The MSI Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC (mITX) Motherboard Review: Balanced Gaming Diet

Final Words

Those users looking for a Mini-ITX board know that the small size of the boards make for compact, efficient builds; but they also come with some trade-offs to get to their petite size. It is up to the board makers, in turn, to determine what and how many features can be applied to such a small amount of space, to reach the best and most useful combination of features. To that end, while we do not have two M.2 slots (as the SuperO and ASUS Z370I board do), the board is laid out well and includes features other boards may not include. In this case, the MSI Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC and the SuperO C7Z370-CG-IW are the only Z370 based Mini-ITX size board which includes USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) ports on the rear I/O bracket.

Along with the USB 3.1 support, the MSI Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC includes the Realtek ALC1220 codec for audio, Intel networking (Wi-Fi and wired), four SATA ports and a single M.2 slot. When comparing this to a full-size board, just about the only thing missing are the additional PCIe and DRAM slots as well as another M.2 slot or two. MSI intended the board to be a small form-factor, gaming-centric board. Overall, MSI ended up with a well-rounded board able to excel at gaming as well as and be a good option for buyers in the Mini-ITX space.

As far as looks go, we know there isn't much one can do to the board and MSI chooses to let the RGB LEDs do the talking for the most part. The eight RGB LEDs line the underside of the board beneath the 24-pin power lead to the front panel USB 3.0 header illuminating under the board. The black aluminum heatsinks work well and provide a cool look with its carbon fiber accents. No Mini-ITX board will win beauty contests and in this case, the MSI board, while not a pageant queen, will not turn heads away with its styling.

About the only item I would like to see different on this board is to have an additional M.2 slot. These devices are becoming more and more popular and though there isn't a lot of real-estate, we've seen it done before on other boards. Outside of that, there isn't anything I would really change.

Overall performance on the Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC was solid, particularly with power use both at idle and under load, as well as POST times. Other performance results, including gaming, were in line with the other motherboards tested so far. Overclocking performance was also quite solid with the tiny little board having no issues matching larger boards.

MSI has brought to the table a solid little Mini-ITX board in the Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC. If you need USB 3.1 ports on the back panel, this and the SuperO are the only boards which should catch your eye. Board performance was right where it needed to be and overclocking abilities were right up there as well. There is plenty of connectivity on the SATA side of things as well as including a single M.2 slot. Overall, the MSI Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC brings a lot of features to the table in a small package and at a reasonable price of around $168. Only the GIGABYTE Mini-ITX board is less expensive, which makes the pricing very reasonable with the features it has. If users are in the market for a Mini-ITX size board, the Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon will be a solid choice to build your small-form-factor system around.

Other AnandTech Z370 Motherboard Reviews:

• The Anandtech Coffee Lake Review: Initial Numbers on the Core i7-8700K and Core i5-8400
• Analyzing Z370 for Intel's 8th Generation Coffee Lake: A Quick Look at 50+ Motherboards
• ($397) The ASUS ROG Maximus X Apex Review [LINK]
• ($250) The NZXT N7 Z370 Review [LINK]
• ($191) The SuperO C7Z370-CG-IW Review [LINK]
• ($180) The ASUS Z370-I Gaming [LINK]
• ($167) The MSI Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC Review [this review]
• ($150) The GIGABYTE Z370 Ultra Gaming Review [planned]
• ($144) The GIGABYTE Z370 Gaming WiFi Review [planned]