MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon AC Wifi DDR4 Intel Motherboard

The MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon AC Wi-Fi is a full-size ATX motherboard built on the Intel Z390 chipset and designed for 8th and 9th Generation Intel Core, Pentium Gold, and Celeron processors using the LGA 1151 socket. Its ATX form factor measures 9.6 in. x 12 in. (24.3 cm x 30.4 cm) and fits the vast majority of mid-tower and full-tower cases with nine standard mounting holes. Four DDR4 DIMM slots support up to 128 GB of non-ECC, unbuffered memory across a wide frequency range — from native 2133 MHz up to 4400 MHz in overclocked mode — with dual-channel operation and one-click Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) activation through the UEFI BIOS. The DDR4 Boost circuit uses fully isolated memory traces to reduce electrical noise and improve stability during overclocking. Storage connectivity is handled by two M.2 Key-M slots, each capable of accepting PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA 6 Gb/s drives in 2242, 2260, 2280, and 22110 form factors, alongside six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Both M.2 slots are covered by MSI's M.2 Shield Frozr thermal solution. RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 are supported for SATA devices; RAID 0 and 1 are supported for M.2 PCIe devices. Intel Optane Memory is also supported after a BIOS and driver update. Expansion is provided by three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (operating in x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4 mode) and three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, with support for 2-Way NVIDIA SLI and 3-Way AMD CrossFire multi-GPU configurations. Wireless connectivity is delivered by the Intel Wireless-AC 9560 module, supporting 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands (including 160 MHz channel width) at up to 1.73 Gbps, plus Bluetooth 5. Wired networking uses an Intel I219-V Gigabit LAN controller optimised for low-latency gaming traffic. Audio is powered by a Realtek ALC1220P-VB2 codec delivering 7.1-channel high-definition audio with S/PDIF optical output, enhanced by MSI's Audio Boost 4 circuit isolation and Nahimic 3 software. USB connectivity includes five USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports — one Type-C and three Type-A on the rear panel plus one internal Type-C header — four USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports via internal headers, and six USB 2.0 ports. Lighting is managed through MSI Mystic Light, offering 16.8 million colours and 29 effects across two 4-pin RGB headers, one 3-pin RAINBOW LED header, and one 3-pin CORSAIR LED header. Thermal management includes one water pump header and five additional 4-pin system fan headers alongside the CPU fan header, all controllable via DC or PWM within the BIOS. A pre-installed rear I/O shield simplifies installation and improves EMI protection. The board also features EZ Debug LED indicators for rapid fault identification and enlarged XL PCIe retention clips for easier GPU swaps. Verifiable Specifications: - Socket: LGA 1151 | Chipset: Intel Z390 - Memory: 4 x DDR4 DIMM, up to 128 GB, up to 4400 MHz (OC), dual-channel, XMP - Storage: 2 x M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4 / SATA), 6 x SATA 6 Gb/s; RAID 0/1/5/10 (SATA), RAID 0/1 (M.2 PCIe) - Expansion: 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16, 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 - Display: HDMI 1.4 (4096x2160@24Hz), DisplayPort 1.2 (4096x2304@60Hz) - USB: 5 x USB 3.1 Gen2, 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1, 6 x USB 2.0 - Audio: Realtek ALC1220P-VB2, 7.1-ch HD, S/PDIF out - LAN: Intel I219-V Gigabit - Wi-Fi: Intel Wireless-AC 9560, 802.11ac, up to 1.73 Gbps; Bluetooth 5 - Form Factor: ATX, 9.6 x 12 in. (24.3 x 30.4 cm) - OS Support: Windows 10 64-bit - Warranty: 3 Years