MSI Z270I Gaming Pro Carbon AC ITX Review

Up Close

We are so used to showing you the elements of a motherboard in a particular order that it is a bit of a surprise when you can fit the entire thing into a single photograph. Rather than a “here is it all, here is a close up of the CPU area, here is the PCI Express area”, it’s just “there it is”. ITX motherboards never cease to make us smile with the ability of the manufacturers to fit so much into such a compact area. For the Carbon it means that very little is available to express that very same Carbon detailing which gives it its name. However, just because its small doesn’t mean MSI have skimped anywhere. The slots are still armoured, it still has plenty of headers for fans, pumps and external USB, and even if the SATA ports are vertical you’re not stuck with one or two of them. Even though the M.2 socket is affixed to the rear of the Carbon ITX it still supports full length NVMe drives.