Board analysis

AIW X1900 poses with the Radeon X1800 XL

Radeon X1800 XL and AIW X1800 XL have the same cooler

Back of the AIW X1900 card

Since the All-In-Wonder X1900 board we received for review is a pre-release engineering sample that is different from shipping, retail cards, we’re not going to devote as much time as we normally do to going over the board design ATI has employed for the All-In-Wonder X1900, as quite frankly, it isn’t the same as the board we’ve pictured today.

Instead, shipping boards will look like this:

This is what the final retail card will look like

Based on the reference photos above provided by ATI, it basically appears that ATI has borrowed the PCB and cooling from the All-In-Wonder X1800 XL and used it for final, shipping All-In-Wonder X1900 cards. As far as we can tell other than the different cooler, the differences between our pre-release board and final, shipping AIW X1900 boards are pretty limited. ATI employs a massive PCB for both cards that measures nearly 10” long. With such a long PCB, those of you with small form factor systems may have a tougher time getting the All-In-Wonder X1900 to fit inside your system’s case.

On the board’s back plate you’ll find a DVI connector as well as connections for FM and TV tuning, and finally, ATI’s proprietary “I/O connector”.

You can see the dongle connected to the I/O connector here

From the I/O connector, you can connect a wealth of devices including an additional VGA monitor (for dual display support) as well as ATI’s unique input/output blocks. The input/output blocks look like dominos, each acts as a dongle that you can use to connect external devices to your All-In-Wonder X1900 card such as a camcorder or VCR. To save space, the input/output blocks can be stacked like Legos. Inside the AIW X1900’s packaging you’ll find three input/output blocks.

Input/output block

The blocks can be stacked like this

The input block provides 1 S-Video connection, 1 composite, and 2 RCA stereo audio connections, while the output connection block features 1 S/PDIF, 1 S-Video, 1 composite, and 2 RCA stereo audio connections. Arrows on the edge of the block help to distinguish the video input block from the video output block. The third block has the component video connections you’ll need for hooking the AIW X1900 card up to an HDTV, as well as the pass thru cable which you’ll hook up to your sound card for audio.

Hooking everything up sounds complicated, but it’s actually fairly easy. Just plug in the AIW X1900 card like you would normally, then hookup the I/O connector we just mentioned. From here you’ll want to hookup the appropriate input/output dongles as well as your second VGA display. Finally, plug in the coaxial connections for FM and TV tuning (an FM antenna is provide inside the box), as well as the pass through cable for audio.

Once that’s done, boot up the computer, load all drivers and software programs included on the CATALYST CD, reboot, and you’re all done! The whole process shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes from beginning to end (depending on the speed of your computer), once you’re done, ATI’s TV tuner software will automatically scan for all your available channels, while Gemstar’s GUIDE PLUS software will download local TV listings for your area.