Jetway 939GT4-SLI: Gem with a New SLI Twist

Basic Features: Jetway 939GT4-SLI

Specification	Jetway 939GT4-SLI-G
CPU Interface	Socket 939 Athlon 64
Chipset	nForce4 SLI (single chip)
BUS Speeds	200 to 400MHz (in 1MHz increments)
PCI/AGP Speeds	Asynchronous (Fixed)
PCI Express	100 to 145MHz in 1MHz increments
Core Voltage	Auto, 1.10V to 1.55V in 0.025V increments (with 4000+) PLUS +50mv to +350mv in 50mv increments Highest vCore 1.90V
DRAM Voltage	Auto, 2.55V, 2.65V, 2.75V, 2.85V, 3.05V, 3.25V
Chipset Voltage	1.5V, 1.6V, 1.7V
Hyper Transport Ratios	Auto, 200 to 1000 in 1X (200) increments
LDT Bus Transfer	16/16, 16/8, 8/16, 8/8
LDT Voltage	1.25V, 1.35V
CPU Ratios	Auto, 4x to 25x in 1x increments
DRAM Speeds	Auto, DDR200, DDR266, DDR333, DDR400
Memory Command Rate	1T, 2T
Memory Slots	Four 184-pin DDR Dual-Channel Slots Unbuffered Memory to 4GB Total
Expansion Slots	1 x16 PCIe Slots 2 x8 PCIe Slots (SLI) 2 x1 PCIe 3 PCI Slots
Onboard SATA	4-Drive SATA 2 by nF4
Onboard IDE	Two Standard NVIDIA ATA133/100/66/33 (4 drives)
SATA/IDE RAID	4-Drive SATA 2 PLUS 4-Drive IDE (8 total) Can be combined in RAID 0, 1, 0+1
Onboard USB 2.0 IEEE-1394	10 USB 2.0 ports supported nF4 No FireWire ports
Onboard LAN	PCIe Gigabit Ethernet by Marvel 88E8053 PHY (Dual LAN on 939GT4-SLI-D)
Onboard Audio	7.1 AC'97 Digital Audio with Realtek ALC850 8-Channel codec with 6 UAJ audio jacks
Other Features	AMD Dual-Core (X2) Support
BIOS	Phoenix Award (6/08/05)

Jetway is not a huge motherboard company, and we often see the worst selection and range of BIOS adjustments from the smaller companies in the market. You can throw that notion out the window with the Jetway because it has an extremely complete and broad range of adjustments available in the Phoenix-Award BIOS. The 200-400 CPU Clock Speed adjustment range is extremely wide, and it is supplemented by a useful range of vCore adjustments to 1.90V and Memory Voltage adjustments to 3.25V.

We would like to see an even broader range of vDIMM to 3.5V or higher to support the high voltage memory from OCZ and Mushkin, but there are so few boards that offer adjustments to the 3.25V offered by Jetway that it is difficult to complain. Someone involved in the design of this board and BIOS truly understood what the AMD enthusiast is looking for, and they did a great job in delivering those options. Jetway also implements all the nF4 chipset features.

Click to enlarge.

We are usually evaluating a Tier One board when we praise layout, but the Jetway is just about perfect in layout. The 24-pin ATX connector and the 4-pin 12V are both on board edges where they belong. Also noteworthy is the fact that both the IDE and floppy connectors are located on the upper right edge of the board - exactly where they belong for best access. The board is such an excellent design that it really deserves a better manual. The one provided is barely adequate, but you can find what you are looking for with a little effort.

Many nForce4 boards place dual-channel memory side-by-side in their designs, making cooling of high-speed memory even more difficult. Jetway staggers dual-channel by making dual-channel the matching color slots. With 2 DIMMs, this gives more room for heat dissipation and cooling.

We were even more surprised to see diagnostic LEDs and momentary switches for on/off and reset on the Jetway 939GT4-SLI.

Heat sinks on the mosfets is another feature seen on boards designed for overclocking like the DFI nF4 SLI. Jetway went to the additional expense of placing sizable heat sinks on the mosfets. There are very few boards that provide these enthusiast level features, and we're pleased to report that this Jetway is one of them. Considering that the Jetway is selling for around $129 on the web, this is particularly noteworthy.