Jetway NC92 Series Mini-ITX Motherboard
A Closer Look |
| Wow that is a bit cramped! might be your first thoughts and well you are right, but that is why it is a Mini-ITX board (Learn about Mini-ITX boards at Wikipedia). The compact size makes it ideal for special projects like for those crazy “PC in something” case mods that we all love. They also lend themselves to those that may lack space to host a full size PC and they also make for some really great HTPC’s (Home Theater Personal Computers). Listed below are some of the specifications that make up the Jetway NC92-230-LF. The first thing that jumps out at me is that it uses most of Intels newest chips.
Using CPU-Z we can see what this setup has as a CPU and the Bus Speed it can handle. An Intel Atom 230 CPU (1.6 MHz) is the driving force behind Jetway board. The Intel Atom processor is Intel’s smallest processor built with the world’s smallest transistors and manufactured on Intel’s industry-leading 45nm Hi-k Metal Gate technology. The low energy usage and size are the keys to the Intel Atom processor and why it was built for simple, affordable, netbooks and nettops. 
So how small is this board? Pretty dang small at 17.0cm x 17.0cm is just a bit larger than the driver CD that came with it. But don’t let its small size mislead you; for its size you get a lot of stuff in this all-in-one package.
 Come join me in a quick run around the Jetway. All your connection points to the board are along both of these edges. They represent the front and lower half of the board. And if you think about it it is just like a full size motherboard layout, just a lot more compact.
 Trekking to the other side we get a better look at the heat sinks. There are two of them that are made out of aluminum and I bet you can guess which one is for cooling the CPU. If you guessed the one with the fan, you are wrong! Yeah I know I was mistaken myself. This is actually the Intel 945GC chipset that has the built-in Intel GMA950 graphics, Serial SATA 3Gbps/4,Intel Flex Memory Technology and more so it needs the cooling. The larger heat sink cools the Intel Atom Processor. We also get a glimpse of the 20 pin power supply connector…remember this as you will need a power supply that has only 20 pins or the last for are removable.  Finally we come to the side that has everything we need to enjoy or little friend. You have more than enough stuff here to do what you need to do. We will take a closer look here in just a minute.
Oops our quick spin around the board must have flipped it over, well while we are here we might as well take a look at the bottom. Hmm…not much to see which is a good thing.
A single 240 pin DDR2 400/533 MHz slot is available for you memory. A total of two gigs can be used in the slot if you happen to have a 2gig chip laying around. One IDE and Floppy Drive port is also onboard. This is a nice touch if you have an old large IDE drive that can be used for the OS and or for storage. The floppy drive plug in is good when you need to update the BIOS or have some old, old program you may want to run, but I think that Jetway could have left this option off. 
If you have something that you want to add to this already laden packed setup Jetway gives one 32 bit PCI slot to do so. Just above that to the right we are given two SATA 3.0 connections with two USB 2.0 headers just to left. The two large pins connectors are there so that you can use adaughter board and an expansion board.
Another quick look at the power connection and more pin outs? Yes sir that is a parallel header and most PC user today probably don’t even know what that is but back in the day it was used for printers and other devices. Does this little board have it all of what?
This is the chip that does all the other work on the Jetway NC92. The Intel 82801GB ICH is the I/O controller hub and hopefully this unit wont get hot as it does not have any sort of cooling attached to it but it should get some air from the fan/heatsink right next to it.
Lets take a look at where everything is going to connect to the board. The normal PS2 ports for the mouse and keyboard make the first appearance with the COM port and VGA ports a following right behind. Bringing up the rear in the photo are two USB ports and the Realtek Gigabit Ethernet LAN connection. I was a bit surprised to see a Serial Port was on the board as they are all but forgotten. I guess if you have some older equipment that you need to use you have got it. The VGA port is driven by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 that has a powerful 400MHz core and DirectX 9 3D hardware acceleration, Intel GMA 950 graphics provides performance on par with mainstream graphics card solutions that would typically cost much more.
Two more onboard USB 2.0 ports, that is a total of six so far, sit right next to the audio connections (Line-Out, Line-In, Mic-Out). The audio is from Realtek and is a integrated ALC662 6 Channel Codec. The drivers for the audio are included on the driver CD and you can also get the newest drivers from the Jetway website. You of course get the Realtek GUI for the audio so you can fine tune it to you liken.
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