The proprietary PWM scheme is called ATL (active tri-level). I worked on it back in the day (almost 10 years ago now). The main difference is how the powerstage interprets the incoming PWM signal and the fact that the controller can force 1.8V or 3.3V. Standard control: PWM=0V means low side on. PWM=3.3V means high side on. PWM floating will go to 1.8V due to a weak resistor divider inside the powerstage. This voltage means tri-state, but it takes time to get there because of the RC time constant. ATL control: PWM=0V means low side on. PWM=1.8V means high side on. PWM=3.3V means tri-state. In this case all three states can be actively forced without relying on a resistor. This reduces the time needed to get to tri-state.
I wanted you to do a PCB breakdown ever since HUB had this one reviewed. I saw some crazy low temps with 3900x @4.3ghz, so i figured this must be good. They total lack of plastic and RGB just makes it oh so better in my eyes. Great video as always.
@@ArunShankartheRealOne yes I completely agree I am saving up for this board because I hate RGB and I don't want it included in the cost of my motherboard.
In china this board was called 暗影 which means Shadow or Dark Shadow. Personaly I think this is a properer names for a board with no RGB, just pure black.
ikea's naming scheme gets even worse if you're scandinavian and actually get it. its a mix of jibberish, real words with imaginary pre/suffixes, and misspelled words. to locals it sounds like they asked someone's 2 year old child to name everything.
Buildzoid: My videos always somehow end up really long Also Buildzoid: 8 minutes to say the 8-pin cpu connectors send additional power to the pcie slots.
I've now owned this board for a year and it has performed flawlessly on every minesweeper benchmark I threw at it. But seriously - I bought this board knowing I'll have zero good reasons to upgrade from AM4 for the next 10 years. It's my forever board and I have zero doubts about it's ability to chug along for decades.
Omg I fucking love the way he talks Relaxes the fuck out of me. And 53 seconds into the video I realize that all I need now is to get my food and drank set up, and chill and watch build zoid breakdown Motherboards for a couple of hours
Wow, that's a nice board! This is the first X570 that I feel is worth buying, especially at the fair price. I have this feeling BF 2019 is going to hurt my wallet.. :) Looking forwards to RAM-testing on this board once you get it!
Picked one up a year ago on sale for $180-ish IIRC. For 3 NVME slots, and placing a 120mm fan directed at the chipset to the chipset fan never goes above 50C (so the fan never comes on), this is a pretty killer board even in 2024. I plan on eventually getting some NVME > 5xSATA port adapters and turning this board with a 5800x3d into a headless server. It can run the VM's I need and other CPU intense tasks with ease with a ton of SSD + HDD.
I've had this board for over a year now running 3600MHz CL16 RAM at 3800MHz CL14 at 1.5V. VSOC and other voltages have been bumped and have yet to see the chipset fan spin! MSI drivers and BIOS support is continually updated. The board looks great too, no ghastly RGB anywhere :)
Really nice to hear good things about it! I plan to get Unify with 3950x and 2x32GB (probably 3600mhz). :) I would later upgrade to 128GB, but in this case, i would probably have to lower the speed to 3200mhz. Or i would better buy 3200mhz in the first place. Also, the Unify doesn't support ecc memory right? Im wondering how stable the 128GBwould be then. Do you have thoughts on that?
I just ordered this motherboard for my new ryzen 9 5950x and on my research which ram I should choose I feel kind of lost. I want something like 64gb of ram (or 32gb with the opportunity to upgrade to 64 later). Concerning the speed I'm aiming for a stable working 3600mhz via xmp profile. I don't want to adjust timings and such manually because I'm a pc noob. So some say I have to choose dual rank ram sticks when having 2 sticks on the board, but single rank sticks when having 4 sticks installed. But what if I wanted to start with 32gb and upgrade later - should I chose 2 x 16gb dual or single rank sticks? Do you have any recommendations for me? It would be great! One limitation is there: the hight of the ram should not exceed about 40mm because of my cpu air cooler. I don't need rgb.
Hi commenting on your 8+8 pin /8+4 Pin rant: the 2nd supplier actually supports voltage stability stressing the components less (der8auer did a video on it)
Alex Rose It actually helps preventing SSDs from throttling (I think DerBauer tested it in a video) but unless you’re willing to transfer huge files for hours every day, It doesn’t really matter and you’ll probably be fine without a heatsink.
As he says, Buildzoid had a bad experience with Realtek, but as someone whose PC's are typically triple OS boot 'hackintoshes' for the last 8 years I've never had any bad experiences with Realtek specifically, despite multiple OS's and the vagaries of hackintoshing in general. Of course I've had bad experiences with certain NIC drivers, usually solved by an update. Also problems can happen with an update that fails to delete prior drivers etc. But bottom line until watching Buildzoid's channel it never occurred to me to think of Intel LAN hardware as a "feature". YMMV
Thermaltake Toughpower 700W (W0105) have 8+4pin CPU on one cable have a good day XD Edit: Btw very cool video and now i want to change my M7 AC to this : )
Buildzoid, excellent content as usual but the seemingly harsh criticism of the MEG Ace seems way over the top. I know it has the useless little OC knob that no one should be using but other than that it's a solid enthusiast board. I would think 4 sata plugs is plenty for most users especially with the 3 m.2 slots. I dont think most enthusiasts that buy this board are going to load up their case with HDDs or even sata SDDs and leave the m.2 slots empty - definitely not me. What good is buying an X570 if not to take full advantage of NVMe? The post code readout is fine for me where it is in the middle of the board, in fact if it were at the bottom of the board I wouldn't be able to see it as well - either way it seems like a trivial squawk. The RGB on the VRM is what it is, turn it off if its not desired and enjoy the infinity mirror.
