MSI MEG Z790 Ace Motherboard

MSI’s MEG Z790 Ace is an E-ATX-size board has a dark black finish and gold embellishments, yielding a high-end aesthetic that’s sure to look good inside most chassis. Priced at $699.99, it’s not inexpensive, but neither are most of its direct competitors.

The board not only looks good, it comes with a slew of premium features, including two 40 Gbps ports, flagship-class audio, five M.2 sockets (one PCIe 5.0 x4), dual 2.5 GbE and Wi-Fi 6E, and one of the most robust VRMs I’ve seen. There are also flexible USB Type-C display options, 40 Gbps ports on the rear IO, vast storage capability, and more. Just about the only thing it’s missing is a 10 GbE port. Otherwise, it has all the bells and whistles of the even more expensive flagship motherboards.

Performance-wise, our MEG Ace did well across our suite of tests, running around average to a bit faster overall. Performance in our games and 3DMark tests showed it’s a performant gaming board, beating the other Z790 boards we’ve tested so far. Below, we’ll dig into the details of the board and see whether the price point knocks it out of a spot on our Best Motherboards list.