Board Layout

Using the same PCB as the MSI MPG X570S Carbon MAX WiFi, this MSI EKWB collaboration solely focuses on the VRM/CPU monoblock rather than an entire redesign. The motherboard itself sticks to a more neutral color theme with gunmetal heatsinks and a variation of the MSI dragon logo over the rear I/O cover. Turn it around and the back has warning zones showing possible conflicts with cases and where the standoff should be placed.


The MSI MPG X570S Carbon EK X offers two x16 slots, both of which are reinforced for extra stress support. Two additional x1 Gen3 slots are in the middle. Because the AM4 platform has a set number of PCIe lanes, many compromises had to be made here, which will become apparent further along, but is not unique to this motherboard. This starts with only the top x16 slot being wired for x16 PCIe Gen4 as the second one is internally wired for x4 PCIe Gen4.


MSI placed four M.2 Gen4 x4 sockets on the motherboard. However, using all M.2 sockets at once requires a bit of trickery since only 24 PCIe lanes are available in total. The top M.2 socket uses dedicated lanes provided by the CPU, while the remaining three rely on the X570S chipset.

To use the third (M2_3) M.2 socket, SATA ports 5–8 are disabled, leaving only four usable. Installing an M.2 drive into the fourth socket (M2_4) disables the second x16 PCIe slot. As mention previously, it is only internally wired for x4 Gen4. That being said, once all M.2 drives are installed, a x16 PCIe Gen4, two x1 Gen3 slots, and four SATA 6 Gb/s ports are usable.


The MSI MPG X570S Carbon EK X has two USB 3.2 Gen1 (5 Gbps) and two USB 2.0 headers. An internal USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 (10 Gbps) Type-E header is included as well. Interestingly enough, one of those USB 3.2 Gen1 headers benchmarked at 10 Gbps—yes, that is not a typo, nor is it listed in the specifications.


The MSI MPG X570S Carbon EK X has debug post codes and debug LEDs to troubleshoot any problems that may arise.


This motherboard has an 8-pin EPS and a 4-pin EPS power connector.


MSI placed three RGB headers throughout the motherboard. Two are 5 V and the third 12 V compliant.


The board has a total of eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports on the side, angled 90 degrees from the board. Four of these ports are disabled once a M.2 NVMe SSD is installed in socket M2_3.


The MSI MPG X570S Carbon EK X has an interesting assortment of ports to say the least. The usual Wi-Fi 6E, S/PDIF Out, and 2.5 Gb LAN are as expected for a mid-tier motherboard. MSI also includes a Clear CMOS and BIOS Flashback button for easy recovery, which is always a nice to see.

Going down the list, a PS/2 port is above the USB 2.0 ports. This is an oddity as it these days serves no purpose outside of the overclocking community and some pro-gamers. Next up are three red colored USB 3.2 Gen2 2x1 (10 Gb/s) Type-A ports. An additional 10 Gb/s USB-C port is included as well. Lastly, four blue colored USB 3.2 Gen1 (5 Gb/s) Type-A ports are in the middle of the I/O section.

• 2x Antenna ports
• HDMI 2.1 port
• PS/2 port
• 2x USB 2.0 Type-A
• 4x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports (5 Gb/s)
• 3x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports (10 Gb/s)
• USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port (10 Gb/s)
• 2.5 Gbps RJ-45 LAN port with LED
• Clear CMOS button
• Flash BIOS button
• Optical SPDIF Out port
• 5x HD audio jacks