Random Review: Motherboard - EVGA Z97 FTW Do. NOT. Buy.

[LeRoy3rd]

I just bought the Z97-FTW, and have to say, this is the first EVGA product that I'm disappointed in. I should mention that I came from an ASUS Rampage III Extreme that finally died. I wasn't expecting that kind of quality in a product at this price point, but even with these lowered expectations, I'm seriously let down. If the OEM version of Windows wasn't tied to the motherboard (requiring me to buy a NEW copy of Windows 8.1 if I get a new motherboard), I would, without hesitation, return this piece of junk.

First Issue:
The article about the motherboard on their website SPECIFICALLY says there are TWO USB 2 and 2 USB 3 headers ON THE MOTHERBOARD. I get the motherboard, what do I discover? Only one of each... And worse, it took me ten minutes to figure this out since ON THE MOTHERBOARD is printed USB 2.0 HDR 1/2 and USB 3.0 HDR 1/2... Spent far too long looking for the long lost 2/2 headers for USB 2 and 3. VERY frustrating as I bought this to use those headers. Since I have a Corsair H80i cooling my CPU, I now have ZERO USB headers for the front of my case (which only has USB 2). Unacceptable. (It should be noted that in BIOS it also has a toggle to turn the 2nd USB 2 and 3 headers off...)

Second issue:
The motherboard specs on EVGA's website (in the features tab) for the Z97 FTW list it as having Triple BIOS, when clearly it only has two... Not a huge problem for me, but misinformation like this make me wonder what else is incorrect.

Third Issue:
The PCI-E disable switch is lauded as being able to make my life easier by allowing my to turn off PCI-E channels without removing the cards (it certainly saved me some time once or twice on my last motherboard). COOL! Only problem? My SC EVGA 780ti with an ACX COMPLETELY COVERS the switches, making it IMPOSSIBLE TO USE! Seriously, who thought putting the switches UNDER the main video slot was a good idea? (and having a fan header right there isn't exactly brilliant either...)

Fourth Issue:
Horrible manual. Self explanatory. Very little detail, NOTHING on the BIOS (and there are quite a few non-standard options in there).

Fifth Issue:
Fan Control. For some reason the motherboard doesn't report all of the fans to Windows... No matter which software I use, I can't see all of my fans. I can see them in BIOS, but not in windows. Is it a BIOS problem? A Windows problem? No idea, but, I will say, with my ASUS Rampage III Extreme I saw (and could control) all 6 of my fans in Windows.

Sixth Issue:
M2 port. Really? You fitted a NON-STANDARD ("E" key instead of the standard "B" key) port to the board and just neglected to mention that?? I've got a Samsung 840 Pro, so there was really no need for an M2 at the moment, but I was happy it was there in case I needed it in the future. Didn't realize it was useless...

As you can tell, I'm very disappointed with this product. My EVGA 1000w Platinum power supply, SC 780ti, and even old GTX470 are fantastic, this motherboard, not so much. As a final note, my previous motherboard allowed me to change the picture displayed by BIOS at boot, I'd really love to be able to do this again, but, I can't find enough info on the actual BIOS to attempt it, detailed info on the exact version of AMI BIOS in this thing would be greatly appreciated...

-LeRoy3rd



(Triple BIOS, under features)
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=142-HR-E977-KR
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34631339/Triple BIOS.jpg

(Two USB 2 and Two USB 3 headers)
http://www.evga.com/articles/00835/
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34631339/Internal IO.jpg

 

[Biff]

no time to go through the entire post right now. But the website and manual is correct.
It has two internal USB 2.0 / USB 3.0 headers. The internal 10 pin usb 2.0 header (13) should give you at least 2 front ports with full power.

14 is all you need for two USB 3.0 ports.

1 / 2 means 1 and 2.
Manuals are also available on the website.

 

[LeRoy3rd]

Unfortunately, the article they wrote (see pic) says it has 2 internal USB 2 HEADERS, which is far different than ports... I required two internal headers, one for my h80i, one for the front of my case. And, on the mobo is printed USB2.0 HDR 1/2, and USB3.0 HDR 1/2. Add to that the option in BIOS to disable/enable BIOS header 1 and/or 2 for both USB 2 and 3 independantly (as well as disabling each port on the external i/o outputs), you start to see that this wasn't a simple typo.

 

[Biff]

This is what I read on the EVGA Website:

6 USB 2.0 Ports (four rear panel, two onboard)

http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/142-HR-E977.pdf

And this is correct. The internal 10 pin header gives you two USB 2.0 Ports with full power.

Second issue:
The motherboard specs on EVGA's website (in the features tab) for the Z97 FTW list it as having Triple BIOS, when clearly it only has two... Not a huge problem for me, but misinformation like this make me wonder what else is incorrect.

It says "Triple BIOS Support".

On your mainboard is a switch for 3 different BIOS profiles / configurations.
For example you can set up a profile specifically for overclocking.
I think you can also use it to have three different firmware versions,
which is actually pretty cool.

[EDIT]

Checking your Links above, yes "2x USB 3.0 Headers" & "2x USB 2.0 Headers" is wrong.

[EDIT 2]

On Page 2 in the PDF, it says "Dual Bios Support (Use 2 separate profiles)".

Now I agree with you, this is really bad.