Review: EVGA P55 FTW (132-LF-E657-KR)

**zfactor** · 10-14-2009, 12:04 PM

seems a lot of mixed feelings with this board.. im torn now a lot of people around the www seem to dislike this as well as some love it.. very mixed feelings it seems

**hokiealumnus** · 10-14-2009, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by KURTZ

with the Asus MIIIF a friend can set manually the 22x multiplier ... so i just tried to make the same thing with our board but the multiplier is stuck @ 21x ... weird thing ... someone can explain it?

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?id...15,42932,42931,

edit: Hoki can you try with your 860? thanks

Doesn't work with mine. Looks like a BIOS glitch. Does it maintain 22x after booting? I tried with and without speedstep and turbo. Also tried only using two cores with no luck.

**LardArse** · 10-14-2009, 06:55 PM

if you look at bios you will see your calculated cpu multiplier to be 22x if you have turbo enabled. so 21x selection + turbo enabled = 22x.
asus just shows 22x as the target multiplier, just terminology difference.

if u disable cstate, c1e, enable speedstep and turbo, you should see 22x all the time.

**KURTZ** · 10-15-2009, 03:31 AM

Originally Posted by LardArse

if you look at bios you will see your calculated cpu multiplier to be 22x if you have turbo enabled. so 21x selection + turbo enabled = 22x.
asus just shows 22x as the target multiplier, just terminology difference.

if u disable cstate, c1e, enable speedstep and turbo, you should see 22x all the time.

Originally Posted by hokiealumnus

Doesn't work with mine. Looks like a BIOS glitch. Does it maintain 22x after booting? I tried with and without speedstep and turbo. Also tried only using two cores with no luck.

yes i can confirm that

just disable the C State options and we can get the 'Static Turbo' ...

however, now i can understand one thing with my Tridents 2000 DIMMs ... i settled the XMP profile (2000mhz cl. 9 2T) w/1.65 vDIMM but i can't enter in the OS (always a BSoD) ... maybe i missing something? (also tried w/XMP @1600 but nothing to do)

my rig is all @default ... just trying to play and understand the BIOS settings ... no ocing at this time

(obviously with the STD profile - cl.11 1T 1.50 vDIMM i haven't any trouble)

**Asylum1** · 10-15-2009, 04:21 AM

Thanks for the review.

**hokiealumnus** · 10-15-2009, 04:59 AM

Thanks very much for the tip LardArse, makes perfect sense now.

KURTZ - which BIOS are you using? The latest version improves XMP support. Never tried it myself. I'm ridiculous about manually setting RAM and very rarely even boot with SPD settings.

Asylum1, you're welcome.

**KURTZ** · 10-15-2009, 05:05 AM

Originally Posted by hokiealumnus

Thanks very much for the tip LardArse, makes perfect sense now.

KURTZ - which BIOS are you using? The latest version improves XMP support. Never tried it myself. I'm ridiculous about manually setting RAM and very rarely even boot with SPD settings.

Asylum1, you're welcome.

yes Hoki, i use the A35 BIOS ...

**KURTZ** · 10-15-2009, 09:02 AM

http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3661

i've the LOTES and you? :P

edit: about the XMP

the only way that i can run the XMP is when i 'move' up the BLCK to 166 w/XMP @ 1600 so the DIMMs goes @ 2000, obviously i need to set the vCC & vTT ... if i leave the BCLK on AUTO (vCC & vCC same) i can't boot ... it's normal?

**zfactor** · 10-15-2009, 09:23 AM

so in anyones opinion would there be a reason to buy a different similar priced mobo over this one or things you very much dislike?

**hokiealumnus** · 10-15-2009, 05:12 PM

At its price point, I think it is a superb motherboard. Definitely one of the higher-end P55 boards, and the price does reflect that. With its particular featureset, I think it's well worth the money. If you don't think you'd use all of the features (or at least most of them), there are other boards that are a bit less expensive that could meet one's needs. Can't really compare apples-to-apples because I have no other P55 boards ...yet.

**zfactor** · 10-15-2009, 05:38 PM

im actually comparing to more $$ board like max 3 and ud6 or the msi gd80. all of those in fact add more than this has in most areas. one thing i like about most other board is the extra sata ports. with this only having 6 total. i use all 8 on my dfi now. i run 4 burners and 4 hdd's so i would have to cut 2 out of the loop with this one, also most seem to offer better overall cooling? with the lack of the heatpipes with this does that make a difference at all really? overall though i really like this layout with just a couple exceptions besides i always hear evga support is top notch unlike some other companies..

