MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon Review

Performance Analysis

Our gaming tests are a very mixed bag here for the simple reason that using two air-cooled GPUs paints the Pro Carbon in a bad light. Ashes of the Singularity's CPU test doesn't really tax them, so we're looking at results that are in line with other boards we've tested. However, wherever the GPUs were under heavy load, either in Unigine Valley with the CPU overclocked or in 3DMark Fire Strike, the impact of the closely-packed GPUs was clear as the first card's fans would scream and it would regularly throttle with the results being all over the place. It's not a fault with the board per se - had we tested with a single card, we have no doubt performance would be on par with the rest of the bunch. Clearly you'll want to avoid using air-cooled dual-slot graphics cards with this board.


Elsewhere performance was good. We rarely see stand-out results these days, so we can only say the Pro Carbon performed as expected with no abnormal results in terms of speed. Power consumption and audio performance numbers do differ, though, and the Pro Carbon performed admirably in both tests, with keen power numbers, and despite one of the highest vcores used for overclocking, it drew 310W under full load from the wall - less than Asus's ROG Strix X99 Gaming. Switching SpeedStep off for better overclocked results only saw an 8W jump in idle load too.


Audio performance was amongst the best we've seen too, with noise and dynamic range in the usual levels that should be adequate for most people. This is good news as using two GPUs will obscure both of the Pro Carbon's 1x PCI-E slots (although you could still use the third 16x PCI-E slot) and three-way setups would force you to use the last 16x slot which impacts on storage bandwidth.

Conclusion

There's a lot to like with the X99A Gaming Pro Carbon. The lighting system is excellent and if the extra visual pizazz appeals to you then the steel-plated PCI-E and DIMM slots will too. The main niggles are only having one CPU fan header, no Wi-Fi and the lack of spacing between the PCI-E slots you'd use for a two-way GPU setup, which will cause some GPUs to throttle, but only if they're air-cooled. Comparing it to the Asus's ROG Strix X99 Gaming, it would be a tough decision. Asus's software suite is a little beefier and its EFI packs a few more features too. Overall the Asus board probably has the edge, but then it's more expensive too. However, we still feel the Pro Carbon deserves an award - just as long as you're not planning on using a two-way air-cooled SLI or CrossFire setup.