Conclusion
The MSI MEG Z890 ACE motherboard is not cheap, at $659.99 MSRP it asks a pretty price. We can attest that this motherboard packs a ton of features, and capability into this package for that price.
Let’s first talk about CPU support, this new motherboard is geared for Intel’s new Core Ultra 200S series CPUs, the 285K, 265K, and 245K, and this socket is necessary for those CPUs. Most likely you would align this motherboard, at this price range, with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K if you are going to spend in this price range.
Installation and Use
We tested this motherboard with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU and found it to be a great fit. This motherboard has a very robust VRM configuration, and cooling. We found that at Intel Defaults cooling was exceptional. We also found that when cranking up the CPU to unlimited power, this motherboard can deal with that demand without any trouble.
The memory support is excellent, with its ability to support UDIMMs and CUDIMMs, it has many options and a high capacity as well. CUDIMMs seem to be a real winner and the best combo for this motherboard.
Again, at this tier of pricing, CUDIMMs seem like the smart choice. It will allow JEDEC 6400MT/s, or with XMP you should be able to run at 8000MT/s without issue, and that pairs well with this class of CPU and motherboard. You may even be able to push that higher, with MSI Dragon Alliance memory, 8600MT/s should be guaranteed, and you may even be able to overclock a bit higher. There’s a lot of play here for enthusiasts, at the very least.
In terms of storage, this motherboard is packed to the gills. MSI provides completely toolless heatsinks for all M.2 slots, and also toolless installation of SSDs with easy-to-function clips. MSI also includes thermal pads on the heatsinks, and bottom heatsinks with thermal pads as well, so cooling all 5 of those SSDs shouldn’t be a problem on this motherboard.
It supports PCIe 5.0 (Gen5) SSDs on the primary, and there’s even a second slot with Gen5 support if you sacrifice your GPU to x8, but it’s at least nice to have the option. Otherwise, there are 3x PCIe expansion slots, two of which do support PCIe 5.0, one at x16 and the other at x8 (but note that using it does lower the primary to x8 as well).
Then there is connectivity, this motherboard is loaded with nothing but USB 10G, no USB 2.0 in sight, with a very forward-looking configuration. It also has 2x Thunderbolt 4 ports, and 11 USB 10G ports, with both Type-A and several Type-C ports. It also has 10G LAN, and WiFi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4 on board. We also saw some unique power features to supplement PCIe expansion slots, fans and RGB, and USB so you won’t be held back.
Final Points
The MSI MEG Z890 ACE motherboard is a feature-packed motherboard, that should pair well with a high-end Intel Core Ultra 200S CPU. Pair it with the right memory, and this should be a very interesting piece of hardware for any PC enthusiast. We achieved 8200/8400MT/s in XMP mode with our memory, on this motherboard, and 8600MT/s in MSI Dragon Alliance and were able to overclock it to 9200MT/s G4, achieving that high overclock on this motherboard.
If you just want a solid build that works and provides as many I/O options as you can, then this should fit that bill as well, just be prepared to bring the bills, because this board will set you back $659.99 MSRP.
