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ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO Review October 06, 2003 |
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Summary: Ever since the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO was originally announced, it has been highly anticipated by gamers and enthusiasts mainly due to one new feature: dual VGA support! If that weren't enough, ATI has a few other tricks up the AIW 9600 PRO's sleeves: faster clocks and an integrated FM tuner. Today we take ATI's latest multimedia whiz out for a test spin, read all the highlights and lowlights in this review, and don't forget the overclocking!
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 17 ) |
ATI’s ALL-IN-WONDER cards have earned (and we stress the word earned) a loyal following among consumers for their extraordinary combination of features, ease of use, flexibility, and performance. Need a video card for editing home movies? That’s no problem for ATI ALL-IN-WONDER. How about a card for watching and recording your favorite television shows? The ALL-IN-WONDER can do that too, and it can be programmed to record television programming for an entire season. And thanks to the power of its RADEON graphics core, ATI’s high-end ALL-IN-WONDER line has more than enough horsepower to tackle all of today’s latest games.Both the industry and consumers have recognized this, as ATI has racked in numerous awards and sales. The ALL-IN-WONDER line has been running strong for nearly a decade now and shows no signs of letting up anytime soon. In fact, ATI continues to find ways to innovate its multimedia marvel; the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO is a perfect example of this.
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Product segmentation
The ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO was built to address the needs of the mainstream market. If you look at ATI’s multimedia lineup before the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO, ATI had the ALL-IN-WONDER VE for the value/integrated markets. This card is based on a derivative of ATI’s RADEON 7500 VPU with 64MB of memory and is officially priced at $129. To help keep costs down, the ALL-IN-WONDER VE shipped without the REMOTE WONDER remote control unit; which is a $49 accessory. For those who needed a little more power, ATI offers the ALL-IN-WONDER 9000 PRO. Its RADEON 9000 PRO core brings DirectX 8 capability to the table, as well as added performance and REMOTE WONDER. At the same time, the price tag is still affordable at $169.
Just above the ALL-IN-WONDER 9000 PRO is the ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO. This card is ATI’s flagship and retails for $450 (ALL-IN-WONDER 9700 cards be still be found online for just under $300, but these cards are quickly becoming harder to find).
With two cards serving the value segment (albeit in different ways) and one card at the high-end, this left a gaping hole in the middle that ATI hadn’t addressed. The ALL-IN-WONDER 8500 used to serve this demographic, but it was replaced by the ALL-IN-WONDER 9000 PRO. ATI needed an answer and it wasn’t going to find it in the RADEON 9500. As it’s essentially a derivative of the RADEON 9700’s R300 core, it was too expensive to produce for the mainstream segment -- ATI would essentially be giving away cores that could be used in $300+ RADEON 9700 cards.
The RADEON 9500’s successor, RADEON 9600, however was cheaper to produce and, as an added bonus, consumed less power, therefore it generated less heat. This made it the perfect choice for ATI’s multimedia team, as the added board components the ALL-IN-WONDER line requires add to the heat generated by the board. When we originally previewed this card in August, quite a few of you were intrigued. Lets take a closer look at what makes this card so special.
SIDEBAR: ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO Webpage
| Improved 9600 specs | Page:: ( 2 / 17 ) |
RV350 core
At the heart of the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO is an improved version of ATI’s RADEON 9600 PRO. The RADEON 9600 PRO is ATI’s latest DirectX 9 offering for the mainstream segment. Unlike the RADEON 9800 PRO/9500 PRO, which both feature eight pixel pipes; the RADEON 9600 PRO features a four-pixel pipeline architecture with one texture unit per pixel pipeline. By reducing the number of pixel pipelines, ATI is able to save transistors at the expense of giving up some fill-rate (performance). This makes the RV350 core the RADEON 9600 PRO is based on cheaper to produce.
