MSI MEG Ai1300P & MPG A1000G PCIe5 ATX 3.0 Power Supply Impressions – Gold & Silver!

MSI is a fairly new entrant when it comes to PSU components but the manufacturer has made it a priority to upgrade its entire lineup to the latest ATX 3.0 standard. The manufacturer offers its line in three segments, the entry-level MAG, the mid-tier MPG, and the enthusiast-grade MEG series. In its current lineup, the company has first kicked off the ATX 3.0 standard on the MEG & MPG PSUs. Today, we will be taking a look at two ATX 3.0 PSUs from MSI, the MEG Ai1300P & the MPG A1000G.

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 besides 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:

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.

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.

Some protection features that you get on the MSI MEG Ai1300P PSU include:

As for the design of the PSU unit, it comes in an ATX form factor and measures 160 x 150 x 86 mm. The cooling is provided by a top-mounted MSI MEG Silent GALE P12 fan which features LCP (Liquid Crystal Polymer) design with Hydro-Dynamic Bearing for up to 58% higher airflow than traditional fan blades. The PSU also comes with a Software Sync port that can be connected to a USB interface to make use of the G.I. enhancements. MSI ships the MEG Ai1300p with a 10-year warranty and is priced at $359.99 US over at Newegg.

Some main features of the MSI MEG Ai1300P PSU include:

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.

The MPG PSUs such as the A1000G that we are testing today come with a single-rail design, providing single-rail power through five of its connectors that are dedicated to CPU and PCIe power. The fully modular design helps with cable management and there are 4 connectors for Peripheral & SATA devices. The PSU also comes with a Zero Fan button on the back next to the power button which allows the fan to operate at 0 RPM when the TDP is below 40%. For 12V, the PSU delivers 83.3A of power for a total of 1000W. It comes with all the latest protection features such as OVP, OCP, OPP, OTP, SCP & UVP.

The whole unit comes in a very compact package with dimensions of 150mm x150mm x86mm.

Some main features of the MSI MPG A1000G PSU include:

The full list of features can be seen below for the MSI MPG A1000G PSU:

The units we received came in large black colored packages with a picture of the PSUs on the front. The front also lists several features such as the 80 Plus Rating (Platinum / Gold) the ATX 3.0-Ready Design and support for PCIe 5.0.

The back side also offers a list of features which we have detailed above and we will get to more details in our tear-down in a bit.

Within the package, both PSU units are held between foam packaging to protect them during shipping while the cables are supplied in their own separate pouch.

The PSU itself is packaged in a plastic cover.

MSI has gone with a very premium touch on the chassis of its latest PSUs. The MEG series come with a Gold faceplate on the front and sides while the MPG series comes with a silver faceplate. These faceplates can be removed and put on either side thanks to their magnetic design.

On the back, you can see the power plug, and a large mesh panel that acts as an exhaust vent. The MSI MPG A1000G comes with a Zero Fan button which will turn off the fan. The MEG doesn't need one since the GALE P12 fans are already super silent.

Now depending on how you use the PSU, the bottom panel reads the specifications and power ratings. The MSI MEG Ai1300P can deliver up to 108.33A through its +12V Rail for a total of 1300 Watts of power while the MPG A1000G delivers 83.5A for a total of 1000 Watts of peak power.

Once again, the sides of the PSU come with a nice design language and the top exhaust vent also looks very nice.

Coming to the connectors, there are two 8-Pin CPU connectors, four PCI-e 8-pin connectors, an ATX 24-pin (14+10 pin) ATX connector, and four 5-pin connectors for peripherals.

The cables within the packaging pouch include the ATX 20+4 pin, 2 EPS 8-Pin, 1 PCIe Gen 5.0 (16-Pin), 8 PCIe 6+2-Pin, 16 SATA, 4 Molex, and an FDD 4-Pin cable. The MPG A1000G comes with two fewer PCIe and 4 fewer SATA cables.

Opening up the MSI MEG Ai1300P, we can note that the PSU makes use of a CTT design by CWT. It has secured an 80 Plus Platinum certification in Cybenetics tests. The MEG class PSUs can switch in both single and dual-rail and can be selected through the G.I. software suite that's very handy and the overall soldering on both PSUs is very good. The input makes use of an NTC SCK-0510 thermistor while the secondary circuit is a Weltrend WT7502R design. The PSU also makes use of Nichicon caps that are rated for use at up to 105C and the primary stage capacitors are rated at 680uF 400V, for a total of 1360uF

Lastly, we have the fan which is an MSI Silent GALE P12 (120mm) fan with a 12V 0.36A design and a hydro dynamic ball bearing for the MEG Ai1300P while the MPG A1000G features a standard 135mm fan.

According to PCI-SIG, graphics cards are capable of exceeding their maximum power by 3 times. This is especially the case for high-performance graphics cards such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti or the upcoming NVIDIA next-gen graphics cards. It is believed that the upcoming graphics cards need 600W of power and will have power excursions up to 1800W. The power excursions only last 100 microseconds but can already heavily disrupt the computer system. Power excursions are also known as power spikes by many people.

From the chart below you can see that the MEG Ai1300P PCIE5 can safely achieve 2x total power excursion at 200% of the PSU wattage while meeting all the standards of Intel Testing Requirements at 120%, 160%, and 180% as well. The voltage of MEG Ai1300P PCIE5 can be controlled within the allowable voltage range when the current changes rapidly and violently to maintain the system stability and avoid system abnormalities.

It is important to keep in mind that some power supply units may find a way around the power spikes by lifting the threshold for OPP and OCP. This is not the case for the MEG Ai1300P PCIE5. As shown in the chart below, the MEG Ai1300P PCIE5 maintains the OPP level of 1300W x 1.25 at 1623.55W.

To be fully compliant with ATX 3.0, there’s also a timing value that the power supply unit must meet. The MEG Ai1300P PCIE5 is fully compliant with that timing value as shown in the chart below.

We are at a point time in the PC hardware market where the power demand is rising consistently and from what we are hearing, things aren't going to stop. Enthusiasts PC builders and high-end gamers are constantly aiming for the highest-end products with CPUs sipping in an average power of around 200 Watts and GPUs now ending up around the 300-400W range. This along with all the combined hardware in one high-end rig is going to set you close to 800-1000W power requirement.

Like all other hardware manufacturers out there, MSI has entered the high-end PSU segment with its MEG and MPG lineups to address this enthusiastic need. The company has the MEG Ai1300P which starts at $359.99 US and the MPG A1000G which costs $199 US. Based on the pricing, the MSI MEG Ai1300P is priced right where other 1300W 80+ PLUS Platinum units can be found at but are the only unit that conforms to the ATX 3.0 standard. The rest of the units still feature the older ATX 2.0 design.

The MSI MPG A1000G does cost a bit extra at $199 US which is $50 US more expensive than the ATX 3.0 ready Gigabyte UD1000GM we tested a while back. The standard Non Gen5 design for the same PSU costs $155 US which is much more reasonable. It is likely that the pricing may get an update soon.

One strong suit of this PSU is that like all high-end 1000W+ designs, it comes with six independent PCIe power connections. Why is this important? Well, future graphics cards are going to resort to the new Gen 5 connectors and you'd either need to get a proper Gen 5 PSU or a PSU that has at least 3 connectors to meet the demand for next-gen high-end cards. You can either use them or simply plug in the 12VHPWR connector for the NVIDIA RTX 40 series graphics cards which saves you the hassle of cable managing all those extra connectors.

During our tests, I found both PSUs to run really well but the MEG Ai1300P takes the cake for being a silent and beautiful PSU design with lots of power in your hands that is ready for all your future power needs.

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