Crosshair vi extreme has a 8 and 4 pin eps I'm pretty sure. Went and checked to be sure, yes it does. Really hard to find 4 pin eps cables coincidentally.
I really like the looks of this board. I hope it's not a barn burner like some of the other MSI X570's. I don't mind that it has only 4 SATA ports. With 3 M.2 drive slots, who still uses SATA drives? Not me.
Actually I have seen an 8+4 pin psu. Its an older one and is currently in my girlfriends pc. Cant remember the model rn and dont feel like opening it to check, but it does have it
I was originally going to get a Gigabyte board for my new Ryzen 3000 build (strictly because they are the LEAST ugly in MY opinion). But too many people seemed to be complaining of issues with bios and slow boot times. Started looking at other boards and MSI seemed to have the most satisfied customers, also thought they had a smarter chipset fan placement. I figured the ACE was the one to go with, but it was just SO DAMN UGLY!!! The tacky gold dragon motif and lettering everywhere clashing with the black and red IO shield, and then that stupid rgb led mirror crap, come on!!! But then MSI announced the Unify which was basically the ACE minus all the tacky and stupid crap, I knew this was the board I needed. Not sure why they ditched the 1gb lan (not that I think I need it), and my only real gripe is their stubborn addiction to their trademark red. It's only on the IO shield which will not be seen for the most part, but still..all the effort they put in to make it all black and stealthy why couldn't they just ditch the red and go with dark grey, or silver? Seriously thinking of getting a custom one made up to "UNIFY" the look of my build, cuz I sure didn't buy ANYTHING else with red on it. MSI if you're reading this please make IO shields available without the red, thank you. Long story short.....I am VERY happy with my purchase of the x570 Unify (haven't actually built the system yet) and hearing Buildzoid say it may be his new favorite x570 board is a great reassurance that I made the right choice. Thank you for the videos, keep up the good work.
I got mine UNITY last Friday from Starlit _ Partner MSI' USA importer. I payed about 299 for it. Was going to get the ace but when I heard from hardware overclockers mention it in response to the Ace's crap heatsink , I was sold. The uinity heatsink is solid and it stays cool. Im used to MSI's bios and board design and agonized over having to spend 350 for a MEG ACE. I will report with issues so far I love the no bling black and silver color.
My Gigabyte X99 Designare also provides power to the PCIe slots via the single 8-Pin EPS connector. Long story short: CPU overclocking plus 3-Way SLI ended in a molten connector...
Hell yeah I'm glad they sent you this board! Its $299.99 in the US. My PSU I think is from Haswell or Skylake era. It only has a one 4+4 EPS cable. Lol
I just got this motherboard in and my CPU comes in tomorrow but hold on... Clarification: Those dual 8 pins.. I can just plug in from the power supply and not plug in directly to the graphics card? Is that what I'm hearing? For an even cleaner set up? Wish I could test this right now.
If, which no one ever will, someone has a problem with VRM Temps on this board simply adding a piece of cut to fit .5mm thermal padding or some thermal pasts between that monster top piece where it screws to the rest of the over kill VRM should solve it... EDIT: I saw he actually mentions this after I made this comment. Oh, the woes of commenting as I watch...LOL
Hello #Actually Hardcore Overclocking or buildzoid, I want to congratulate you and through your channel, I decided that I will buy the unify x570 motherboard instead of the Gigabyte x570 aorus pro. I'm Brazilian and I don't understand English so well, and I wanted your help to choose best ram to get the most out of the AMD platform, with high frequency and low latency. Which would be better, 2x16GB or 4x8GB? Some I thought G Skill F4-3600C16D-32GTZN or F4-3600C16Q-32GTZN, F4-4400C18D-16GTZR, F4-4000C19D-32GTZKK, F4-4000C17Q-32GTZR? My wish is to have a total of 32GB, and I have many doubts as there are many memory kits and I don't know what the acceptable overclocking limit is, if I choose a cheaper 3200mhz kit to reach up to 3733mhz and kepping low latency c16-16-16. Please help me, thanks.
I'm not buildzoid, but you should go with 4x8Gb (I think Jayz2cents did a video on it a while ago), as for what ram to use, you stop getting advantages when you go above 3800MHz and CL doesn't really matter all that much
except for godlike and creation being "premium" and some "brainstorming" was needed for their names, first thing that popped in my head about ace and unify was deodorant names. sadly, this is what theyre doing now and how much of an industry it is no more feature coding into the names, boyos edit: just like going down to the store and buying a can of motherboard LMAO
Shut up, MEG, no one cares! EDIT: Using the dual 8pins to power PCIe is genius and I hope it continues to be a thing down the road. Not having to route (or even worry about) a third 6pin through a case is great. Yeah yeah XFire/SLI is dying but still.
