MSI revealed two new additions to its premium Carbon series motherboards at CES 2016: the MSI X99A Godlike Carbon and the MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon. These new motherboards are very similar to the original X99A Godlike and Z170A Gaming Pro with the difference being a few aesthetic changes including RGB lighting which should make these boards more stylish.
MSI X99A Godlike Carbon Edition RGB
The MSI X99A Godlike Carbon Edition features a makover compared to the original X99A Godlike edition. MSI has strayed away from its Gaming Series signature red and black color scheme and instead applied a more suave carbon texture. To make up for the lack of a flash color scheme, MSI added customizable RGB lighting so you can fill your case with a rainbow if you’re into that…
As its name implies, the X99A Godlike aims to make sure that it’s the last X99 motherboard you’ll ever need. It comes with an external DAC with Audio Boost 3 Pro, Killer DoubleShot-X3 Pro, Turbo M.2, and USB 3.1 standard in both type-A and and Type-C connectors. Also present is a slew of overclocking features such as extra pins on the CPU socket to overclock the memory and covering all the power components of the board with MSI’s Dragon Cover heatsink.
| Manufacturer | MSI |
|---|---|
| Model | X99A Godlike Gaming Carbon Edition RGB |
| Form Factor | E-ATX |
| Socket | LGA 2011-3 |
| Chipset | Intel X99 |
| Memory | 8X DDR4 DIMM Slots (Upto 128GB) Dual Channel, up to DDR4 3400 |
| Audio | 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio w/Optical (Realtek ALC1150) |
| LAN | Dual Killer Network2400 (Dual 1000Mbps) |
| Slots | 4 x PCI Express 3.0 (1X16, 2X16, 3X16, 4X8 (Based on 40-Lane CPU) 1 x PCI Express x4 |
| Storage | x10 SATA 6GB/s x2 M.2 PCI-E x1 Sata Express |
| USB | 10 x USB 3.1 ports 4 x USB 2.0 ports |
MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon
MSI’s got a offering for those who don’t want or need an extreme end X99 platform. The MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon edition motherboard features much of the carbon aesthetics as the X99A Godlike Carbon and the RGB LED.
The MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon packs numerous high-end features such as Realtek ALC1150 audio processor, dual headphone amps, USB 3.1 interface in both type-A and type-C connectors, 4-lane PCIe 3.0 M.2 port, and steel enforced PCIe slots.
| Manufacturer | MSI |
|---|---|
| Model | MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon Edition RGB |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Socket | LGA 1151 |
| Chipset | Intel Z170 |
| Memory | x4 DDR4 DIMM slots (Up to 64GB) DDR4 3600 |
| Audio | 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio w/Optical (Realtek ALC1150) |
| LAN | Intel i219 |
| Slots | X3 PCIe 3.0 slots (x16, x8/x8, x8/x8/x4 or x8/x8/x2) x1 PCIe X1 |
| Storage | x6 Sata 3.0 x1 Sata express x1 M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 3.0 |
| USB | x4 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports
x2 USB 2.0 ports x2 USB 3.1 Gen2 ports |
Pricing and availability have not been announced yet although we expect them to be priced similar to the current products with a little extra for the pretty lighting.
