In addition to the MEG series, MSI has also introduced its MPG PSU lineup with the latest ATX 3.0 standard. This PSU lineup is designed with core enthusiasts & high-performance gamers in mind. For starters, the PSU is 80 Plus Golde Certified & comes equipped with 100% Japanese capacitors that are rated to run optimally up to 105C. One interesting feature MSI have incorporated- the two panels on the side are held in place magnetically, so they can be easily removed and flipped – depending on your chassis install rotation. This way you get to see the ‘MEG' logo as you want (or you could in theory remove them completely to get rid of some of the gold accenting if you wanted). These do have a tendency to drop off quite easily so you need to be careful when handling the power supply.

We feel this design is going to split opinion. The Asian community tend to love gold accented tech products, the European audience, not so much. It is nicely finished, but I am not a fan of the gold touches. Instead of having a physical switch on the rear of the power supply to toggle between multi rail and single rail, you can control this via the software itself. Both of our approaches ultimately failed, as all of the PSUs we currently have available would shut down at most tests above 120% power excursion- therefore we need not worry about our loads being insufficient to test the MEG Ai1300P at 200% excursion (we are also currentlylimited to 2400 Watts on the 12V line). Theoretically, testing with the RMS-equivalent duty cycle times should work and the PSUs should not be shutting down, yet we cannot claim that the units are not technically capable of meeting their specifications when our equipment is not meant to be running such tests. The mysterious triangle is a symbolic icon of MEG's infinite power, with the triangle's slope further extending the three pillars of MEG's core characteristics: legendary, loyalty, and luxurious.MSI MEG Ai1300P PCIE5 Connector type Hardwired Modular ATX 24 Pin – 1 EPS 4+4 Pin – 1 EPS 8 Pin – 1 PCI-E 5.0 (12VHPWR) – 1 PCI-E 8 Pin – 8 SATA – 16 Molex – 4 Floppy – 1 External Appearance MSI have worked with CWT in the design of this power supply and they allow the end user to switch between single and multi rail modes to cover a variety of possible system configurations. MSI support this unit with a 10 year ‘limited' warranty – depending on the region. Electrolytic: 5x Nippon Chemi-Con (105°C, W), 1x Nichicon (2-5,000h @ 105°C, HD), 4x Nippon Chemi-Con (4-10,000h @ 105°C, KY), 1x Nippon Chemi-Con (2-5,000h @ 105°C, KZE), 3x Rubycon (4-10,000h @ 105°C, YXJ), 3x Rubycon (4-10,000h @ 105C, YXF) Details about the extent of our regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority are available from us on request. The biggest change since the addition of the 12V 6-pin “PCIe” power connector in the late 00s, the ATX 3.0 era has come with some new opportunities, both for computing products and for computing problems. The use of adapters has, in short, not gone well for front-runner NVIDIA, with a small but serious number of incidents of 12VHPWR adapters melting down. Meanwhile on the power supply side of matters, this has been a not-unwelcome boon; not only are native ATX 3.0 power supplies the preferred way to go from a design standpoint, but the adapter problems have helped to underscore this advantage. So for the power supply vendors who are among the first to get their ATX 3.0 designs out the door, there’s no shortage of demand for their latest and greatest wares, as well as a fresh opportunity to innovate and set themselves apart from the competition.

With the determination of transcending current gaming products, the flagship models push the limits of what an extreme gaming series can be. We managed to get the PSU to achieve 1428W before it would shut down, delivering 128W more than the rated specifications. There's also no way to set a fan curve or anything of that nature, so even if I did specify a manual RPM, I'd then have to make further adjustments depending on my scenario. For example I set it to X speed continuously, but then there's a scenario in which it should be running faster. At the end of the day, setting a "Customized" fan speed isn't really a solve here. MSI's real time power monitor works via the MSI Center app and is useful if you wish to monitor power supplied to the system. The other side of the power supply houses the modular connectors. The power supply can support current generation graphics cards, and if you pay attention you can see the +12VHPWR connector top left which means you can also connect up a new Nvidia RTX 4000 series graphics card.Had I kept Unigine Heaven running, would the fan have eventually started? That's still not clear to me. Power supplies have largely been the same since the ATX 2.0 standard was introduced in 2003. We've seen iterations over the years but moving up to 3.0 is the first leap in almost two decades. It's fitting as we're using far more power with recently released processors and graphics cards. The MSI MEG Ai1300P is about as good as you can get without decimating your budget. Real-Time Power Status Monitor: Through the MSI Center, this power supply helps monitor the real-time status of the percentage of power supplied to GPU and CPU and the total system wattage used. Multi/Single Rail Switch: It can switch between single and multi-rail according to the needs of users while taking into account high current output and safety protection. MSI are trying to attract the user base who love to tinker with their hardware via dedicated software. I appreciate the concept of being able to control a power supply via a program however MSI Center is a clunky, unpleasant tool to use at the best of times. While using MSI Center my only thoughts were to get it deinstalled as soon as possible. I would personally just run the power supply in a default single rail mode mode all the time and let the fans operate automatically without the need for a software install. The other capabilities of MSI Center such as real time monitoring will be interesting to a very niche audience, but perhaps for only a short while.

As for 70°C being a high temperature for almost 500W power draw, this is not necessarily so, again, very much depending on where the temperature sensor is placed. When you look at some OTP (OverTemperature Protection) test results, often times they're at 100°C-200°C (!) on the heatsink of the 12V rail MOSFETs. On the Ai1000P, we can see OTP triggering at 168°C for example. The MOSFETs bolted onto those heatsinks are rated to provide their full performance at 100°C, so 70°C is nothing for them. The electrolytic capacitors, yes, you want to stay cool, because that will prolong their life. But with 10 years warranty, MSI feel confident about the longevity with how they have set it up. The unit has OCP, OVP, OPP, OTP, SCP and UVP protections and MSI claim 100% Japanese 105c Capacitors throughout – which we will look at later in the review. Regardless of the somewhat daft naming – this 120mm fan has been used by MSI quite extensively since 2016 – under the ‘TORX fan' naming. The model PLA12025S12H-4 has been used with various MSI products, including CPU coolers. MSI is claiming my idle/light internet browsing PSU temperatures (generally 43 - 47 C) are normal. Is that actually the case? If so, how does that make sense given the example image that I provided from someone else on this forum in which New World was being run?With native 16 PIN PCIe connector this power supply is ready for Nvidia® GeForce RTX® 40 Series graphics cards. It can freely pipe up to 600W of power to PCIe 5.0 graphics cards.