MSI’s readying its enthusiast AMD motherboard for launch
The data sheet is now available.
The full specifications of MSI’s MEG X870E ACE MAX have appeared in China. This mid-cycle “Refresh” board for AMD’s X870E platform sits below the GODLIKE and offers three PCIe 5.0 expansion slots and two PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots.
The board uses an 18+2+1 phase SPS DrMOS power design and four DDR5 UDIMM slots, with memory overclocking support up to 8400+ MT/s. Storage and expansion include one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, one PCIe 5.0 x8 slot, one PCIe 5.0 x4 slot, two PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slots, three PCIe 4.0 x4 slots, and four SATA III ports. The rear I/O also offers two USB4 40 Gbps Type-C ports.
AM5 desktop CPUs expose up to 24 PCIe 5.0 lanes, while the configuration listed here would require at least 28 lanes before counting the ASM4242 USB4 controller. The board therefore relies on PCIe lane multiplexing to share bandwidth between some of the Gen5 slots and devices. For networking, MSI equips the MEG X870E ACE MAX with dual wired ports – 10 GbE (Marvell AQC) and 5 GbE (Realtek) – plus a Wi-Fi 7 320 MHz wireless module. Audio is handled by a USB sound card and an ESS DAC chip.
Source: MSI
What is 64MB BIOS for?
MSI has started to promote a 64MB BIOS ROM for its MAX and EVO motherboard series. MAX models are already available in some products such as MAG Tomahawk, while EVO boards are still on the way. In its own material, MSI links the 64MB BIOS to “next-level” CPU upgrades. The wording points to support for future processors, but does not name Ryzen 10000 series directly.
Source: MSI
A 64MB BIOS is not unique to MSI. Some GIGABYTE X870 and B850 boards also use a larger ROM. GIGABYTE explains that the extra capacity is used for a “Driver BIOS” feature that stores Wi-Fi and network drivers, so the system can go online immediately without a separate driver install. Only a small number of its X870 and B850 models implement this feature. We thank user avrtek for bringing this to our attention.
Source: Gigabyte
We went back to MSI announcements from this summer, and the company did indeed confirm to be taking a similar approach. The official explanation is that both MAX and EVO motherboards use a 64MB BIOS ROM to provide more space for firmware features, including integrated network drivers and other functions that improve ease of use. The larger ROM is therefore intended to serve two roles at once: hold drivers such as Wi-Fi or LAN, and leave room for future AM5 CPU support. Many users will still care more about extended multi-generation CPU support than about BIOS-stored Wi-Fi drivers.
Source: MSI (PDF) via Ruby_Rapids
