Given the fact that this motherboard has a feature set a mile long, it should come as little surprise that there are components on the back – possibly more than some people will be comfortable with. Especially those not used to the MSI Way™ of M.2 layout and design. Nearly all MSI motherboards come with a standard set of four M.2 ports. One “main” PCIe 5.0 x4 nearest the CPU, which is positioned to reduce latency but necessitates the use of a custom “single” M.2 cooling solution. Then the standard (for MSI) 3‑Way that doubles as a SouthBridge cooling solution.
This board has a fifth. The only way to add that in, without inflating the MSRP via a custom 4‑way heatsink instead of the standard 3‑way, was to either drop the bottom‑most PCIe x4 slot and replace it with another M.2 port, try and fit a vertical M.2 custom holder in near the DIMMs (as Asus likes to do), or stick it on the back and have it double up on the tracings for that either/or PCIe x4 slot. The first option is a non‑starter.
The second solution? It would have allowed MSI to go from five to six M.2 drive support, but it has a whole host of issues. Namely, it causes the MSRP to skyrocket (as it is a custom DIMM‑port and M.2 board in a DIMM form‑factor), it results in higher RAM temperatures – and CPU temperatures when using “air”‑based cooling solutions – and higher than optimal M.2 drive temperatures on the “second.” All because it is in the direct airflow path in most cases and thus casts a shadow that not only causes RAM temps to rise but makes the “sixth” M.2 damn‑near capped at low‑power PCIe 4.0 drives lest they thermally throttle. Then add in the complexity of increased error rates from having them located so close to the DIMMs, and it is a non‑starter if you are trying to create a premium but practical motherboard.
Thus, with option 1 and option 2 eliminated, the decision came down to yeeting the PCIe x4 slot altogether, giving builders the option of either using it or the back‑of‑the‑board M.2 slot, or compromising and taking half the lanes from each option… but allowing both to be used at the same time. There is no right answer here, and only you can decide if it was the right call. Personally, the default “you both get HALF” is a decent compromise that you can easily change in the BIOS. However, back‑of‑the‑board drives are a PITA to access, thermally limit almost as fast as when in the “shadow” side vertical DIMM adapter, and generally speaking, are a drive of last resort. Unless your final goal is to have as clean a final build as possible… a PCIe 5.0 x4‑to‑M.2 adapter is the optimal choice here. Better cooling, easier drive replacement, fewer compatibility issues. Just ugly as sin final build aesthetics.
As such, we cannot ding MSI too much for having an M.2 drive on the back. It is a practical solution. What we can say is that while we appreciate the backplate’s cutout for said M.2 location, and the fact it is offset enough to act as protection (or Z‑limiter) for the M.2 drive, we do wish MSI had gone a different route. With a simple change to the backplate attachment process, MSI missed a great opportunity to turn this large 15-ounce, ~1.4mm thick chunk of alloy into a mega‑heatsink – one with a pre‑applied M.2 2280 (or, better still, M.2 22110) length heat pad. Now that would have turned a potential negative into a major positive. They did not, and as such, it’s a nice bonus, but that fifth M.2 does come with some downsides you must be aware of before purchase.
Moving on. After flipping the board back over and taking a closer look at the star of the show (the socket area), a few things do pop out. The first and foremost of these is the fact that this premium‑priced motherboard does not sport a LOTES socket. LOTES are considered the best of the best. Foxconn is considered good, but not as good. Thus, the use of Foxconn is… interesting. Make no mistake; this will not impact the vast majority of users, but for overclocking maniacs, the minor differences do matter. In fact, we logically know that Foxconn has stepped up in the past couple of years, and the differences really are minuscule… we just are still very salty over their X399 dumpster fire (full of used baby diapers) of a socket that they took way too long to correct, as Foxconn is “DFI” when you have to deal with them.
Now, with all that said, it is not a given that all X870E Ace Max boards come with Foxconn sockets. In fact, it is really, really easy to tell if you do or not. The first method is to look at the logo: does it have “LOTEs” embedded in the polymer socket itself? It’s obviously a LOTES‑built socket. Meaning it’s Foxconn. Not 100 percent sure? Are the pins hollow and not solid? It’s LOTES. Foxconn pins are always solid metal in modern AMD AM5 sockets.
On the positive side, the CPU socket area in general and the “keep‑away” zone in specific is very clean. Yes, as expected from a ridiculously overpowered VRM, there are Japanese capacitors encroaching in the socket area; however, they are only on two sides of said socket…and they are (slightly) further away from the socket than on the ASUS motherboard options. Put another way, this is a clean socket (by modern standards), which will be eons easier to work with and is actually novice‑friendly.
