MSI MEG Z890 Unify-X Motherboard Review

MSI is back with Unify with Z890. The MEG Z890 Unify-X is the epitome that favors the RAM overclocking in the form of two DIMM slots. MSI is now competing well against the ASUS Apex and GIGABYTE Tachyon motherboards. It is good to see competition in this category.

This motherboard has everything that a regular user/overclocker would need, but hey, why spend 700 bucks if you are not into RAM overclocking? I’m just saying. You have got MPG Carbon WiFi for that regular user or even Tomahawk WiFi for basic use. And if you are still not into overclocking and still want a high-end motherboard, then MEG ACE is there. MSI has got you covered for good.

The Z890 Unify-X features 6x M.2 slots with the provision of PCIe Gen5 support. It has 4x PCIe slots and uses the PCIe EZ release button as well for the main PCIe E2 slot. This motherboard packs powerful VRM design comprising 20 phases for VCore using SPS 110A, 2 phases for SA Power, 1 phase for GT Power, and 1 phase for VINNAON power.

Among other features are WiFi 7, 5Gb LAN, 2x Thunderbolt 4.0 ports with display capability, and obviously the AI support that we are seeing with the new platform. This board comes with a tuner that helps in overclocking should you desire it.

This motherboard carries a price tag of USD 699.99 or £754.98 on Amazon UK at the time of writing this content and it comes with a 3 year warranty.

Specifications

Packaging

The motherboard and accessories are shipped inside a cardboard box. This box has a black color theme and has a carry handle as well. MEG series boards’ packing boxes have carry handles.

“Made to Shatter Records” tells us what this motherboard is really for. The motherboard is placed inside an anti-static container.

Unboxing

MSI has included following:

• A motherboard
• Tuning Controller
• EZ Wi-Fi Antenna
• USB Drive
• Cable Sticker Sheet
• 4x SATA Cables
• EZ Front Panel Cable
• 1 to 3 EZ Conn-Cable (V2)
• 1 to 2 RGB Extension Cable
• ARGB Extension Cable
• 2x Thermistor Cables
• EZ M.2 Clip II Remover
• 4x EZ M.2 Clips II
• M.2 Screw and Standoff Set
• Shout Out Flyer
• Quick Installation Guide
• European Union Regulatory Notice

Closer Look

MSI MEG Z890 Unify-X has 8 PCB layers built on NPG-188H Server-grade PCB material using 2oz thickened Copper. The CPU socket drives DIMM slots, Thunderbolt ports, 2x M.2 ports, and 2x PCIe slots (using Mux). This motherboard supports PCIe Lanes bifurcation. The motherboard has ATX form factor in a size of 244x305mm.

The DMI operates at x8 speed. One M.2 slot is wired using Mux to chipset and CPU. Rest of all connectivity is handled by the Chipset using various controllers and hubs. 2x PCIe slots are wired to the chipset. Before proceeding, let me mention some limitations:

• If Gen5 M.2 SSD is installed in M2_4 slot then then PCI_E2 slot will operate at x8 and the PCI_E3 slot will operate at x4 speeds.
• PCI_E4 will not be available when using M.2 SSD in M2_3 slot.
• SATA3 port will not be available when installing M.2 SATA SSD in M2_5 slot.
• M2_4 is wired to chipset (PCIe Gen4x4) and CPU Socket (PCIe Gen5x4) using Mux. You need to set it in the BIOS.
• No Gen5 speed if populated all M.2 slots.

CPU and Memory Solution

This motherboard comes with Intel LGA1851 socket. Intel has used Narrow ILM design to address the uneven mounting on LGA1700 socket. However, coolers compatible with Intel LGA1700 socket will work with LGA1851 socket as well.

MSI has employed powerful cooling solution over the VRM area using two heatsinks. They are black and cover over the IO area has backlit MSI logo with subtle lighting effects.

Both heatsink covers are interconnected with two nickel plated copper heat pipes. Usually, there is only one or no heat pipe but MSI has implemented two heat pipes to ensure effective heat dissipation. This is obviously done to provide good cooling solution for extreme overclocking.

The thermal pads used on these heatsinks are rated for 9W-mK. Usually these pads are rated for 5 to 7W-mK. Clearly, MSI is covering all corners when it comes to handling VRM cooling. The visible cable powers the LEDs on the heatsink. The other heatsink is of the chipset.

