Introduction

A PC in every room?

Traditionally the PC has been used for gaming and productivity applications, relegating its use to the den or home office, ten years ago many didn’t have a PC at home at all. Then the Internet revolution began. The Internet age was filled with buzzwords, many wanted to “surf the web”, but had no clue what was involved. Eventually, the bubble burst. The market was over saturated and the cool factor was gone. The PC industry needed another killer app.

Many are placing their bets on digital entertainment to be that next killer application. ATI was one of the first companies to recognize this, releasing their original ALL-IN-WONDER card in 1996. Now Microsoft, ATI, NVIDIA and others have released products and services that are designed to cater to this market. Slowly but surely they plan to change the way consumers use their PC. Their ultimate goal is to take the PC from just the den to the living room, bedrooms, and even the kitchen.

With ATI’s ALL-IN-WONDER, you can combine the functionality of your home theater system’s DVD and CD players, VCR, and TiVo all into one device. And thanks to ATI’s EAZYSHARE, you can stream television or other video content to any ATI-based PC in your home. At the same time, you’ve still got a powerful PC that can be used for gaming and occasionally getting a little work done. Sounds cool doesn’t it?

ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 (top) ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO (bottom)

The ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 compared to RADEON 9600 XT

Of course, in order to make this dream a reality, price must remain low. ATI has maintained aggressive pricing on their current lineup of ALL-IN-WONDER cards, with the premium usually held to roughly $50 more than their less capable desktop PC variant, but they’ve also had a massive hole in their product lineup.

At the extreme end of the lineup is the ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO. This chip sports ATI’s RADEON 9800 PRO VPU, which is clocked at 380MHz, and is paired to a 256-bit memory interface operating at 340MHz (680MHz effective). ATI’s ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO is built for performance, and with its $400 price tag, is the Ferrari of the AIW line in more ways than one.

ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 up close

Another comparison shot of the AIWs

Next up is the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO. This card’s core is clocked at 400MHz, features half as many pixel pipelines, while the memory interface is sliced in half at 128-bits. The ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO is priced at a more affordable $249, but still misses that important $200 price point so many consumers look for. Below the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO lies the ALL-IN-WONDER 9000 PRO and ALL-IN-WONDER VE. Both of these cards deliver significantly reduced 3D performance in comparison to the higher end ALL-IN-WONDER cards, but to compensate they’re priced to move, the ALL-IN-WONDER VE retails for $99.

To help fill the gap between the ALL-IN-WONDER 9000 and ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO (which we’ll illustrate in our forthcoming benchmarks), ATI has introduced the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600. This card is built on the same core technology as its PRO counterpart, but ships at lower clock speeds.