Harnessing The Power of A God(like): MSI X570 GODLIKE Review

AMD launched their Zen2 based Ryzen 3000 series (3rd Gen Ryzen) on July 7th, 2019. The reviews on the CPUs launched are full of praises, with many complimenting AMD on price to performance ratios and plethora of new technologies offered by the 3rd gen ryzen.

One of them is the introduction of mass-market PCIE 4.0 technology inside the CPUs and new, beefy X570 chipset.

Motherboard makers celebrate the launch of X570 chipset by offerings their own take. From sub US$ 200 “introductory” boards to enthusiasts only US$ 999 board, X570 has ushered a new, premium level of experience for Ryzen users.

All of these boards offer PCIE 4.0 lanes, plenty of nvme slots, and more robusts RAM controls.

One of the board separating itself from the pack with one of the kind offering is MSI X570 GODLIKE. It’s a pricey, US$ 700-800 motherboard, but that’s not why it’s different. It’s different because it has four GPU slots.

Yes, FOUR GPU slots. This has never been seen before on consumer level motherboard based on Ryzen. Even among X570 motherboards, this is the only one offering that, and it actually is supported by Ryzen 3000 series and X570 chipsets. You can actually, theoritically, put four GPUs on the motherboard and still have lanes enough for Three NVME SSDs that can be installed in the motherboard.

See it yourself on some of the glamour shots below: 

I also have my unboxing video, if you wish to see.

 

As you can see, the motherboard has four GPU slots. Those slots will run various speeds depending on your configuration. A lone GPU can run PCIE x16 bandwidth, while if you have four GPUS, they will run each at x8, x4, x4, and x4 bandwidth.

Four GPU slots, 3 NVME SSD slots, 7 system fan connection points, steel reinforced ram slots, status LED, all add up to upgrade in quality of life coming from an X370 motherboard.

I am currently running 2700X in this mobo, will replace that with the 3950X later in September or October. The system POST fast and without hiccup when powered up for the first time.

This is the advanced setting look in the bios. I can run 2700x with at 4 Ghz with 1.3v easy with this mobo.

I also have 2×8 GB and 2×4 GB DDR4 Ram on this mobo, a pair of them of CL19 rating. Those four sticcks can easily set to 2999 CL18. I actually can set to 2999 CL16 on this mobo, and windows can boot, but games won’t run (Soul Calibur VI) and 3D Mark won’t finish the benchmarks. Haven’t tried 3200 CL18, but for now 2999 CL18 is fast enough for me.

The same four sticks of RAM  can only go up to 2666 CL18 on previous, x370 motherboard.

There are some caviats though with this motherboard though.

If you want to put 3 GPUs on this mobo, at least based on my experience, you need to put them on Slot 1, Slot 3, and Slot 4. Putting them on slot 1,2,3 will make the one on slot 2 unrecognized by windows. See the image attached.

The picture above is the wrong configuration. The right configuration is as below:

That makes Slot#2 empty.

I haven’t time to put four GPUS on this one, yet.

I have the system inside an EVGA DG-87 casing. A beefy casing. You will be both making a system and having legs and arms day installing on this system. It can have four 120mm casing fans in front and four of them on top. Add that with two on the back (yes, on the backside) and the system should be very well ventilated. But since I changed the mobo, my system had been shutting down, and the temperature inside the casing was climbing above 45 oC. I found out that it is very advisable to key your intake fans RPM with the chipset temperature, not CPU temperature. The chipset gets very hot, idle temps is like 55 oC on an internal temps of 35 oC (measured around the CPU cooler) and can go reach above 70 oC if you’re not careful. Also you need to make sure that your PWM fans (like noctua i-PPC fans) are set using PWM curves, not auto. I realized that my Noctua fans are not running at all when I set them to auto, that’s why the system is overheating. When I key in the PWM curves with the chipset temps, and have them ramp up from 65 oC upward, the chipset temps don’t go over 70 oC, even with 3 gpus running.

That’s my experience so far. Will be adding more for sure. This is a very expensive, and should be a very capable motherboard. Kudos to MSI to make an X570 motherboard unlike any other.