Speaking of the VRM power delivery, this motherboard has Direct 20 phase VRM power delivery using Renesas RAA 229131 & RAA 229134 PWM controllers. The stages or phases are Renesas R2209004 110A SPS. There is also RAA 220075R0 (75A). The board has 20+2+1+1 which is surprisingly less than ACE or Godlike motherboards. BCLK generator is installed on the PCB and there are TLVR inductors for stability during voltage spikes dynamic response.

This motherboard is equipped with two DIMM slots each having one sided latch or locker. These support CUDIMM/RDIMM with up to 128GB capacity. These are rated for up to 9600 MT/s speed (OC). These support Intel POR and JEDEC speeds on Non-ECC and un-buffered memory.

These slots are reinforced and MSI has provided Memory Extension feature in the BIOS that will provide some free performance boost.

PCIe Solution

Now coming to the PCIe support on this motherboard, this motherboard is equipped with 4x PCIe slots. These are:

• PCI_E1 x1
• PCI_E2 x16
• PCI_E3 x8
• PCI_E4 x4

Except for the PCI_E1 which is x1 rated, the other PCIe slots are steel-reinforced. The PCI_E2 has more anchored points for solid connection between the heavy graphics card and the slot. PCI_E2 and PCI_E3 are wired to the CPU Socket.

The PCI_E1 and PCI_E4 are wired to the Z890 chipset. This motherboard supports PCIe Lanes bifurcation. You need to set it in the BIOS as per the requirement. The PCI_E2 is Gen5 rated slot. Populating a Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSD in M2_4 slot will set the PCI_E2 to operate at x8 link speed. Using M2_3 M.2 port will render PCI_E4 slot disabled.

MSI has implemented a convenient locking/unlocking solution for graphics card on PCI_E2 slot. There is EZ Release button. The configuration shown in the picture means the button is in locked position. This configuration is required for graphics card installation. Pressing it will unlock the button which is needed to remove the graphics card.

Storage Options

Now, I will take a look at the storage options of this motherboard.

This motherboard has 6x SATA 6Gbps ports. Four of them are wired to the Z890 chipset whereas the two are controlled via ASM1162 controller. Using M.2 SATA SSD in M2_5 will disable the SATA3 port. This port is from Z890 chipset.

This motherboard has 6x M.2 ports. One port is located on the right side of the DIMM slots taking advantage of 2 slot design. These ports have tool-less heatsinks. Pressing the locker and sliding the cover will release them. These ports are:

• M2_1 [CPU]
• M2_2 [Z890 Chipset]
• M2_3 [Z890 Chipset]
• M2_4 [Z890 Chipset, CPU]
• M2_5 [Z890 Chipset]
• M2_6 [CPU]

M2_1, M2_2, M2_3, and M2_5 are PCIe Gen4x4 rated slots. The M2_6 is PCIe Gen5 slot. The M2_4 uses Mux and can be switched from default PCIe Gen4x4 from Z890 Chipset to PCIe Gen5 from CPU. Use BIOS for this configuration. All of these ports support up to 2280 form factor (Key M). M2_4 also supports 22110 form factor.

M2_6 is located on the right of the DIMM slot and is wired to the CPU Socket. It is PCIe Gen5x4. It has double thermal pads.

All M.2 ports have tool-less design and come equipped with double thermal pads. MSI has provide EZ M.2 Clip II Remover tool that can be used on M2_4 and M2_5 to make room for 22110 form factor SSDs.

The tool-less covers have thermal pads as well.

USB Connectivity

This motherboard has following USB connections:

• 4x USB 2.0 (Front)
• 4x USB 5Gbps Type A (Front)
• 8x USB 10Gbps Type A (Rear)
• 2x USB 10Gbps Type C (Rear)
• 1x USB 20Gbps Type C (Front)

The USB Gen2x2 port on front supports 60W PD charging for which user is required to connect 6-pin PEG connector t PD_PWR1 from PSU. MSI has used GL3523, GL850G, RTS5420 hubs/controllers. For USB connectivity.

Audio and Networking Solution

MSI has employed RealTek ALC4080 Codec. It features 7.1-channel USB high-performance audio with 32-bit/384KHz playback on front panel. S-PDIF output is provided on the rear IO port.

In terms of networking, this motherboard is equipped with:

• 5Gbps LAN port for wired connection
• Wi-Fi 7 Solution for wireless connection
• Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless connection

The wired connection is powered by Intel Killer E5000B controller which is what I saw on B860 series motherboards from MSI as well. The wireless module is pre-installed in M.2 Key-E slot. It supports MU-MIMO TX/RX, 2.4GHz/5GHz/6GHz up to 5.8Gbps. It has a support for 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be.