@@gr328 I think the pcie slots usually draw power from the 24 pin, which tends to melt if you draw too much. Some boards geared towards overclocking power the pcie with a 6 pin which can handle more power if you're running multiple graphics cards. This is the first time I've seen an 8 pin used for that. As I follow most of my comments I'm a little stupid so I may have everything wrong
Just got to that part yeah I'm dumb and misunderstood the question. Not as far as I know but.... Edit: there are cpu's that require two 8 pins, on x570 maybe not, but I kinda doubt a lot of manufacturers have it set up like that. I'm realizing everything I type is something buildzoid already said or completely baseless so imma be quiet now
@@teddygoboom1 quick question So I'm planing to slap a Xfx 5700xt (dual 8 pin) on the unify So how do I power the card the best Do I just plug the dual 8pins on the MoBo and the gpu gets the power or use the dual 8s on the gpu and don't use any on the MoBo . I'm really confused
@@Funzer4D Glad you asked, buildzoid did an update on this where he explained he was wrong, they dont power the pcie slot. Either way you'll need both 8 pin pcie cables plugged in to the graphics card, and at least one eps 8 pin for the mobo
Especially older PSU with 8 pins have an 8 pin not a 4+4 pin, so they have an 8 and a 4 at least one of my corsair PSU and one of my be quiet ones has it like that.
It be cool if we could just get rid of external GPU pcie power altogether and get everything through the motherboard. Would be so much cleaner looking too.
Dumb question, sorry. If this is effectively a de-RGB'd MEG ACE, why can't I run Gskill 4x32GB (F4-3600C18Q-128GTZN) on the Unify, but I can on the ACE?
On the original PCIe specifications, 6p was 2+2 12V/G. 8p added one ground and another type sense, and converted an NC to 12V for 3+3. Is this not the common case anymore?
I went with this mb because i just don't understand the need for RGB if u build a gaming PC it's meant for Gaming not for you to sit on your desktop and look at the lights spin round and round and round! People are just crazy i'm on my 23rd year of pc gaming and only rbg i ever had was ram and AIO cooler! This MB is by far the best looking black on black no rgb = win win!
I wonder if the decoupling of the chipset and the VRM is to make it easier for people to swap the fan assembly for something bespoke like a waterblock or just replace the fan more easily in future. There are screw holes available with the msi chipset fan removed. It just needs someone enterprising to make a custom block or even a thermal transfer plate that a standard AIO can mount to.
I never had issues with Realtek LAN. In fact it did work better compatibility wise than Intel. The 1Gbps performance of Realtek wasn't as good as Intel, but that was like 15 years ago. Intel NICs are highly overrated, and overpriced.
Buildzoid, what do you think about asrock using the same VRM layout on the asrock AQUA x570 as the x570 taichi? You said in your video months ago that the vrm is a good "bang for the buck" but not the best, so why would asrock put that same vrm layout in a 1k board?
Buildzoid, I noticed the Asus TRX40 boards are using TDA21462 60A for the Prime and Strix variants and TDA21472 70A for the Zenith II Extreme. How would the TDA21462 compare to the IR3555 that Asus has been a fan of using for so long?
I bought this bought during the full steam promo. $299.99 with $75 worth of steam cards. Thats only $224.99 base price. What a bargain for a MEG with big black block heatsink.
I wanted to ask about the 8 pin power you pointed out (versus the comment you made about the same on the ACE review). if you plug those in there, does this mean you don't need to connect a power cable to the video card directly? I also was curious if the taichi is one you recommend above MSIs While shopping for an x570, it seemed to me that practically all of them say, when you plug in a 2nd card into the PCIe slot the bandwidth becomes 8x / 8x. Doesn't that mean you care cutting the max capability of the 1st card?
Should I buy this over the MSI X570 Tomahawk? 🤔🤔🤔🤔 I'm so tired of waiting for at least a release date for the Tomahawk. $100 difference for post code, no led, similar thermals w/ 3900x according to Steave, and I can start building now instead of dealing with a Dell with Q8400 😂😂😂
ok. Ended up buying the Unify instead and it is insane with a Ryzen 9 3900x with 64gb of bdie ram. now i am waiting for Nvidia to release their next gen GPUs AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
You're not keen on realtek LAN but I've had good experience with it. Asus' spec's list my current board as using the "Realtek® 8111E Gigabit LAN controller". I've not noticed any issues since I bought it in 2010. It's a shame they ditched the dual LAN option but I'd rather have 2.5G if the unify's Realtek® RTL8125 2.5 Gbps LAN controller is as good as the 8111E has been for me.
@@NikoStark1 He says that python is part of the problem. He also has stacraft ii running at the same time. Where mouse click accuracy is crucial. You could use the wifi or a intel gigabit addon pcie card. He won't do that though. He uses the stock cooler that came with the 3900x. He complains about the motherboard chipset fan too.
@@NikoStark1 I know its compatible with first gen ryzen. Which is pretty neat though. Its a bit of hassle installing older bios for the board on msi's website. But I know a guy did it youtube. ua-cam.com/video/37B-20q9kBo/v-deo.html
So if motherboard manufacturers have been lying about phases for a very long time, does this still apply when they use doublers ? Or do doublers mean they're not lying anymore ?
Are 8pin CPU power connectors rated at 384W? I remember overclocking a 2P AMD G34 rig with engineering sample CPUs, and it was pulling around 350W 24/7 per connector (it had two on the PCB). But. after two months, the board failed because one of the connectors was completely destroyed by heat.
you should check if realtek did improved because if you dont you have to say for years that you dont know if they have and maybe intel would be better . _. love the vid!
I've had a Gigabyte X58 UD3R for 10 years now and it has a Realtek Gigabit LAN. It has never dropped the connection. The only thing that happened was when I upgraded to Gigabit Internet the older drivers would revert the connection to 100Mbps. After updating drivers everything was fine.
