Custom PC – October 2019

MSI X570A PRO

/£170inc VAT

SUPPLIER box.co.uk

LABS TEST / X570 MOTHERBOARDS

W

ith its comparatively low price, the

MSI X570-A Pro is undeniably

rather spartan-looking compared

with all the other boards on test, with no

M.2 heatsinks and only modest-sized

VRM heatsinks; there's no heatpipe

to link them and spread the heatload.

Underneath them are ten power phases,

but just eight of them handle the CPU, so

this board is by far the least well-equipped

in terms of power delivery on test.

There’s also no lavish cooling array, with

the chipset heatsink and fan left to fend for

themselves.Thankfully,thefanis veryquiet.

AswellasomittingheatsinksfromtheM.2

ports,onlyoneofthemoffersfullPCI-E

4 support,butgiventhelikelihoodofthe

boardbeingpurchasedwithmorelimited

budgetsinmind,it’sunlikelyownerswillbe

gunningfortwoPCI-E4 SSDsanyway.

ThatsecondM.2slotalsosupportsSATA

M.2SSDsso,alongwithitssixSATA6Gbps

ports,theMSIX570-AProis fairlyflexible

whenit comestostorage.YouevengetUSB

3.1Gen2 Type-AandType-Cportsontherear

I/Opanel,albeitjustoneofeach,although

there’snoType-CheaderonthePCB.

Despitetheprice,however,MSIhas

includedRealtek’sALC1220audiocodec,

andyougetthefullsixaudioports,

includinganopticalport, soyougainlittleby

steppingupinpriceasfarasaudioqualityis

concerned.TherearI/Opanelalsoreveals

a smallbuttonthatweinitiallythoughtwas

a clear-CMOSbutton,butit’sactuallyfor

USBBIOSFlashback,whichallowsyouto

updatetheEFIwithouta CPUinthesocket.

Meanwhile,layoutis generallyokay,

althoughtherearenofanheadersnear

therearofthecase,soyoumightneedto

investina fanextensioncableforyourrear

exhaustfantoreacha systemfanheader.

VRMtemperatureswerealsothehighest

ontest,ata software-reported78°Caftera

ten-minuteloadtest,butthistemperature

didn’thaveanimpactonbenchmarks.

Wealsohitthesame4.3GHzclockwitha

1.425Vvcoreasmostoftheotherboards

ontest,whichboostedthevideoencoding

scorefrom812,360to821,208.Theboard

wasonthemoneyintermsofaudioand

VERDICT

Despitea fewshortcomings,thisboardoffers

superbvalueformoney,provingthatPCI-E 4

supportdoesn’tneedtocosta fortune.

PERFORMANCE

32 / 35

VALUE

30 / 30

FEATURES

19 / 35

OVERALLSCORE

81

PRO

• 
  

  Superb value

  
  


• 
  

  PCI-E 4 for
  under £200

  
  


• 
  

  Decent overclocker

  
  

AMATEUR

• VRMs on the
  toasty side


• Not many PCI-E 4
  ports and slots


• Lacks features

SPEC

Chipset AMD X570

CPU socket AMD Socket AM4 (Zen+, Zen 2)

Memory support 4 slots: max 128GB

DDR4 (up to 4400MHz)

Expansion slots Two 16x PCI-E 4, three 1x PCI-E 3

Sound 8-channel Realtek ALC1220

Networking Intel Gigabit LAN, 802.11ax Wi-Fi

Overclocking Base clock N/A, CPU multiplier

23-65x; max voltages: CPU 2V, RAM 2V

Ports 6 x SATA 6Gbps 1 x M.2 PCI-E 4, 1 x M.2

PCI-E 3, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C,

4 x USB 3, 2 x USB 2, 3 x surround audio out

Dimensions (mm) 305 x 244

storage performance too, with the only

niggle being high overclocked power

consumption. MSI’s EFI is also excellent,

especially the fan control section.

Conclusion

We suspect that our overclocked Ryzen

9 3900X is approaching the MSI X570-A

Pro’s limits in terms of power delivery and

cooling, but realistically, this CPU is the

toughest customer it’s likely to face. MSI

has struck a good balance of features too,

maintaining flexible storage options and

decent audio capabilities, as well as offering

baseline PCI-E 4 support for graphics

cards and SSDs. If you want to jump on

the X570 bandwagon without spending a

fortune, it’s a great choice, although it’s not

an ideal partner for AMD’s Ryzen 9 CPUs.

cc

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