MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE Motherboard Review

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Introduction

MSI is one of the better known and more established motherboard manufacturers out there. The company, like its competition, has a diverse product portfolio that ranges from motherboards to monitors and a slew of products in between. The company saw the writing on the wall a few years ago and rebranded nearly everything it sells as a “gaming” product. At first, this left everyone scratching their heads as MSI left very little available without a gaming-focused aesthetic.

At the time, I thought the people in charge were out of their minds. The PC gaming industry has become a major source of revenue for companies like MSI as most DIY PC’s are built for one of two things. Content creation or gaming. Sometimes there is a definite crossover, but MSI and other companies do have products that target that subset of the market as well, but, are still increasingly gaming oriented.  

Other companies followed MSI’s example and now most DIY PC stuff is covered in RGB lighting and is designed to be aesthetically pleasing to gamers. Some companies do still produce more workstation-oriented hardware, which obviously takes a back burner to the gaming stuff as far as advertising and marketing typically go.

Despite fierce competition in the market from ASUS and GIGABYTE, MSI has managed to not only hold its own but to flourish. The company is one of the most successful in the AMD graphics card market and has risen in the realm of gaming monitors. Regardless, MSI remains primarily known as a motherboard manufacturer.

The motherboard we are looking at today is the one we used for our Ryzen 9 3900X review. It is the MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE. Yes, folks, this is one of those dreaded $700 motherboards you heard so much about prior to the launch of the Ryzen 3000 series.  

MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE

MSI’s MEG X570 GODLIKE is unholy expensive and over the course of this article, I will help you understand why. In the 14 years I’ve been reviewing motherboards, I have only ever once seen a motherboard this expensive. GIGABYTE’s X58A-UD9 Extreme was about the same price as the MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE, however, that was for the HEDT market.

I’ve seen plenty of server motherboards and even high-end workstation offerings with price tags to match. The reason I’m even shocked over the price is due to the MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE being the first mainstream market $700 motherboard I’ve seen to date.

I’ll explain why this is so expensive. I don’t know that it will become easier for you to pony up the cash for one, but at least you’ll know the reasons why it costs so much beyond the fact that its ultra-high-end, a premium part.

MSI Extreme Gaming

The MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE has a strange name, but it does have a meaning. MEG stands for MSI Extreme Gaming. The GODLIKE part of the name comes from Unreal Tournament. When you would get double kill, multi-kill, etc. the in-game announcer would call it GODLIKE. When you reached the maximum kill streak within a short enough time the announcer would call your streak GODLIKE. That part of the name is something we older gamers will recognize, while the younger crowd may not.

MSI’s MEG X570 GODLIKE motherboard is a socket AM4 motherboard based on AMD’s premium X570 chipset. This chipset is derived from the I/O die of the Ryzen 3000 series CPU’s. It is a 12nm part with a TDP of about 15 Watts. This is up from 6 Watts on the previous chipset.

It goes without saying that the MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE is a premium solution with a multitude of integrated features. This includes plenty of fluff features that are designed to make the motherboard a showpiece and give it a premium feel. The motherboard also boasts a solid electrical design, well-built PCB and of course, an accessory bundle that’s probably peerless.

Many motherboards come with a ton of stuff in the box you probably won’t use, but I don’t think that’s the case here. This motherboard actually comes with two expansion cards, both of which are actually useful. With an added GPU, that would bring the total expansion cards in the system up past the norm for most enthusiast builds. To call this motherboard bundle feature-rich is to do it something of an injustice.

Dan Dobrowolski
Dan has been writing motherboard reviews for the past 15 years, with the first decade or so writing for [H}ard|OCP. Dan brings his depth of knowledge about motherboards and their components to his reviews here at The FPS Review to help you select the best one for your needs.

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