I am looking at a gaming/creator build - Waiting for AMD 4 gen in November to compare the 3 gen 3950x. Not into RGB are there other boards you would select for my planned build? Thanks
So... if a GPU has it's own PSU pins for power, I don't have to use them, if I connect the PSU to the 8 pin on the motherboard?... IF so... Seems to be cleaner cable management. Good stuff.
Hey, guys! If anybode home?) Can you explain the thing about 2nd 8pin near 8pin cpu power connector? I mean in this case 2nd 8pin is for power delivering to pcie x16 slots like BZ sayd. And a question is: If I have a gpu with a 6 or 8pin connector on it, can I just power that 8pin on top of MB instead of gcard one? I'm just out... know nothing abot this details.
No you can't just use the top 8 Pin connection. A PCIe Slot can provide up to 75W per specification which is normally applied over the 24Pin cable. So if you use 3 gpus you would normally have to deal with up to 225W over the 24pin or have a additional 6pin PCIe port on the motherboard. So MSI removes the need for an additional 6pin connection and reduces the risk of burning your 24pin cable with the high load.
Im just building my PC and I have no idea what the video was about at all after watching the whole thing but basically I made the right choice buying this MB right? As long as I fill it with 4 x DDR4 3600 mhz?
The proprietary PWM scheme is called ATL (active tri-level). I worked on it back in the day (almost 10 years ago now). The main difference is how the powerstage interprets the incoming PWM signal and the fact that the controller can force 1.8V or 3.3V.
Standard control:
PWM=0V means low side on. PWM=3.3V means high side on. PWM floating will go to 1.8V due to a weak resistor divider inside the powerstage. This voltage means tri-state, but it takes time to get there because of the RC time constant.
ATL control:
PWM=0V means low side on. PWM=1.8V means high side on. PWM=3.3V means tri-state. In this case all three states can be actively forced without relying on a resistor. This reduces the time needed to get to tri-state.
I just built my first gaming rig in 20+ yrs using this mobo, and I freaking love it! No RGB, no flare, no fancy lights. Just pure business.
So hard to get other no rgb parts though. 😁
RGB looks nice, but on someone else's PC not mine.
And we are still going strong, expecting to keep this for another 3+ years. Looking to upgrade to a 5800X3D when price drop below ~$280
I wanted you to do a PCB breakdown ever since HUB had this one reviewed. I saw some crazy low temps with 3900x @4.3ghz, so i figured this must be good. They total lack of plastic and RGB just makes it oh so better in my eyes. Great video as always.
Did you use a CPU cooler?
@@tacticaltactics7665 Thanks I did not know that. It is good if I can save money or move the money to somewhere else.
No RGB is a Feature for me right now, I wish sellers have filter for it, I hate RGB, completely pointless.
@@ArunShankartheRealOne yes I completely agree I am saving up for this board because I hate RGB and I don't want it included in the cost of my motherboard.
so you are a "rGB iS uGlY" boomer
this is what you came for:
20:30
thank you
god bless u :)
it unifies the the anti-RGB crowd
In china this board was called 暗影 which means Shadow or Dark Shadow. Personaly I think this is a properer names for a board with no RGB, just pure black.
Sometimes I put your videos on when I want to go to sleep, like chill music.
at least MSI doesn't use the IKEA name scheme for their motherboards
ikea's naming scheme gets even worse if you're scandinavian and actually get it.
its a mix of jibberish, real words with imaginary pre/suffixes, and misspelled words.
to locals it sounds like they asked someone's 2 year old child to name everything.
@@4lc4p0rn lmfao. Cool insight for me since I'm learning Swedish.
"Unify" makes sense if it's gone forward due to community feedback.
Feedback from whom? What community of idiots is asking for motherboards with a maximum of only 4 SATA ports?
@@vickybowe3975 With that many fast NVME ports who even gives a shit?
Buildzoid: My videos always somehow end up really long
Also Buildzoid: 8 minutes to say the 8-pin cpu connectors send additional power to the pcie slots.
This is a brilliant feature indeed.
I've now owned this board for a year and it has performed flawlessly on every minesweeper benchmark I threw at it. But seriously - I bought this board knowing I'll have zero good reasons to upgrade from AM4 for the next 10 years. It's my forever board and I have zero doubts about it's ability to chug along for decades.
I like how you didn't finish half of your sentences but still made a lot of sense and now I know enough about the board. Thanks! :D
This is gonna be good. Really hope it stands the test cause this is currently my first pick for my next build.
how did it end up working out
Omg I fucking love the way he talks
Relaxes the fuck out of me. And 53 seconds into the video I realize that all I need now is to get my food and drank set up, and chill and watch build zoid breakdown Motherboards for a couple of hours
3 sec into the vid and he is already off plan, thats a new record.
Wow, that's a nice board! This is the first X570 that I feel is worth buying, especially at the fair price.
I have this feeling BF 2019 is going to hurt my wallet.. :)
Looking forwards to RAM-testing on this board once you get it!
I got mine it's nice, clean and simple
@David Jones nope no known issues that I've read so far !! Doesnt mean it wont happen tho lol , it's been solid so far
Picked one up a year ago on sale for $180-ish IIRC. For 3 NVME slots, and placing a 120mm fan directed at the chipset to the chipset fan never goes above 50C (so the fan never comes on), this is a pretty killer board even in 2024.