**hokiealumnus** · 10-15-2009, 07:53 PM

The lack of a heatpipe is definitely not a problem. Look at the VREG temp when stressing 3.8GHz with HT....only 47C. 4.0GHz without HT but with more Vcore... 45C. Believe me, you won't miss it. These temps are with the stock thermal pad removed and MX-2 put in its place though, so do keep that in mind if you end up with higher temps than I got.

The layout is stellar. If losing two SATA ports isn't a deal breaker, I like this one. But you may need them...so that would make this board a nonstarter for you unfortunately.

**KURTZ** · 10-16-2009, 03:25 AM

totally agreed with Hoki

**Hsusy** · 10-19-2009, 06:16 PM

Great review, thanks, very helpful!

**hokiealumnus** · 10-19-2009, 06:50 PM

Thank you kind sir (or madam).

**hokiealumnus** · 10-28-2009, 08:58 AM

New BIOS out - A39. Original post, quote here:

This BIOS is ONLY for the EVGA P55 FTW Motherboard (part number 132-LF-E657- )

A39 Updates:

* Improved XMP Support
* Supports New 1.35v DRAMs
* Improves Xeon CPU Support

This package contains the necessary Flash Tool and ROM file to Flash your EVGA Motherboard. Please check to ensure that you downloaded the right package for your motherboard.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This flash is designed for Windows 32Bit/64Bit or DOS mode.

* Download the following .zip file: E657_A39.zip
* First go into your BIOS and load defaults, save and exit
* Go into the folder where you unzipped this package and run the appropriate batch file.
o For Windows XP, Vista or 7 32Bit: AFUWIN32.BAT
o For Windows XP, Vista or 7 64Bit: AFUWIN64.BAT
o If in DOS Mode: AFUDOS.BAT
* Press Y in CAPITAL LETTERS to start the flash process
* DO NOT TURN OFF POWER OR RESET DURING THE FLASH PROCESS
* After the flashing is finished, shut down the computer. Then power on again and go into BIOS, Load Defaults, Save and Exit.

Warning:
**Do not restart or interrupt your PC while the flash is ongoing
**Do not Flash BIOS on overclocked settings
**It is always recommended to power-down after flash

On a side note, next week is an OC competition at TRP so I'll have some new benchmarks to post.

**hokiealumnus** · 10-28-2009, 08:45 PM

Did some stability testing with the new BIOS tonight. Stable as it was with the original BIOS at the same Vcore. 1.317v loaded @ 3.8GHz.

More benching sometime next week!

**KURTZ** · 10-29-2009, 11:49 PM

nice run Hoki

also really interesting Ts

however i saw an interesting thing, i've upgraded my 2nd bios (the 3rdd has the A37) and i saw that when i switch to the older, the XMP settings are still settled ... but the older bios haven't the XMP improvements ...

**Sublime** · 11-01-2009, 10:30 AM

Hey guys, this is my first post here...I got a EVGA P55 FTW and it runs great, the only thing that I can't figure out is that the Debug LED reads C8 after loading windows, it doesn't show the motherboard's temperature like it was supposed to.

I hope it's something related to BIOS options or jumpers, C8 code isn't in the manual, I've googled it and found nothing interesting also..

Can anyone help me?

Thanks!

**hokiealumnus** · 11-01-2009, 10:39 AM

Did you select "Load Optimized Defaults" in BIOS? There is a setting in there to set the CPU temp monitoring, though I can't remember where.

**Sublime** · 11-01-2009, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by hokiealumnus

Did you select "Load Optimized Defaults" in BIOS? There is a setting in there to set the CPU temp monitoring, though I can't remember where.

Yes, I've tried a couple times and also looked for BIOS options and wasn't able to solve it.. I don't know what could be wrong...i'm updating BIOS atm...

EDIT: BIOS updated to A39 and problem wasn't solved...any solution?

**KURTZ** · 11-02-2009, 12:57 PM

very first run with my chip ... i saw that this M/B have some vdroop/vdrop

BIOS 1.150
OS idle 1.164
OS load 1.176/1.188

**LardArse** · 11-02-2009, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by Sublime

Yes, I've tried a couple times and also looked for BIOS options and wasn't able to solve it.. I don't know what could be wrong...i'm updating BIOS atm...

EDIT: BIOS updated to A39 and problem wasn't solved...any solution?

i think your x-cool jumper is flipped to the xtreme-cooling position just put jumper back to original position

**KURTZ** · 11-03-2009, 04:23 AM

4.0ghz

**Sublime** · 11-03-2009, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by LardArse

i think your x-cool jumper is flipped to the xtreme-cooling position just put jumper back to original position

Hey Lardarse, thanks for helping, I've looked into my motherboad and wasn't able to find this jumper..could you upload a picture of the mobo with the jumper's place marked on it so I can try changing jumper's position?

Lol, sorry for being such a noob..

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