To help offset some of the performance the 4-pixel pipeline architecture gives up to the 9500 PRO, ATI has cranked the clock speed up to 400MHz. In comparison, the RADEON 9500 PRO operates at 275MHz. Part of the reason ATI is able to clock the RV350 core so high is because it’s based on TSMC’s 0.13-micron manufacturing process, previous ATI cores were built on 0.15-micron. By moving to a small process, the graphics core consumes less power, and thus it generates less heat. When you couple this with the significantly reduced transistor count (60 million versus 110 million) ATI is able to clock the core high without a significant amount of heat output. The lower transistor count and smaller manufacturing process also means ATI can produce the cores at a significantly lower cost.
Finally, ATI has improved its HYPERZ occlusion-culling technology with the RV360 core. While previous RADEON products support 6:1 Z compression, RADEON 9600 supports a higher 8:1 compression ratio. This essentially increases the RADEON 9600 PRO’s effective memory bandwidth.
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Faster memory
Speaking of memory bandwidth, this is one area the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO exceeds the specifications of its desktop counterpart, the RADEON 9600 PRO. While both cards sport 128-bit interfaces to their DDR memory (128MB in the case of the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO), the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO features 325MHz memory (650MHz effective) versus 300MHz memory in the RADEON 9600 PRO. This change nets the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO an additional 800MB/sec of memory bandwidth, 10.4GB/sec versus 9.6GB/sec.
This marks the first time ATI’s ALL-IN-WONDER part exceeded the specs of the desktop variant it’s based on.
SIDEBAR: ATI has shipped over 3 million ALL-IN-WONDER cards.
| Board analysis | Page:: ( 3 / 17 ) |
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
SIDEBAR: Batteries are included in the REMOTE WONDER’s packaging.
| TV viewing | Page:: ( 4 / 17 ) |
Everything is wrapped up in Multimedia Center 8.6. This is essentially the launch pad for the software applications that comprise the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO. Multimedia Center loads as a taskbar on the right side of your screen by default. From here you can launch the TV player, FM player, GUIDE PLUS+, CD player, etc., basically all of the ATI-based apps that shipped with your ALL-IN-WONDER card. We’ll discuss the TV player first.
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Watching TV on your PC
While we’ve posted several ALL-IN-WONDER reviews in the past, every time we post a new one, we still get a few emails asking if they really do play television programming on your PC, just like a TV. The answer is yes, they sure do! In fact, this is probably the ALL-IN-WONDER’s most popular feature.
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This makes the ALL-IN-WONDER perfect for small living environments like dorm rooms. You can combine the functionality of a TV, VCR, and DVD player all into your PC! This saves space, freeing up more room for school books. (Or at least that’s the excuse you tell your parents for justifying that shiny new ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO purchase.)
Up to 125 cable television stations are supported (70 antenna). Setup is a snap, as the tuner autoscans for channels just like a regular television.
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The TV player can do all sorts of cool things, the most talked about is definitely THRUVIEW. This feature places the television program you’re currently watching behind your Windows desktop. So your favorite show can literally appear underneath that Word document you're touching up, or the spreadsheet in Excel you’re preparing. You can adjust the transparency level to your eyes, although it’s a feature that’s still hard to get used too.
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More practical is the TV bar. When clicked, this feature will place the TV player in a box in the top corner of the application you’re using. This option is available in popular applications like Internet Explorer.
Like the ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO, the AIW 9600 PRO supports mulTView. This brings picture-in-picture support to the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO. Just pop in a second TV tuner and you’re all set. You can also record one channel while watching another with this feature.
Editor's Note: It has come to our attention that you can't use the dual VGA feature to watch TV on your secondary monitor while working on your primary display, it only works on the primary display. Fortunately, you can still drag your work to the secondary display, but you're locked to the primary display for TV viewing.
SIDEBAR: Keep in mind that TV display quality will be dependant on your cable signal.
| GUIDE PLUS+/Timeshifting | Page:: ( 5 / 17 ) |
Gemstar’s GUIDE PLUS+ software
Having an integrated TV player is nice and all, but what makes the package even more powerful is the GEMSTAR GUIDE PLUS+ software. Think of GEMSTAR GUIDE PLUS+ as your local TV guide on steroids. Not only do you have the latest local television listings (which are updated weekly), but GUIDE PLUS+ is also seamlessly integrated into the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO’s timeshifting capabilities and the REMOTE WONDER remote control unit.