Internal and Rear Connections

This motherboard has following on-board/internal connectivity options:

• 1x Thunderbolt5 card connector(JTBT5, support RTD3)
• 1x 24-pin Power Connector
• 2x 8-pin Power Connector
• 1x 8-pin Power Connector for PCIe Auxiliary
• 1x 6-pin Front Type-C Quick Charge Connector
• 1x CPU Fan Header
• 2x Combo Fan (Pump_Sys Fan) Headers
• 4x System Fan Headers
• 1x EZ Conn-header (JAF_2)
• 2x Front Panel (JFP)
• 1x Chassis Intrusion (JCI)
• 1x Water Flow connector
• 1x Slow Mode Booting Jumper(JSLOW)
• 1x Front Audio (JAUD)
• 2x Thermal Sensor connectors(T_SEN)
• 1x Tuning Controller connector(JDASH)
• 3x Addressable V2 RGB LED connector (JARGB_V2)
• 1x RGB LED connector(JRGB)
• 1x TPM pin header(Support TPM 2.0)
• V-check point
• 4x USB 2.0 ports
• 4x USB 5Gbps Type A ports
• 1x USB 20Gbps Type C ports

The fan headers are regulated by Nuvoton 3968S. CPU Fan Header is rated for 2A. The Combo fan headers are rated for 3A whereas the system fan headers are rated for 1A. This motherboard has a support for Thunderbolt 5 add-in card.

There is no power or reset button on the motherboard itself. The motherboard has EZ Debug LEDs for identification of trouble some part. It also has EZ Digi-Debug LED that shows codes. Additionally, there are V-Check points to measure the real time voltage readouts using multi-meter (not included).

The exclusive Supplemental PCIe Power connector provides dedicated power for the high-power demands of GPUs used in AI computing and gaming, ensuring stable, efficient, and sustained performance.

The rear IO connections include:

• USB 10Gbps (Type-A)
• Flash BIOS Button
• Clear CMOS Button
• Smart Button
• 5G LAN
• Wi-Fi / Bluetooth
• HD Audio Connectors
• USB 10Gbps (Type-C)
• Thunderbolt™ 4 40Gbps (Type-C)
• USB 10Gbps (Type-C)
• Keyboard / Mouse
• USB 10Gbps (Type-A)
• Optical S/PDIF-Out

An extra layer of sponge materials along with corrosive resistance IO Shield improves static electricity and reduce electromagnetic radiation noise from the system.

Z890 Chipset and Other Chips/Controllers

This motherboard is powered by Intel Z890 chipset.

This motherboard has dual BIOS configuration using 2x256Mb flash chips. These are AMI UEFI BIOS using ACPI 6.5 and SMBIOS 3.7.

The main IO controller is from Nuvoton which is NCT6678D.

MSI should have used standard CMOS battery placed at a readily accessible location instead of the shown implementation.

Motherboard Rear View

The backside of the motherboard has stylish, metallic backplate. UNIFY X is printed in the center.

The backplate also serves as heat dissipater from VRM area. You can see thermal pads on the top and right of the backplate.

Now you can see the backview of the main PCB. It has Case Standoff Keep out Zone marking. Protective paint is used around the holes to avoid damage from being scratched.

Main PCB is visible in the picture. This motherboard is equipped with Transient Voltage Suppressors (TVS). These are safety devices to provide protection against excessive voltage. There is embedded Overcurrent Protection (OCP) for USB ports, DIMM slots, PWM ICs, and CPU. The grounding structures of power phases enable to suppress the EMI generated by these phases and increase efficiency.

Tuning Tool

MSI has bundled a Tuning Controller. It has various buttons allowing the user to overclock the system and recover it if anything goes wrong. The + and – buttons allow increasing/decreasing BCLK or Core Ratio (to be set from BIOS). Power and Reset buttons are on this controller which should have been on the motherboard. Clear CMOS is a handy button though this option is already provided on the rear IO.

UEFI BIOS Run

MSI Click BIOS X is a catchy name. MSI has made some changes in the main interface of BIOS making it more user friendly although the subsection have same layout as before.

BIOS starts in EZ Mode providing handy information to the user about the connected storage devices, RAM, CPU, BIOS information, and fans data. You can enable XMP with just one click and enable OC using Game boost and NPU AI Boost options.

Advanced mode has a side listing of major options on the left. Clicking each will load the related pages in the middle screen. The summary is displayed on the right. Now there are icons on the top allowing ready access to pages like Hardware Monitor, Performance Modes, etc.

