MSI Drops A Bling Bling Motherboard: the MEG Z590 Ace Gold Edition
by Gavin Bonshor on April 14, 2021 8:00 AM ESTOn the back of Intel's 11th generation Rocket Lake processor release last month, MSI has dropped a new Z590 motherboard which certainly raises an eyebrow towards aesthetics. The new Z590 Ace Gold Edition is a gold-inspired take of the regular MEG Z590 Ace motherboard, with all of the same premium features such as PCIe 4.0 support, 2.5 GbE, Wi-Fi 6E, and dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C on the rear panel.
Built around its Enthusiast Gaming series, the MEG Z590 Ace Gold Edition injects a lot of flair and vibrance that the regular MEG Z590 Ace doesn't have. While aesthetics comes down to a matter of individual opinion, the MSI MEG Z590 Gold Ace Gold Edition is decked out in gold and brushed aluminum finishing, including the rear panel cover, power delivery heatsinks, PCIe slot armor, M.2 heatsinks, and the chipset heatsink.
Despite the refreshed and extravagant aesthetic, it includes the exact same feature and controller set as the regular MSI MEG Z590 Ace, which includes two full-length PCIe 4.0 slots that can operate at x16 and x8/x8, a third full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. There are four memory slots that can accommodate up to DDR4-5600 memory, with a maximum capacity of 128 GB, and includes one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot, three PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA M.2 slots, and six SATA ports which is plenty of storage options. Providing power to the CPU is the same 16-phase power delivery with premium 90 A power stages as the regular Z590 Ace and dual 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power inputs.
The rear panel also comes with plenty of features and includes a pre-attached gold and aluminum-colored rear panel cover (Ian: I can barely read those labels! What if you're colorblind!?). For connectivity, the MSI MEG Z590 Ace Gold Edition has dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C with two mini-DisplayPort video inputs, two USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. The board also uses a Realtek ALC4082 HD audio codec and ESS Sabre 9018Q2C DAC combination, which powers five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output, as well as a BIOS flashback and Clear CMOS button pairing. On the networking side of things, MSI is using an Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller and Intel's latest AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi.
At present, we don't know when the MSI MEG Z590 Ace Gold Edition is going to hit retail shelves, nor do we have any pricing. The regular MSI MEG Z590 Ace has an MSRP of $500, so we expect the gold variant to cost a little more.
We also have the MSI MEG Z590 Ace (regular version) in for review, which we will publish in due time.
Source: MSI
Related Reading
- The Intel Z590 Motherboard Overview: 50+ Motherboards Detailed
- Intel Rocket Lake (14nm) Review: Core i9-11900K, Core i7-11700K, and Core i5-11600K
- ASRock Z590 Taichi Review: An Intel Motherboard with Moving Parts (and Thunderbolt 4)
- The ASRock Z590 OC Formula Motherboard: By and For Overclockers
- The MSI Z590 Godlike, Comparing it to the Z490 Godlike
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davebyrd - Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - link
that looks terribleheadeffects - Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - link
No worse than the average gaming crap.duploxxx - Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - link
on top of a crap CPU platform "not worth the sand" unless you want to buy the low end 11400 ish cpu and Intel dropped prices so hard that it is worth looking at since there is no ryzen 5000 in that price bucket.nandnandnand - Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - link
6-core options are popular, 11400/11500 fit the bill.High-end motherboards for Rocket Lake are a waste of time with Alder Lake just around the corner.
Flunk - Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - link
High end motherboards for Rocket lake make no sense because it's a value platform. If you're spending a lot of money you're better off with Ryzen 5000.FreckledTrout - Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - link
That felt weird to say didn't it? Its true but very odd sounding.PixyMisa - Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - link
What's more, it's a value platform with no future. Alder Lake will be out this year, with a new socket.bigboxes - Tuesday, April 20, 2021 - link
Tell me about it...Operandi - Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - link
I threw up in my mouth a bit more than average so I'd say this is worse, or better depending how you look at it.nandnandnand - Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - link
Dammit, Meg