Board analysis

ATI has made a number of component placement changes on the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO and they’re not all related to the extra circuitry the ALL-IN-WONDER requires for its video engine and TV playback.

First, you can easily see that the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO is outfitted with significantly fewer capacitors than RADEON 9600 PRO. While the RADEON 9600 PRO is dotted with capacitors along the top of the board, the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO is merely sprinkled with them.

Fewer capacitors used on the AIW 9600 PRO

Of course, the RADEON 9600 PRO board design still isn’t as complicated as other DX9 cards we’ve seen in the past. No external power connection is required, and the graphics core generates significantly less heat – ATI is able to get by with the same cooler that was used on the RADEON 8500! This leaves lots of open space on the board; ATI has enough room to fuse the Philips stereo TV/FM tuner and THEATER 200 chip on the top of the board. ALL-IN-WONDER 9700 and ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 cards both had to place the THEATER 200 chip on the underside of the card.

Overclockers will be happy to hear that our card was equipped with 350MHz memory modules manufactured by Samsung. This should give you a little bit of headroom for overclocking.

The video connector

AIW 9600 PRO backplate

Looking at the back plate of the card, you’ll notice that the card lacks VGA or DVI outputs. These are located on the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO’s video connector. Two VGA outputs are provided for driving dual displays, a first in the ALL-IN-WONDER lineup. You’ll also see two coaxial connections, one for the TV tuner and the second for the FM tuner, another ALL-IN-WONDER first. One unexpected downside that we found with this setup however is that the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO won’t fit in small form factor chassis like Shuttle’s XPC line (see the update on this on the Ballistics Report page). You see, the FM coaxial connector is located higher on the board’s back plate than it was in previous ALL-IN-WONDER cards.

Coax connector for FM is up higher than the AIW 9800

This connector ends up bumping into the bracket holding the AGP card in place. While desktop cases have plenty of clearance, small form-factor cases don’t. No matter what angle you try to mount the AIW 9600 PRO card in, it either bumps into the motherboard or the coax connector will bump into the slot where you screw your AGP card down. We tried multiple angles and couldn’t get around this, regardless of the small form-factor system we used. Adding insult to injury, ATI doesn’t include an antenna for the FM tuner, so you’ll have to scrape one up in order to use this feature.

Philips FM/TV tuner

Also included in the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO’s packaging is a VIVO module, REMOTE WONDER remote control unit, and S-Video and composite video cables. The HDTV component adapter that comes standard with the ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO is an optional accessory for the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO.

Front of the card

The bottom of the AIW card

REMOTE WONDER

For those of you who aren’t familiar with REMOTE WONDER, this remote control unit is quite an impressive piece of work. It has all the standard buttons you’d find on a TV remote, as well as the basic buttons you’d find on a DVD remote (stop/pause/rewind/fast-forward/play/record and arrow keys) Buttons are also provided for controlling the applications within ATI’s multimedia center software, as well as a directional keypad with left/right mouse buttons, so you can effectively use the remote as a mouse.

REMOTE WONDER is a radio frequency remote; line-of-sight isn’t required like your TV’s infrared remote. You can literally manipulate your ALL-IN-WONDER card from another room!

Updated REMOTE WONDER unit

See the slight differences?

All these features make REMOTE WONDER a joy to use. Simply click the “TV” button to launch the TV player, or if you want to skip straight to the program listings press the button for GUIDE PLUS+. The app will launch promptly and thanks to the directional keys, navigation is a snap. REMOTE WONDER also features six programmable buttons that can be programmed to perform practically any function you’d like. Controlling your PC from the comfort of your couch just doesn’t get any easier than this.

In our original preview article, we listed ATI’s upcoming REMOTE WONDER II unit as a standard ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO accessory. REMOTE WONDER II adds longer range (over 60 feet) and is built on a new design that should be a little more intuitive to use. Sadly, it turns out that the new remote control unit isn’t ready for primetime, so ATI must rely on its REMOTE WONDER unit instead. As you can see, our unit had slightly updated buttons. The web and left and right mouse buttons are changed.

Fortunately, ATI includes a free coupon for the REMOTE WONDER II in the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO packaging, although the buyer does pay shipping and handling fees. ATI expects that REMOTE WONDER II should be available in time for the holidays.