CPU, RAM, and Voltage settings are available under Overclocking menu. MSI has retained the same interface flow for these options. It starts with the CPU related settings along with Advanced menu followed by RAM settings and further options for sub-timings. Voltage settings are at the last.

The Boot page has related settings like setting main boot drive, Fast Boot etc. Hardware monitor allows user to customize the connected fans/pumps and monitor the temperatures and voltages. System Status shows the summary of the configuration. User can now use Performance Preset page to load the required power settings.

Thunderbolt, PCIe sub-system, integrated peripherals settings are under one section. The Power settings are also located here. The user can customize the Smart Button layout. Secure Boot option can be found under Security page.

Test Setup

Following configuration is used for testing:

• Intel Core Ultra 265k [Stock, Auto]
• MSI MEG Z890 Unify-X
• Teamgroup Xtreem 2x16GB DDR5 kit at 8000MHz CL38
• ASRock Radeon PG RX 7600 OC 8G
• Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 1TB NVMe Drive [For OS]
• Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 4TB NVMe Drive [For Games]
• Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2 TB NVMe Drive
• Teamgroup Z540 2TB NVMe Drive
• Orico N7000 2TB NVMe Drive
• Netac NV7000-Q 2TB NVMe Drive
• Sabrent Rocket Q 2TB Thunderbolt Drive
• ID-Cooling DX360 Max
• Be quiet! Straight Power 11 850W Platinum PSU
• Praxis Wetbench

Microsoft Windows 11 24H2 is used with latest updates.

CPU-Z confirms that all components are running to their optimal settings. The x8 link speed of PCIe is by design for RX7600. RAM is working at 8000MT/s CL38 as well.

Test Results

I have tested the motherboard in three broader categories:

• CPU and Memory Performance
• AI Performance
• Storage Performance
• Overall Performance
• Gaming Performance

Let’s take a look at the result starting from CPU and Memory performance.

AIDA64 has shown a remarkable bandwidth on the RAM however the latency is high compared to 61.9ns from Z790 on the same kit. The Cinebench R23.2 score in multi-core and single-core is good as well. Blender Benchmark has a score of 468.05 which is competitive. The 137 GIPS on compression and 161 GIPS on decompression is remarkable. CPU Profile shows a healthy performance across the board.

The CPU scored 168 in AI Compute Inference using Intel OpenVINO and 213 using WindowsML.

CrystalDiskMark score of near 7000MB/s mark in read and 5877MB/s in write is satisfactory on NVMe drive. 3055MB/s in read and 1013MB/s in write is also satisfactory for the Thunderbolt drive. The NVMe drive scored 4157 and Thunderbolt drive scored 2064 in PCMARK Data Drive Benchmark. The overall storage performance is satisfactory.

This setup scored 9688 in PCMARK10 overall benchmark whereas it got 11364 in Performance Test benchmark. This is a good score given the fact I did not use any high-end graphics card since RTX 5080 got delayed.

The overall gaming result is satisfactory.

Motherboard and Power, Frequencies & Thermals

I have already shown that RAM was operating at its tested 8000MHz CL38 with XMP profile. CPU was boosting to 5.5GHz on any/favorite P-Core under 1-T load. P-Cores were boosting to 5.2GHz. Clocks were still high during idling stage. I did not observe any issue in terms of performance lacking.

CPU was idling at 30ᵒC at an ambient of 22ᵒC and it did 79ᵒC under Cinebench R23.2 30 minutes load on package. Testing was done with Intel default power settings. VRM/Mosfet temperature was 55ᵒC. The system was drawing 57.5W power on idle and 357W power on gaming load.

Conclusion

MSI is back with Unify series. The MSI MEG Z890 Unify-X is a new addition in the MEG series along with the ACE and GODLIKE. The MEG is flagship series from MSI and Unify-X is designed with one thing in the mind; overclocking. This board has two DIMM slots allowing it to compete against the likes of ASUS Apex and GIGABYTE Tachyon.

This is a feature rich motherboard aimed towards over-clockers and enthusiasts. The price tag of USD 700 is a deciding factor. I would not recommend this motherboard for a regular user or even a power user. You have Carbon Z890 for that and it covers you for good. I could say ACE Z890 but it is also sitting close to Unify-X in price category.

This motherboard has 20+2+1+1 power stages with a powerful Renesas PWM controller and Dr. MOS SPS stages. However, Z890 ACE and Godlike have a better implementation which is somewhat surprising since Unify-X is for overclocking hence it should have same if not better design. The VRM/MOSFET cooling is ensured by a composite of aluminum heatsinks joined by two heat pipes and 9W-mK rated thermal pads. MSI has ensured proper cooling for your over-clocking experience.