Something that cannot be said about all the “other guys’” options… especially since Asus stuck their proprietary Q‑Connect 11‑contact pad hub in this area on their Dark Hero. A feature that is well and truly disrespecting the CPU socket no‑go zone, which in turn ups the hassle factor of the Dark Hero, and is something MSI owners do not have to worry about. At all. This is a board meant for real‑world use and not just at competitions. Color us impressed that the design team did not lose focus and let feature creep get in the way of practicality.
This brings us to one of the stars of the X870 Ace Max show: the VRM design.
On the CPU power‑delivery front, MSI has unsurprisingly (as they do love them some Renesas controller goodness) opted for the Renesas RAA229620 controller for the VCore (in a virtual 18‑phase / 9×2 configuration – and thus the “Duet” in the marketing) and SoC (in two‑phase config). This all‑digital controller is then connected to 20 Renesas RAA229620GNP Smart Power Stages (SPS) MOSFETs capable of 110A each. Meaning, thanks to the doubling up of SPSs to make “20” virtual phases, there is a whopping 220A per channel… and this beast has nine for the VCore and two for the SoC. There is overkill, and then there is a level of overkill where anything past this point does not matter beyond inflating the MSRP.
What we mean by this is technically the Dark Hero is “better… on paper. It is using a 20+2(+2) configuration. Specifically, a “Digi+” ASP2208 (14+2‑phase capable, custom config) that is loaded to the gills with 110A Vishay SiC640 SPSers. On paper, this 20+2 is noticeably better than the 18+2 Ace Max (and nukes from orbit the ProArt and its 80Amp‑based 16+2). The reality is, just one of the MEG X870E Ace MAX’s phases is (technically) more than up to the task of handling a Ryzen 9 9900X, and arguably (if kept to mild PBO levels) a Ryzen 9 9950X… just like the Dark Hero. Just without the “RoG Tax.” So does it matter that this board “only” has 9× more than it “needs” instead of 10? No. It does not. You are already well past the point of theoretical improvements and/or concerns over the VRM limiting your overclock. Put bluntly, this VRM can comfortably handle anything a 9950X can throw at it and will laugh at anything AMD can dream up in the future. All without inflating the MSRP just to score marketing points.
With that said, there is a major difference between how MSI and ASUS do things. Specifically, MSI has stubbornly opted not to double up the memory (and other things on what AMD calls a “miscellaneous” voltage) phase. Instead, they have once again opted for a single‑phase RichTek RT3672EE all‑digital voltage‑controller‑based design. Again, this is a pet peeve of ours. Yes, DDR5 has on‑PCB buck/booster controllers that convert the power delivered to it to precisely the level that the stick’s RAM ICs need. Yes, this means you can have a billion phases at the board level, and if you cheap out on RAM, it’s going to be worse than a “good enough” setup on the motherboard (and it will deliver clean, stable power to the DIMMs) paired with trash‑tier RAM. So take the savings over the Dark Hero and stick it where it belongs: in premium‑grade RAM sticks.
Moving on. We briefly went over the VRM heatsinks in the aesthetics department and raved about how good they are. To be a bit more precise, this specific Frozr Guard is rated to laugh at 300 watts of waste heat… and will keep the VRMs well under 60 degrees Celsius when pushed hard by a Ryzen 9 9950X. We would argue that while it is lighter (still tipping the scales at well over a pound) than the Dark Hero…it is better. Yes, the Dark Hero has noticeably more mass, but it is two chunks of solid alloy that have had a couple of channels carved into them. The Ace Max’s secondary (top‑most) is a folded‑fin cooling array. Thus, it is more CPU‑like than VRM‑esque… and all you need to do is ask yourself when the last time you saw a CPU cooled by a nearly solid chunk of alloy?
The caveat to this is that you need to be running good cooling for the Ace Max to run optimally. For example, in a typical case with a 240/280/360 AIO just above it, and thus the AIO’s fans are sucking air up and through the VRM cooler, which is ingenious. However, if you use it on an open bench, it will roast its chestnuts long before the Dark Hero will. Once again, it all boils down to intended usage. The Dark Hero is for LN2 competitions and other overclocking “sports.” The Ace Max is for use by professionals (and enthusiasts) in the real world… who don’t run open‑bench configurations.
In this vein, that is why MSI is not just using a dual EPS (4+2 x2) with a 24-pin “motherboard” configuration for this board. This is a hungry board. It has a lot of onboard discrete ICs that want as much power as they can handle, and the same goes for the cards that fit into PCIe slots these days.
That is why you will not only find a “secondary” 8‑pin “PCI” header at the bottom of the motherboard (at about the midpoint), like you will on the Dark Hero (right next to the 24‑pin header)…
but also a 6‑pin “PCI” header alongside the 24‑pin power connector. This “fifth” power header eliminates voltage droop on insane real‑world configurations that are making use of all the various options at the same time. Something that the Dark Hero cannot even claim to match.
