MSI MEG Z790 Ace DDR5 Motherboard

On sale! (normally $1259) The MSI MEG Z790 Ace DDR5 Motherboard supports 12th/13th Gen Intel Core processors, Pentium Gold and Celeron processors and LGA 1700 sockets, features up to 4 x DDR5 memory slots, PCI-E 5.0, 4.0 compatible expansion slots, 5 x M.2 slots, 6 x SATA ports (6Gb/s), 8 x rear USB ports, 10 x front panel USB header ports, Intel 2.5Gbps LAN, Realtek ALC4082 HD audio codec, ESS ES9280AQ combo DAC and an E-ATX motherboard form factor.

Warning: This product contains a button battery - If swallowed, a lithium battery can cause severe or fatal injuries within 2 hours. - Keep batteries out of reach of children. - If you think batteries may have been swallowed or placed inside any of the body, seek immediate medical attention.

Features

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Hardware

Cooling Overview

Stacked Fin Array Design

Stacked fin array design enlarges up to 50% heat dissipation, provides the maximum surface of heat dissipation.

Direct Touch Cross Heat-Pipe

The U-shape dual heat-pipe connect three MOS heatsinks to enlarge the surface of heat dissipation.

Double-Sided M.2 Shield Frozr

Double-sided M.2 thermal solution keep M.2 SSDs safe while preventing throttling, making them run cooler and faster.

Aluminium Backplate

The aluminium baseplate cool down the MOSFET temperature with dedicated thermal pads.

7W/mK Thermal Pad

High quality 7W/mK MOSFET thermal pads and extra choke thermal pads ensure all cores running in high performance.

Enlarged PCH Heatsink

MSI replaced the PCH fan with enlarged heatsink design to reduce dust and noise as well as maintain high heat dissipation efficiency.

System Cooling

Control in One Click

MSI motherboards let you manage speeds and temperatures for all your system and CPU fans in BIOS and software with a simplified graphical interface. You can also set up to 4 temperature targets, which will adjust the fan speeds automatically.

Frozr AI Cooling

Detecting CPU & GPU temperatures and automatically adjusting fan duty of system fans to a proper value by adopting MSI AI ENGINE.

Autodetect DC or PWM Mode with Hysteresis

MSI fan headers automatically detect fans running in DC or PWM mode for optimal tuning of fan speeds and silence. Hysteresis also makes your fans spin up fluently to make sure your system stays silent, no matter what.

Water Cooling

Dual Pump Fan Header for Optimized Water Cooling

Designed to support the most popular All-In-One & customized water cooling solutions on the market, MEG Z790 ACE features the exclusive dual pump PIN headers to fit multiple water cooling solutions demands. The dedicated pump PIN header supports up to 3 amp, giving you full control of the water pump speed. A clearly marked ‘keep-out-zone’ allows for easy, safe installation and a perfect fit.

Power Solution

Structure

24+1+2 Duet Rail Power System

Unleash and sustain the maximum performance with a flagship VRM design built with a total of 24+1+2 Duet Rail Power System(DRPS). Combining dual power connectors and 105A Smart Power Stage, the MEG Z790 ACE is ready for breaking the world record.

• 24 Phase Core SPS - Power 105A
• 1 Phase GT Power
• 2 Phase AUX Power

Double Power Connectors

Two 8-pin connectors deliver adequate power even for an overclocked multi-core CPU.

Digital Power Design

A fully digital power design allows for faster and undistorted current delivery to the CPU at pin-point precision.

Core Boost

Premium layout not only support the multi-core CPU, also create the perfect conditions for your CPU overclocking.

Optimized PCB Solution

The PCB design has been optimized for higher bandwidth and faster transfer speeds, which is also beneficial for reliable circuit transmission.

• 8 PCB layers
• IT-170 Server-grade PCB material
• 2oz Thickened Copper

M.2 Design

Magnetic Adsorption

The dedicated magnetic connectors are placed on PCB and M.2 Shield Frozr. This patented design enables true “wire-less” RGB function, enhances the installation process and maximizes the storage performance.

Screwless M.2

The patented design allows you to set your M.2 and Shield Frozr without the annoying screws, provides the easiest way for M.2 installation.

EZ M.2 Clip

Have trouble turning screws? MSI innovative EZ M.2 clip assist you install an M.2 SSD quickly and effortlessly.

Smart Button

One button with multiple hardware control. You can set up the different functions in the BIOS. Reset Computer, Safe Boot, Turbo Fan and EZ LED control with just one click.

• Smart Button from Rear IO / Reset Button from Cases
• Setting Two Different Functions in the BIOS
  
  

System Saver

Run into trouble when updating your BIOS or somehow corrupted it? Don’t worry, MSI motherboards offer multiple options to successfully boot your system again.

Clear CMOS

Restore the BIOS to the default settings – helpful in 99% of the cases to successfully boot again.

Flash BIOS Button

Flash the BIOS with only a connected power supply by following a few steps. CPU and memory not required.

Dual BIOS

Two physical BIOS chips allow a fallback to plan B.

More for DIY Friendly

Windows 11 Certified

With MSI you benefit from great compatibility and a worry-free user experience when using Microsoft Windows 11. With a true dedication to performance, our R&D team has made sure everything works as intended when using the latest version of Microsoft Windows on any MSI product.

• Windows 11 Compatible
• TPM 2.0

Pre-Installed IO

The patent-pending design protect your IO ports and makes your installation process easier and safer.