I plan on eventually getting some NVME > 5xSATA port adapters and turning this board with a 5800x3d into a headless server. It can run the VM's I need and other CPU intense tasks with ease with a ton of SSD + HDD.
24:05 overkill definitely, but i think after the lower range motherboard debacle, MSI are keen to get back the trust they lost.
I've had this board for over a year now running 3600MHz CL16 RAM at 3800MHz CL14 at 1.5V. VSOC and other voltages have been bumped and have yet to see the chipset fan spin! MSI drivers and BIOS support is continually updated. The board looks great too, no ghastly RGB anywhere :)
Really nice to hear good things about it! I plan to get Unify with 3950x and 2x32GB (probably 3600mhz). :)
I would later upgrade to 128GB, but in this case, i would probably have to lower the speed to 3200mhz. Or i would better buy 3200mhz in the first place. Also, the Unify doesn't support ecc memory right? Im wondering how stable the 128GBwould be then. Do you have thoughts on that?
Oh and also, it has three m.2, that's great for my usage. Although it could have been good if it would have 6 sata.
The heatsink on this board ended global warming.
Great video Buildzoid. You have solidified my next Mobo purchase.
same
I just ordered this motherboard for my new ryzen 9 5950x and on my research which ram I should choose I feel kind of lost.
I want something like 64gb of ram (or 32gb with the opportunity to upgrade to 64 later). Concerning the speed I'm aiming for a stable working 3600mhz via xmp profile. I don't want to adjust timings and such manually because I'm a pc noob.
So some say I have to choose dual rank ram sticks when having 2 sticks on the board, but single rank sticks when having 4 sticks installed. But what if I wanted to start with 32gb and upgrade later - should I chose 2 x 16gb dual or single rank sticks?
Do you have any recommendations for me? It would be great!
One limitation is there: the hight of the ram should not exceed about 40mm because of my cpu air cooler. I don't need rgb.
first
2nd ;)
Fist!
17th like :)
awesome vid as usual. thanks for trying to say "like" less :) ♥
Brings me back :')
Hi commenting on your 8+8 pin /8+4 Pin rant: the 2nd supplier actually supports voltage stability stressing the components less (der8auer did a video on it)
40 minute video and you never talked about the m.2 heatsinks, ugggggggggggh I watched this whole thing...
Alex Rose It actually helps preventing SSDs from throttling (I think DerBauer tested it in a video) but unless you’re willing to transfer huge files for hours every day, It doesn’t really matter and you’ll probably be fine without a heatsink.
My z270 Prime-p pro with Realtek LAN has been running without issues for the entire 4 years I've had it
As he says, Buildzoid had a bad experience with Realtek, but as someone whose PC's are typically triple OS boot 'hackintoshes' for the last 8 years I've never had any bad experiences with Realtek specifically, despite multiple OS's and the vagaries of hackintoshing in general. Of course I've had bad experiences with certain NIC drivers, usually solved by an update. Also problems can happen with an update that fails to delete prior drivers etc. But bottom line until watching Buildzoid's channel it never occurred to me to think of Intel LAN hardware as a "feature". YMMV
So basically, this is msi's best board for x570.
no, the best board is the cheapest that comes with only the features that you personally need because x570 is still overprized
Is this the same as the meg ace?
@2BuckGeo same price for me
@@edwardecrespo6418 no, he tells te difference within the first 2 minutes of the video :)
@@edwardecrespo6418 No RGB, No Gold, Different name.
I REALLY need to find the specifications because as far as I could recall the 8 pin was 235W, the 4 pin was 155 and an 8+4 was 390W.
Thermaltake Toughpower 700W (W0105) have 8+4pin CPU on one cable have a good day XD
Edit: Btw very cool video and now i want to change my M7 AC to this : )
Buildzoid, excellent content as usual but the seemingly harsh criticism of the MEG Ace seems way over the top. I know it has the useless little OC knob that no one should be using but other than that it's a solid enthusiast board. I would think 4 sata plugs is plenty for most users especially with the 3 m.2 slots. I dont think most enthusiasts that buy this board are going to load up their case with HDDs or even sata SDDs and leave the m.2 slots empty - definitely not me. What good is buying an X570 if not to take full advantage of NVMe? The post code readout is fine for me where it is in the middle of the board, in fact if it were at the bottom of the board I wouldn't be able to see it as well - either way it seems like a trivial squawk. The RGB on the VRM is what it is, turn it off if its not desired and enjoy the infinity mirror.
I like the name "MEG", because when the motherboard goes wrong and starts beeping, I can say "Shut up Meg!". (Family Guy)
Crosshair vi extreme has a 8 and 4 pin eps I'm pretty sure.
Went and checked to be sure, yes it does. Really hard to find 4 pin eps cables coincidentally.
had a 6-pin eps once. at least i think, cause it fitted the eps socket of the motherboard
I really like the looks of this board. I hope it's not a barn burner like some of the other MSI X570's. I don't mind that it has only 4 SATA ports. With 3 M.2 drive slots, who still uses SATA drives? Not me.
This motherboard is great. It's really close to an aorus master
@@matteo964 I agree, so I'm buying one.
@@OlettaLiano i really hope to buy it too
@@OlettaLiano and then they released the b550 version of this board
@@MikeJones-bl6lu True, but I'm super happy with the X570 version of the Unify.
Subscriber's - More ddr4 abuse!
