Msi x299m-a pro, new inexpensive motherboard for kaby lake

MSI today launched its new MSI X299M-A Pro motherboard equipped with an Intel X299 chipset and which only offers support for the Kaby Lake-X series of processors, which is why we are facing an entry-level solution for the platform semiconductor giant enthusiast.

New MSI X299M-A Pro only for Kaby Lake-X

Priced at around 170 euros, the MSI X299M-A Pro is designed to offer everything a X299 motherboard can offer alongside a Kaby Lake-X processor, without any of the additional X299 features that are typically disabled by use a Kaby Lake-X CPU. This allows this motherboard to come at an affordable price compared to standard X299 motherboards albeit at the cost of Skylake-X support.

We found a total of 4 DIMM slots with memory support in dual-channel configuration that will allow you to get the most out of these processors, it also has two 32 Gbps M.2 slots and support for a 16x PCIe graphics card or two 16x PCIe units in an 8x / 8x configuration. The third PCIe slot supports up to 4 PCIe lanes connected to the X299 PCH, the board also offers support for eight 6Gbps SATA ports and two USB 3.1 ports.

The big question about this motherboard is what purpose does this motherboard serve in a world where Coffee Lake is about to launch and where Z270 already offers the same almost identical features and CPU. It can be argued that Kaby Lake-X has a somewhat higher overclocking potential but it does not seem sufficient to justify it.

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