EVGA P55 FTW LGA1156 Motherboard Review

Packaging and Accessories


Opening up the retail version of the EVGA FTW we find a box sealed in cellophane, something rather uncommon for motherboards. Similar to the board itself, EVGA uses a black and grey theme for the motherboard box whose front features the P55 FTW branding which is also seen on the BIOS splash page and manuals. Meanwhile, the reverse side goes into the board features in detail.


Taking a closer look at the front and sides of the box we find more P55 FTW branding and logos for support of socket 1156 i5 and i7 processors as well as SLI. EVGA also calls their 90 day step up program to users’ attention on the back. Using this program, users can swap in their EVGA product for a higher model within 90 days just by shipping the product to EVGA and paying the difference.


Opening up the box we see EVGA has sealed every single accessory in anti-static protective bags. This is also rather uncommon since most manufacturers seal accessories in clear plastic bags.


Underneath the cardboard divider the board itself is in its own anti-static bag with the typical foam protective sheet underneath. The motherboard itself has stickers explaining how to install memory and the CPU and protective plastic over the heatsinks. We also see CPU installation instructions are illustrated and laid out in steps, which can be really convenient for a novice's first build.


Accessories included are typical of most motherboards. They include hard drive power adaptors, SATA cables and so on, but with the EVGA FTW there is one accessory bag not found with other boards: the ECP V2 (EVGA Control Panel). This handy little device connects to the board with two different sets of wires and provides users with an additional Debug LCD in case the one on the board is covered by a second GPU or is enclosed in a case. This alpha-numeric LED not only gives error codes in case of no POST, but it also displays CPU temperature when the system is running.

The ECP V2 also provides users with several useful functions at the convenience of the click of a button. Power, reset, and clear CMOS switches are included, jumpers to enable or disable PCIE slots are there, and there are voltage booster buttons as well. The voltage booster buttons allow for 0.1v increases to vcore or VTT by simple button click and there are also some LEDs which indicate when the voltage boosters are engaged. It seems EVGA hit the nail on the head when adding this little treat to the accessory package.