ACE, which means ace, also has the meaning of "the one with the highest number of kills" in the game. If the manufacturer gives a product name "ACE", it means that this product is a "trump card" in the same category. After the launch of the 12th generation Core, the "ACE" God of War motherboard in the MEG family has received an update.
As the flagship series in MSI's motherboard product line, positioned only second to "GODLIKE Super God", this time, MSI MEG Z690 ACE began to align with the GODLIKE series in terms of specifications and materials. First, it used the E-ATX board model exclusive to the GODLIKE series, and secondly, it improved its specifications: 19+1+2 phase power supply, 5 M.2 interfaces, dual 2.5G+Thunderbolt 4 interfaces, and full armor coverage and heat dissipation, making people curious how "strong" this generation of war god is in terms of materials.
Appearance
The appearance of MSI Z690 ACE God of War continues the design ideas of Z590 God of War, but the overall color matching has become mainly black and gold. The gold decorations on the motherboard are all customized with 24K gold foil. The low-key and textured metal black is indeed a perfect match with the luxurious and dazzling gold.
The motherboard is an E-ATX board type. Compared with the previous ATX board type, the benefit of E-ATX is that it increases the space to accommodate components, and manufacturers are more operable when designing high-spec motherboards. The 8-layer + 2-ounce copper thickened PCB design can bring better electrical transmission efficiency than traditional design.
MSI 's iconic dragon scale logo, this time, it also uses a transparent grid design on VRM armor to increase the sense of technology, and the probability of internal dust accumulation also increases.
The motherboard armor is a full-coverage design, including VRM, M.2, PCH, I/O parts, and even the memory power supply module are covered with armor. At the same time, the metal full-coverage back panel is reinforced on the back, and the word "ACE" on the right indicates the identity of the product.
VRM module heat dissipation armor
memory powered armor
M.2 Frost armor + PCH heat dissipation armor
Metal reinforced backplane
Socket-LGA 1700 socket surrounded by VRM powered and memory slots can support Intel The 12th generation Core desktop CPU, according to the positioning and materials of ACE, it feels like it is a bit useless without installing an i9-12900K.
The motherboard is equipped with four DDR5 memory slots, which support Intel XMP 3.0 configuration overclocking. The slot uses a dedicated SMT welding process to effectively improve the purity and stability of electrical transmission. It is supplemented by MSI memory acceleration engine, allowing players to obtain reliable high-frequency performance when memory overclocking.
Above the slot is the CPU external power supply slot, dual 8Pin external power supply interface design, providing sufficient power support for the 12th generation Core processor. Next to it is the CPU fan interface and the cold pump fan interface.
For enthusiasts, the motherboard is equipped with Debug indicator light, Debug LED digital light and voltage measurement interface, which facilitates players to promptly troubleshoot hardware problems. At the same time, power button and Reset button are equipped at the bottom of the motherboard, which is convenient for users to turn on the power when the bare board is in a state of bare board.
Debug indicator
The motherboard is equipped with three PCIe x16 slots, where the bandwidth of the first and second slots is provided by the CPU, PCIe 5.0 x16 rate, and the third slot is provided by PCH, and PCIe 4.0 x4 rate.
It should be noted that the third PCIe x16 slot shares bandwidth with the M2_4 interface. When two interfaces are connected to the device at the same time, the PCIe x16 slot is running at the x1 rate, and the M2_4 interface will run at the x2 rate.
The motherboard is equipped with up to five M.2 interfaces, the highest specification can support M2-22110, and there are four interfaces that support PCIe 4.0 x4 speed, one interface supports PCIe 3.0 x4 speed, M2_1 is a direct CPU, the rest are connected to PCH, M2_3 is a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface, and the bottom M2_4 and M2_5 can also support SATA 6Gpbs speed SSD.
In terms of heat dissipation measures, in addition to the motherboard frost armor coverage, MSI MEG Z690 ACE adopts a double-sided thermal paste design, allowing both sides of the M.2 SSD to cover the thermal paste, which has the effect of fully covering the front and back of the SSD designed with double-sided particles.
Usually after installing the M.2 SSD, it is necessary to fix it with screws. This time, MSI MEG Z690 ACE adopts a convenient lock design, which only needs to rotate the lock to fix the SSD, improving the convenience of installing the SSD.
The lower right corner of the motherboard is equipped with 6 SATA 6Gbps interfaces, and the bandwidth is provided by PCH. It should also be noted here that when the M2_5 interface is inserted into the SATA SSD, the SATA_7 interface will be unavailable.