If you’re a big fan of one actor in particular, you can use GUIDE PLUS+ to look up any upcoming programming he or she will be appearing in. You can also use the search feature to find all instances of particular shows, say for instance Simpsons reruns, which are syndicated practically everywhere.
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Navigation is a snap thanks to the REMOTE WONDER unit; you can also use your mouse as well. Your current station is displayed in the upper left corner (the black box in the screenshots) while a program description of the television program you’ve currently selected appears above the television listings. You can use GUIDE PLUS+ to record the program you’re currently watching, or, with SCHEDULE+, an entire season’s worth of programming. This is perfect for TV junkie who’s on the go yet doesn’t have time to program every single episode of their favorite television show.
Again, like the rest of the Multimedia Center software, setup is simple. Simply type in your area code and select your cable provider and you’re good to go. Keep in mind however that for the best experience you’ll probably want a broadband Internet connection that’s always on (but this isn’t a requirement). GEMSTAR GUIDE PLUS+ is completely free, there are no monthly charges for the service.
TV-ON-DEMAND
TV-ON-DEMAND refers to the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO’s ability to timeshift, just like a TiVo. This capability allows you to pause live TV, say for instance when nature calls, or you get an important phone call. Just press the pause button on your REMOTE WONDER remote, and the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO automatically saves the program you’re watching to your PC’s hard drive based on video settings you’ve defined. Then when you come back, you can pick up right where you left off.
You can fast-forward through those pesky commercials, or jump straight back to live TV at the push of a button. TV-ON-DEMAND is yet another way you can watch TV based on your schedule, and it’s easy to use.
FM player
Besides the TV player, the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO also supports FM tuning. The FM player that ships with the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO should offer everything you need for listening to the radio. Frequencies supported range from 75.9MHz to 108MHz while the player itself supports up to 10 radio presets. The player also boasts FM-ON-DEMAND, bringing timeshifting to the radio. You can record your favorite shows, pause live radio, and save songs you like to MP3. The FM player even comes with an alarm and built-in sleep settings!
The other players remain unchanged from previous ALL-IN-WONDER products. These include the DVD player, CD player, file player (which supports a plethora of video formats) and Video CD player. And in case you were skeptical, all of these players are more than capable of performing their assigned tasks.
SIDEBAR: The original ALL-IN-WONDER card was launched in 1996.
| Test Systems | Page:: ( 6 / 17 ) |
System Setup
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe
512MB OCZ EL PC3200 (DDR400) SDRAM
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO
ATI RADEON 9600 PRO
ATI RADEON 9000 PRO
Driver version CATALYST 3.7
Chaintech Personal Cinema GeForce FX 5600
Driver version Detonator 45.23
30GB IBM Deskstar DTLA 307030 ATA/100 Hard Drive
Windows XP Professional
DirectX 9.0b
Benchmarks
NASCAR Racing 2003 Season (Bristol custom demo)
Quake III: Arena version 1.32 (fscrusher demo)
Unreal Tournament 2003 (T2 custom demo)
IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles (The Black Death track)
Splinter Cell (FS custom demo)
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness (Paris demo)
SIDEBAR: We’re wondering what ATI will think of next for its ALL-IN-WONDER line…Satellite radio perhaps?
| NASCAR Racing 2003 Season | Page:: ( 7 / 17 ) |
Nascar 2003 – DX8
SIDEBAR: ATI launched its first DX9 ALL-IN-WONDER product just over a year ago – the ALL-IN-WONDER 9700 PRO.
| IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles 4xAA | Page:: ( 8 / 17 ) |
IL-2 Sturmovik: FB - OpenGL
SIDEBAR: ATI has no plans to introduce a 256MB ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO variant.
| Quake III 4xAA/8xAF | Page:: ( 9 / 17 ) |
Quake III - OpenGL
SIDEBAR: We’re looking forward to testing ATI’s upcoming CATALYST 3.8 drivers!
