Jetway M2A481 (AMD 480X) Review Intro 1/6
Bluetooth 18 Dec 2006

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Introduction

This year, we have reviewed a couple of Jetway mainboards. We were left with a pretty good impression of it. Not only does it perform well, it also has lots of options in the BIOS which we like. Although Jetway might not be a familiar brand. In actual fact, they make a lot of boards and resell it under different brands.

When I first receive news of a AMD 480x board, I was quite surprised. It is not a new chipset and yet they are making a board based on this chipset. The North bridge is paired up with the performer SB600 south bridge. It would give the CrossFire chipset a new lease of life.

The M2A481 is a CrossFire capable board supporting either 1 PCIex16 or 2 PCIex8 for CrossFire. It supports the AM2 socket type processors and comes with 4 DIMM slots. The South bridge alsos upporst 1 IDE channel and 4 SATAII ports for RAID 0,1,5 or 10.

Integrated on board is a HD Audio using Realtek ALC880 and 10 USB 2.0 ports. It also has support for Gigabit Ethernet. For diagnostics and recovery, the board supporst what is call the SPI BIOSBACK function which works similarly ilke Dual BIOS. With the new support for the Serial Peripheral Interface, the whole motherboard series are embedded with the new storage of the extra bin file for BIOS recovery. When unexpected error occurs, even the BIOS crashes down, you can restore your BIOS with just simply clicking to restart your system. The backup bin file will recover automatically within a few minutes. On top of that, the board comes with DEBUG LED for diagnostic purposes. The package also comes with “IMAGE IT!” System Backup Software and “ProMagicPLUS!” System Recovery System.

For overclockers, you will be delighted to see that the BIOS comes with a lot of BIOS options for you to tweak. The Vcore can be adjusted up to 1.55v + 1.35% (offset). This feature is part of the CPU Vcore 7 Shift feature which gives higher voltage levels especially useful for the extreme overclockers. For example, I set vcore to 1.4v and Vcore 7Shift to 1.15%, the final voltage is 1.6v for vcore. That is to say, if you apply 1.55v for Vcore and +1.35% for your 7-Shift, you will be getting the MAX of 2.0925v. Final CPU Voltage = Vcore X 7-Shift.

If you notice, the board's LPT1 and COM1 are not mounted on the PCB. This empty slot is meant for DIY COOL. Users can mount an optional fan to cool the capacitors. According to Jetway, it can help to extend the MTBF of the capacitors of up to 30% and increase stability during high frequencies.

Specifications

CPU Socket AM2 HTT 1000 MHz AMD® Athlon™64 With HyperTransport Technology
Compatible with 64-bit Dual Core AMD® Athlon™64 X2 Processor
Chipset AMD™ 480X Chipset + AMD™SB600 Chipset
Memory 4 * 240-pin DIMM Sockets for unbuffered Dual DDR2 800 SDRAM up to 8 GB
Expansion Slots 2 * 32-bit PCI Slots / 1 * PCI EXPRESS x1 / 2 * PCI EXPRESS x16
Storage 2 * Ultra DMA 133 / 100 / 66 IDE Devices Support
Embedded AMD™SB600 Southbridge Chipset Supports 4 Serial ATA2 HDDs with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 Functions.
Audio Realtek ALC880 Azalia HD 8-Channel Audio CODEC
Ethernet LAN Realtek RT81111 PCI-E 10 / 100 / 1000 LAN
USB Embedded 10 * High Speed USB @ 480 Mbit / s
Special Features Advanced Power Design that supports the latest Socket-AM2 K8 CPU
“IMAGE IT!” System Backup Software and “ProMagicPLUS!” System Recovery System
Rear Panel I / O 4 * High Speed USB Connectors @ 480 Mbit / s
1 * PS / 2 Mouse & 1 * PS/2 Keyboard
1 * RJ45 Over USB2.0 Connector
1 * Audio I / O
Internal I / O 3 * High Speed USB Connectors @ 480 Mbit / s for 6 USB 2.0 Ports
CPU / Chassis Fan Connectors
1 * 12V 8-pin ATX Power Connector and 1 * 24-pin ATX Power Connector
1 * Serial Port of 9-pin Block
1 * Parallel Port of 25-Pin Block
1 * SPDIF of 9-pin Block / 1 * IR of 5-pin Block
CD / AUX Audio in
1 * Floppy Connector
BIOS Award 4 MB Flash ROM With SPI BIOSBACK Function
Form Factor ATX Form Factor
 

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