Packaging

Maybe I'm getting too old, but the whole car thing on the front of a motherboard box just confuses me. The picture of what is obviously a McLaren car does look like a fast car; this board had then better be fast as well, right? The RGB LED logo in the top-right corner did catch my attention.


Under the box's top is the board itself, inside a cardboard tray. Below the tray are the provided accessories, which are fairly numerous.


The included goodies are all useful. A full list of what is included is below:

• User's manual, installation guidebook
• Case badge
• Door hanger
• 1 x support DVD
• 6 x SATA 6Gb/s cables
• 2 x Flexible SLI bridge cable
• 2 x LED connector cable
• 1 x Cable label sheet
• 1 x Case cabling aids

The MSI X99A GAMING PRO CARBON board comes with a rather nice I/O cover. One side is well labeled, so you'll quickly know which ports are which, while the other is completely blacked out to make sure it blends in with the interior of your case. A small detail, it goes a long way for those thematic builds.


MSI provided two cables for the addition of 5050-type RGB LED strips. Such strips can be daisy-chained together, so you have the option of installing a couple strips over one cable for a connection to the board itself, while the other cord allows you to connect the second LED strip to the first. This makes for an easy way to add lighting to your case.


The provided SLI bridges are long enough for most dual-card configurations, while the provided pin blocks make connecting case wiring a much easier task.


You can't build an MSI GAMING build without an MSI GAMING case badge! I love these particular case badges!