Board analysis

Rather than adopt the RADEON 9600 XT cooler, or modify the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO’s heatsink/fan unit, ATI has adopted an entirely new cooling system for the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT. Like ATI’s RADEON 9800 XT on the desktop, the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT relies on ducted cooling for enhanced performance.

Gold colored heatsink with ducted enclosure

Vents up top

ATI starts with a large aluminum heatsink, which actually is so large it covers portions of the memory modules on the top of the board. The heatsink is painted gold for added flair and is composed of numerous long, thin fins for added surface area. As you can see, the fan is located offset of the RV360 graphics core, along the upper half of the card’s PCB just across from the Philips tuner.

Fan is located above the VPU

Vents on sides

By moving the fan offset of the core, the fan has more room to work its magic within the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT’s ducted design. This also helps the fan’s motor, as it isn’t located directly above the graphics core, which can get hot under load. Besides dust, excess heat is one of the primary culprits for killing fan motors prematurely, so this offset design helps to ensure the longevity of the card’s fan. The top and sides of the duct’s enclosure are vented, allowing the hot air to escape the enclosure.

Overall the new cooler does a good job of keeping the graphics core cool, although do keep in mind that the RADEON 9600 XT core runs fairly cool to begin with. Also, with ATI’s current CATALYST 4.3 driver, ATI’s OVERDRIVE feature is disabled on the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT. So if you want to overclock your ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT, you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way for now.

Note the same board layout

ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT card

The botton of the card

Other than the new cooler, the rest of the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT’s board design is unchanged from the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO. The layout and board component circuitry is identical on both boards, right down to the same Samsung DDR modules, which are good for operation at up to 350MHz. ATI also shares the same video connector and module for the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT’s dual VGA capability. Simply plug the module into the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT, and you can power up to two VGA displays. (DVI capability isn’t available.)

The entire ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 line supports this feature and is a first for the ALL-IN-WONDER family. ATI also addressed one of the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO’s chief complaints: the lack of an antenna for radio tuning. ATI now includes an antenna in the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT’s packaging in addition to the purple VIVO module they’ve provided in the past, but the real big news is REMOTE WONDER II.