EVGA debuts Z68 FTW, Z68 SLI and Z68 SLI Micro

The computer giant EVGA has released three new boards to take advantage of Intel’s latest Z68 chipset. There will be three boards the Z68 FTW is the most expensive aimed at the gaming enthusiasts, the next one down is the Z68 SLI which is aimed at the gamer on a tighter budget and the Z68 SLI Micro is aimed still at the gamers but this time the gamers with chassis space constraints and a lower budget.

Lets first of all look at everything that is the same across all three boards before we check out each one individually. All the boards obviously use the Z68 chip set and the LGA 1155 socket but they also all share a common red and black colour scheme. Interestingly they all have mounting points for LGA 1155,1156 and 775 CPU coolers as well as all having USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s support. Voltage checkpoints come on all of the boards for those with a keen interest in overclocking and voltage tweaking.

Okay first up is the Z68 FTW edition motherboard, retailing at $264.99.

EVGA is really going all out on overclocking support here by ensuring the most clean power delivery system yet, a socket with 300% more gold content and a 12 phase VRM design is going to ensure excellent overclocking on the “K” series 1155 processors. Power delivery to the CPU socket comes in the form of two 8 pin connectors. The high current capacity Prodalizer film capacitors are used for better lifespan and reliability. Interestingly, the 24 pin motherboard connector is right angled in the interests of improving cable management.

There is support for Nvidia SLI and AMD CrossFireX whilst the special addition of the NF200 PCI-Express switch allows for 3 Way SLI including PhysX. There are 6 internal SATA ports, dissappointing that only 2 of them are SATA 6GB/s and the other 4 are SATA 3GB/s. There is also dual LAN ports and dual e-SATA ports controlled by third party “Marvell” controllers (88SE6121 for the e-SATA ports and 88E8057 for the Dual LAN). The IO connectivity is also impressive ten USB 2.0, four USB 3.0 and firewire. Whilst the VRM and chip set cooling are done by the large passive heat sinks and heat pipes so expect no cooling difficulties.

The EVGA SLI Z68 is a slightly reduced version of the EVGA Z68 FTW, there is no NF200 controller so only 2 way SLI is supported. There is one less internal SATA II port and two less USB 3.0 ports, therefore this board comes in cheaper at $209.99.

The SLI Z68 mini is virtually identical to the Z68 SLI except there is a lower phase of VRM and therefore less CPU overclocking capabilities, also there is one less PCI-E X16 lane but SLI and CrossFireX are still supported. This one retails at $159.99.