MSI MEG Ai1300 & Ai100P PCIe 5 Power Supplies Detailed: Full ATX 3.0 & PCIe Gen 5.0 Standard In 80 PLUS Platinum Designs
The MSI MEG Power Supplies will be the top offerings from the manufacturer and initially include two variants, the MEG Ai1300P PCIe5 and the MEG Ai1000P PCIe5. There are several features that these PSUs rock beside the ATX 3.0 and PCIe Gen 5.0 standard. First and foremost, we have to talk about the rated power output. The MSI MEG Ai1300P offers 1300W of power while the MEG Ai1000P is a 1000W unit. The MEG Ai1300P offers 1300W of sustained power through its +12V rails at 108.33A. Its voltage is rated between 200-240V (50~60Hz). Now the most interesting part about both of these PSUs is the G.I. (Gaming Intelligence). The new G.I. is based on an MPU, a smart processor, that controls the whole AI-assisted process of the PSU. Some of the main features that the G.I. engine provides through the MSI Center application include:
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. Intelligent Fan Mode: Automatically detect the power loading and internal temperature to adjust the fan speed. When the load is below 55% or the temperatures are below 70 degrees, the fan will automatically stop to reduce noise
The other most important thing to note here is that both of these are fully PCIe Gen 5 & ATX 3.0 compliant which means they come with both a proper PCIe Gen 5 connector on the PSU unit and also come with necessary PCIe Gen 5 cables. MSI bundles the MEG Ai1300P & Ai1000P PCIe5 PSU series with a 16-pin to 16-pin connector cable (up to 600W) and a separate 16-pin to 2x 8-pin plug adapter. The first one is designed for 600W power to a graphics card while the second can deliver up to 300W of power to a graphics card. The rest of the cables that come with the box include: A single 16-pin power connector that can supply up to 600 Watts of power to the card. You can see that the connector rated for 600W power delivery is PCIe Gen 5.0 compatible & not designed for legacy PCIe Gen 2 or Gen 3 cards. With the Power Supplies and their cables out of the way, next up, we have to talk about the PCIe Gen 5 and the associated power excursions. The new ATX 3.0 standard is designed to sustain the PC load of up to 200% for 100uS and 300% sustained power for up to 100uS for a graphics card running on the PCIe Gen 5.0 connector. We have been told that a system with a 600W GPU, 300W CPU, and 300W for the rest of the equipment will have a peak power excursion of up to 2400 Watts (200% of its rated wattage) while a 600W GPU will require at least a 1200W ATX 3.0 standard power supply. The goldilocks zone seems to be the 1000-1200W range for the next-gen high-end graphics cards so if you’re planning to build a new gaming PC with either an RTX 4090 or an RX 7900 XT, you better make sure to get a PSU within the respective wattage range on the ATX 3.0 standard. Companies like ASUS have announced that their new ROG THOR Platinum II series are PCIe Gen 5.0 compliant but they haven’t stated any ATX 3.0 compliancy yet and don’t feature any Gen 5 connectors too so the claim is very fishy. Getting a high-end and expensive PSU such as the THOR II series might not be a suitable choice unless ASUS can confirm its full ATX 3.0 conformity.