| Unreal Tournament 2003 | Page:: ( 10 / 17 ) |
Unreal Tournament 2003 – DX8
SIDEBAR: UT 2004 is about a month away from release now.
| Splinter Cell | Page:: ( 11 / 17 ) |
Splinter Cell – DX8
SIDEBAR: ATI recently reported a net income of $22.3 million.
| Tomb Raider | Page:: ( 12 / 17 ) |
Tomb Raider – DX9
SIDEBAR: Tomb Raider is one of the first DX9 titles to hit store shelves; we used the v49 patch for testing.
| UT 2003 4xAA/8xAF | Page:: ( 13 / 17 ) |
Unreal Tournament 2003
SIDEBAR: How ‘bout ‘dem Kansas City Chiefs?
| Tomb Raider | Page:: ( 14 / 17 ) |
Tomb Raider – Direct3D
SIDEBAR: We will also be incorporating Halo eventually, but the current benchmark generates its frame rates based on letterbox cutscenes.
| Overclocking | Page:: ( 15 / 17 ) |
Quake 3
Unreal Tournament 2003
SIDEBAR: We used Powerstrip 3.45 to overclock the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO card
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 16 / 17 ) |
Pros
Performance: ATI’s RADEON 9600 PRO VPU may fall short of its predecessor in some areas, but it’s still a powerful offering. It’s not just speedy in DX8 titles either, as our benchmarks with Tomb Raider show. And thanks to the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO’s 650MHz memory, ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO owners have a slight performance advantage over RADEON 9600 PRO users.
NVIDIA’s closest equivalent, the Personal Cinema FX5600, is also a DX9 card, but it lacks the horsepower to keep up with the RADEON 9600 PRO in existing games, and based on what we’ve seen so far, when you throw a next generation DX9 title at it, it whips the NVIDIA offering.
Multimedia powerhouse: As its name implies, the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO can do it all. Whether you want to watch a little TV on your PC, or you’re a budding home video enthusiast, the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO is ready to serve. It’s not just the hardware that makes the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO so impressive either, equally important is the software. Gemstar’s GUIDE PLUS+ is the perfect companion for the TV player, which, when paired with the timeshifting capabilities of the software can transform your PC into a TiVo box.
ATI’s ALL-IN-WONDER line is just unmatched when it comes to versatility.
REMOTE WONDER: While the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO doesn’t ship with REMOTE WONDER II, the original REMOTE WONDER remote control unit is still a very capable solution. Not only can you use it to control the TV and DVD player software, it also functions seamlessly with the other capabilities of the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO such as TV-ON-DEMAND, and GUIDE PLUS+. If all that weren’t enough, you can even use the remote control unit as a mouse!
You’ll have to wait for REMOTE WONDER II for FM tuning capability built into the remote however. ATI includes a coupon in the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO’s packaging, so as soon as it’s finished it will be shipped to ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO owners.
Dual VGA: For years, ALL-IN-WONDER owners and prospective owners have begged ATI for dual VGA support. With the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO, this feature has finally arrived! And if you were concerned with the visual quality of the display connector, don't be. Output still looked sharp to our eyes.
Half-Life 2: ATI ships the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO with a redeemable coupon for Half-Life 2. The coupon contains a code you can use to either download a copy of the game, or send in to have a Half-Life 2 CD sent to your address (shipping and handling fees will apply). This is on top of the standard software bundle of Morrowind, Pinnacle Studio 8, and Matchware Mediator 7.
Price: The ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO officially retails for $249. That’s a $50 price premium over the MSRP of the RADEON 9600 PRO. If you think that’s a high price to pay, consider this: the REMOTE WONDER remote control unit retails for $49 by itself. We still haven’t included the added capabilities the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO brings such as video input and TV tuning, or the fact that it ships with faster memory.
