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MSI Readies X399 Gaming Pro Carbon AC Threadripper Motherboard

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MSI joined the growing list of companies that have announced the addition of Threadripper motherboards to their product lines.

Aside from its Threadripper compatibility, the MSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon AC features eight DIMM slots with support for up to 128GB of 3,200MHz (3,600MHz OC) quad-channel DDR4 memory and four “Steel Armor” PCI-E slots that enable four-way SLI or CrossFire configurations.

The X399 Gaming Pro Carbon AC is also equipped with three Turbo M.2 slots with built-in heat shields. Other features include Intel wireless networking, Bluetooth 4.2, MSI's OC Engine 2 external clock generator, and Clear CMOS and Flashback+ buttons on the rear I/O panel.

MSI also outfitted this board with Mystic Light RGB support to let you customize the look of your system with 16.8 million colors and 17 lighting effects controlled via the Mystic Light Sync app. The MSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon AC will be available on August 10 with a $380 MSRP.

If you want to truly appreciate the size and scale of AMD's massive new 4,094-pin TR4 socket, we recommend reading our exclusive look at AMD's Threadripper socket TR4 schematics, or checking out MSI's video outlining the Threadripper processors' installation procedure.

ModelMSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
SizeATX
Memory8  x DDR4 up to 3600+ (OC)
Multi-GPU4 x SLI, CrossFire
PCI-E Slots4 x161 x2
M.23
SATA8
Ethernet10/100/1000 / Intel Dual Band Wireless / Bluetooth 4.2
Audio7.1-Channel High Definition Audio
USBFront:1 x Gen2 (Type-C) 4 x Gen1 (Type-A)Rear:1 x Gen2 (Type-C) 1 x Gen2 (Type-A) 8 x Gen1 (Type-A)
Price$380
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • elbert 01 August 2017 19:54
    Great ATX but bit high price. Wonder when we get to see the mere mortal affordable versions. A good $200 version is what im looking for.
    Reply
  • Hetzbh 01 August 2017 20:00
    I don't get it. According to Alienware's video (I don't have a link here) - Threadripper supports up to 1TB ECC. Where is the support for that in the motherboard?
    Reply
  • Raymond_92 02 August 2017 02:19
    HETZBH,

    Threadripper is basically EPYC, EPYC will support up to 1TB ECC, Threadripper supports ECC but likely will not support RDIMM (Registered memory which allows for the higher capacity DIMMs)

    From the AMD Subreddit:
    "Update: So we're getting contradictory information from different sources. An AMD product rep says that RDIMM/LRDIMM support is reserved for EPYC, but the Alienware rep says it takes up to 1 TB of RAM. I'm not sure how a 1 TB configuration is possible without some sort of registered or load-reduced memory, but at least we do know that ECC is supported. The AMD rep says that up to 256 GB is supported, which is still firmly workstation tier."

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/6nd6iq/ryzen_threadripper_completely_upends_the/

    Regardless you'd need 8 x 128GB RDIMM ECC (Keep in mind such modules would be extraordinarily expensive) memory modules to get 1024GB of RAM, I don't even know where you'd get such a module.

    Seems a delineation between Epyc & Threadripper is memory capacity, but did you REALLY need (or intend to buy) 1TB of memory?
    Reply
  • alextheblue 02 August 2017 02:41
    20009886 said:
    Great ATX but bit high price. Wonder when we get to see the mere mortal affordable versions. A good $200 version is what im looking for.
    Are you building a quad-graphics workstation, for some serious CAD? If the answer is no, you're probably looking in the wrong place. AM4 will be just as good for gaming and typical non-professional scenarios.
    Reply
  • Hetzbh 02 August 2017 04:47
    I don't need a machine with 1TB, but I am looking for something with more then 128GB.

    20010962 said:
    HETZBH,

    Threadripper is basically EPYC, EPYC will support up to 1TB ECC, Threadripper supports ECC but likely will not support RDIMM (Registered memory which allows for the higher capacity DIMMs)

    From the AMD Subreddit:
    "Update: So we're getting contradictory information from different sources. An AMD product rep says that RDIMM/LRDIMM support is reserved for EPYC, but the Alienware rep says it takes up to 1 TB of RAM. I'm not sure how a 1 TB configuration is possible without some sort of registered or load-reduced memory, but at least we do know that ECC is supported. The AMD rep says that up to 256 GB is supported, which is still firmly workstation tier."

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/6nd6iq/ryzen_threadripper_completely_upends_the/

    Regardless you'd need 8 x 128GB RDIMM ECC (Keep in mind such modules would be extraordinarily expensive) memory modules to get 1024GB of RAM, I don't even know where you'd get such a module.

    Seems a delineation between Epyc & Threadripper is memory capacity, but did you REALLY need (or intend to buy) 1TB of memory?

    Reply
  • hannibal 02 August 2017 07:47
    The treathripper cpu has so Many contact pins that the mother board is expensive because of those.
    I am quite sure that there will be a Little bit cheaper boards that has less features than this, but not much. It is like putting 0.9l engine in the super car. It is possible, but how Many people by super car like Ferrari and want to have very small engine in it... not Many so that is why I think most mother boards that Are released in this platform Are very well equipted and Also quite expensive.
    And 400$ for luxury item like this is actually quite cheap! Most expensive motherboards to Ryzen or Intel 7700 models cost the same. And threathripper is in whole different gategory compared to those normal customer CPUs. If i would need the features of threathripper I could afford it.
    400 to motherboard 500-1000 to cpu. But I don't need those features. Ryzen 1300 or Intel i5 is much better match to what I personally do with my computer. And I can get Ryzen 1300 much cheaper. 130$ motherboard and 120$ for cpu. I can afford 1080ti as a GPU to that combination!
    Reply
  • 02 August 2017 13:56
    X399 is way expensive than Intel x299 which you can buy for $219. Considering that 16/32 costs $999 and Intel 12/24 costs $1168 means that AMD 16/32 will cost same as Intel 12/24...interesting.
    Reply
  • Rob1C 02 August 2017 17:00
    @HETZBH - Then you'll need to look elsewhere, it doesn't support over 128GB:

    Main Memory:
    • 8 x DDR4 memory slots, support up to 128GB*
    • Quad channel memory architecture**
    • Supports DDR4 3600+(OC)/ 3466(OC)/ 3333(OC)/ 3200(OC)/ 3066(OC)/ 2933(OC)/ 2667/ 2400/ 2133 MHz*
    • Supports ECC UDIMM memory
    * For the latest information about memory, please visit http://www.msi.com
    ** Please refer the DIMM Slots section for more details.
    Reply
  • Elrabin 02 August 2017 18:30
    128gb DDR4 ECC dimms have been available from Samsung since 2015.......they're just infrequently used because of the outrageous cost

    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/26/time_for_a_new_ram_cram_plan_as_128gb_ddr4_dimms_land/
    Reply
  • Raymond_92 02 August 2017 19:49
    20012771 said:
    X399 is way expensive than Intel x299 which you can buy for $219. Considering that 16/32 costs $999 and Intel 12/24 costs $1168 means that AMD 16/32 will cost same as Intel 12/24...interesting.

    A top of the line X299 board costs a whole lot more than $219.

    This is a top of the line X399 board, it's expensive for that reason.

    My current Intel board (Gigabyte Gaming G1-Z170X) costed ~$500 on release.
    Reply