Introduction and Technical Specifications
The Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon combines a high performance motherboard with carbon fiber, offering full support for Intel’s Kaby Lake processor line…
Introduction
Courtesy of MSI
The MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon board features a black PCB with carbon fiber overlay covering the board's heat sinks and rear panel cover. MSI also liberally sprinkled RGB LED-enabled components across the board's surface and under the board for an interesting ground effects type look. The board is designed around the Intel Z270 chipset with in-built support for the latest Intel LGA1151 Kaby Lake processor line (as well as support for Skylake processors) and Dual Channel DDR4 memory running at a 2400MHz speed. The Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon can be found in retail with an MRSP of $174.99.
Courtesy of MSI
Courtesy of MSI
MSI integrated the following features into the Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard: six SATA III 6Gbps ports; two M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 32Gbps capable ports with Intel Optane support built-in; an RJ-45 Intel I219-V Gigabit NIC; three PCI-Express x16 slots; three PCI-Express x1 slots; a Realtek ALC1220 8-Channel audio subsystem; integrated DVI-D and HDMI video ports; and USB 2.0, 3.0, and 3.1 Type-A and Type-C port support.
Courtesy of MSI
To power the Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard, MSI integrated a 10 phase (8+2) digital power delivery system dubbed Military Class V. The Military Class V integrated components included Titanium chokes, 10 year-rated Dark capacitors, and Dark chokes.
Courtesy of MSI
Technical Specifications (taken from the MSI website)
CPU | Supports 6th/7th Gen Intel® Core™ i3/i5/i7 processors, and Intel® Pentium® and Celeron® processors for Socket LGA1151 * This function will be supported depend on the CPU. |
Chipset | Intel® Z270 Chipset |
Main Memory | 4 x DDR4 memory slots, support up to 64GB* 7th Gen processors support DDR4 3800(OC) / 3600(OC) / 3200(OC) / 3000(OC) / 2800(OC) / 2600(OC) / 2400 / 2133 MHz* 6th Gen processors support DDR4 3800(OC) / 3600(OC) / 3200(OC) / 3000(OC) / 2800(OC) / 2600(OC) / 2400(OC) / 2133 MHz* Dual channel memory architecture Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) * Please refer www.msi.com for more information on compatible memory. |
Slots | 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16/x0/x4, x8/x8/x4 modes) 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots |
Onboard Graphics | 1 x HDMI™ port, supports a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@30Hz(7th CPU), 4096×2160@24Hz(6th CPU), 2560×1600@60Hz 1 x DVI-D port, supports a maximum resolution of 1920×1200@60Hz |
Multi-GPU | Supports 3-Way AMD® CrossFire™ Technology Supports 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology |
Storage | Intel® Z270 Chipset 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports* 2 x M.2 slots (Key M) Support up to PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s Support PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe U.2 SSD with Turbo U.2 Host Card** M2_1 slot supports 2242 / 2260 / 2280/ 22110 storage devices M2_2 slot supports 2242 / 2260 / 2280 storage devices Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready for all M.2 slots Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™ processors * M.2 and SATA ports combination details please refer user manual. ** The Turbo U.2 Host Card is not included, please purchase separately. |
RAID | Intel® Z270 Chipset Supports RAID 0, RAID1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 for SATA storage devices Supports RAID 0 and RAID1 for M.2 PCIe storage devices* * M.2 PCIe RAID volume can be created with M.2 GENIE. Please refer user manual for details about M.2 GENIE. |
USB | ASMedia® ASM2142 Chipset 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 (SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps) Type-C port on the back panel 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 (SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps) Type-A port on the back panel Intel® Z270 Chipset 8 x USB 3.1 Gen1 (SuperSpeed USB) ports (4 Type-A ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB connectors) 6 x USB 2.0 (High-speed USB) ports (2 Type-A ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB connectors) |
Audio | Realtek® ALC1220 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 x USB 3.1 Gen1 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports) 2 x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports) 1 x 4-pin CPU fan connector 1 x 4-pin water pump fan connector 4 x 4-pin system fan connectors 1 x Front panel audio connector 2 x Front panel connectors 1 x RGB LED connector 1 x TPM module connector 1 x Chassis Intrusion connector 1 x Clear CMOS jumper |
Back Panel I/O Ports | 1 x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse combo port 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A ports 1 x DVI-D port 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A port 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports 1 x HDMI™ port 1 x LAN (RJ45) port 5 x OFC audio jacks 1 x Optical S/PDIF OUT connector |
Dimension | 12 in. x 9.6 in. (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm) ATX Form Factor |
Mounting | 9 mounting holes |
Overrated & overprice
Overrated & overprice motherboard. The chokes & caps are only decent.