MSI X399 GAMING PRO CARBON AC (AMD X399) Motherboard Review

X399 GAMING PRO CARBON AC Circuit Analysis Continued

The Realtek ALC1220 is used as the audio codec and offers 120dB output on an amplified rail. MSI adds in a Texas Instruments OP1652 operational amplifier for the front headphone outputs as well as Gold series Nippon-Chemicon audio capacitors and then divides the audio PCB from the rest of the motherboard to improve audio quality.

The Intel i211AT NIC is used for wired LAN while the Intel Wireless AC 8265 is used for wireless AC. The motherboard offers BIOS recovery through USB BIOS flashback (chip labeled 504N), and uses a 128Mbit ROM to store the actual ROM.

Intel's i211AT is used as the main Gbit NIC from Intel. ASMedia's ASM3142 USB 3.1 controller provides rear USB 3.1, and an ASMedia ASM1543 operates as the type-C port's switch and CC logic chip.

The USB 3.1 type-C internal header gets another ASM1543, and also gets a Pericom PI3EQX USB 3.1 re-driver to re-drive the integrated USB 3.1 signal. A Renesas R5F104 micro-controller is used to control all the RGB LED functionality on the motherboard.

The ICS 9FGL121CAGLF and ICS BV0831AIL are used to help CPU base clock overclocking, and I assume to allow for more than 7 simultaneous devices to operate connected to the CPU. They also seem to use an ASMedia ASM1480 for some type of switching of their signals along with the integrated signal of the platform.

The Nuvoton NCT6795D is the main SuperIO controller and provides the PS/2 on the rear IO as well as system management. We find two Nuvoton NCT5655Y GPIO chips that help to extend the SuperIO's fan control capabilities throughout the motherboard.

We found multiple ASMedia ASM1464 re-drivers for USB 3.0 on the rear IO.