MSI today added a new entry-level gaming AM4 motherboard, the A320M Gaming Pro. This board is based on the same PCB as the current A320 Grenade, but fitted with improved premium black capacitors, a black PCB and MSI’s signature red colour scheme for the slots, connectors and heatsinks. The board will probably hold a slight premium over the A320M Grenade for these extra looks, however the features of the two boards are very similar.
Based around the narrow micro-ATX form-factor, power is supplied from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, while conditioning is taken care of with the use of a 6-phase VRM. Luckily DDR4 RAM modules are available in larger sizes as one disadvantage of the narrow micro-ATX form is the inclusion of just two DIMM slots. Expansion slots for a micro-ATX sized though are reasonably well taken care of with one reinforced PCI-Express x16 slot and a pair of PCIe x1. Storage connections are comprehensive and include four SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and one 32 Gb/s M.2 slot. USB connectivity includes six USB 3.0 ports, while Realtek controllers are used for the onboard gigabit LAN and 6 channel HD audio. Lighting is very well taken care of for such a motherboard with onboard red LED lighting as well as an RGB header to allow you to connect an extra LED strip, controlling all of this is taken care of with the MSI Mystic Light app. Hopefully we can expect an RRP of under $80.
