MSI MEG Z590 Unify-X Gaming Motherboard (ATX, 11th/10th Gen Intel Core, LGA 1200 Socket, DDR4, PCIe 4, CFX, M.2 Slots, Wi-Fi 6E)

If you are not interested in those LED lights on MOBO(you could still put argb lights on watercooling or fan), please go for this mobo directly. Although the dragon center software sucks, but the mobo and bios are great. It’s much better than the ASUS. I bought a set of cheap crucial memory (16*2 only for 130+). The mobo could boost the ram from 3000 to 4400 easily. I know the mobo is not cheap $299, but it worth every penny.

Coming from a AMD X399 Extended ATX platform I did a lot of research to make sure that I wan’t going to be missing out on any features that I already had as well as any features that will more than likely be unlocked by the next generation Rocket Lake processors. Some of the key notes that swayed me towards this particular board vs other brands is the Voltage Regulator quality, ESS Sabre DAC as well as number of NVME/PCI Express slots that will allegedly be future PCI Express 4.0 compatible with next generation processors. Two minor complaints that I have that I wouldn’t consider big enough to dock the star rating is the lack of any U.2 connector and lack of integrated graphics support. I do have a designated 1080 TI graphics card but the option to use Intel Quick Sync would be nice. I have been building my own computers for over 20 years and have used motherboards from every manufacturer and I would say this is the highest quality board I have had to date, but also the most expensive board that I have purchased.This review is for the MSI Review Rebate Program.

power delivery is very robust, 16 phase, looks to be in 8 phase with doubling.There is no +1 here, so keep in mind, there is no System On Chip (SOC) power delivery, this means you must use a discrete graphics card, you cannot plug into the board for video output regardless of whether your Intel CPU has an Integrated Graphics Processing Unit (IGPU) or not. Thankfully MSI did not put any video outputs in the Input/Output (IO), so you could not even if you wanted you.The board appears to be memory overclocking focused, as it uses an 8 layer Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and MSI’s excellent memory topology. it also includes a CMOS reset button, an LED post code indicator that doubles as a processor temperature readout, a memory retry pin out, and general error LED’s. Along with a bunch of other nice OC features. The power delivery is substantial, though input filtering seems rather lightly done considering the beefy Voltage Regulator Module (VRM). There are very few ceramic filters in the socket area, so voltage may be somewhat “dirtier” than a board with more aggressive filtering. That being said its doubtful it would matter until your well into Liquid Nitrogen levels of overclocking. Overall the board is excellent and works well with my 10700K with MCE and no power limits as well as 4400MHZ memory, well done MSI.

Pros: This is my first SFF build in my H1, I have built many gaming PCs and used this for my HTPC paired with a 10600k. I was able to OC’d the 10600k on the MEG Z490I to all cores 5ghz@1.31v and no offsets. I think if the H1 had a beefier AIO I could push it to 5.1ghz. My temps aren’t great (Full Load 85c) in the H1 but this review is for the MEG Z490I and I can say overall I’m pleased with the OC. The MEG Z490I has great VRMs and OC’d RAM was easily achieved also with the XPM profile, I provided an extra 200mhz bringing my RAM to a minor OC to Corsair XMP 3200mhz C15. There were no hiccups with the BIOs. I think MSI’s BIOS are the best user friendly BIOS in the MOBO game. It’s well laid out and easy to OC your CPU and RAM with a few clicks. Doing your homework beforehand on how to OC on your specific CPU and RAM, this will help because you will see the median OC others have achieved on the same components you have.  Cons: None really. If I had to pick, it would be the location of the M.2 located in the back of the MOBO, but this is a MicroITX so I’m being super picky. Overall Review: Great Board overall and I would highly suggest this board for any build and OC.My Build: NZXT H1, i5 10600k, Corsair Vengeance LPX  3000mhz c15, EVGA GTX 1080Ti SC2, (2) WD Black SN750 1TB M.2

full oc all cores16gb ram 4000mhz (CL15-15-15) 28/280 CR 1T (real 1N)the ram could probably oc more, haven’t tried.it supports Intel Cryo Cooling Technology, (i.e. ML360 SUB-ZERO liquid cooling)it supports 11900k/11th gen intel CPUs, which supposedly will be able to run ram even faster.low dpc latency, pretty decent windows 7/windows 8.1 compatibilitythis supports “resizeable bar” which can increase RTX 3000 performance by 20% (and this motherboard is technically PCI-E 4.0 capable)you can choose to use the display ports on the motherboard to output video from your GPU in bios.it has intel (2.5g) ethernet, which is the lowest latency and generally best.the audio quality is fantastic, haven’t had motherboard audio this nice before, they drive by DT 990 250 ohms fine with zero noise.the bluetooth is VERY fast and long rangeTHERE IS NO RIDICULOUS LGBT COLORED LEDS – you don’t even need to be tech literate to realize this board is the right choice.AND it has thunderbolt 3 built in, an actual functional implementation as well. $600+ motherboards like EVGA refuse to even offer an add-in card.I never bought an MSI motherboard until now, my last motherboard was some Gigabyte Z170-gaming trash. It’s clear to see that MSI is currently the only company making motherboards anywhere near a GOOD and RESPECTABLE standard. (It’s funny that the EVGA DARK motherboards aren’t even “dark” anymore, I suppose this is the true spiritual successor to that series.)