MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon Motherboard Review - Product Showcase

Product Showcase

The MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon follows an ATX form factor, that would be 12 in. x 9.6 in. (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm). The motherboard is located in the Gaming series and is a high-end class product within this range. 
 

Included with the motherboard are the regulars including; manuals, driver CDs, SATA cables and a rear IO plate. 

• CPU support: Haswell-E/Broadwell-E class Intel Core processors
• Chipset: Intel X99 Express Chipset
• 1x Intel I218-V GbE LAN
• Storage: 10x SATA 6Gb/s, 1x M.2, PCIe 32 Gb/s and shared SATA Express ports x1, 1x U.2 connector
• Connectivity: 4 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (dependent on CPU) 
• 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slot
• USB:
• 4 x USB 2.0 ports
• 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports
• 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 port
• 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port
• 8-channel Audio ALC1150 Realtek

Well look at that; small and good looking. And really, as powerful as an enthusiast setup. Included in the bundle is one mighty fine motherboard and gear like SATA cables, SLI connectors. What this motherboard lacks though is WIFI.

The MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon has some shields, you can argue whether or not these work, but they sure do look nice. The I/O back panel reveals

• 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
• 4 x USB 2.0 ports
• 1 x Clear CMOS button
• 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports
• 1 x LAN (RJ45) port
• 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 port
• 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port
• 1 x Optical S/PDIF Out connector
• 5 x OFC audio jacks

There is a single PS/2 combo port that can be used for either a keyboard or a mouse, optical SPDIF out port and five gold plated OFC audio jacks. Can you see the small grey button roughly a cm away from the lower left? That is a clear CMOS button.

Check that, 4 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots. A nice four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 which can be arranged in these slot configurations with graphics cards:

• 1-way mode - x16 / x0 / x0 / x0 / x0
• 2-way mode - x16 / x0 / x0 / x16 / x0 or  x16 / x0 / x0 / x8 / x0
• 3-way mode - x16 / x0 / x16 / x8 or  x8 / x8 / x0 / x8
• 4-way mode - x8 / x8 / x16 / x8 or  x8 / x8 / x8 / x4

As you can see these are PCI Express Gen 3.0 configurations, that's just more than plenty. Mind you that the Core i7 6950X and 59xxK processors have 40 PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes while the Core i7 68xx / 58xx 'only' has 28 PCIe lanes.

The MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon comes with both one 8 power connector. Lovely design huh?. It once again has a Military Grade V for components on the motherboard with updated DrMOS MosFETs and aluminum colored dark caps that are going to increase the motherboards lifespan.

• HI-C CAP - A Hi-C CAP is a very small, but super-efficient capacitor. Besides ensuring enough spacing around a CPU socket to install large coolers, it also allows for 93% energy efficiency. Thanks to Hi-C CAPs MSI mainboards are the most energy efficient in the market.
• SUPER FERRITE CHOKE - Super Ferrite Choke uses a Ferrite core that is Super-Permeable. This allows the Super Ferrite Choke to run at a 35 degree Celsius lower temperature, have a 30% higher current capacity, a 20% improvement in power efficiency and better overclocking power stability.
• DARK CAP - With their aluminum core design, Dark CAPs has been a staple in high-end design mainboard designs and provides lower Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) as well as its over-10-year lifespan.