI has swept that all aside with settings that deliver ‘Much Power Forever.’

As you will also see in our video, the update from BIOS 1.13 to 1.16 sweeps aside the restriction on Thermal Velocity Boost so the clock speed will be maintained when the CPU temperature pushes past 70 degrees C and will not drop by 100MHz to 4.8GHz as you will have seen in our video about Core i9-10900K but instead hangs on for grim death at 4.9GHz.

It is clear the hardware in MEG Z490 Ace can tolerate this behaviour and it is also clear that you can change the BIOS settings to impose Intel’s power guidelines if you so choose. It should also be clear that MSI might choose to change the behaviour of the motherboard in future BIOS revisions, at which point all bets are off.

Cinebench R20 Multi-Core

In Cinebench R20 more clock speed yields better results so MSI MEG Z490 Ace tops the chart with its clock speed of 5.2GHz, exactly as we would expect.

3D Mark CPU and Physics Tests

The 3D Mark CPU and Physics Tests show MSI doing well however the Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero puts up a fight despite running at a lower 5.1GHz speed.

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