EVGA P55 FTW LGA1156 Motherboard Review

Intel P55 Chipset and EVGA P55 FTW Features


The new P55 Express Chipset by Intel achieves incredible performance by supporting the latest Intel Core i7-800 and Core i5-700 processors, the latest Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel XTU), and industry leading I/O technologies. Instead of the two chip approach, the Intel introduces a new generation of chipsets with a single chip. The repartition of the processor and chipset into two devices enables performance and system improvements over previous generations. The P55 Chipset offers up to 2.5 GT/s for fast access to peripheral devices and networking with up to 8 PCI Express 2.0 x1 ports, configurable as x2 and x4 depending on motherboard designs.

Intel’s P55 Express Chipset also provides power saving efficiency. PC platforms based on P55 use up to 50 percent less power than the previous-generation platforms. For size, smaller form factors are possible, because the Intel P55 Express Chipset footprint is 65 percent smaller than the previous generation platforms.

When using one or multiple hard drives, Intel Matrix Storage Technology (MST) allows users to take advantage of enhanced performance and lower power consumption. When using more than one drive, users have additional protection against data loss caused by hard drive failures. MST also provides benefits to users with a single hard drive. Using Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI), storage performance is improved through Native Command Queuing (NCQ).



EVGA P55 FTW Features

A few notable features on the EVGA P55 FTW include triple BIOS support, 12+2 phase PWM, VDroop control, EZ voltage read points, and EVBot support. A brief summary of each of these features and other board features is as follows: