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LABS<br />
BENCHMARK RESULTS<br />
AMD MOTHERBOARD<br />
$289 | AU.MSI.COM<br />
X265 (FPS)<br />
MSI X370 GAMING PRO<br />
CARBON 27.98<br />
ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR<br />
VI HERO 27.97<br />
CINEBENCH R15 (INDEX)<br />
MSI X370 GAMING PRO<br />
CARBON 1,622<br />
ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR<br />
VI HERO 1,616<br />
0 10 20 30 40 50<br />
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500<br />
CRYSTALDISK SEQUENTIAL READ M.2 (MB/S)<br />
MSI X370 GAMING PRO<br />
CARBON<br />
2,428<br />
1,200<br />
ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR<br />
VI HERO<br />
2,339<br />
1,158<br />
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500<br />
POWER DRAW IDLE (W)<br />
MSI X370 GAMING PRO<br />
CARBON 56/147<br />
ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR<br />
VI HERO 51/164<br />
FAR CRY PRIMAL (AVG FPS)<br />
MSI X370 GAMING PRO<br />
CARBON 42<br />
ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR<br />
VI HERO 42<br />
3DMARK FIRE STRIKE EXTREME (INDEX)<br />
MSI X370 GAMING PRO<br />
CARBON 9,647<br />
ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR<br />
VI HERO 9,718<br />
0 50 100 150 200 250<br />
0 10 20 30 40 50<br />
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000<br />
MSI X370 Gaming Pro Carbon<br />
Carbon fiber all the things.<br />
Gigabyte’s Gaming 5<br />
series has<br />
generally always<br />
been the value<br />
king, but it might need to<br />
rethink its game plan with<br />
the likes of MSI dropping<br />
this sweet little number<br />
on to the AMD playing field.<br />
It may not have as clean a<br />
look as Gigabyte’s mighty<br />
Aorus lineup, but it’s hard<br />
to deny that the<br />
connectivity is there.<br />
Well, OK, so you lose out<br />
on a few banks of SATA 3,<br />
there’s no U.2 and it’s still<br />
prone to MSI’s haphazard<br />
butchery of the rear I/O, but<br />
all in all, it’s a well specced<br />
board for anyone looking to<br />
build a fairly entry-level<br />
Ryzen rig, even featuring<br />
DVI-I for those future APUs<br />
that might come out soon<br />
(seriously, we don’t know).<br />
All joking aside, couple this<br />
with a Ryzen 5 1600, and<br />
you’re looking at a potential<br />
six-core, 12-thread, DDR4-<br />
touting overclockable<br />
workstation base.<br />
So aesthetics. Yeah, it’s<br />
covered in a carbon fibre<br />
finish. We’re not sure why.<br />
Honestly, do motherboards<br />
benefit from being lighter?<br />
It’s a checquered finish that<br />
you’ll either love or hate,<br />
and it’s certainly different.<br />
Let’s call it that. OK, MSI,<br />
truthfully: We don’t like this<br />
finish. Keep it black, have a<br />
brushed aluminium styling<br />
on it, clean it up, keep the<br />
lines straight and the MSI<br />
logo sharp, and you’d be on<br />
to a classic.<br />
On the other hand, the<br />
black finish across the board<br />
is neat, and the RGB lighting<br />
is easy to configure to any<br />
colour you want in MSI’s<br />
desktop app.<br />
Onboard audio across the<br />
brands right now is pretty<br />
solid. Not quite up to the<br />
level of DAC and HRA, but<br />
for anyone simply wanting<br />
to plug and play, you’re<br />
unlikely to find much<br />
difference between models.<br />
The Nahimic audio suite<br />
included with MSI’s lineup<br />
since the Z170 series, on the<br />
other hand, is a force to be<br />
reckoned with. For those<br />
familiar with THX’s<br />
Crystalizer software, way<br />
back in the days of Windows<br />
7, think of this as that<br />
on steroids.<br />
On to performance, and<br />
the Gaming Pro Carbon<br />
actually outshone its<br />
XPower cousin in the X265<br />
benchmark, Cinebench, and<br />
even Fry Render, by around<br />
1% in most cases. Memory<br />
latency was fairly middle<br />
ground, with power draw<br />
being our overall winner,<br />
both under load and idling.<br />
We also managed a swift<br />
3,000MT/s overclock on our<br />
16GB Corsair Vengeance<br />
LPX kit, as well — with the<br />
latest BIOS update, of<br />
course. We can’t stress<br />
enough how important it is<br />
that you update your BIOS<br />
if you’re already using — or<br />
thinking about jumping on<br />
to — the AM4 platform.<br />
The Gaming Pro Carbon<br />
is a real show-topper.<br />
Coming in at $80 less than<br />
the Crosshair VI Hero,<br />
and packing that vital core<br />
performance, its stability,<br />
memory support and overall<br />
feature set are more than<br />
enough for anyone looking<br />
to sate their eight-core<br />
desires.<br />
At only $289, with that<br />
extra bit of cash in your<br />
pocket, you could upgrade<br />
from a six-core Ryzen 5<br />
1600X to an eight-core<br />
Ryzen 7 1700. Whack that<br />
clock speed up to 4GHz, and<br />
you’d easily be rolling above<br />
the 1800X, and within<br />
spitting distance of Intel’s<br />
Core i7-6950X.<br />
Ultimately, MSI’s X370<br />
Gaming Pro Carbon is one<br />
of the best value boards out<br />
there. If you’re looking for<br />
all the connectivity and<br />
features that Ryzen has<br />
to offer in an affordable<br />
package, and aren’t too<br />
bothered about aesthetics,<br />
the Pro Carbon is definitely<br />
the board for you.<br />
Verdict<br />
Features<br />
Performance<br />
Value<br />
Dependable feature set but with a<br />
questionable appearance, it luckily has<br />
solid performance at a staggering price.<br />
www.apcmag.com 25
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