As we’ve already done overviews for GIGABYTE, ASRock and ASUS, last but not least we have MSI rounding off the coverage of the big four motherboard manufacturers.
As with the other major manufactures MSI has brought their big boys out to play for AMD’s X570, with high-end MEG Godlike and Creation motherboards finally coming to AMD platforms. Let’s check out the specifications below!
MSI Godlike X570 Gaming
Ever since its introduction with the X99 Godlike, it has been MSI’s top of the line gaming motherboard. Packed with more features than most of us would ever need, including an M.2 expander card, and a 10GbE LAN card in the box. MSI says it uses a 14+4+1 Phase VRM for a total of 19 Phases. Looking at this board, I can tell you its designed to break overclocking records with a VRM-design that’s pretty insane. In fact, it’s already managed 5100MHz on a kit of DDR4 memory.
- E-ATX
- 14+4+1 Phase VRM
- 3 M.2 PCIe Ports + Bundled Twin Frozr Dual M.2 PCIe Card AIC
- 6 SATA Ports
- 5 USB 3.2 Type-A (3x Gen2, 2x Gen1)
- 1 USB 3.2 Type-C
- WiFi 802.11AX
- Killer E2600 1GbE LAN
- Killer E3000 2.5 GbE LAN
- Realtek ALC 1220
- ESS DAC
MSI Prestige X570 Creation
Where the Godlike is aimed at gamers and extreme overclockers, the Creation motherboards are aimed at content creators and ‘prosumers.’ The board features 10GbE LAN and WiFi 6 for those who need faster file transfers from their home NAS or other networked PCs. This one also features a very high end heatsink design, and some beefy heat-pipes to keep its VRM cool.
- E-ATX
- 14+2+1 Phase VRM
- 2 M.2 PCIe Ports + Bundled Twin Frozr Dual M.2 PCIe Card AIC
- 6 SATA Ports
- 10 USB 3.2 Type-A
- 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A/ Type-C
- 2 USB 2.0
- Intel I211AT Gigabit LAN
- Aquantia AQC107 10GbE LAN
- Reaktek ALC 1220
MSI MEG X570 ACE
Taking a step down from the Godlike, we have the X570 ACE. This one will not be quite as feature packed as the Godlike, but still offer enthusiast grade features and quality for those who want to spend a little less. It features a 12-phase Vcore VRM with a 2-phase SOC VRM, and a single phase memory VRM. It still features 3x M.2 slots and can accommodate dual-GPUs -perhaps even triple, depending on the configuration. The one gripe I would have is that the SATA and USB ports have been cut down a bit more than I would like to see on a motherboard of this tier.
- ATX
- 12+2+1 Phase VRM
- 3 M.2 PCIe Ports
- 4 SATA Ports
- 3 USB 3.2 Type-A
- 1 USB 3.2 Type-C
- 2 USB 2.0
- Intel WGI211AT Gigabit LAN
- Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE LAN
- WiFi 802.11AX
- Realtek ALC 1220
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon WiFi
The MSI Gaming Pro Carbon was one of the better X470 boards on the platform, and hit a great sweet spot between features, overall build quality and price. This time, MSI seems to be aiming for something similar for gamers who want to push their CPUs hard but only plan on using a single GPU, and might not need all of the extras of the higher tiered motherboards.
- ATX
- 10+2+1 Phase VRM
- 2 M.2 PCIe Ports
- 6 SATA Ports
- 3 USB 3.2 Type-A
- 1 USB 3.2 Type-C
- 2 USB 3.1
- Intel I211AT Gigabit LAN
- WiFi 802.11AX
- Realtek ALC 1220
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge WiFi
Even further still, the Gaming Edge WiFi packs an 8-phase Vcore VRM (which should be enough to handle the Ryzen 9 CPUs) and a less substantial heatsink for both the chipset and VRM. It uses a Realtek LAN controller and very similar I/O to the Pro Carbon.
- ATX
- 8+2+1 Phase VRM
- 2 M.2 PCIe Ports
- 6 SATA Ports
- 3 USB 3.2 Type-A
- 1 USB 3.2 Type-C
- 2 USB 3.1
- Realtek 8111H Gigabit LAN
- WiFi 802.11AX
- Realtek ALC 1220
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus
The Gaming Plus bottoms out the MSI X570 lineup using a VRM design very similar to the Gaming Edge, with both being 8+2. It still features dual M.2 slots as well as a basic smattering of SATA and USB ports with a classic red and black color scheme.
- ATX
- 8+2+1 Phase VRM
- 2 M.2 PCIe Ports
- 6 SATA Ports
- 1 USB 3.2 Type-A
- 1 USB 3.2 Type-C
- 4 USB 3.1
- Realtek 8111H Gigabit LAN
- WiFi 802.11AX
- Realtek ALC 1220
While there’s no official word on pricing yet; we did cover a leak including the rumored pricing of both MSI and ASUS’ entire X570 motherboard lineups. If those prices are anywhere near true, it looks like these boards will not be cheap.