Buildzoid - motherboard review 👏
Actually I have seen an 8+4 pin psu. Its an older one and is currently in my girlfriends pc. Cant remember the model rn and dont feel like opening it to check, but it does have it
You must the Corsair connection on the right above. For led strips or led hub to connect so you can use them on mystic light
I was originally going to get a Gigabyte board for my new Ryzen 3000 build (strictly because they are the LEAST ugly in MY opinion). But too many people seemed to be complaining of issues with bios and slow boot times. Started looking at other boards and MSI seemed to have the most satisfied customers, also thought they had a smarter chipset fan placement. I figured the ACE was the one to go with, but it was just SO DAMN UGLY!!! The tacky gold dragon motif and lettering everywhere clashing with the black and red IO shield, and then that stupid rgb led mirror crap, come on!!! But then MSI announced the Unify which was basically the ACE minus all the tacky and stupid crap, I knew this was the board I needed. Not sure why they ditched the 1gb lan (not that I think I need it), and my only real gripe is their stubborn addiction to their trademark red. It's only on the IO shield which will not be seen for the most part, but still..all the effort they put in to make it all black and stealthy why couldn't they just ditch the red and go with dark grey, or silver? Seriously thinking of getting a custom one made up to "UNIFY" the look of my build, cuz I sure didn't buy ANYTHING else with red on it. MSI if you're reading this please make IO shields available without the red, thank you. Long story short.....I am VERY happy with my purchase of the x570 Unify (haven't actually built the system yet) and hearing Buildzoid say it may be his new favorite x570 board is a great reassurance that I made the right choice. Thank you for the videos, keep up the good work.
I got mine UNITY last Friday from Starlit _ Partner MSI' USA importer. I payed about 299 for it. Was going to get the ace but when I heard from hardware overclockers mention it in response to the Ace's crap heatsink , I was sold. The uinity heatsink is solid and it stays cool. Im used to MSI's bios and board design and agonized over having to spend 350 for a MEG ACE. I will report with issues so far I love the no bling black and silver color.
My Gigabyte X99 Designare also provides power to the PCIe slots via the single 8-Pin EPS connector.
Long story short: CPU overclocking plus 3-Way SLI ended in a molten connector...
Hell yeah I'm glad they sent you this board! Its $299.99 in the US. My PSU I think is from Haswell or Skylake era. It only has a one 4+4 EPS cable. Lol
1 works.. I only have 1 vid card
Great video buildzoid!
I just got this motherboard in and my CPU comes in tomorrow but hold on... Clarification: Those dual 8 pins.. I can just plug in from the power supply and not plug in directly to the graphics card? Is that what I'm hearing? For an even cleaner set up? Wish I could test this right now.
8 pin Plugs in cpu power on mobo
Use the left one and you only need 1 unless you have cross fire and need more power.
If, which no one ever will, someone has a problem with VRM Temps on this board simply adding a piece of cut to fit .5mm thermal padding or some thermal pasts between that monster top piece where it screws to the rest of the over kill VRM should solve it...
EDIT:
I saw he actually mentions this after I made this comment.
Oh, the woes of commenting as I watch...LOL
Hello #Actually Hardcore Overclocking or buildzoid, I want to congratulate you and through your channel, I decided that I will buy the unify x570 motherboard instead of the Gigabyte x570 aorus pro. I'm Brazilian and I don't understand English so well, and I wanted your help to choose best ram to get the most out of the AMD platform, with high frequency and low latency. Which would be better, 2x16GB or 4x8GB? Some I thought G Skill F4-3600C16D-32GTZN or F4-3600C16Q-32GTZN, F4-4400C18D-16GTZR, F4-4000C19D-32GTZKK, F4-4000C17Q-32GTZR? My wish is to have a total of 32GB, and I have many doubts as there are many memory kits and I don't know what the acceptable overclocking limit is, if I choose a cheaper 3200mhz kit to reach up to 3733mhz and kepping low latency c16-16-16. Please help me, thanks.
I'm not buildzoid, but you should go with 4x8Gb (I think Jayz2cents did a video on it a while ago), as for what ram to use, you stop getting advantages when you go above 3800MHz and CL doesn't really matter all that much
Can't wait for the testing video. Subscribing so I don't miss it.
except for godlike and creation being "premium" and some "brainstorming" was needed for their names, first thing that popped in my head about ace and unify was deodorant names. sadly, this is what theyre doing now and how much of an industry it is
no more feature coding into the names, boyos
edit: just like going down to the store and buying a can of motherboard LMAO
OCZ made some 8 + 4 pin EPS PSU's ;) I still use one for basic troubleshooting.
Shut up, MEG, no one cares!
EDIT: Using the dual 8pins to power PCIe is genius and I hope it continues to be a thing down the road. Not having to route (or even worry about) a third 6pin through a case is great. Yeah yeah XFire/SLI is dying but still.
Is it only MSI? I always thought that's what dual 8 pins were for
@@gr328 I think the pcie slots usually draw power from the 24 pin, which tends to melt if you draw too much. Some boards geared towards overclocking power the pcie with a 6 pin which can handle more power if you're running multiple graphics cards. This is the first time I've seen an 8 pin used for that. As I follow most of my comments I'm a little stupid so I may have everything wrong
Just got to that part yeah I'm dumb and misunderstood the question. Not as far as I know but....
