On the 11th of April MSI will be launching the latest in their X370 range, the X370 Gaming Pro. The Gaming Pro is very similar to the Gaming Pro Carbon but with some slight modifications to make it more affordable.
For the most part the board is the same as the Pro Carbon, it comes with the same expansion slot layout with 2x PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots that work in x8/x8 when both are in use, and additional x16 slot that is only wired up for x4 and 3 x1 slots. It also features 6-PWM fan headers, 1 for the CPU, 1 for a Water Pump and 4 System fans which makes it great for those who wants to use an AIO or custom loop cooling unit.
The Gaming Pro has had the RGB LEDs removed however and have instead made use of red LEDs on the board itself, it also has LEDs on the underside of the PCB at each corner to create a red aura around it. There is still still an RGB header on-board for those of you that can’t live without.
MSI Set to Launch New X370 Board
In addition to the removal of the RGB LEDs, MSI have removed the extra 2280 M.2 slot but, like the Gaming Pro Carbon, they have kept the 22110 M.2 and plastic heat-shield. The rear I/O is very similar giving the user 4x USB 3.1 ports, 2x USB 2.0 ports, both a USB 3.0 Type A/C, an HDMI and DVI-D out. The differences come with the LAN and Audio ports with the Gigabit ethernet controller being dropped for a cheaper Realtek one and the Audio doesn’t have an S/PDIF-out.
It’s also worth noting that the Gaming Pro, like the Carbon, will only support SLI and 3-Way Crossfire with a Ryzen chip. Using another Athlon or A series chip will limit you to just 2-way Crossfire.
The X370 Gaming Pro is expected to come out with a price tag sub €150 but we won’t know exactly until its release. For me personally, I used to hate the idea of LEDs in a system but working with them daily they started to grow on me. I for one am a bit disappointed by the removal of the RGB feature. What are your thoughts on this upcoming board? Tell us in the comments section below.
