The X399 SLI Plus is very similar to the more expensive Gaming Pro Carbon. The main difference between these two models regards the metal reinforcements and the number of PCIe x16 slots. While on the X399 Gaming Pro Carbon there are five PCIe x16 slots, on the X399 SLI Plus we find "only" four of them. This motherboard should become available by the end of October.


The X399 SLI Plus is based on an ATX form factor featuring RGB backlight underneath each heat sink and there are steel reinforcements on all the PCIe slots. In general the layout concurs with today's de facto standards for high-end motherboards and therefore there are four full-sized PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and two PCIe x1 slots.

Furthermore we find eight SATA ports but only six of them have been angled. Apart from that you get three M.2 slots allowing the installation of differently sized SSDs. The first M.2 slot is placed in the middle of the motherboard and it's compatible with 2280 units (80mm), the second one is in the bottom area and it supports 22110 (110mm) SSDs, while the third is placed in the bottom part of the motherboard and is compatible with 2280 units (80mm) again. Furthermore the first slot features MSI’s M.2 Shield v2 which should help preventing your SSD from thermal throttling.

The I/O panel on the X399 SLI PLUS comes with a huge amount of ports, including a single USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C connector, eight USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, a CMOS clear button, BIOS flashback button and the standard audio and LAN connectors.

So far MSI has not revealed any details on pricing regarding their X399 SLI Plus but the at least we know that the board is expected to hit shelves by the end of October.



Source: Kitguru