Introduction

While the concept of a media PC is nothing new, over the past couple of years a couple of promising new technologies have made the media PC concept more feasible than ever before. One of the first of these technologies was ATI’s All-In-Wonder. First introduced in 1996, with ATI’s All-In-Wonder, you can combine the functionality of many of your home theater system components -- DVD and CD players, TV, VCR, FM radio, and TiVo -- all into one device. This allows you to not only watch television programming on your PC, but you can record it to your PC too. Even while you’re away from your PC you can use an All-In-Wonder to automatically record your favorite television shows with a few mouse clicks, or with the provided remote control unit, from the comfort of your couch.

As good as the media PC has become however, things are about to get even better. In our opinion, the media PC is on the verge of a huge revolution. Microsoft, AMD, Intel, ATI, and many others are betting on this too, devoting millions of dollars towards developing and marketing new media-centric devices and software. This was showcased most prominently at CES earlier this year with the launch of Intel’s Viiv initiative at the show.

All-In-Wonder X1900 Card

All-In-Wonder X1800 XL (top) AIW X1900 (bottom)

But Intel isn’t the only one with a new media device promote, as last week ATI introduced the All-In-Wonder X1900.

Origins of the All-In-Wonder X1900

Normally when ATI introduces a new GPU, it takes ATI’s multimedia team a few months to integrate the new GPU into their All-In-Wonder line. The launch of the All-In-Wonder X1900 however marks the first time ATI’s desktop and multimedia divisions have launched new hardware on the same day.

The All-In-Wonder X1900 leverages all the key technologies found in the Radeon X1900, including ATI’s new R580 GPU with 48 pixel shaders and Avivo technology, with the multimedia capabilities All-In-Wonder cards are well known for.

But the All-In-Wonder X1900 doesn’t share the same performance as the X1900 XT and X1900 XTX cards that were announced a week ago. While all three cards are built on the exact same R580 GPU, ATI clocks the graphics core inside All-In-Wonder X1900 cards at a more sedate 500MHz. That’s 125MHz slower than the Radeon X1900 XT.

The card also ships with its memory modules running at 480MHz, a figure which is over 200MHz shy of the X1900 XT.

The AIW X1900 and Radeon X1900 XT CrossFire

AIW X1800 XL and AIW X1900 compared to X1900 XT CrossFire