When it was time to replace my old P67 Gigabyte build with a new 8th gen coffee lake build, I chose the MSI Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard. Having used Asus and Gigabyte boards in the past, I decided to give MSI a try this time based on motherboard specs, features and reviews. I spent a considerable amount of time comparing similar motherboard offerings and this one came out as the clear winner and having completed the build, all the time spent researching parts certainly paid off.
I particularly like the UEFI BIOS and how easy it is to configure things like memory XMP profiles, overclocking, Windows 10 WHQL mode, fast boot, and much more. The board layout was a pleasure to work with and everything seems well thought out. I did a quick bit of overclocking on the Core i7 8700K and easily hit 5.0 GHz. I have yet to really dig in with all the OC settings, but I'm sure this board can handle it without breaking a sweat.
Finally, the MysticLight RGB lights and software are pretty good and adds a nice, customizable touch of color to the case interior. The software can be a bit temperamental, but it has quite a few options to suit whatever color scheme you're going with in your build.
Overall, I couldn't be happier with my choice and I'll be definitely using MSI motherboards and peripherals over Asus and Gigabyte in the future.
Happy building!
| Processor | pentium |
|---|---|
| RAM | DDR4 |
| Memory Speed | 4000 MHz |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 4 |
