MSI MEG Z490 Ace Review: Full Featured, Robust VRM, Pricey

16-Phase power delivery meets 20Gbps USB-C

MSI Meg Z490 Ace
(Image: © MSI)

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Our test system uses Windows 10 64-bit OS (1909) with all threat mitigations applied. The motherboard BIOS used is the latest non-beta available to the public unless otherwise noted. The hardware used is as follows: 

Test System Components

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CPUIntel i9-10900KRow 0 - Cell 2
MemoryG.Skill Trident Z Neo 2x8GB DDR4 3600 (F4-3600C16D-16GTZNC)Row 1 - Cell 2
Memory 2G.Skill Trident Z Royale 4x8GB DDR4 4000 (F4-4000C18Q-32GTRS)Row 2 - Cell 2
GPUAsus ROG Strix RTX 2070Row 3 - Cell 2
CPU CoolerCorsair H150iRow 4 - Cell 2
PSUCorsair AX1200iRow 5 - Cell 2
SoftwareWindows 10 64-bit 1909Row 6 - Cell 2
Graphics DriverNvidia Driver 445.75Row 7 - Cell 2
SoundIntegrated HD audioRow 8 - Cell 2
NetworkIntegrated Networking (GbE or 2.5 GbE)Row 9 - Cell 2
Graphics DriverGeForce 445.74Row 10 - Cell 2

For this review, we’ll be comparing the Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero ($399.99) to the Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Master ($389.99), ASRock Z490 Taichi ($369.99) and the MSI MEG Z490 Ace ($399.99) as these are all close in price in the upper mid-range segment.

G.Skill provided both RAM kits for this review platform.

(Image credit: G.Skill)

Benchmark Settings 

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Synthetic Benchmarks and SettingsHeader Cell - Column 1
PCMark 10Version 2.1.2177 64
Row 1 - Cell 0 Essentials, Productivity, Digital Content Creation, MS Office
3DMarkVersion 2.11.6866 64
Row 3 - Cell 0 Firestrike Extreme and Time Spy Default Presets
Cinebench R20Version RBBENCHMARK271150
Row 5 - Cell 0 Open GL Benchmark - Single and Multi-threaded
Application Tests and SettingsRow 6 - Cell 1
LAME MP3Version SSE2_2019
Row 8 - Cell 0 Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s)
HandBrake CLIVersion: 1.2.2
Row 10 - Cell 0 Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x264 (light AVX) and x265 (heavy AVX) 
Corona 1.4Version 1.4
Row 12 - Cell 0 Custom benchmark
7-ZipVersion 19.00
Row 14 - Cell 0 Integrated benchmark
Game Tests and SettingsRow 15 - Cell 1
The Division 2Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080
Forza Horizon 4Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080

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Joe Shields
Motherboard Reviewer

Joe Shields is a Freelance writer for Tom’s Hardware US. He reviews motherboards.