Edit: there are cpu's that require two 8 pins, on x570 maybe not, but I kinda doubt a lot of manufacturers have it set up like that. I'm realizing everything I type is something buildzoid already said or completely baseless so imma be quiet now
@@teddygoboom1 quick question
So I'm planing to slap a Xfx 5700xt (dual 8 pin) on the unify
So how do I power the card the best
Do I just plug the dual 8pins on the MoBo and the gpu gets the power or use the dual 8s on the gpu and don't use any on the MoBo .
I'm really confused
@@Funzer4D Glad you asked, buildzoid did an update on this where he explained he was wrong, they dont power the pcie slot. Either way you'll need both 8 pin pcie cables plugged in to the graphics card, and at least one eps 8 pin for the mobo
7:15 **cough** Superflower.
Superflower on EVGA? or straight Superflower?
@@plonk420 if i'm not in mistake i think every psu which has superflower as oem has this feature
@@plonk420 Both I think (forgot EVGA lol) @Matteo G. Yes I would think so
Especially older PSU with 8 pins have an 8 pin not a 4+4 pin, so they have an 8 and a 4 at least one of my corsair PSU and one of my be quiet ones has it like that.
Model M fan checking in.
Unify 2 x 8 pins secretly secretly power the PCI multiple slots so you don't melt your 24 pin. - aka the definition of Unify .
builzoid: "what exactly is this board unifying"
me: 8 pins
It be cool if we could just get rid of external GPU pcie power altogether and get everything through the motherboard. Would be so much cleaner looking too.
Dumb question, sorry. If this is effectively a de-RGB'd MEG ACE, why can't I run Gskill 4x32GB (F4-3600C18Q-128GTZN) on the Unify, but I can on the ACE?
Hey! How's you RAM? I plan also on 4x32 GB setup. Do you have it set up and running? (i would pair them with 3950x)
On the original PCIe specifications, 6p was 2+2 12V/G. 8p added one ground and another type sense, and converted an NC to 12V for 3+3. Is this not the common case anymore?
I used to have a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 that had both a 8 pin and a 4 pin.
I went with this mb because i just don't understand the need for RGB if u build a gaming PC it's meant for Gaming not for you to sit on your desktop and look at the lights spin round and round and round! People are just crazy i'm on my 23rd year of pc gaming and only rbg i ever had was ram and AIO cooler! This MB is by far the best looking black on black no rgb = win win!
had this mother board its really goood.
Clear cmos on i/o is really easy to accidentally hit when moving the pc.
thats what profiles are for
@@ladmad9196 They created profiles so they could put the reset BIOS button in a stupid place? Are you sure!
@@vickybowe3975 i find it convenioned. dont have to open the case this way
You can't hit it accidentally because it needs to be pushed very deep.
@@PhreakDarkSoul It happens. Asus mobos don't have to pressed hard at all. It also clears cmos with no power applied.
Unify or crosshair VIII hero?
I do have a PSU that only supports 8+4 connectors. It just doesn't have the additional 4 pins connector to make it dual 8 pins.
and yea it's old.
The unify stands for the physical appearance because it has no rgb, it unifies color.
if you have a pc case that uses hinges for the side panel, well then you dont have to take ur pc apart to clear the bios ;)
You forgot to mention the chipset heatpipe on the ACE!
I just bought the Meg Ace and it's quite heavy, those heatsinks are no joke.
I wonder if the decoupling of the chipset and the VRM is to make it easier for people to swap the fan assembly for something bespoke like a waterblock or just replace the fan more easily in future. There are screw holes available with the msi chipset fan removed. It just needs someone enterprising to make a custom block or even a thermal transfer plate that a standard AIO can mount to.
Wow!!! Thanks a lot. Good work 👍🏻😎
post code leds + coloured markers = colour coded post code leds
I never had issues with Realtek LAN. In fact it did work better compatibility wise than Intel. The 1Gbps performance of Realtek wasn't as good as Intel, but that was like 15 years ago. Intel NICs are highly overrated, and overpriced.
Focus!!!! Love your work.
Buildzoid, what do you think about asrock using the same VRM layout on the asrock AQUA x570 as the x570 taichi? You said in your video months ago that the vrm is a good "bang for the buck" but not the best, so why would asrock put that same vrm layout in a 1k board?
because 1K boards are for people with more money than sense
@@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking Lol this made me laugh. The board looks pretty damn sexy though. Appreciate the reply my man!
It's called a unify because the finger shredding IO shield is built in.
Buildzoid, I noticed the Asus TRX40 boards are using TDA21462 60A for the Prime and Strix variants and TDA21472 70A for the Zenith II Extreme. How would the TDA21462 compare to the IR3555 that Asus has been a fan of using for so long?
I bought this bought during the full steam promo. $299.99 with $75 worth of steam cards. Thats only $224.99 base price. What a bargain for a MEG with big black block heatsink.
I wanted to ask about the 8 pin power you pointed out (versus the comment you made about the same on the ACE review). if you plug those in there, does this mean you don't need to connect a power cable to the video card directly?
I also was curious if the taichi is one you recommend above MSIs
While shopping for an x570, it seemed to me that practically all of them say, when you plug in a 2nd card into the PCIe slot the bandwidth becomes 8x / 8x. Doesn't that mean you care cutting the max capability of the 1st card?
Canon is shattered - BZ approves of dual 8-pin power connectors!
MSI picked the ball up again...
