21 Slot-1 Motherboards using VIA Chipsets

Jetway 994AN-L

Board Revision: 1.0

BIOS Version: A03 (January 6, 2000)

Here we've got another Slot-1/Socket 370 motherboard. As with DFI and Tyan, you can only use one of them, but this Socket 370 can merely host a Celeron CPU. In case you want to get a Pentium III FCPGA, you'll have to look for another board.

The board makes use of the faster 694X chipset, but Jetway doesn't seem to be able to take advantage of it; the benchmark numbers are low as if the board was equipped with the older and slower 693A chip.

Still the board is interesting due to several features including 10 FSB speeds, max. 1.5 GByte SDRAM (supporting ECC as well while the memory clock can be lowered by 33 MHz) using all three DIMM sockets, AGP 4x, UltraDMA/66, Wake On Ring, Power On Ring, RTC power on, two USB ports, two serial ports, one parallel port and optional IR capability. Also the CPU retention parts have been installed. Two plastic caps are inside the package, which have to be put on both retention brackets to save the CPU.

In spite of the very compact design, the position of the floppy and HD connectors is not ideal. Of course they won't jam the installation of full size expansion cards, but all cables will be covering the graphics card. Since actual GeForce models are getting very hot, be careful when plugging in the drive cables.

Beside the fact that this board's performance is not great, there were no other disappointments. You will have to set your CPU parameters by some jumpers. The manual is quite short but provides adequate information about hardware setup although the BIOS options are not described completely.

Jetway's 994AN-L comes with all the features we expect from modern motherboards. Besides, you can also use the cheaper Celeron CPUs without getting a CPU converter board. The only deficiencies are the mediocre performance and the board's size/design, which should at all costs be as small as possible. Both factors prevent this motherboard from becoming a winner.