The EVGA X79 FTW performed admirably throughout our testing phase and threw up some great benchmark numbers. Early on EVGA had some BIOS issues with this board, particularly when it came to memory. We found the latest BIOS 34 to have fixed those issues, for us anyway. We had no trouble running our G.SKill kit at its rated speed of 1866Mhz, in contrast to those who had trouble running anything over 1600Mhz using earlier BIOS releases. The X79 FTW is maturing and has the potential to be a diamond in the rough. EVGA has a history of providing timely BIOS updates, and knowing EVGA there will be more to come for this motherboard.
Make no mistake about it, the X79 FTW is an overclocking powerhouse. The 12 Phase PWM, 100% POSCAP capacitors, and the increased gold content are all welcome sights and greatly aid in the overclocking ability of this motherboard.
The X79 FTW is certainly not perfect and does have a layout problem or two. Additionally, only having 32 PCI-E lanes available on a platform that supports 40 is a bit perplexing, but as stated previously, this is not an issue if you use two cards in a SLI configuration as the both will run at 16X. At a price of $389.00 USD, the X79 FTW is priced slightly higher than other X79 motherboards offering similar features.
Pros
- Looks
- 12 Phase PWM
- 100% POSCAP Capacitors
- Great Overclocking Potential
- Onboard LED Diagnostic
- 3-Way BIOS switch
- Increased Gold Content
- Built in Bluetooth
Cons
- 32 PCI-E Lane Limitation
- PCI-E Disable DIP Switches Hard To Reach Once Video Cards Installed
- Post Code LED Can Be Hidden Under Certain Video Card Arrangements
- Latest BIOS is Still in Beta Stage, Hopefully Official BIOS Release to Follow Shortly
- Priced Slightly Higher Than Other Similar Offerings
If you are looking to jump into the Sandy Bridge-E platform, and your want list includes SLI, great overclocking, lots of features, and a motherboard that just plain looks sexy, then you need to keep the EVGA X79 FTW on your short list. Overclockers Tech has awarded the EVGA X79 FTW a 8.5/10 and the accompanying Silver Award!
Dino DeCesari (Lvcoyote)
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