The selection of motherboards for AMD’s recently launched Ryzen family of processors is definitely improving. MSI has been especially active in kicking out more AM4 motherboard options, the latest of which is the X370 Gaming Pro.
The new X370 Gaming Pro is similar to MSI’s recently announced X370 Gaming Pro Carbon, it’s just toned down in some places to make it more affordable.
The board features the same 10-phase CPU VRM as the Pro Carbon variant and has the same slot layout (two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots wired to the CPU and a third PCI-Express 3.0 x16 wired to the chipset, plus three PCI-Express x1 slots), but it uses a different PCB with fewer storage options—six SATA 6Gbps ports and just one 32Gb/s M.2 slot (the Pro Carbon has two).
The main difference is that MSI traded RGB lighting for red LEDs, which are found on the chipset heatsink and various other parts of the motherboard. Users can control the brightness using MSI’s Mystic Light Sync software.
As for connectivity, the X370 Gaming Pro’s rear I/O has two USB 3.1 ports (one of which is a Type-C port), VR Boost USB ports, HDMI and DVI-D outputs, and a GbE LAN port powered bya Realtek RTL8111H controller (the Pro Carbon’s GbE LAN port is powered by Intel’s I211AT controller).
The X370 Gaming Pro is available April 11 for around $150
