We’re continuing our tour of motherboards built around the Z890 chipset with yesterday’s arrival of the MSI MEG Z890 Unify-X (product page). It was part of the press pack we received from Intel France, along with a copy of the Core Ultra 5 245F and Core Ultra 9 285F. We also received a copy of the Kingston Fury 48 GB 8200 MT/s CL40 CUDIMM memory kit and an MSI MAG CoreLiquid I360 cooling system, which NHU9B has just reviewed.
But it’s great to see MSI reintroducing its ‘Unify-X’ series with the launch of the Z890 chipset. The last model we had the opportunity to test was the MSI MEG Z690 Unify-X. This new card is undoubtedly one of the models that will be prized by overclockers in order to push their Arrow Lake processors to the limit. It’s what we call in the jargon an ‘XOC’, meaning a motherboard that can be used for extreme overclocking tests. Most brands have an XOC model in their catalogue, such as the ROG Maximus Z890 APEX, the ASRock Taichi Z890 OCF or the AORUS Z890 Tachyon.
The Intel Core Ultra 200S processors in the press kit :
This one uses the same colour code as the one we received for the launch of the 14th Gen, with blue dominating. The first step is to open it from the left, like a book.
There’s an illustration of a Core Ultra 200S processor and, on the right, a transparent block into which is inserted, not a processor, but a hardback illustration of a Core Ultra 200S. At the back is a table listing the five processors that will be officially launched on 24 October: the Core Ultra 9 285K, the Core Ultra 7 265K/265KF and the Core Ultra 5 245K/245KF.
Finally, if you open the second section on the right, the Core Ultra 9 285K and Core Ultra 5 245K are revealed. They are, of course, protected by a plastic shell before being placed on one of our Z890 motherboards.
Thank you to INTEL France for making this Intel press pack available. Don’t forget that our full report on Intel’s Core Ultra 200S announcements is available by following this link.