MSI unlocks the full power of AMD CPUs with new MEG X870E Unify-X Max motherboard — premium Ryzen overclocking comes to AM5

(Image credit: Future)

MSI electrified CES 2026 with the debut of the long-awaited MEG X870E Unify-X Max motherboard—set to outshine the best motherboards on the market. Bursting with overclocking-focused features, the legendary Unify series finally storms onto AMD’s AM5 platform, after a four-year hiatus.

On the AM4 platform, MSI made waves by first releasing the budget-friendly MEG B550 Unify and B550 Unify-X, later stepping up with the premium MEG X570 Unify and X570S Unify-X Max. Now, with AM5, MSI is making an audacious leap straight to the X870E chipset—no whispers yet of more affordable models on the horizon. The hotly anticipated MEG X870E Unify-X Max is the fifth AMD chapter in the storied Unify saga.

True to the Unify legacy, the MEG X870E Unify-X Max makes an unmistakable statement with its commanding all-black aesthetic, punctuated by sleek, reflective highlights. As with all X-designated models, this powerhouse comes with just two DDR5 memory slots—purpose-built for memory overclocking. The minimalist two-DIMM layout improves signal integrity and slashes latency, ensuring rock-solid stability even as you push memory frequencies to the absolute limit. While the official specifications remain under wraps for now, expect the MEG X870E Unify-X Max to surpass DDR5-10000 effortlessly, provided your Ryzen CPU can keep pace.

Forget the old limitations of two-DIMM motherboards. With cutting-edge 64GB DDR5 modules now available, the MEG X870E Unify-X Max lets you pack in a colossal 128GB (2x64GB) of ultra-fast memory—more than enough muscle for power users, creators, and extreme enthusiasts alike.

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Engineered for hardcore enthusiasts and relentless overclockers, MSI crafted the MEG X870E Unify-X Max with only the finest components. MSI has sculpted this motherboard from an eight-layer, server-grade PCB, anchored by a robust dual-rail power system. Its formidable 18+2+1-phase power delivery, paired with dual 8-pin EPS connectors, ensures your Ryzen CPU receives ample power even under the most extreme overclocking conditions.

The motherboard boasts dual PCIe 5.0 x16 expansion slots alongside two PCIe x4 expansion slots. The primary x16 expansion slot is equipped with MSI’s EZ PCIe Release, allowing you to lock or unlock your graphics card with a single button press. Storage is equally plentiful with five blazing-fast M.2 slots featuring Frozr heatsinks and tool-free EZ M.2 Clip II installation, plus two SATA III ports for legacy storage drives.

The MEG X870E Unify-X Max has two USB4 (40 Gbps) Type-C ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C port, and eight USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-A ports. The motherboard also includes old-school PS/2 ports for overclockers as well as 5 Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi 7 wireless connectivity.

No Unify package would be complete without the MSI Tuning Controller. The compact remote puts real-time overclocking tweaks right at your fingertips, and also lets you monitor and diagnose your motherboard effortlessly using QCODEs.

MSI has yet to reveal official pricing or availability for the MEG X870E Unify-X Max. However, its recent announcement suggests eager enthusiasts won’t have to wait much longer for a full reveal of specifications and launch details. For context, MSI’s Intel-based MEG Z890 Unify-X currently retails at $699.99—so it’s safe to expect the X870E Unify-X Max to land in a similar premium price bracket.

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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

With contributions from

Joe ShieldsStaff Writer, Components

8 Comments Comment from the forums

vanadiel007

I think in today's market, these extreme versions offer very little overclocking extra's that boards half their price do not already offer.
Reply
TechieTwo

As history has shown with Asus mobos, having more knobs to turn does not equal more overclocking performance.

As noted with the latest CPUs most of the oveclocking headroom is already used by std. OC modes. Sure you can get a bit more performance if you get everything figured out but IME there is zero tangible increase in performance over the basic OC settings - which only produce a minute increase over the default CPU settings. Paying obscene prices for many of these mobos is just a pipedream.
Reply
ejolson

While paying more for fewer memory sockets seems like marketing genius, in these days of memory shortage, I suspect most people would be willing to take the performance hit of running the RAM at slower speeds in exchange for the upgrade capacity of adding DIMMs later without throwing out the RAM purchased now.
Reply
thestryker

Glad to see these boards making their way back to AMD. While I couldn't justify the +40% price over what I got I'd have rather had the Unify-X due to high speed memory stability. I'm still hoping for some midrange 1DPC boards as this area is completely unserved unless you consider ITX as an acceptable tradeoff.
Reply
-Fran-

AMD needs a new chipset. Promontory21 is absurdly dated. Heck, it was already dated when AM5 debuted!

I hope they introduce a proper new chipset that, at least, closes the gap with Intel. Intel has a far superior platform... And... nothing much else, lol. Still, better than AMDs by a good margin.

Just update the uplink and downlink with more lanes and PCIe5. You can keep the daisy chain, as that is actually not a bad idea.

Come on AMD. Do it.

Regards.
Reply
hotaru251

-Fran- said:
Just update the uplink and downlink with more lanes and PCIe5
lanes are only real reason you buy TR.

You'll likely not see consumer socket gain more lanes as that would negate the main appeal of TR lineup.
Reply
thestryker

hotaru251 said:
lanes are only real reason you buy TR.

You'll likely not see consumer socket gain more lanes as that would negate the main appeal of TR lineup.
They're talking about CPU to chipset link lanes not CPU provided lanes (though I'm sure we'd all love more there). I'm fairly certain workstation parts from both AMD and Intel use the same CPU to chipset link (and same chipset) as their desktop counterparts.

-Fran- said:
Just update the uplink and downlink with more lanes and PCIe5.
Unfortunately the Intel NVL leaks indicate a move to PCIe 5.0, but dropping down to 4 lanes and I can't imagine AMD providing more. I do think AMD needs to at least move to PCIe 5.0, and hopefully it happens on AM5.
Reply
-Fran-

hotaru251 said:
lanes are only real reason you buy TR.

You'll likely not see consumer socket gain more lanes as that would negate the main appeal of TR lineup.
@thestryker basically replied on my behalf, as it was precisely what I meant. The lanes are already there from both Zen4 and Zen5 parts (not APUs though) to use PCIe5, but the chipset only supports PCIe4 or 3, I can't remember. Which is very pedestrian, plus only 4 links. Making the link 8x and PCIe5 would come a long way. That could imply changes to the I/O die to support the 8 links, but the socket and CPUs can.

Regards.
Reply

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