Yes, this difference will not matter all that much for most builds. But “most” is not “all,” and this is not in the land of theory like the VRM setup. There are going to be times when someone is charging their high‑powered device via the front Type‑C header (which is rated for 60 watts all on its own) and using the 10GbE NIC and listening to music and has an external USB “dock” attached to the system. In fact, that is pretty much a standard day for many professionals who will be using external “DAS” storage arrays for the raw files, who will be charging a tablet and/or high‑end phone, who will be rendering 8K RED footage into 4K finished videos, and who will be even pushing said video across their high‑performance 10GbE network. That is an actually reasonable scenario. One where the Dark Hero may drop voltages and invite Mr. Murphy to your workday. Put another way, MSI has built this to be a… You guessed it… premium but practical motherboard.
Before moving on, we do want to make it clear: the MSI MEG X870E Ace Max’s power layout is not perfect and does have downsides, the Dark Hero does not. First, both boards’ dual 4+4 EPS headers are still a smidgen too close to the VRM heatsink for our liking, and Asus slightly edges out the Ace Max in this regard. By millimeters, and thus not enough difference to worry about, but it is an area MSI still needs to work on.
Where things become more black and white is the final build aesthetics. By having PCIe power cables running to the side of the board and also the bottom, tidying up is a bit more difficult than on the Dark Hero. Not much more difficult, and the end result can be the same. It just takes more time on the Ace Max. Basically, there is always going to be a tradeoff when it comes to voltage‑droop elimination vs aesthetics. We are of the opinion that a little bit more work on the tidying front is well worth the peace of mind. You may feel differently, as your typical usage pattern is not as extreme. Both are legitimate takes on things. We just think MSI is being much more practical than Asus’ design team.
Moving on. Firmly in the “pet peeve” category is we wish that the GODLIKE’s 90‑degree 24‑pin power connector would trickle down to mere‑mortal motherboards… even if that just means at the Ace Max price level. This is a feature that all motherboards should have, as it not only makes final tidying so much easier, it is safer for novices. Even a novice will understand to use their thumb on the other side of the header and squeeze the cable into place with their fingers. Not every novice knows to hook the thumb under the board for support so that the motherboard does not “flex” when you “push” that big boi 24‑pin into place. So, yes. Implementing this potentially motherboard‑saving feature would also mean shelling out for a 90‑degree 6‑pin header, but we think it would have been worth the extra couple of bucks on the MSRP. Especially since even the Dark Hero doesn’t get this royal “premium but practical” treatment.
Firmly into the premium‑but‑practical end of the spectrum is MSI, including a physical Power and a Reset “button.” Few will ever need them, but if you do, you will be grateful for MSI including them.
Also firmly in the “you have to pay the RoG Tax to get it on an ASUS features list” camp, MSI includes not only their 2‑digit “Debug Code LED” panel, but they also include their (ironically named) “EZ Debug LED” cluster. For minor issues, the latter makes troubleshooting a breeze. Look in and with just a quick glance at the 4‑LED cluster, you can tell if the gremlin is related to the CPU, the memory, the GPU, or the boot drive. Then, if you need to, you can look at the 2‑digit LED panel, read the code, look up the code, and know what to do to evict said gremlin from your system. This one‑two punch is quick, easy, and practical. It is how all motherboards should do things, not just premium‑priced motherboards.
Moving on to the 4‑pin fan headers. Unlike the Carbon WiFi Max, the Ace Max includes a ridiculously overkill number of fan headers. Excluding the EZ Conn (“JAF_2”) header, there are eight. Eight in total, with a combined output of a whopping 156 watts of fan power. We like that… as there is no such thing as overkill when it comes to how many fan headers some builds demand, especially on high‑end “premium” builds.
To break it down a wee bit more, the “lone” CPU‑labeled fan is good for a “mere” 2A (24 watts). Next to it are two Pump_Sys (aka water‑pump) fans. Each is good for 3A / 36 watts. Each. Then five bog‑standard 1A Sys_Fan headers (aka normie fan headers) – three at the top edge near the DIMMs, and two at the right/front edge of the motherboard.
In the immortal words of late‑night infomercial king Ron Popeil (or Billy Mays if you are like us and come from a Mandela‑Effected time‑line): “But wait! There’s more!” As you got that sweet, sweet breakout EZ Con header. Yes, it is confusingly labeled “JAF_2” and there is no “JAF_1.” The “2” refers to version, not count, and thus should be changed to be more in line with the other headers’ nomenclature… and to keep one from being too greedy and looking for the “missing” second EZ Con header. We say this as while it is a “mere” 1A / 12 watts, it can also – at the same time – power AR
