MSI MEG X299 Creation motherboard review - Product Showcase

The MSI MEG X299 Creation motherboard is to be considered an enthusiast class solution in that enthusiast segment of X299 series motherboards. The motherboard is still built using MSI's famous Military class standard, assuring high reliability and proper components usage.
 

 
The motherboard includes all of the standardized X299 enhancements with three M.2 SSD slots (and an extra four through an add-on board) and will support SLI and Crossfire. Your PCIe lane configuration will be highly dependant on the processor you purchase, unfortunately. Only the 10-core (and more core versions) CPU will get a full 44 PCIe lanes available and usable for your graphics cards. The board follows a 12 in. x 10.7 in. (30.5 cm x 27.2 cm) size, meaning this is the E-ATX form factor. Please do be aware of the fact that your PC case/chassis needs to support this.

The I/O panel is just wild, many 3.1 ports with one type-c connector. Intel does not have native USB 3.1 Gen 2 support from the processor hence the motherboard manufacturers make use of external 3rd party controllers such as ASMedia's 3142. USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) is coming from the chipset though. The motherboard features four PCIe x16 Gen 3.0 expansion slots and a single x1. A Realtek ALC1220 audio codec is the source for audio which will use enhanced quality capacitors, used on most motherboards these days. There is a single PS/2 combo port that can be used for either a keyboard or mouse.

• Clear CMOS Button
• PS/2 Port
• USB 3.1 Gen1 Ports
• 2.5G LAN Port
• Intel® LAN Ports
• Intel® WiFi/ Bluetooth Module
• HD Audio Connectors
• BIOS FLASHBACK+
• USB 2.0 Ports
• USB 3.1 Gen1 Ports
• Intel Turbo USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type A + C
• Optical S/PDIF-Out

The board gets 1 x Intel I219-V Gigabit LAN controller and a pretty sweet Realtek RTL8125-CG 2.5G LAN controller as well. That's next to the Intel Wireless-AC 9260 module offering 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual band (2.4GHz, 5GHz) up to 1.73 Mbps speed and Bluetooth 5.

 
The board is powered by a staggering three 8-pin ATX power headers to the processor, you could just use ONE, the others are optional but recommended when tweaking the proc. Depending on your processor you can opt for dual and quad channel memory. Kaby Lake-X is limited to dual-channel and all Skylake-X processors will support quad channel memory. This board features support for up to DDR4 4200 MHz memory (overclocked), you may install up-to 128 GB of it. If you look at the overview of the board you'll spot a nice black design with dark styled shielded elements on the heatsinks, IO and slots. The DIMM and x16 PCI-Express slots all have metal shielding, making them more sturdy for heavy graphics cards as well as adding a certain aesthetic appeal.

Included in the bundle is standard kit as well as a WIFI antenna, many cables, incl. RGB extended LED cable. Also included is a SLI bridge, this is the HB (high-bandwidth) version. I do wonder when and if motherboards are going to include an NVLINK connector at some point. Also included, an M.2 add-in board as well as a Thunderbolt controller. We'll look at these two on the next page.