In terms of front panel interface configuration, the MEG Z690 ACE is equipped with two USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C interface extension pins, two sets of USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A interface extension pins (up to four interfaces), and two sets of USB 2.0 extension pins (up to four interfaces), which can be connected to the front panel of the chassis.
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 and USB 3.2 Gen 1 extension pin
USB 2.0 extension pin
Fan pin
Fan pin
Next to the fan pin is the LED control and BIOS switching keys.
The motherboard rear I/O panel is equipped with integrated armor, and the rear expansion interface includes 2 2.5G RJ45 network cable interfaces, 7 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A interface, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C interface (with DP video output ), 2 Thunderbolt 4 interfaces, 2 mini DP input interfaces, WiFi 6E wireless antenna interface, and audio interface. In addition, the left side is equipped with Clear CMOS buttons and Flash BIOS buttons.
Rear I/O panel
Motherboard disassembly and appreciation
Removing all the armor on the motherboard, let's see how the new generation of War God uses after replacing the board shape.
Although the power consumption of the 12th generation Core is quite excellent in daily operating conditions, the instantaneous power consumption of flagship CPUs like the i9-12900K is still quite amazing when they require full performance. MEG Z690 ACE has given the specification of 19+1+2 phases in terms of power supply, including 19 phases for core power supply, 1 phase for core display power supply, and 2 phase VCCAUX power supply
Each phase core power supply is equipped with RAA22010540 DrMos from Renesas, and a single pixel can continuously output 105A current.
The nuclear display power supply uses RAA220075 DrMos, and a single pixel can continuously output 75A current. The two-phase VCCAUX power supply is MP87992 DrMos equipped with a core source, and a single pixel can continuously output 70A current.
The main control PWM chip of power supply module adopts Renesas' RAA229131, which supports up to 20 phase power supply control. This is the commonly used main control chip for high-end motherboards of Z690.
Under the high-standard power supply specifications, VRM cooling armor plays a key temperature control role, and the thick thermal paste is responsible for exporting the heat generated by the power supply module to the metal armor.
Intel Z690 Chipset, motherboard PCH chip.
ASM
ASM1074, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Hub controller, supports charging function, and is responsible for USB 3.2 Gen 1 expansion control.
PX421A2, PCIe 5.0 channel switching chip.
BIOS memory chip MX25U25673G, the motherboard adopts the dual BIOS design. After problems with the current BIOS, you can directly switch to another BIOS to ensure normal use.
Intel I-225V 2.5Gbps network card chip , B3 stepping version.
GL3590, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Hub chip, provides bandwidth support for 4 rear USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A interfaces.
Reveal RTS5450, Type-C logic controller, follows the PD3.0 specification, and is responsible for controlling the logic control of the rear USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C interface.
Thunderbolt 4 and wireless network card module
HTM3Wireless network card and lightning 4 interfaces both adopt daughterboard design, and the related chips are not soldered directly on the PCB.
Intel AX211E, Wi-Fi 6E wireless network card, supports MU-MIMO 160Mhz ultrabandwidth and Bluetooth
Thunderbolt 4 uses Intel JHL8540 Thunderbolt 4 controller. is backward compatible with USB 4 and USB 3.2 devices, and supports up to 5V/3A fast charging.
Realtek ALC4082 sound effect Codec, paired with ESS SABRE9018Q2C DAC/HPA amplifier.
BIOS function
This generation of MSI MEG Z690 ACE God of War BIOS continues the previous style on the interface, and the entire set of BIOS is divided into EZ mode and advanced mode. In simple EZ mode, you can view platform hardware information, adjust the order of Boot boot device, enable XMP overclocking, control the motherboard Debug LED lighting, on/off fTPM 2.0 and other functions, which are suitable for novices or when adjusting common functions.
Fan adjustment interface.
Press F7 to enter the advanced mode that enthusiasts are familiar with. The familiar MSI dragon logo is inlaid with a circle of gold edges.
Different hardware and overclocking adjustment options are provided in advanced mode for advanced players to set up.
PCIe bandwidth adjustment settings
Comprehensive peripheral settings
Integrated graphics card settings
Thunderbolt 4 device settings
The OC overclocking interface provides detailed frequency and voltage adjustment options for overclocking enthusiasts to perform advanced overclocking.
overclocking OC interface, which can be adjusted according to the size and core
CPU IMC frequency division, voltage and memory overclocking options
Test platform configuration
To match this top motherboard, the test platform uses the current top hardware to match to achieve strong performance.
