MSI he announced three high-end motherboards calls Creator X299, X299 PRO and X299 PRO 10G based on the chipset Intel X299, so think about the new 10th generation Intel Core X processors.
There Creator X299 it is totally black with Mystic RGB LED in two areas. The motherboard is equipped with a 12-phase digital IR VRM with each phase capable of delivering 90 A, while the LGA 2066 socket is powered not by one, but by three 8-pin connectors. The VRMs are cooled by an aluminum heat sink equipped with a heatsink that extends up to the I / O.
There are eight DDR4 slots can support up to 256 GB memory in quad-channel mode and frequencies up to 4266 MHz (OC +). Connectivity is entrusted to two Ethernet ports, one 10G (Aquantia AQC107) and one Gigabit (Intel I219-V), but there is also Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity.
Three controllers ASMedia allow you to have one USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) Type C, one USB 3.2 Gen2 2 × 2 (20 Gbps) Type C and seven USB 3.2 Gen1. For storage here 8 SATA III ports e three M.2 (a dedicated bundled card offers four more).
The motherboard offers four PCIe 3.0 x16 slots to allow multi-GPU configurations for up to 4 cards and there is also a U.2 door below the SATA ports which can be used to connect U.2 SSD.
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Moving on to the range MSI X299 PRO, the series is available in 10G version and without 10G Ethernet connectivity. Both cards have di an 8-phase VRM. The CPU socket is powered by a dual 8-pin connector and there are eight DDR4 slots. Motherboards support up to 256 GB of capacity at a maximum frequency of 4200 MHz (OC +).
Both motherboards have three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots for multi-GPU configurations of up to three cards and two M.2 slots with an M.2 Shield Frozr heatsink. Complete the equipment six SATA III ports. On the connectivity front we find a door USB 3.2 Gen 2 × 2, one USB 3.2 Gen2, four USB 3.2 Gen1 and four USB 2.0. There is also a 7.1-channel HD audio jack managed by the Realtek ALC1220 codec.
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The I / O on both motherboards includes a BIOS Flashback button and a PS / 2 port. The new motherboards have two Ethernet ports, one 2.5G powered by the Realtek RTL8125-CG controller and one 1G driven by the Intel I219-V controller.
The 10G model is supplied with an additional board equipped with the Aquantia AQC107 controller. Both are accompanied by an Xpander-Z M.2 card with active cooling which offers two further M.2 slots. The cards should be marketed at a price of around 250-300 euros, with the 10G model which will cost a little more.