A lot has been said about the great MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC motherboard. This beast from MSI is quickly becoming a favorite motherboard among DIY enthusiasts and PC builders.
Our review will determine whether there is any truth behind the rumors.
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MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC (Our Review)
Overall Assessment
MSI always creates different motherboards based on one chipset. This time it’s the B450’s turn under the scalpel.
The MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC has more features and far better looks than the MSI B450M Gaming Plus motherboard. We dare say it offers higher performance than the MSI B450M Pro-VDH.
This stylish motherboard is slightly more expensive than its brothers and sisters. But it balances price and features well, making it a decent mid-level motherboard.
RAM
4x DDR4 DIMM slots, maxed out at an astounding 128GB of RAM, but this motherboard right in our crosshairs. The B450 Gaming Pro puts other mid-tier motherboards, like the MSI Z270 Gaming Plus, to shame with such massive memory amounts.
Peripherals
MSI wasn’t shy about stacking peripheral support into the new iteration of the B450 chipset. This motherboard comes with enough USB ports to keep most users satisfied. We find 6x USB 3.1 and 6x USB 2.0 ports across this board.
There are also 6x SATA ports and 2x M.2 connectors for all your storage devices.
Audio is powered by a Realtek ALC1220 codec. A reliable Intel chip manages LAN networking.
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Graphics
We were pleased to discover that the MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC comes with Crossfire support. Users can install two graphics cards across the PCIe 3.0 x16 and the PCIe 2.0 x16 slots. The dual PCIe slots will ensure enhanced graphics performance.
If you’re not a fan of AMD CrossFire, look at the popular MSI Z270 SLI motherboard. It’s SLI capable, making it an interesting offer.
Aesthetics
This motherboard looks seriously good. The heatsinks are covered with carbon fiber patterns, and it works well with the black color scheme. Users can control some limited RGB zones via the MSI Mystic Light utility.
Conclusion
The B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC motherboard is different. It’s cheap, yet it looks expensive. It performs like an incredibly well-tailored mid to high-tier motherboard.
This motherboard is far better than the older MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon AC board.
Pros
- Excellent overclocking
- Entry-level pricing
- Superb looks
- SLI compatible
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Cons
- Difficult to update BIOS
- Energy inefficient
Common questions about MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC motherboard
Will the MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC work with my Ryzen 7 CPU?
This motherboard supports 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation Ryzen CPUs with the AM4 socket.
Does the MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC have onboard Wi-Fi?
The MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC doesn’t have onboard Wi-Fi. It offers users ample expansion options with its numerous PCIe slots.
Customer Reviews
“The MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC is the best motherboard for a budget rig. It is also ready to take on any other peripherals for future upgrades.”
Bharath Kumar H
5/5 Stars
“The MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC is a great budget motherboard, but the BIOS is difficult to use. Instructions that came with the manual were also not clear on how to update the BIOS.”
Tristan Stalder
3/5 Stars
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