MSI MEG Z390 ACE Motherboard Review

Dual channel memory comes standard on the Coffee Lake processor and the Z390 ACE supports standard speed DDR4 modules up to 4133Mhz with overclocking support beyond that.  A maximum of 64GB is addressable with the proper module density.  

Benchtop and overclocking controls are located in two locations on the motherboard.  Debug LED, Voltage read points, Slow mode, LN2 jumpers are located at the top near the 24 pin power connector.  While power, reset and Game Boost are located at the bottom. 

Internal SATA connections number six and follow the new SATA6 connection standard.  If you happen to use any of the onboard M.2 slots be warned that some of these SATA ports will be disabled. Next to the SATA connectors you’ll find a standard USB 3.0 header mounted 90 degrees and above that are two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C connectors.

The Z390 chipset comes with 24 PCI Express 3.0 lanes and unlike the lanes coming from the processor the chipset PCIe are intended for connectivity and storage.  You will find a total of three M.2 slots on this motherboard all with different key types for different devices.    At the bottom of the motherboard is the primary M.2 and comes with an integrated cooler called M.2 Shield Frozr.  This is designed to help keep NVMe drives cool which is actually a common issue with high performance drives.