ATI All-in-Wonder X1900
Similar articles
Reviews section
ADVERTISEMENT
Reviews Disclaimer
Readers are reminded that the opinions expressed, and the results published in connection with reviews and/or laboratory test reports carried out on computing systems and/or related items are confined to, and representative of, only those goods supplied and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase.

ATI All-in-Wonder X1900

Following on from the blazingly fast X1900 XTX comes ATI's latest multimedia graphics card

What is this?
Recommended by PCW
Price: £279
Manufacturer: ATI
Technical specifications



Ratings
Overall rating: Overall rating
Features: Features
Ease of use: Ease of use
Value for money: Value for money
Rate this product
Verdict

Pros: Runs cooler than X1900 XTX; can be used with Media Center
Cons: Single tuner; can't match other X1900 cards for performance
Overall: The X1900 All-in-Wonder combines excellent multimedia features with equally impressive performance


Will Stapley, Personal Computer World 08 Feb 2006

ADVERTISEMENT

ATI has just launched the All-in-Wonder card X1900 based on the new R580 chip.

But, as expected, core and memory clock speeds aren't as fast as with the top of the range X1900 XTX.

The core drops 150MHz down to 500MHz, while the effective memory speed sits at 960MHz compared to the X1900 XTX's 1,550MHz.

ATI has also halved the on-board memory to 256MB.

Despite this, the number of vertex and pixel pipelines remains at 8 and 48 respectively, which means the X1900 XTX is still a fast card.

In 3Dmark05 it picked up a score of 8,347 while Far Cry ran at 62.2fps (frames per second).

Impressively, these results place it above the X1800 XT in terms of performance.

Although dropping the memory and core clock speeds means it's not as quick as the X1900 XTX, the benefit is it runs far cooler.

As a consequence, the bulky two-PCI slot design is replaced with a standard-sized card.

The TV tuner included is Theatre 200 chip and will receive either standard analogue or digital Freeview broadcasts (click here for details of coverage).

The tuner will also work fine in conjunction Windows Media Center Edition.

However, it's only a single-tuner, so those wanting to record two channels at once will need to purchase a second tuner.

Bundled accessories include a remote control (known as the Remote Wonder Plus), and an external box for hooking up component, S-video and composite connections.

As with previous All-in-Wonder cards, a single DVI output is also provided.

For those after a multimedia graphics card that is also able to handle intensive 3D gaming, the All-in-Wonder X1900 certainly fits the bill.

With slower clock speeds and half the memory of the X1900 XTX, performance obviously takes a hit, but for most gamers it will be perfectly adequate.

What's more, at under £300 it's very reasonably priced.


All Graphics Cards

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

Post this to Delicious del.icio.us    Post this to Digg Digg this    Post this to reddit reddit!

Permalink for this story

R E A D E R   R E V I E W S
M A R K E T P L A C E
Sponsored links