Review: MSI X399 Gaming Carbon Pro AC

by Tarinder Sandhu on 15 September 2017, 11:30

Tags: MSI

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qadlhb

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Testing Methodology

Comparison Motherboard Configurations

Model
MSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
Asus Xenith Xtreme
MSI X299 PLUS
Reviewed Price
£325
£480
£260
Firmware Version
7B09v15
0503
E7A93IMS.12Z
Chipset
AMD X399
Intel X299
CPU
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X
Intel Core i9-7900X
CPU Cores / Threads
16 / 32
10 / 20
CPU Base Clock
3.4GHz
3.3GHz
CPU Turbo Boost Clock
4.0GHz
4.3GHz
CPU L3 Cache
32MB
13.75MB
CPU TDP
180W
1404W
Memory
G.Skill Trident Z RGB
Corsair Dominator 32GB
Memory Configuration
4x8GB
4x8GB
Memory Speed
DDR4-3200
DDR4-2666
Memory Timings
15-15-15-36
14-16-16-36-2T
CPU Cooler
Thermaltake Riing 360
Noctua NH-D15S
Graphics
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW (382.53)
Storage Device
SK hynix Canvas SC300 512GB
Power Supply
be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 (750W)
Operating System
Windows 10 Home (64-bit)

CPU and Memory Benchmarks

HEXUS PiFast Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places
Cinebench Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses all cores
Handbrake Free-to-use video encoder that stresses multiple CPU cores
AIDA64 Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency

Storage Benchmarks

CrystalDiskMark Popular free-to-use storage benchmark, used to gauge read and write performance via SATA (512GB SK hynix Canvas SC300), M.2 (512GB Samsung 950 Pro), and USB 3.1 (256GB Adata SC660H)

Gaming Benchmarks

3DMark Run using Time Spy DX12 test
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 2,560x1,440, ultra settings
Hitman 2,560x1,440, ultra settings

Miscellaneous Benchmarks

Power Consumption Noted at idle, while running the HandBrake video-transcoding test and when playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Notes

We're comparing performance against the crazy-spec Asus Xenith Xtreme, costing 50 per cent more. And looking over to Intel as a platform alternative, especially as the Core i9-7900X costs about the same as the Threadripper 1950X we're using, we've also included numbers from MSI's own X299 SLI PLUS. This will let you know which platform is best for your kind of workloads.