MSI Z490-A pro DDR4 Intel Motherboard

The MSI Z390-A PRO is an ATX form-factor motherboard built on the Intel Z390 chipset and designed for Intel 8th and 9th Generation Core, Pentium Gold, and Celeron processors using the LGA 1151 socket. It measures 12 in. x 9.6 in. (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm) and features nine mounting holes, making it compatible with standard ATX mid-tower and full-tower chassis. For memory, the board provides four DDR4 DIMM slots supporting up to 128 GB of non-ECC, unbuffered RAM in dual-channel configuration. Speeds range from 2133 MHz up to 4400 MHz with XMP overclocking profiles enabled, and the board is Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) compatible for straightforward tuning. Storage connectivity is handled through six SATA 6 Gb/s ports plus one M.2 Key-M slot that accepts PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA devices in 2242, 2260, 2280, and 22110 form factors — with Intel Optane Memory support. The M.2 thermal solution, known as M.2 Shield Frozr, integrates directly into the motherboard heatsink to help keep NVMe drives operating at sustained speeds. Note that the SATA2 port is disabled when an M.2 SATA device occupies the M.2 slot. RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 are supported for SATA arrays. Expansion slots comprise two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and four PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, along with one M.2 E-Key slot for an Intel CNVi wireless module. Two-way AMD CrossFire multi-GPU configurations are supported. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.1 Gen2 ports (one Type-A and one Type-C) on the rear panel, six USB 3.1 Gen1 ports, and six USB 2.0 ports. Audio is managed by a Realtek ALC892 codec delivering 7.1-channel High Definition Audio output. Networking is provided by an Intel I219-V Gigabit LAN controller. The rear panel also offers VGA, DVI-D, and DisplayPort video outputs for systems using CPU-integrated graphics. Internal headers include a 24-pin ATX main power connector, 8-pin and 6-pin ATX 12V power connectors, one 4-pin CPU fan header, one 4-pin water pump header, five 4-pin system fan headers, one 4-pin RGB LED connector, a Thunderbolt add-on card connector, and a Front OC button connector. The board ships with Windows 10 64-bit support and carries a three-year MSI warranty. Verifiable Specifications: - Chipset: Intel Z390 - Socket: LGA 1151 (Intel 8th / 9th Gen) - Memory: 4 x DDR4, max 128 GB, up to DDR4-4400(OC), dual-channel, XMP - Storage: 6 x SATA 6 Gb/s; 1 x M.2 Key-M (PCIe 3.0 x4 / SATA) - PCIe Slots: 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16; 4 x PCIe 3.0 x1 - USB: 2 x USB 3.1 Gen2 (10 Gbps), 6 x USB 3.1 Gen1, 6 x USB 2.0 - LAN: Intel I219-V Gigabit - Audio: Realtek ALC892, 7.1-channel HD Audio - Video Outputs: VGA, DVI-D, DisplayPort (4096×2304@60Hz max) - Form Factor: ATX, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm - Warranty: 3 Years