Board Layout

Pulling the MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC out of the bag reveals a handsomely dark board with black carbon-textured heatsinks and a black PCB with white lines tracing it in the bottom-left corner. The board is uniformly black, and the heatsinks are much larger than expected on a B450 board. Overall, the layout lends the MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC a sleek, aggressive look. The back of the MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC is also a uniform black broken only by the backplate for the CPU cooler and a few warnings against misplaced standoffs. The MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC is a really good-looking board. The aesthetic is above and beyond what I would expect from a midrange motherboard both in design and execution. The extended heatsink even serves as a partial rear I/O shield.


The area around the socket is not as open as on some boards, especially in comparison to midrange boards with smaller heatsinks. This is a worthy trade-off for the vast cooling benefits of the MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC, but if you want to pair it with a large air cooler, check your clearance before you buy. Most users won't run into any issues, however.


The first M.2 slot sits right under the socket and features an M.2 shield thermal solution. The M.2 shield isn't as beefy as some of the M.2 heatsinks I have seen in the past, but should offer good cooling over a naked NVME drive.


The MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC features two PCI express x16 slots (in x16/x0 or x8/x8), of which one is PCI Express 3.0 and the other PCI Express 2.0., and three PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots. The PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot is metal reinforced for extra durability. There are two M.2 slots; the first is below the socket and the other sits just below the second PCI Express x16 slot. The MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC features no less than six SATA ports, all of which are angled 90 degrees to the board.


The LAN on the PRO CARBON AC is powered by an Intel I211AT Gigabit LAN Controller. The rear I/O on the MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC is mostly as expected and consists of the following:

• 1x BIOS Flashback+ button
• 1x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port
• 2x USB 2.0 Type-A (black)
• 1x DisplayPort
• 1x HDMI
• 1x LAN (RJ45) port
• 1x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C
• 2x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A (blue)
• 1x WiFi antenna connectors
• 5x Audio jack
• 1x Optical S/PDIF OUT connector