MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon Motherboard Review

When choosing a motherboard, some users make their choice based on the extra features and overall look of the board while others choose boards based purely on speed and performance. However, the extra features and speed come at a cost; price. Over the last few years, MSI has released a slew of motherboards that hit both ends of the spectrum as well as balance the features that user’s want along with good performance. The MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon is marketed to be in the middle ground and supposedly strikes a balance between performance and features all at a reasonable cost.

The MSI Dragon is not the promenent feature on the box. As the name implies, a carbon fiber bodied car is featured on the front of the box. While on the back a lot of information is presented about the special features and the specifications of the Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon.

Inside, you will find the motherboard protected from static discharge as it is wrapped in an anti-static bag. The accessories and manuals are under the motherboard in a separate compartment separated by a thin cardboard layer.

The accessories that are included with the MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon include a users guide, a quick start guide, I/O shield, SLI connector, SATA cables and a driver and software CD.

Specifications

CPU• Supports 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i3/i5/i7 processors, and Intel® Pentium® and Celeron® processors for Socket LGA1151

Chipset• Intel® Z170 Chipset

Main Memory • 4 x DDR4 memory slots, support up to 64GB – Supports DDR4 3600(OC)/ 3200(OC)/ 3000(OC)/ 2800(OC)/ 2600(OC)/ 2400/ 2133 MHz* • Dual channel memory architecture • Supports ECC, un-buffered memory – ECC UDIMM memory (non-ECC mode) • Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) * Please refer to Compatibility reports for more information of compatible memory.

Slots• 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4 modes) • 4 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots

Onboard Graphics• 1 x HDMI™ port, support a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@24Hz, 2560×1600@60Hz • 1 x DVI-D port, support a maximum resolution of 1920×1200@60Hz

Multi-GPU• Supports 3-Way AMD® CrossFire™ Technology • Supports 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology

Storage • Intel® Z170 Chipset • 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports* (2 ports reserved for SATA Express port) • 1 x M.2 slot* – Supports PCIe 3.0 x 4 and SATA 6Gb/s standards,4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length M.2 SSD cards – Supports PCIe 3.0 x 4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo U.2 Host Card** • 1 x SATAe port (PCIe 3.0 x2)*/ *** • Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™ processors * SATA5 and SATA6 ports will be unavailable when installing the M.2 module in M.2 slot. ** The Turbo U.2 Host Card is not included, please purchase separately *** SATAe port is backward compatible with SATA. SATA and SATAe ports maximum support 6x SATAs or 1x SATAe + 4x SATAs.

RAID • Intel® Z170 Chipset – Supports RAID 0, RAID1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 for SATA storage devices

USB• ASMedia® ASM1142 Chipset – 2 x USB 3.1 Gen2 (SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps) ports on the back panel• Intel® Z170 Chipset – 6 x USB 3.1 Gen1 (SuperSpeed USB) ports (2 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB 3.1 Gen1 connectors) – 8 x USB 2.0 (High-speed USB) ports (4 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB 2.0 connectors)

Audio• Realtek® ALC1150 Codec – 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio – Supports S/PDIF output

LAN • 1 x Intel® I219-V Gigabit LAN controller

Internal I/O Connectors– 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector – 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector – 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (2 ports reserved for SATA Express port) – 1 x SATAe connector – 2 x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports) – 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports) – 2 x 4-pin CPU fan connectors – 3 x 4-pin system fan connectors – 1 x Front panel audio connector – 2 x Front panel connectors – 1 x TPM module connector – 1 x Chassis Intrusion connector – 1 x Clear CMOS jumper – 1 x TBT connector

Back Panel I/O Ports– 1 x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse port – 4 x USB 2.0 ports – 1 x DVI-D port – 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports – 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 port – 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port – 1 x HDMI™ port – 1 x LAN (RJ45) port – 1 x Optical S/PDIF OUT connector – 5 x OFC audio jacks

BIOS• 1 x 128 Mb flash • UEFI AMI BIOS • ACPI 5.0, PnP 1.0a, SM BIOS 2.8 • Multi-language

Dimension• 12 in. x 9.6 in. (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm) • ATX Form Factor

Mounting• 9 mounting holes

The specification is subject to change without notice in advance. The brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Any configuration other than original product specification is not guaranteed.

***Specifications are provided by MSI and may be subject to change without notice.