This motherboard supports Intel Core Ultra Series 2 CPUs and there is no reason why this motherboard can’t handle Core Ultra 9 285k. It has two DIMM Slots supporting CUDIMM with a whopping up to 9600MT/s speed. This motherboard is a paradise for RAM overclockers. Two Thunderbolt 4.0 ports are wired to the CPU socket and they provide display function over DisplayPort 2.1 with UHBR20 supporting 4K @ 120Hz and 8K @ 60Hz. These ports support up to 40Gbps on Thunderbolt drives and 20Gbps on USB 4 drives which is a lackluster in my opinion. If you are into USB 4 connectivity, look at AMD X870 series. These ports provide 15W charging as well.

This motherboard has 4x PCIe slots. Top slot is X1 rated and wired to the Z890 chipset. The PCI_2 is a fully wired slot operating at x16 link speed on PCIe Gen5. The PCI_3 is also Gen5 rated but operate at x8 speed. The Last slot is x4. This motherboard has EZ Release button for easy locking/unlocking and removal of graphics card.

Despite an ATX form factor, this motherboard has 6x M.2 ports. MSI has used Frozr II heatsinks on these ports which are tool-less design. Each port has dual thermal pads. An EZ M.2 Clip II Remover is also provided for the M.2_4 and M.2_5 ports. One M.2 port is PCIe Gen5x4 slot whereas M.2_4 supports PCIe Gen4x4 and PCIe Gen5x4 using lane bifurcation. This motherboard has 6x SATA ports two of which are controlled by ASM1162.

This motherboard packs good USB combination. It has one USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-E port on front with 60W PD function. You need PEG connector to enable the power delivery. We have a total of 10 ports with 10Gbps transfer rate. This motherboard packs a total of 19 USB ports in addition to 2x Thunderbolt ports over Type-C interface.

This motherboard has Intel Killer E5000 series 5GbE LAN port along with a WiFi 7 wireless connectivity for which an antennae is also provided. The motherboard also has a Bluetooth connection. There is a Tuning Controller card that is a handy accessory allowing you to overclock your CPU using BCLK or Core Ratio. There is no Power/Reset button on the motherboard since they are moved to the tuning controller.

Motherboard comes with V-Check points to monitor various voltages in real time. There are EZ Debug LEDs to trouble shoot the faulty component. There is also an EZ Digi Debug LED that displays numbers. Refer to user manual for codes description. MSI has retained the Smart Button that can be programmed via BIOS. Speaking of BIOS, this motherboard comes with 2 BIOS chips with a switch.

The audio solution is coming from RealTek ALC4080 which could have been a 4082. The CPU Fan Headers are rated at 2A whereas the System Fan Headers are rated at 1A each. The Pump/AIO headers are rated at 3A. This motherboard has a Thunderbolt 5 port to support TB5 Add-In card.

RAM overclocking is an amazing experience on this motherboard. I have been playing with BIWIN DW100 32GB 8000MHz CL36kit on this motherboard and easily pushed it to 8800MHz. The overall performance of this motherboard is satisfactory. However, it is not a best value motherboard in my opinion giving its price tag for a regular user. MSI offers 3-year warranty on it.

Pros:

• 20+2+1+1 Power Stages
• Excellent VRM Cooling
• Overclockers Paradise
• Gen5 M.2 Ports
• Tool-less handling of M.2 covers
• PCIe Gen5 Steel Reinforced Slot
• PCI EZ Release
• 6x M.2 Slots
• Intel Killer 5GbE LAN Port
• WiFi 7 Module and Antennae
• Audio ALC4080 Codec
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C Port
• 60W PD
• 2x Thunderbolt 4 Ports with 15W charging
• Clear CMOS Button
• Flash BIOS
• Smart Button
• Tuning Card
• Debug LEDs
• Digi Debug LED
• Dual BIOS
• Bios Switch
• V-Check Points
• Thermistor Headers
• Warranty

Cons:

• No Gen5 speed if all M.2 ports are populated
• Price
• Audio Solution could have been bettered
• Power Stages could have at-least matched Z890 ACE/GODLIKE
• M.2 Gen5 Port if populated will make PCI_2 operate at x8 and PCI_3 at X4 speeds
• No Power Button on PCB
• No Reset Button on PCB
• Only 7x Fan Headers in Total
• Thunderbolt Ports support USB 4 at 20Gbps speeds
• Only one USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Port