Editor's Desk Motherboard Reviews

The last shall be first – MSI MEG Z690 Unify-X review with teardown, DDR5 and Adaptive OC

While with Intel’s previous Z590 generation MSI’s Unify-X was the last of the motherboards I tested, we turn the tables on this generation with the new Alder Lake CPUs. The MSI MEG Z690 Unify-X, as it is called with its full name, is a motherboard with a strong focus on overclocking and only 2 DIMM slots, but with its price it can also still be called a relatively reasonable option in the current market situation. Today’s review will show whether it can meet the demands of overclockers and above all whether it can make up for the partly glaring problems of its predecessor.

Overview and features

The board is monochrome throughout, with black heatsinks made of anodized or brushed aluminum. In addition to the voltage converters, the M.2 slots are also all covered with heatsinks. Only the silver-colored socket ILM, the coils around it and the two PCIE x16 slots stand out visually. Various “MEG” and “Unify-X” lettering can be found on the heatsinks and an MSI dragon in matte embossing on the IO cover. In the ATX form factor, MSI packs two DDR5 slots as close as possible to the socket for short signal paths and high overclocking potential. MSI also chooses the best possible compromise between costs and benefits for overclocking for the rest of the onboard features, such as the postcode display, the power and reset buttons or the BIOS switch. “Functional minimalism” runs like a red, erhem black and white thread through the board’s design concept.

 

On the back, the board is reinforced with a backplate, again with subtle lettering in matte print on the black brushed aluminum. Especially below the 24-pin ATX connector, the board is thus significantly strengthened and less stressed. Around the board’s mounting holes we find white circular “anti-collision” imprints, with the entire back of the board covered in a non-conductive protective layer. Below the PCIe switches, we also find labels that enable the supported multi-GPU modes. Even though this is almost irrelevant for gaming nowadays, overclockers can be happy about AMD Crossfire and Nvidia SLI support, whereby the latter is not to be taken for granted even for high-end Z690 boards – keyword: certification costs. This also tells us that both PCIe slots can work in 5.0 x8/x8 mode.

The IO can definitely be described as overkill for overclocking. Besides the essential features like CMOS Clear, BIOS Flash buttons, MSI also provides a total of 10 USB ports, two 2.5 Gbit/s Ethernet NICs and WIFI 6E. If you want to reuse the Unify-X for a regular gaming or workstation PC, you would definitely be served well here. MSI has also added a PS/2 combo port for Windows XP support and at the very end there are the usual 7.1 audio ports.

Probably the most interesting connector on the board, however, is on the bottom edge of the board, labeled “JDASH1”. Because this is where the “Tuning Controller” is connected, which makes the board really overclocking capable. This “wired remote” has another postcode display, power/reset and clear CMOS buttons, as well as buttons to set BCLK, an “OC Retry” button to force memory training and an “OC Fail Safe” button to boot the system with safe settings. And exactly these functions are extremely useful and virtually indispensable for overclocking, especially at the hardware’s limits.

By offloading the functions to the external controller, MSI effectively saves some space on the motherboard itself, which among other things also helps in complying with the ATX dimensions. Above the JDASH1 there are a few jumpers that could also be used to operate the controller’s functions, but only with corresponding external switches. There are also a few more functions like LN2 and slow modes, respectively as a workaround for coldboot bugs with extreme cooling or limiting the CPU core and cache multiplier to x8.

The DIMM slots are spaced further apart than on most other Z690 motherboards at 6 mm. Especially when it comes to compatibility with aftermarket RAM coolers or waterblocks, you should therefore be careful and pay attention to the tolerances. As usual with DDR5, these are SMT (Surface Mount Technology) slots that only have a shutter on the upper side near the postcode display. 

If we stay right in this corner, the 5 4-pin fan connectors immediately catch the eye, with which then really any AIO water cooling with pump and all fans can be connected without any problems. Along the top edge, the two 8-pin EPS power connectors for the CPU are found in a recess of the voltage converter cooler. Even a heavily overclocked Alder Lake i9 at ambient temperature will suffice with just one of these, though. The second connection is only really necessary below 0 °C and for power consumption above 400 W.   

