MSI MEG Z390 Ace Wifi DDR4 Intel Motherboard

The MSI MEG Z390 Ace WiFi is a full-size ATX motherboard built on the Intel Z390 chipset, designed to support 8th and 9th Generation Intel Core, Pentium Gold, and Celeron processors in the LGA 1151 socket. Its robust power delivery includes dual 8-pin ATX 12V connectors alongside the standard 24-pin main connector, providing the headroom needed for overclocking compatible processors. Memory support spans four DDR4 slots with a combined capacity of up to 128 GB. Native JEDEC speeds of 2133, 2400, and 2666 MHz are supplemented by XMP profiles ranging up to 4500 MHz (OC), enabling enthusiast memory tuning via Intel Extreme Memory Profile. The board operates in Dual-Channel mode with non-ECC, unbuffered DIMMs. Storage connectivity is a highlight of this board. Three M.2 Key-M slots — each cooled by MSI's M.2 Shield Frozr thermal solution — support PCIe 3.0 x4 devices, with the first two also accepting SATA 6 Gb/s drives. Six additional SATA 6 Gb/s ports round out the storage options, and the board is Intel Optane Memory Ready. RAID configurations 0, 1, 5, and 10 are supported for SATA devices; RAID 0, 1, and 5 are available for M.2 PCIe drives. Note that M.2 and SATA ports share bandwidth. Expansion is handled by three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (configurable as x16/x0/x0, x8/x8/x0, or x8/x4/x4) and three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. The board supports 2-Way NVIDIA SLI and 3-Way AMD CrossFire multi-GPU configurations. Wireless connectivity is provided by an integrated adapter supporting 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (160 MHz channel), with speeds up to 1.73 Gbps, plus Bluetooth 5 (backward-compatible with 2.1, 3.0, and 4.0). Wired networking is handled by a Killer E2500 Gigabit LAN controller. Audio uses a Realtek ALC1220 codec delivering 7.1-channel HD audio with S/PDIF optical output. USB ports are extensive: 6 x USB 3.1 Gen2 (10 Gbps) and 2 x USB 3.1 Gen2 via an ASMedia ASM3142 controller on the back panel, plus 8 x USB 2.0 and internal headers for 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports. RGB lighting is managed through MSI's Mystic Light Infinity system, offering 16.8 million colours and 29 effects, with connectors for standard RGB strips, RAINBOW LED strips, and a dedicated Corsair LED header. Verified Specifications: - Form Factor: ATX, 12 in. x 9.6 in. (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm) - Socket: LGA 1151 (8th/9th Gen Intel) - Chipset: Intel Z390 - Memory: 4 x DDR4, up to 128 GB, DDR4-4500(OC) max, Dual-Channel, XMP - Storage: 3 x M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4 + SATA on M2_1/M2_2), 6 x SATA 6 Gb/s - PCIe: 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16, 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 - LAN: Killer E2500 Gigabit - Wi-Fi: 802.11ac, up to 1.73 Gbps; Bluetooth 5 - Audio: Realtek ALC1220, 7.1-ch HD, S/PDIF out - Warranty: 3 Years