EZ Front Panel Cable

This cable takes care of the tedious part of the build process, makes motherboard front panel connections quickly and accurately.

XL Clip

The enlarged PCI-E clip helps you swap or remove your devices easier. Keep the PCI-E slot stronger and safer.

Performance

Lightning Gen 5 PCI-E with Steel Armour

Doubling over the previous generation, the bandwidth of a x16 interface can reach 128GB/s.

SMT PCIE 5.0 Slot

The advanced SMT(Surface Mount Technology) PCIE slot diminish interference and electrical noise, fully support the PCI-E 5.0 signal.

Reinforced, Heavy Soldered Connections

Secure to the motherboard with extra solder points and support the weight of heavy graphics cards.

Fast and Future-Ready Storage

MSI MEG series motherboards support all the latest storage standards, which allows users to connect any ultra-fast storage device. Start games faster, load levels faster and have a real advantage over your enemies.

• 1x Lightning Gen 5 M.2 - 128 Gbps
• 4x Lightning Gen 4 M.2 - 64 Gbps
• 6x - 6 Gbps

USB

Dual Thunderbolt™ 4 Ports

Experience Thunderbolt 4 with unprecedented interface bandwidth speeds up to true 40Gbp and support for up to six daisy-chained devices. Additionally, Maximum 8K display support, Multi-Port Accessory Architecture and USB 4.0 compliant provide reliable connectivity and better user experience.

• Maximum 8K display support
• Daisy Chain support
• Multi-Port Accessory Architecture
• Thunderbolt™ 4 - 40 Gbps
• USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 - 20 Gbps
• USB 3.2 Gen 2 - 10 Gbps
• USB 3.2 Gen 1 - 5 Gbps

Dual Front USB 20G Type-C

Dual Front USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20G Type-C

Front USB devices has never been faster! MEG Z790 series motherboards offer a wide variety of options to connect and boost your USB devices, offering never before seen USB speeds up to 20Gb/s when connecting the front USB Type-C.

Type-C with PD

Extra PD Power Connector

The extra 6-pin PD power connector provides more power to make the normal front USB type-C port to 60W PD port.

• USB Type-C with PD Header - 60W
• Normal USB Type-C - 27W

Memory

DDR5

Latest DDR5 Memory with SMT Slot

• A huge step of DDR performance enhancement with the latest DDR5 memory. Combines with dedicated SMT welding process and MSI Memory Boost technology, MEG Z790 ACE is ready to deliver the world class memory performance.
• The advanced SMT(Surface Mount Technology) welding process reduces the defect rate of slot solder joints, electromagnetism, and interference. Combining with exclusive Memory Boost technology allows MSI motherboards to deliver the clean and pure high-frequency DDR5 signal.

Memory Support Stand

The aluminium backplate cools down your motherboard, while the dedicated sunken design strengthens the memory slot area to prevent PCB bending and to protect surrounding components.

XMP

Easy Overclocking with Expo Profile

The XMP (Extreme Memory Profiles) in MSI BIOS are tested and certified by MSI OC LAB. It is easy to enable with auto power settings to get the best memory speed and stability.

Memory Force

• MSI MEG series motherboards feature exclusive Memory Force function which shows the current state of DDR5 memory. This patent-pending feature simplifies the complicated training flow to an easy graphic that helps you determine the direction of overclocking without the redundant reboot and testing process.
• The longer bar means you have more room for memory overclocking. When you are doing the right thing that pushes the memory performance, the bar will shorten so you can easily know the tuning direction of overclocking with just one look.

Connectivity - Audio

Audio Boost 5 HD

Golden Audio Jacks with S/PDIF

Keep your sound perfect by transmit your audio with pure digital signal

De-Pop Protection

The De-pop circuit protects your ears by eliminating those annoying loud popping sounds when you plug/unplug devices or turn your PC on/off.

Isolated Audio Signal

Like a dedicated sound card, audio components and circuits have been laid on a reserved motherboard section and electrically isolated, and with the use of separated layers in the PCB for left and right audio channel for pristine sound quality.

High Quality Audio Capacitors

A high fidelity sound experience with exceptional acoustics and realism for studio level headphones is ensured.

High Definition ALC4082 Audio Processor

From HD-A to USB Interface, twice the DAC format from 32-bit/192kHz to 32-bit/384kHz, deliver the highest sound quality.

ESS Audio DAC

Recreates the optimal natural analogue sound with ultra-low distortion to ensure a perfect, realistic display of sound.

Dedicated Headphone Amplifier

A dedicated headphone amplifier can drive audiophile headphones with up to 600Ω impedance

Mystic Light

Glow Your PC

Splash on some colour and vibrant RGB lighting effects using MSI Mystic Light with 16.8 million colours and fancy LED effects. MSI Mystic Light provides you complete control of RGB lighting of your PC in one software.

Synchronize

Extend Your RGB Experience with Ease

Add more colour if you want! Mystic Light Extension pin header provides an intuitive way to control additional RGB strips and other RGB peripherals added to a system, without needing a separate RGB controller.

A-Rainbow V2

Supports 5V Addressable RGB devices. Compatible with ARGB Gen2 / Gen1 devices.

*Gen2 device only supports 7 RGB themes

RGB

Supports 12V RGB devices

Ambient Link

Synchronize lighting theme with compatible lighting devices.

Networking

Dual 2.5G LAN with WiFi 6E

• Dual Intel 2.5G LAN
• Wi-Fi 6E
• Bluetooth 5.2
• Exclusive magnetic antenna