MSI Introduced E3 KRAIT Gaming V5 & E3M Workstation V5 Motherboards 

MSI, a leading manufacturer of motherboards recently introduced two new C232 based motherboards, Called the E3 KRAIT GAMING V5 and E3M WORKSTATION V5. Both are compatible with Intel’s latest Xeon E3 v5 processors and based on the Intel C232 chipset , which offer better compatibility and stability compared to non-ECC DDR4 memory.- the motherboards are aimed at small form-factor workstations that have a acceptable foothold in the enthusiast community.

The E3 Krait Gaming V5 features Audio Boost, two M.2 slots, USB 3.1 Type-C, DDR4 Boost, and a host of other premium gaming features. On the other hand, The E3M Workstation V5 is a Micro-ATX sized board targeted at an entry level datacenter or professional workstation. It powered an advanced PCB design, SATA RAID support, Intel Smart Response, Rapid Start, Smart Connect, NVIDIA Quadro/AMD FirePro multi-GPU support, DDR4 Boost, VGA armor, EZ DEBUG LED, and a COM port header.

The MSI E3 Krait Gaming V5 (E7A43), in its white and black livery, uses a 5-phase power delivery with four DDR4-2133 memory slots that support up to 64 gigabyte of ECC. PCIe bandwidth comes out through a PCIe 3.0 x16 slot from the CPU and an x4 from the chipset, allowing CrossFire . Alongside this are two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots and two PCI slots via a bridge chip. One PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot is found alongside the six SATA 6Gb/s ports, although using the M.2 in PCIe mode will disable the PCIe x4 slot due to chipset restrictions.

For audio and networking, we get an upgraded Realtek ALC1150 solution (with the PCB separation and filter caps) and an Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet controller with MSI’s software that prioritizes user-specified traffic (in this case, company puts the focus on gaming). While there are no USB 3.1 controllers or ports here, in a short twist compared to the recent C232 motherboard, there is a USB 3.0 Type-C port on the rear.

The MSI E3M Workstation V5 is a relatively simple m-ATX motherboard that has two DDR4 slots, one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, two PCIe x1 slots, 6 SATA 6Gb/s ports, six USB 3.0 connectors (with a hub), a Realtek RTL8111H Gigabit Ethernet controller, and upgraded integrated audio powered by the Realtek ALC887 codec and that’s about it. It is interesting to note that there is only a single 4-pin CPU power connector, but this motherboard is aimed at cheap one socket PCs, ideally with energy-efficient CPUs. The workstation name indicate a different BIOS/software stack to the Krait Gaming, although aside from color, there to be very few differences