Packaging & Accessories: 9 out of 10
In this critical area, MSI has nailed the formula: offering everything you need and want without padding the MSRP with unnecessary extras. That alone sets it apart from most competitors. Add in exceptional packaging – down to the subtle red vs. blue accent under the chipset on the front of the box – and it’s hard to find fault here. Now, if MSI would only include EZ Adapters for their EZ WiFi connectors, we would be entirely satisfied.
Layout & Aesthetics: 23 out of 25
MSI’s Ace Max models have long earned a reputation for premium quality without pretentiousness – a combo that’s served builders across budgets and priorities since day one. The X870E edition solidifies this standing and elevates it with flair that the earlier ones lacked: dialing back the faux gold accents in favor of greater practicality. The result? A motherboard that – price aside – delivers reliable Just Work™ performance, from basic beige office boxes to $10K custom one-of-one showpieces. Color us highly impressed by how the Ace Max line keeps raising the bar. Now if they would only fix the 5th M.2 slot quirkiness… we would be fully satisfied.
Build Quality & Warranty: 28 out of 30
Make no mistake, the X870E Ace Max didn’t just knock it out of the park… they knocked it clean across the parking lot too. The sheer practicality baked into this premium motherboard is peerless (for its class). From its insightful handling of most of X870E’s bifurcation quirks to the avalanche of customization options when defaults don’t fit, it’s a dream to work with. Mostly. Not entirely. The EZ WiFi headers remain light-years ahead of ASUS’s half-baked “easy” attempt, yet they still lag the industry standard and deserve some Premium But Practical attention. Same for the 5th M.2 slot – it needs proper passive cooling by turning the full backplate into its heatsink. Nail those two, and we’d be fully satisfied… and likely never glance at the “GodLike” boards again.
Value: 31 out of 35
On one hand, the Ace Max sets the value bar so high that its premium-priced competition will have a hard time clearing it. On the other, this is not an inexpensive motherboard… so tossing around “excellent value” might be a bridge too far for some. Yes, the X870E Ace Max trounces the competition overall and exposes the Dark Hero as the niche Dark Horse it truly is. Yes, the Ace Max suits an incredibly wide range of builds. But… MSI’s very own Carbon series already owns the value/practicality sweet spot. Meaning the Ace Max’s case for its higher MSRP isn’t always clear-cut. Put simply, Carbon delivers balanced practicality; Ace Max offers premium practicality. For some builds, “good enough” is good enough… making Carbon its stiffest competition.
Final Score: 91 out of 100
The MSI MEG X870E Ace Max highlights much of what has gone wrong in the industry by being an almost perfect foil to the ongoing trend of enshittification. Where others lean too heavily into the whole “premium” fashion aesthetic, MSI has taken a different route: one of practicality without sacrificing versatility, performance, or ease of use. Add in thoughtful touches that push it above the competition -like replacing or scaling back the amount of faux gold accents – and the MSI X870E Ace Max becomes everything we want in a high-priced motherboard. Excellent overall value or not, MSI’s own Carbon series still stands as the benchmark for value, but with a few minor tweaks, the Ace Max is no longer an “also-ran” and instead has the potential to make the marketplace’s GodLike boards obsolete.
