Layout

As we've already mentioned in the introduction the MSI X299 Gaming Pro Carbon AC motherboard comes with a great looking design. The PCB has a matte black finish and the heatsinks feature carbon-like looking covers, where one of them spans over the entire left side of the board also covering the I/O connectors. Apart from that the PCH received RGB backlight. The heatsinks have been shaped nicely and the whole product is really good looking. The layout has been well thought and there are plenty of useful features, like two headers to attach external USB 3.1 ports for instance, eight SATA 6Gbps ports (two straight) and two M.2 Gen 3 x4 slots.



The MSI X299 Gaming Pro Carbon AC comes with a digital 8+2+2 phase power design. The CPU is backed up by eight phases and the memory receives stable current supply from 2 phases for four banks each. The CPU power design is controlled by an IR35201 dual-loop multi-phase buck controller, which has 8 output phases. Every single phase is backed up by an IOR 3555M driver from International Rectifier as well as one inductor. These IOR 3555M MOSFETs are capable of dealing with up to 60A output current per phase, which makes the power design of this board highly capable. On each side of the CPU socked the four DIMM slots are controlled by a 2-phase VRM controller from ROHM Semiconductor.



This board has been equipped with a total of eight DIMM-slots. Officially supported is everything up to DDR4 4266 (O.C.). There is engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders. Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 2.0. However the memory configuration will depend to the CPU that you are going to use. If you will install a Skylake-X CPU then you can install up to 128GB in quad-channel, otherwise with a Kaby Lake-X CPU you can use only four banks in dual-channel up to 64GB.



The PCH as well as the current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via passive heatsinks. The heatsink for the current converters are made from one aluminium block. The PCH heatsink is simple and flat. The cooling blocks have been very well made and they're firmly attached to the board to provide enough pressure on the components to allow for adequate cooling. The aluminium blocks are entirely black with grey sheet metal covers, overall resembling a completly new design.

Page 1 - Introduction	Page 4 - Layout
Page 2 - Specs and Delivery	Page 5 - Connectors and I/O
Page 3 - Features	Page 6 - Conclusion