Cons
Small form-factor a no-go: Try as we might, we just couldn’t get the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO to fit inside our small form-factor chassis’. Considering the low power and heat the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO generates, we’re sure this is a huge bummer to the small form-factor enthusiast – the RV350 core this card is based on is perfect for these types of applications! Home theater PCs are becoming more popular by the minute thanks in part to the ALL-IN-WONDER line and the engineering of today’s latest small form-factor setups, but as it stands now the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO will have to stand on the sidelines, the coax connector for the FM tuner is just too high.
Perhaps small form-factor users can petition ATI to make a small form-factor edition of the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO that omits the FM tuner’s coax connector? We’re sure many of you would be willing to sacrifice this feature.
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Hopefully ATI will shift the Philips tuner to the bottom of the card's PCB in future ALL-IN-WONDER products, as the FM tuner is a nice addition.
UPDATE 11/09: We've received reports from end users with Shuttle small form-factor systems that have been able to get the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO to fit in their cases. One FS reader, tbeets, bent the bottom of the metal backplate on his card in order for it to fit to properly.
Another reader, Peter Wong, accomplished the task by removing the backplate entirely. His story: "if you notice, there are 6 things holding the bracket onto the card: the 2 nuts for the video cable, the 2 tightening rings on the coaxial inputs, and lastly there are 2 screws on both the top and bottom that secure the ends of the bracket to the board. if you remove the lower screw, and the 2 nuts for the video input, you will be able to loosen up the bracket enough so that you can move it out of the way, and slide the card right in. once the card is in the agp slot, reattach the screws and nuts and you're good to go."
No FM antenna: The ironic part is, the feature that prevents the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO from fitting inside small form-factor setups, also won’t work straight out of the box since ATI doesn’t include an FM antenna in the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO’s packaging.
Fortunately this is a problem that can quickly be resolved with a quick trip to Radio Shack. Lets face it, we’d much rather have ATI skimp on the radio antenna than the awesome REMOTE WONDER remote control unit.
Lack of DVI: While high-end LCD displays are still ridiculously expensive in comparison to CRTs, LCDs are rapidly gaining in popularity. Flat panel users will have to rely on the AIW 9600 PRO’s VGA connectors.
SIDEBAR: Did you see those overclocking results!? Who needs a RADEON 9600XT anymore!
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 17 / 17 ) |
FiringSquad says:
Despite the setback for small form-factor users, ATI’s got another homerun with the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO.
The biggest addition would obviously be the dual VGA support. This is a feature that multiple RADEON VPUs have been capable of supporting, but due to size constraints, ATI’s multimedia team has never been able to integrate this in an ALL-IN-WONDER product. If you wanted dual displays, one of them had to be the TV. Hopefully this is a feature that ATI will employ in all of its upcoming ALL-IN-WONDER products.
The second addition is the FM tuner. When the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO was originally announced in August, lots of consumers were buzzing about this feature – it caught quite a few people by surprise! This feature adds another application that the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO can be used for, and with its built-in alarm clock, check off yet another application. Because of this, those of you in dorms can use your PC for television viewing, digital VCR recording, DVD playback, radio listening, and as an alarm clock. The traditional stereo/home entertainment system truly is obsolete! You can also use its video input capabilities to make vid caps of your favorite PS2 or Xbox games.
ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO owners also have bragging rights over RADEON 9600 PRO users – the AIW card has faster memory. This marks the first time that an ALL-IN-WONDER card was faster than the desktop card it’s based on.
Is the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO the perfect ALL-IN-WONDER card? No. The lack of a DVI output option will disappoint those of you with flat panel displays that support this feature, while the omission of an FM antenna will set you back a few bucks.
Small form-factor owners are really lusting for this card in particular, as it generates little heat and consumes less power than ATI’s ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO, yet it still offers DX9 compliance and good performance. With a little bit of installation work, the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO is perfect for this application.
The ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO hits the spot dead-on. And at $249, ATI has priced this card to move. Based on what we’ve seen today, we see no reason why the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO won’t be another sales success for ATI and its multimedia unit.
SIDEBAR: Is the ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO everything you had hoped for, or were you disappointed by the lack of a DVI output? Voice your thoughts on this card in the news comments!