The processor is the 12th generation Core i9-12900K. The graphics card uses the strongest performance RTX 3090 Ti, paired with DDR5 memory and MSI's own flagship water cooling - MEG CORELIQUID S360. This radiator uses the seventh generation Asetek solution, focusing on high-efficiency cooling and silent experience.
According to the hardware information read by HWiNFO64, the hardware of the entire platform is correctly recognized, and the CPU can run to a high frequency of 5.1Ghz at low load.
Performance Test
After this top test platform is assembled, we will present the performance of the platform from four dimensions: CPU theoretical performance, graphics card theoretical performance, media creation, comprehensive performance, and gaming.
First of all, CPU-Z, single-core score 827.9, and multi-core score 11409.2, which well demonstrates the powerful single-core performance of the P core of the i9-12900K processor and the multi-threading level of the E core.
AIDA64 software comes with memory performance testing. The memory read and write performance based on the test platform is: read 80074MB/s, write 74132MB/s, copy 74273MB/s, and delay 72.2ns.
The processor theoretical performance test in 3D Mark CPU PROFILE. During the test, the highest CPU frequency reached 5.1Ghz, the maximum thread score was 11722, 8 thread scored 7706, and a single thread scored 1097.
7-Zip compression/decompression test, compression score 121.416GIPS, decompression score 143.409GIPS.
Two sets of CPU video encoding test, H.264 FHD Benchmark, scored 105.62 fps, H.265 FHD Benchmark, scored 62.73 fps.
3D Mark Fire Strike test, physical (processor) score 41414, graphics card score 52753, belonging to the top hardware level.
3D Mark Time Spy test, CPU score 18435, graphics card score 21712, the CPU maintained a high frequency of 4.9Ghz throughout the test, and also exerted the strength of top hardware.
PCIe bandwidth test, PCIe 5.0 is backward compatible, so graphics cards based on PCIe 4.0 can achieve full bandwidth.
The well-known productivity testing software UL Procyon, we conduct benchmark tests on the platform for photo and video editing and exporting, which can measure the platform's performance on photo and video editing and processing.
Using the powerful performance of i9-12900K and RTX 3090 Ti, the test score exceeded 10,303 points, of which the total score of photo editing was 7731 points, and the batch processing score was 13732 points.
Video editing test, scored 9140.
PugetBench for Premiere Pro, which measures video editing and exporting performance, got a score of 1346 in Extended mode, which means that this platform has excellent video editing performance.
The PC Mark 10 Extended test that measures the platform's daily comprehensive experience has achieved a total score of 13338. Whether in daily use or productivity creation, this platform has outstanding performance.
Comprehensive performance software CrossMark, with an overall score of 2316.
Game Test
The game test uses four popular 3A masterpieces for testing. In order to better play the performance of the CPU, the game resolution is set at 1080P, and the picture quality is the highest picture quality of the game. Vertical synchronization is turned off, and ray tracing and DLSS are not turned on.
First of all, the popular racing game "Forza: Horizon 5", the benchmark test result is 147 frames, and the average CPU rendered frame number is 167.7 frames.
The well-known frame killer "Cyberpunk 2077", was benchmarked under super image quality, with an average FPS of 148.96 frames.
The old game "Tomb Raider: Shadow", with an average frame rate of 227 frames, and an average frame rate of rendered by CPU games is 252 frames.
The game "Fighting the Three Kingdoms" that relies on CPU multi-threaded computing has an average frame rate of
Review summary: The specification upgraded Black Gold War God
The 12th generation Core has greatly improved performance thanks to the large and small core architecture, but it is a big challenge for motherboard power supply to achieve the flagship performance of i9-12900K. This generation of Z690 motherboards of major manufacturers are full of materials in terms of power supply specifications.
The flagship motherboard reviewed today, MEG Z690 ACE God of War power supply specifications are quite rapid, with a core 19 phase power supply, and a 105A DrMos, providing surging current to the CPU. The outstanding performance of i9-12900K during the test also proves this. On the BIOS, MSI provides new adjustment options for the characteristics of the 12th generation Core, which makes it more convenient for enthusiasts to overclock and perform performance adjustments for the processor.
The E-ATX large board also provides the basis for the specification upgrade of this generation of War God board, with 5 M.2 hard disks, full-speed USB 3.2 Type-A interface, dual Thunderbolt 4 interfaces, dual 2.5G network ports, and Wi-Fi 6E wireless support, which is much stronger than the previous generation of War God in terms of expansion.
A friend who bought i9-12900K, if you happen to be a luxury large board with piles of materials, or a host platform with excellent performance release, compared to the Z690 super flagship that costs 7,000 or 8,000 or 10,000 yuan, the Z690 God of War can indeed consider it.
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