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Review: MSI MEG X399 Creation

by Tarinder Sandhu on 5 September 2018, 14:01

Tags: MSI, AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qadw3z

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Conclusion

Choosing a premium X399 board isn't about looking at PCIe lanes or USB. Rather, every manufacturer has their own idiosyncracy...

Release of second-generation Ryzen Threadripper has given motherboard manufacturers all the push they needed for new-and-improved designs.

Taking pride of place at the top of the MSI stack is the MEG X399 Creation, whose dual claims to fame are the most comprehensive power delivery system and an expander card offering support for an extra four M.2 drives.

Choosing a premium X399 board isn't about looking at PCIe lanes or USB. Rather, every manufacturer has their own idiosyncracy, so unlike Asus and Gigabyte who prefer 10Gbps Ethernet, MSI goes bigger on storage. And that really is the deciding factor, determining which niche features appeal to you. We'd happily swap the Xpander card for faster Ethernet, however.

Built well and performant, we believe the addition of 10Gbps Ethernet would elevate this board to the top of the X399 charts. As it is, that oversight costs it an outright recommendation.

The Good
  
The Bad
Great cooling and power potential
Latest-gen WiFi
Integrated I/O
Great M.2 heatsink
Excellent M.2 capacity
  
No 10Gbps Ethernet
CPU heatsinks not the best
Lacks USB 3.1 Gen 2 on rear


MSI MEG X399 Creation

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The MSI MEG X399 Creation is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.


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HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

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Posted by devBunny - Wed 05 Sep 2018 18:07
There are, wait for it, a whopping 19 power phases on this E-ATX board - 16 for the CPU and three for the SOC. And these aren't the cheap and cheerful kind. A closer examination reveals the MEG uses 16 Infineon (TDA21472) power stages run via an Infineon 8-channel (doubled, 8+0) IR35201 PWM controller.

I'm sure that “16 Infineon (TDA21472) power stages” are impressive, especially when “run via an Infineon 8-channel (doubled, 8+0) IR35201 PWM controller”. The thing is, although I've learned a heck of a lot about components over the years, I've yet to read even the first thing about power phases, what they are, what makes one configuration better than another, why I should care, let alone why TDA21472 or IR35201 (doubled, 8+0, no less) would mean anything to anyone.

(This comment is not particular to the MSI MEG X399, except in as far as it uses it as an example)
Posted by Friesiansam - Wed 05 Sep 2018 20:38
Why run the game tests at only 1080p? I can't imagine this being relevant to anyone using such high-end kit.
Posted by chinf - Thu 06 Sep 2018 11:19
devBunny
There are, wait for it, a whopping 19 power phases on this E-ATX board - 16 for the CPU and three for the SOC. And these aren't the cheap and cheerful kind. A closer examination reveals the MEG uses 16 Infineon (TDA21472) power stages run via an Infineon 8-channel (doubled, 8+0) IR35201 PWM controller.

I'm sure that “16 Infineon (TDA21472) power stages” are impressive, especially when “run via an Infineon 8-channel (doubled, 8+0) IR35201 PWM controller”. The thing is, although I've learned a heck of a lot about components over the years, I've yet to read even the first thing about power phases, what they are, what makes one configuration better than another, why I should care, let alone why TDA21472 or IR35201 (doubled, 8+0, no less) would mean anything to anyone.

(This comment is not particular to the MSI MEG X399, except in as far as it uses it as an example)

Perhaps an opportunity for Hexus to put up a primer on the more advanced technical jargon common these days?

@devBunny - like pistons in an engine, more phases = smoother power; this reduces the excess CPU voltage (and thus power usage) needed to ensure stability - or alternatively you can clock higher for a given voltage. Dividing the power across more phases improves efficiency by cutting down current peaks. Also with more phases at its disposal the PWM controller can operate the power components more often in their most efficient load ranges.

PWM controllers with lots of phases are pricey so phase doublers can be used, but as these are still not cheap some boards even forego using doublers and just double the rest of the power components instead. Outwardly these look like more phases, but as they operate simultaneously there's no improvement to current peaks, CPU voltage or load range, leaving only a minor improvement to efficiency and operating temperature.

Edit to add: the quality of VRMs on motherboards is more important than in the past because modern CPUs are simultaneously more efficient and power hungry. At idle they draw very little power, but having the power of many cores & threads means that full load they demand much more; catering to such a huge range efficiently requires more sophisticated power circuitry than in the past.

TLDR: more phases = less power wasted, better CPU stability/higher overclocks
Posted by Usernamist - Thu 06 Sep 2018 12:11
Friesiansam
Why run the game tests at only 1080p? I can't imagine this being relevant to anyone using such high-end kit.

Games are GPU reliant. Increasing the resolution won't be testing anything on the board
Posted by devBunny - Thu 06 Sep 2018 13:17
chinf
Perhaps an opportunity for Hexus to put up a primer on the more advanced technical jargon common these days?

Yes, indeed.

Thanks for your primer on power. :-)