Analyzing Z370 for Intel's 8th Generation Coffee Lake: A Quick Look at 50+ Motherboards

MSI Z370 PC Pro and MSI Z370-A Pro

The Pro series consists of two motherboards, the Z370 PC Pro and Z370-A Pro. Both boards use the same six-phase power delivery found in the Gaming Plus. Outside of storage, USB, PCIe support, and the aesthetic differences, both Pro boards keep similar specifications. 

The PC Pro goes with a jet black PCB with a silver pattern focused around the chipset heatsink. That same pattern makes its way on the black VRM heatsinks. All the slots and connectors are black with the only reinforced slot being the primary PCIe. Except for the audio separation line, all the RGB LEDs are found on the back of the board creating a glow behind the motherboard. The PC Pro does offer a single RGB header for connecting an RGB strip, enhancing the existing lights.

The Z370-A Pro, on the other hand, is more of a plain brown board with the only patterns on it being the hundreds of visible traces snaking from part to part. The VRM heatsinks, memory slots, and PCIe slots are all black. Like its bigger brother, the first slot is reinforced. The Z370-A Pro uses all white LEDs (no other colors) on the back as well as the audio line. To some users rejoicing, there are no RGB headers on this board.

 
Z370 PC Pro (left), Z370-A Pro (right)

Memory support on both of the boards is the same, with four memory slots up to 64GB and supported speeds up to DDR4-4000. Both boards have two full-length PCIe slots, the first one being reinforced and x16 from the processor with the second not being reinforced and x4 from the chipset. Where the Z370-A Pro has four PCIe x1 slots, the PC Pro replaces one of them and adds a legacy PCI slot at the bottom.

The Z370-A Pro and PC Pro make the full set of six SATA ports available to users, with four regular placed ports and two vertical, although the layout of where they are is slightly different. The Z370-A Pro has the vertical SATA ports above the other four, while the PC Pro slides the vertical ports between the other four, due to the support of other features.

Fan header count and location are the same on both boards with six 4-pin connectors around the board, four of which are around the chipset. All of these headers support both PWM and voltage control for greater flexibility. For audio and networking, the PC Pro has the ALC887 and Intel I219-V, while the Z370-A Pro has the ALC892 and Realtek TRL8111H. Both boards use Capicon audio caps, and the audio traces are separated from the other portions of the board in an effort to reduce interference.

 
Z370 PC Pro (left), Z370-A Pro (right)

The PC Pro offers users USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) capabilities through the ASM3142 chipset and offers one Type-C port and one Type-A port on the back panel, while the Z370-A Pro does not offer 10 Gbps support. Both boards offer four eight USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 ports on the back panel. Both boards have a combination PS/2 connector, video outputs, Ethernet, and an audio stack, although the PC Pro uses a HDMI and 2.1 audio, while the Z370-A Pro uses DisplayPort and 7.1 audio. Both boards have D-Sub and DVI-D connectors.

Z370 PC Pro

Z370-A Pro