ATI's All-In-Wonder X1900 Performance And DVD Decoding Quality
by Josh Venning on February 10, 2006 8:45 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Card
As we've already mentioned, the All-In-Wonder X1900 is based on an X1900 with lower engine and memory clocks. Essentially, the AIW X1900 has about the same clock speeds as the X1800 XL version of the AIW, with just a slightly lower memory clock (960MHz vs 1GHz). What makes the AIW X1900 much faster though is the 48 Pixel Pipelines as opposed to the AIW X1800 XL's 16. Still, the much lower clock speeds of the AIW X1900 will give it significantly lower performance than the regular X1900s, as we will see later on.
As you can see, the familiar purple and gold look is back, but despite the card's name, it bears hardly any resemblance to a standard X1900. The HSF, much flatter than even an X1800 XT, looks identical to the one on the AIW X1800 XL. All of the standard AIW connections and dongles are included, with FM and Cable TV connections above the dual link DVI-I output. The Remote Wonder is back, but has been modified to be much slimmer than previous models. Also, the software bundle includes both Adobe Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements (Photoshop was not included with the recent X1600 based All In Wonder 2006).
Features
The features included with the AIW X1900 are about the same as those of other All In Wonder cards. Because we've covered these features in previous reviews, we will be only offering a recap of what is available. For a more detailed look at the features, take a look at the features section of the All-In-Wonder X1800 XL article.
Obviously, the multimedia features center around the AIW ability to record and play back video from different sources. Along with a standard set of players included in the multimedia center software, there is also the Gemstar GUIDE Plus+ that lets you download program schedules and record upcoming shows in a TiVo-esque way. The Thruview feature is here as well, which allows you to watch video that's opacity has been decreased, allowing the user to perform other tasks like writing email or web browsing at the same time. There is a CD player, DVD player, FM radio tuner and a standard file player all included, as well as the launchpad tool bar that will start up with windows for access to all of these.
The AIW X1900 is very easy to install and setup as well. This has been a consistent trait of all the AIW cards we've tested and is part of why we like these cards so much. Having the ability to record and archive your favorite shows or movies (as well as home movies) and also play the latest games at high resolutions without having to switch cards is a pretty nice feature.
As we've already mentioned, the All-In-Wonder X1900 is based on an X1900 with lower engine and memory clocks. Essentially, the AIW X1900 has about the same clock speeds as the X1800 XL version of the AIW, with just a slightly lower memory clock (960MHz vs 1GHz). What makes the AIW X1900 much faster though is the 48 Pixel Pipelines as opposed to the AIW X1800 XL's 16. Still, the much lower clock speeds of the AIW X1900 will give it significantly lower performance than the regular X1900s, as we will see later on.
As you can see, the familiar purple and gold look is back, but despite the card's name, it bears hardly any resemblance to a standard X1900. The HSF, much flatter than even an X1800 XT, looks identical to the one on the AIW X1800 XL. All of the standard AIW connections and dongles are included, with FM and Cable TV connections above the dual link DVI-I output. The Remote Wonder is back, but has been modified to be much slimmer than previous models. Also, the software bundle includes both Adobe Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements (Photoshop was not included with the recent X1600 based All In Wonder 2006).
Features
The features included with the AIW X1900 are about the same as those of other All In Wonder cards. Because we've covered these features in previous reviews, we will be only offering a recap of what is available. For a more detailed look at the features, take a look at the features section of the All-In-Wonder X1800 XL article.
Obviously, the multimedia features center around the AIW ability to record and play back video from different sources. Along with a standard set of players included in the multimedia center software, there is also the Gemstar GUIDE Plus+ that lets you download program schedules and record upcoming shows in a TiVo-esque way. The Thruview feature is here as well, which allows you to watch video that's opacity has been decreased, allowing the user to perform other tasks like writing email or web browsing at the same time. There is a CD player, DVD player, FM radio tuner and a standard file player all included, as well as the launchpad tool bar that will start up with windows for access to all of these.
The AIW X1900 is very easy to install and setup as well. This has been a consistent trait of all the AIW cards we've tested and is part of why we like these cards so much. Having the ability to record and archive your favorite shows or movies (as well as home movies) and also play the latest games at high resolutions without having to switch cards is a pretty nice feature.
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Sunrise089 - Friday, February 10, 2006 - link
You have identical numbers for w/ AA and w/o. Also, the text's comment on the X1900AIW being playable at all reolutions with AA uses the incorrect numbers.plonk420 - Friday, February 10, 2006 - link
does the ATI decoder give you the option to ADD sharpening? or not at all? my whole reason for wanting a (hardware accellerated) software decoder is so i can have a pic quality rivaling a ("popular") $200 hardware player for whatever extra it would be for the software. supposedly free for ATI or $30 for nVidia (for my application: 2.0 sound)hwhacker - Friday, February 10, 2006 - link
here we go:http://www.bytesector.com/data/bs-article.asp?ID=6...">http://www.bytesector.com/data/bs-article.asp?ID=6...
590/684...I was close.
18+% improvement in 3dmark06, you know that has to translate to something good in gaming.
hwhacker - Friday, February 10, 2006 - link
It uses 2.0ns chips from what I recall, as does newer BBA x1800xl's (instead of 1.4ns).There was one site that did an overclocking section on it, I forget which. The results were similar to x1800xl's, the end clock speed ending up 600+/almost 700 iirc. You know how XL's clock, i'm sure.
So in essence, yes, it overclocks well, and I do remember the site being amazed by the performance improvement through overclocking. I still don't get how 2.0ns chips can hit 1.4ns speeds if there is a speed bin in-between for cards like nvidia's 7800gt/gtx that you would think use that supply...but i've seen quite a few cards with the newer, slower, chips hitting the same approx speeds as the old ones with 1.4ns, and i'm not complaining. ;)
I'm sure with the overclock or ATiTool soft-vmods this thing would be killer, especially with better cooling than the known-for-sucking XL stock cooler.
Shadowmage - Friday, February 10, 2006 - link
What I'm curious to know is whether the AIW can overclock to roughly XT/XTX speeds.What type of RAM does the AIW use?
Zebo - Saturday, February 11, 2006 - link
Agreed. How can AT not include this? Lame.DigitalFreak - Friday, February 10, 2006 - link
Although I appreciate the DVD decoder tests, how is this review related to the AIW features of the card?highlandsun - Friday, February 10, 2006 - link
I would have been more interested in seeing how well it handled H.264 decoding at 1920x1080p.oxid - Friday, February 10, 2006 - link
does the 7800 gt use another video processor then the GTX? because in the last review with the HQV tests the 7800 gtx scored better then the gt in this review...mpeavid - Friday, February 10, 2006 - link
You guys need to use the exact same frame as an example for all cadence tests. Not doing so can invalidate your test.