Should I buy this over the MSI X570 Tomahawk? 🤔🤔🤔🤔 I'm so tired of waiting for at least a release date for the Tomahawk. $100 difference for post code, no led, similar thermals w/ 3900x according to Steave, and I can start building now instead of dealing with a Dell with Q8400 😂😂😂
ok. Ended up buying the Unify instead and it is insane with a Ryzen 9 3900x with 64gb of bdie ram. now i am waiting for Nvidia to release their next gen GPUs AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I was waiting on the tomahawk also lol but I ended up getting the same thing as you lol
Can't wait too. Bought the Unify and now I can use my new parts instead of waiting months.
@@jayrimmey it's amazing isn't it :DD
Da Cook I love it lol I have 64 GB of ram also but I bought a 2070 super 😭, didn’t know the new ones would be coming out
I really don't find it to hard to see the leds on my ace, even though I have it in a case. (also you forgot the heatpipe between chipset and vrm)
it might not be a good thing though. Do you want heat from chipset going to your VRMs? Also makes it harder to swap the chipset for say a waterblock.
You're not keen on realtek LAN but I've had good experience with it. Asus' spec's list my current board as using the "Realtek® 8111E Gigabit LAN controller". I've not noticed any issues since I bought it in 2010. It's a shame they ditched the dual LAN option but I'd rather have 2.5G if the unify's Realtek® RTL8125 2.5 Gbps LAN controller is as good as the 8111E has been for me.
I had issues, copy dvd images to my NAS ended up in a NULL block at the end of the files. I always needed to conpare the files to ensure they are ok.
Name is unify because it can be used in any case and not stand out but bring it together.
My evga power supply has dual 8 pin and dual 4 pin power cables.
Buildzoid: yeah 2-3 letter names make no sense
Asus: *laughs in A, C, K and P*
It used to feel like only high end asus boards are worthy of naming them.
My brother unistalled the drivers to 2.5g lan on this board. He says the internet connection has issues. Your concerns have been realized.
@@NikoStark1 He didn't. He doesn't like. What he calls lag spikes. He has a 3900x with the ryzen software.
@@NikoStark1 He says that python is part of the problem. He also has stacraft ii running at the same time. Where mouse click accuracy is crucial. You could use the wifi or a intel gigabit addon pcie card. He won't do that though. He uses the stock cooler that came with the 3900x. He complains about the motherboard chipset fan too.
@@NikoStark1 I know its compatible with first gen ryzen. Which is pretty neat though. Its a bit of hassle installing older bios for the board on msi's website. But I know a guy did it youtube. ua-cam.com/video/37B-20q9kBo/v-deo.html
So if motherboard manufacturers have been lying about phases for a very long time, does this still apply when they use doublers ? Or do doublers mean they're not lying anymore ?
Looking forward to this board after my gaming edge bricked
Piece of crap gaming edge crap. Mine didn’t brick or over heat it just wanted it’s CMOS jumped every single time something was changed.
Are 8pin CPU power connectors rated at 384W?
I remember overclocking a 2P AMD G34 rig with engineering sample CPUs, and it was pulling around 350W 24/7 per connector (it had two on the PCB). But. after two months, the board failed because one of the connectors was completely destroyed by heat.
It's $300 USD
you should check if realtek did improved because if you dont you have to say for years that you dont know if they have and maybe intel would be better . _. love the vid!
I've had a Gigabyte X58 UD3R for 10 years now and it has a Realtek Gigabit LAN. It has never dropped the connection. The only thing that happened was when I upgraded to Gigabit Internet the older drivers would revert the connection to 100Mbps. After updating drivers everything was fine.
I am looking at a gaming/creator build - Waiting for AMD 4 gen in November to compare the 3 gen 3950x. Not into RGB are there other boards you would select for my planned build? Thanks
So... if a GPU has it's own PSU pins for power, I don't have to use them, if I connect the PSU to the 8 pin on the motherboard?...
IF so... Seems to be cleaner cable management. Good stuff.
hi what do you reccomande for ryzen 5900x MSI X570 Unify or Gigabyte X570 Master ? i plan to use one m.2 gen 4 and two m.2 gen 3
38:00 compared to ace
Hey, guys! If anybode home?) Can you explain the thing about 2nd 8pin near 8pin cpu power connector? I mean in this case 2nd 8pin is for power delivering to pcie x16 slots like BZ sayd. And a question is: If I have a gpu with a 6 or 8pin connector on it, can I just power that 8pin on top of MB instead of gcard one?
I'm just out... know nothing abot this details.
No you can't just use the top 8 Pin connection. A PCIe Slot can provide up to 75W per specification which is normally applied over the 24Pin cable. So if you use 3 gpus you would normally have to deal with up to 225W over the 24pin or have a additional 6pin PCIe port on the motherboard.
So MSI removes the need for an additional 6pin connection and reduces the risk of burning your 24pin cable with the high load.
@@DaniloSpeck then they decided to add a 6 pin GPU connector on the b550 version of this board even though you can only run one GPU on it.
"Hello msi x570 unify or gigabyte x570 aorus master rev 1.2 😭😭😭😭😭" ???
Im just building my PC and I have no idea what the video was about at all after watching the whole thing but basically I made the right choice buying this MB right? As long as I fill it with 4 x DDR4 3600 mhz?
I'll probabbly buy this.
26:00 So does this board not support APUs at all? Even if you hook up a display through USB?
my thermaltake toughpower 850w may be the only 8+4pin CPU power connector PSU - although it's a daisy chain so it's a cheat!
Just built my 1st machine and used this board. No sound except if I use Bluetooth speakers.
Unify or Tomahawk? What is built better and has better circuitry?