MSI MEG Z790 ACE MAX - Enthusiastically Refined
The MSI MEG Z790 ACE MAX expands upon the original ACE in every aspect. It's elegant & mature black theme looks great and the whole heatsink design makes this motherboard a real enthusiast offering. I am glad that once again, RGB is optional and you can totally go with a complete non-RGB aesthetic which looks stunning. But if you are a fan of RGB, then you have three lightning zones to configure which include the Dragon logo on the I/O plate, the MAX logo on the PCH plate, and the ACE logo on the magnetic SSD slot.
The MSI MEG Z790 ACE MAX retains its powerful 24+1+2 phase VRM design & support for up to 7800 MT/s DDR5 memory. The fastest kits I have are rated at DDR5-8000 and running them on MSI's ACE MAX was no issue at all. On the BIOS front, you are getting all the solid MSI features including a few new ones that will be rolling out soon, plus don't forget that this motherboard is factory-ready for Next-Gen CPUs which means you don't need to update with a new BIOS if you plan on getting a Raptor Lake Refresh chip.
In terms of I/O, the MSI MEG Z790 ACE comes with double the Thunderbolt 4 ports (USB Type-C) thanks to an onboard JHL8540 chipset. These provide up to 40 Gbps transfer rates and up to 15W charging. The standard USB interfaces feature 10 USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (including 2 Gen 2x2), 4 3.2 Gen 1, and 4 USB 2.0 ports. There's also a 60W Power Delivery option through the front panel USB headers that can be enabled by plugging in the 6-pin power connector on the motherboard.
Expansion slots include triple PCIe x16 slots (two Gen 5 and 1 Gen 4). Now the motherboard does not have any additional PLX chip so the slots will be sharing lanes with each other. Since there are only 16 Gen 5 lanes on the Raptor Lake CPUs, you will be restricted to x8/x8 when running two Gen 5 devices. There is also a single Gen 5 M.2 slot which will also share x4 lanes from the CPU so you'll end up with just x12 Gen 5 lanes. All M.2 slots come with a beefy cooling heatsink with dual-sided thermal pads which MSI has been offering for a while now. There's also a new magnetic M.2 slot in the MAX which is a great touch.
I have been running the original MSI MEG Z790 ACE motherboard on my PC since it was released and my experience has been very positive. There are a range of tuning options and great I/O that I'll gladly pay around $500 US for since it matches my build aesthetics and my requirements. With features such as WIFI 7, expanded IO, and a refinement to the ACE design, the ACE MAX is a solid motherboard. The motherboard does set you back for $699 US, a $100 US+ price increase over the Non-MAX. but if you really want the extra features that the MAX has onboard, then it's definitely a motherboard that you can't complain much about. MSI really knows how to handle the ACE design well and they have really outdone them once again with the ACE MAX!
MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk MAX WIFI - Solid $300-Range Option
Now let's head over to the MAG Z790 Tomahawk MAX WIFI which is another refinement to the MAG Tomahawk WIFI, rocking that all-black & stealthy look that we usually see on the higher-end Unify series. All the essential features are on this motherboard and at its mainstream $329 US pricing, it is one of the stronger offerings in the MSI Z790 MAX lineup.
The motherboard has all the essentials that make it a high-end product, 18 Phase (90A) VRM, solid heatsinks, quad M.2 slots, and support for PCIe Gen 5.0 M.2/PCIe interfaces. The primary M.2 slot comes with a screwless M.2 slot which is a nice addition.
The motherboard is complimented with a nice set of IO with internal and external USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 ports and a 2.5GbE LAN port along with WiFi7 connectivity. The motherboard delivered fantastic performance out of the box at stock and overclocked specs. Storage is once again a strong part of this motherboard with quadruple M.2 slots, all with their own set of heatsinks. Tomahawk should definitely be on your list of motherboards in the $300 US range considering its fantastic IO, storage, and design.
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