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EVGA P55 FTW Motherboard Review
Author: Will West
Published: Monday, November 23, 2009
Board Layout & Features
LGA is still the Intel socket of choice. The P55 features a familiar clam shell mounting but features all of the moving parts on the hinge side of the socket. The large screw is what the latch attaches to before the CPU is locked down.
Large PWMs are a huge advantage for overclocking stability and performance the P55 FTW comes with 12-phase PWM that can deliver up to 600w of power to the CPU!
Large PWMs are a huge advantage for overclocking stability and performance the P55 FTW comes with 12-phase PWM that can deliver up to 600w of power to the CPU!
An important thing to note when buying a new motherboard is what kind of heatsink you will need for your processor. Most enthusiasts hate the thought of using an OEM cooler on a high end motherboard and sometimes have trouble finding good aftermarket options when the technology is new. Well EVGA has you covered by providing LGA775 heatsink mounting holes along with the standard LGA1156.
The new LGA1156 CPUs only come equipped with a dual channel memory controller opposed to the triple channel controller found in the LGA1366. This does help to bring total system cost down without sacrificing too much in overall performance. The new Corei5 & i7 series processors do come with some memory restrictions but are no different than the LGA1366. This includes DDR3 running a voltage no more than 1.65v.
When installing your RAM be sure to populate the furthermost grey slots first
When installing your RAM be sure to populate the furthermost grey slots first
The EVGA P55 FTW is designed for NVidia SLI but will support Crossfire if that is your thing. Both primary 16x PCIe slots come with 8 lanes of dedicated bandwidth or 16 lanes if you're only using a single card. The center most PCIe slot comes with 4 lanes of bandwidth and can be used for most anything including PhysX. Slot spacing does favor dual slot PCI Express video cards however depending on your video card configuration will allow the PCI slots to be used.
This board features a secondary 8-pin 12v power connector to help stabilize the system under extreme overclocking. This additional power connection is normally reserved for the EVGA Classified so having it here is a good indication that all EVGA motherboards get an equal treatment when it comes to getting the most from your system.
Just like with video cards you'll need to use a power plug from a seperate power rail (or cable) to get the most from this feature.
Just like with video cards you'll need to use a power plug from a seperate power rail (or cable) to get the most from this feature.
