EVGA Z77 FTW Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Monday, June 25, 2012
Board Layout and Features
EVGA motherboards follow a classic color scheme with a jet black PCB and red expansion slots. This is one of the most common color combinations and is largely dictated by the black PCB, red is just a good complementary color.
The PCB is considerably thicker than what was found on previous EVGA motherboards. This not only increases the overall board strength but also helps to improve signal integrity for higher buss speeds.
The PCB is considerably thicker than what was found on previous EVGA motherboards. This not only increases the overall board strength but also helps to improve signal integrity for higher buss speeds.
Flipping the motherboard can tell us a lot about how it is constructed including where some of the major chips are located. Every PCI Express slot is fully wired meaning that the full slot width is soldered to the PCB. As we will see later in this review that doesn't always mean each slot comes with full set of PCI Express lanes.
EVGA has chosen a different PWM design with the Z77 FTW that no longer relies on a large ML cap to deliver steady power to the processor. Instead you will find a series of poscap capacitors around the CPU socket. These are a little more expensive over the traditional Japanese capacitors but are faster and make it a little easier to insulate around the CPU socket when cooling with phase change or LN2.
EVGA has chosen a different PWM design with the Z77 FTW that no longer relies on a large ML cap to deliver steady power to the processor. Instead you will find a series of poscap capacitors around the CPU socket. These are a little more expensive over the traditional Japanese capacitors but are faster and make it a little easier to insulate around the CPU socket when cooling with phase change or LN2.
Sadly these poscap capacitors are only used on the PWM and not around the entire CPU.
Clean power starts at the source, and with the power demands of extreme overclocking, the more power you have available, the better off you will be. EVGA understands this and has offered an additional 8-pin 12v power connector to help with the extreme overclocking efforts.
Clean power starts at the source, and with the power demands of extreme overclocking, the more power you have available, the better off you will be. EVGA understands this and has offered an additional 8-pin 12v power connector to help with the extreme overclocking efforts.
