With a Web price starting at around $200, EVGA’s P55 FTW makes incremental improvements compared to its previously tested P55 SLI without breaking the bank.
As a board marketed primarily towards overclockers, the biggest advancement of the P55 FTW might be its 14-phase CPU power regulator that EVGA rates at 600W peak output. That’s more than even an eight-pin CPU power connector can supply, so EVGA also adds a second eight-pin EPS12V connector.
While the P55 FTW look nearly identical to its less expensive sibling, the biggest change hardcore gamers will notice is the slot order. SLI and CrossFire come to the LGA 1156 processors by splitting their 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes across two slots, and EVGA rearranges those slots so that they are four spaces apart. Unlike the P55 SLI, the P55 FTW puts the four-lane x16 slot in the middle, so that SLI and CrossFire users who need only graphics cards will get the maximum cooling space between them.
EVGA is the only company in today’s roundup to support both LGA 1156 and LGA 775 coolers, giving extreme-overclocking gurus a great reason not to modify their custom LN2 pots or oversized water blocks. LGA 1156 has a slightly shorter installation height that prevents solid-mount LGA 775 coolers, such as Swiftech’s Apogee Drive, from providing proper contact pressure, so the second set of mounting holes should only be used with spring-loaded mounting mechanisms.

EVGA includes a gadget called EVGA Control Panel Version 2 (ECP V2) that extends several motherboard features beyond the motherboard’s surface via cables. Included are power, reset, CLR_CMOS, two core-voltage, and one uncore-voltage (labeled VTT) buttons, a numeric status display, and a set of jumpers for disabling individual PCIe slots. Each voltage button adds 100mV when engaged. That last feature is supposed to be handy in case an overclocked video card prevents a system boot, but what isn’t as handy is that the module itself has no provisions for front-panel mounting.
Other than the changes noted above, there isn’t much to say about the P55 FTW that hasn’t already been said of the P55 SLI in its review. Both boards strive to be nearly legacy-free, yet both include a single PS/2 port that we still occasionally use, and with the exception of the altered slot order, both have the same layout.
BIOS
The P55 FTW continues EVGA’s good overall BIOS layout while adding more reference- and signal-voltage controls. The bottom of the frequency/voltage controls page features a menu for saving custom configurations to a protected portion of the BIOS IC as any of four user profiles.
Automatic configuration per setting eases the alteration of the most familiar memory timings.
Accessories
EVGA includes four SATA cables and a single SLI bridge in an installation kit that stands out mostly for its control module.
- Mainstream Parts For High-End Systems?
- Features Comparison Tables
- Asus P7P55D Deluxe
- EVGA P55 FTW
- Gigabyte P55A-UD6
- Intel DP55KG
- MSI P55-GD80
- Test Settings
- Benchmark Results: Crysis And Far Cry 2
- Benchmark Results: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky And World In Conflict
- Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Synthetic
- Overclocking
- Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- Conclusion








Also for just $50 more one could get a reasonable X58 board and the core i7 920 would be a great buy. The only motherboard here that would be a "smart" buy with "long term" in mind would be the Gigabyte UD6 since it at least sports USB3.0 AND Sata 6.0. One would not need to purchase any expansion card for this feature as it will be used in the years to come. Also knowing that X58 will be used for 6core chips way ahead is comforting as these boards then will still be around and mainstream by the time those processors will even be relevant for avid/regular PC users.
I just have a few questions you may be able to answer, do you guys also choose motherboards from other countries? I have seen Foxconn and Emaxx in some reviews but I also know that they may not be the best quality boards but it would be great to compare those boards as well. Its also good that you placed a reference Intel P55 so people would know the standard in which to compare with. Also how come we still dont have a P55 or X58 XFX board? Has XFX stopped making mb's and only started to focus on GPU's?
In the article first page:" Can any LGA 1156 system truly be considered high-end? After all, there’s no practical way to supply two graphics cards with a full 16 lanes of bandwidth. However, only the most expensive graphics cards need more than eight PCIe 2.0 lanes, and not every high-end buyer wants a gaming system."
The reason for this is the GPU - CPU bridge on core i5 systems, which in previously intel boards was part of the southbridge chipset, is now integrated onto the CPU. Therefore it isn't the boards that limit GPU lanes to a maximum of x16 lanes total, but it is the p55 core i5 & i7 CPUs that do this.
Check this link for more on the CPU-motherboard layout:
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/2920/intel_s_p55_express_lynnfield_chipset_overview/index2.html
Also see this artice on VR-Zone which explains the pitfalls of Gigabytes USB3/SATA3 implementation: http://vr-zone.com/articles/gigabyte-p55a-boards-usb3-sata3-issues-analysis/8158.html
Good point, perhaps the features comparison chart could be expanded a little.
who would buy a Phenom II rig to get 16 16? not comparing AMD but you would see better performance from a high model i5 with 8 8 lol good one
You can't enable USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0 Gb/s at the same time.
I'd rather have the ASUS or MSI (GD85) solution who use an additional PLX chip. The question was about being future proof and the Gigabyte solution is not as future proof as it seems.
Unfortunately Intel seems to be steering away from the X58 platform. There are more and more P55 motherboards coming out which have high end features. The top end Lynnfield CPUs have no problem outrunning the lower end Bloomfield CPUs. So saying a 1156 is midrange... that's giving it less credit than it deserves.
Btw, there are P55 mainboards from ASUS, MSI and EVGA with an NF200 chipset which do offer fullspeed dual CrossFire/SLI at 16/16. And those definitely don't have midrange prices.
msi products? lol yeah no thankyou
look at the benchmarks and tell me wether that nvidia chip is worth it, or 99% marketing BS, and paying that premium is stupid when you can get that 1366 platform for a little more with full options for 16 16 if required AND USB3 and SATA3 cards if required or onboard depending on model
Nor do they have full speed dual x16/x16 PCIe 2.0 bandwidth. NF200 isn't magic, it's simply a PCIe hub with x16 on one side and 2x x16 on the other. Tom's will likely have an article later showing how well this works compared to x8/x8 (p55 native) and true x16/x16 (x58 native) solutions.
You can get a very good X58 MB for $250, and the I7-920 can be had for $200-$250. So why would anyone spend the same amount of money on an inferior product (P55)?
Intel seems to have stepped over their own feet with this new chipset/CPU configuration. The only people benefitting from the 1156 is Intel and MB manufacturers. The new CPU's and MB's cost them less, but they are charging almost the same price as the superior I7-920 and X58.
You are forgetting that the AMD Phenom II 965 provides nearly identical gaming performance to the i5 for a few $$ less, and you can get an x16/x16 graphics solution, or even an x8/x8/x8/x8 quad type setup. Really, that is going to give you a better performance machine for similar cost as an i5/p55 setup. Don't just write off the AMD lines. BTW- I am running and i5 on the MSI P55-GD80 and I love it.
Also- for what its worth, the article mentions that MSI's OC genie exists, but doesn't say anything more about it, and compares it to the Asus remote thing? totally different things- OC genie is an automated overclock- not just onboard buttons to change OC settings.
The $100 P55 boards still exist and there are some really good ones. Some people want the newer stuff, but still want more options and features. Remember- this is the "Enthusiast" version of the p55 lineup.