I personally like the visual design of the board very much and much better than some RGB fireworks. And even when powered on, the only colors come from the debug LEDs or the BIOS switch indicator when the backup BIOS is selected. Apart from that, the board is completely monochrome and thus not only undestatedly stylish, but also pleasing to the eyes when sitting right next to it during testing and benchmarking for hours.  

I’ll spare you and myself the rest of the key data, since it’s not really relevant for overclocking and has already been highlighted enough by colleagues in the industry anyway. Instead, I’ll just put the manual of the board as a PDF for you to wonder through yourself.

MEGZ690UNIFY-X

 

Kommentar

Lade neue Kommentare

RX480

Urgestein

1,913 Kommentare 899 Likes

Gibts eigentlich bezgl. der CPU´s ne Möglichkeit, vor dem Kauf zu erkennen, ob AVX512 von INTEL schon rausgefused wurde,
anhand Seriennr. o.ä.?

Antwort 1 Like

Zer0Strat

Veteran

162 Kommentare 138 Likes

Meine Erfahrungen mit dem Unify-X sind eher nicht so gut. Man muss es sogar als katastrophal bezeichnen. Dass die Radeon einfach nicht erkannt wurde beim Bootvorgang könnte allerdings mittlerweile mit BIOS Updates behoben worden sein. Was MSI nicht behoben hat, ist das unübersichtliche BIOS und das Design des Boards wirkt eher billig. Bei dem Preis sollte der Eindruck exklusiv daherkommen.

Was für mich persönlich ernüchternd ist, ist die Speicherlatenz von fast 52ns bei diesen doch sehr straffen Settings. Da muss mehr kommen (in diesem Fall weniger ^^).

Aus diesen Gründen ist das Unify-X für mich eher die letzte Wahl, wenn es um die sog. "Sportwagen" unter den Z690 Boards geht, also teure 2 DIMM Boards, welche einen sehr hohen Speichertakt ermöglichen sollen.

Es mag sein, dass das stimmt. Ich habe jedoch Zweifel. Wenn der IMC mit DDR4 2000MHz packt, warum sollte dieser dann bei 1700MHz (DDR5-6800 + Gear 2) dicht machen? Das leuchtet mir nicht ganz ein, aber es kann natürlich noch andere Faktoren geben, die sich bei DDR5 anders Verhalten. Die Bandbreite ist ja auch wesentlich höher. Ich denke allerdings, dass es das Board ist, was dicht macht.

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Klicke zum Ausklappem
skullbringer

Veteran

327 Kommentare 359 Likes

Ist mir bisher nicht bekannt. Auch innerhalb des selben Steppings (z.B. C0) gibt es immer wieder Unterschiede. Meine i9 CPUs haben z.B. noch einen V/F 7 Punkt bei 5.3 GHz, wo spätere und auch die Intel Spec ja bei 5.2 GHz aufhört.

Irgendwann wenn genug der neuen CPUs mit komplett deaktiviertem AVX-512 im Umlauf sind und User-Berichte eingetrudelt sind, wird man es wahrscheinlich an der Batchnummer festmachen können. Die 6+0 Chips mit C0 Stepping hatten ja teilweise schon im Januar gar kein AVX-512 mehr, nur wahrscheinlich hat es einfach bis jetzt gedauert, dass die neue Revision alle Retail-Kanäle erreicht hat.

Antwort 1 Like

Zer0Strat

Veteran

162 Kommentare 138 Likes

@skullbringer Ist das hier mit nem 12900K, der auf dem MSI Board nur 6800MT/s packt?

Antwort Gefällt mir

skullbringer

Veteran

327 Kommentare 359 Likes

Ist interessanterweise eine andere CPU, die auf dem UX den selben Takt nur mit jeweils 2 Ticks lockereren Primaries schafft. Umgekehrt kann ich das mit der SP93 aus dem UX Review nicht reproduzieren. Die Kombination aus IMC, Board und Kit macht's wohl, zumal das Apex ja z.B. weitaus weniger VDD2 mag.

Aber die 7200 konnte ich bisher nicht nochmal reproduzieren, immer einzelne Errors pro Cycle. Über 6933 scheint da die Stabilitäts-Grauzone anzufangen, zumindest mit dieser CPU, diesem RAM Kit und diesem Board ;)

Antwort Gefällt mir

Danke für die Spende



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Xaver Amberger (skullbringer)

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