ATI has been at the forefront of multimedia applications for their video cards for years. The first “All-In-Wonder” video card was released way back in 1996 with the ability to play TV on the PC. Since then ATI has released many AIW products until the release of the AIW X1900 their last AIW card in 2006. The gap of two years has seen the release of many video chip families including the HD2xxx, HD3xxx and the HD4xxx families of video cards.
One of the problems with designing their AIW line of VGA cards is that they are generally six months behind the family launch, so that a new chip is released before the AIW would normally be ready to release. This is one of the reasons why ATI has stayed out of the AIW release for the last two years as no less than three different chip families have been released since the X1900 and was four generations ago, if you count the X1950XTX cards. ATI announced the AIW HD on June 26 and today that is the card on the test bench for us to see how well it works and why it’s a viable product.
Feautures:
ATI All-in-Wonder™ HD - GPU Specifications :
378 million transistors on 55nm fabrication process.PCI Express 2.0 x16 bus interface .725MHz GPU engine clock .512MB DDR2 @ 600MHz .128-bit DDR2 memory interface .Ring Bus Memory Controller .Fully distributed design with 256-bit internal ring bus for memory reads and writes .
First thing I noticed on the AIW HD is the tuner can on the front of the PCB. Earlier Tuner cans were half the size of the card almost and required redesigning the card to fit the tuner can (AIW 9800 Pro). Later cards like the A-I-W x1900 card had smaller tuner cans but the A-I-W HD has the smallest tuner can yet with a size that belies its capabilities to run the latest in digital TV standards.
The card itself is a little bigger than a reference ATI HD3650 card with a small fan surrounded by a heatsink that covers the length of the card. Racing stripes on the heatsink give the card a distinctive look. The card has 512MB of GDDR2 memory arranged in four 1024 megabit memory chips on the back of the PCB. The memory is clocked at a modest 900MHz, which is the same as the reference HD 3650 card but there are cards on the market with higher clock speeds.
One thing this card distinctly lacks is a Crossfire connector. While one could question the need for it, it would be cool to be able to increase the gaming potential of a system with this card by pairing it with another HD 3650. The IO of the card sports a single DVI port and the CATV input for connecting the cable or antenna to the PC. A HDMI connection rounds out the IO on the card, allowing the connection to a HDMI HDTV or monitor. Finally an Audio/Video daughter card is included offering S-Video Component Out, Composite and Stereo Audio jacks.
Gaming on the AIW HD:
The HD 3650 chip used on the A-I-W HD card is on the very low end of the performance spectrum right now, as it has been replaced by the HD 4850 for the under $200 price point. Crysis was unplayable at the High settings, but the HD 3650 is not well suited for that game anyway. The key point of the HD 3xxx series is the support of DirectX 10.1.The A-I-W HD card is capable of decent gaming on the less graphics stressful fps titles like Call of Duty 4 or Unreal Tournament 3 with framerates in the 30s throughout. One thing to keep in mind is that the HD 3650 is about ¼ of a HD 4870 and playing games like these without AA and AF turned on is an enjoyable experience. The A-I-W HD is meant for the casual gamer and should be looked at overall instead of focusing on gaming by itself.
SOURCE: http://www.neoseeker.com/
One of the problems with designing their AIW line of VGA cards is that they are generally six months behind the family launch, so that a new chip is released before the AIW would normally be ready to release. This is one of the reasons why ATI has stayed out of the AIW release for the last two years as no less than three different chip families have been released since the X1900 and was four generations ago, if you count the X1950XTX cards. ATI announced the AIW HD on June 26 and today that is the card on the test bench for us to see how well it works and why it’s a viable product.
Feautures:
ATI All-in-Wonder™ HD - GPU Specifications :
378 million transistors on 55nm fabrication process.PCI Express 2.0 x16 bus interface .725MHz GPU engine clock .512MB DDR2 @ 600MHz .128-bit DDR2 memory interface .Ring Bus Memory Controller .Fully distributed design with 256-bit internal ring bus for memory reads and writes .
First thing I noticed on the AIW HD is the tuner can on the front of the PCB. Earlier Tuner cans were half the size of the card almost and required redesigning the card to fit the tuner can (AIW 9800 Pro). Later cards like the A-I-W x1900 card had smaller tuner cans but the A-I-W HD has the smallest tuner can yet with a size that belies its capabilities to run the latest in digital TV standards.
The card itself is a little bigger than a reference ATI HD3650 card with a small fan surrounded by a heatsink that covers the length of the card. Racing stripes on the heatsink give the card a distinctive look. The card has 512MB of GDDR2 memory arranged in four 1024 megabit memory chips on the back of the PCB. The memory is clocked at a modest 900MHz, which is the same as the reference HD 3650 card but there are cards on the market with higher clock speeds.
One thing this card distinctly lacks is a Crossfire connector. While one could question the need for it, it would be cool to be able to increase the gaming potential of a system with this card by pairing it with another HD 3650. The IO of the card sports a single DVI port and the CATV input for connecting the cable or antenna to the PC. A HDMI connection rounds out the IO on the card, allowing the connection to a HDMI HDTV or monitor. Finally an Audio/Video daughter card is included offering S-Video Component Out, Composite and Stereo Audio jacks.
Gaming on the AIW HD:
The HD 3650 chip used on the A-I-W HD card is on the very low end of the performance spectrum right now, as it has been replaced by the HD 4850 for the under $200 price point. Crysis was unplayable at the High settings, but the HD 3650 is not well suited for that game anyway. The key point of the HD 3xxx series is the support of DirectX 10.1.The A-I-W HD card is capable of decent gaming on the less graphics stressful fps titles like Call of Duty 4 or Unreal Tournament 3 with framerates in the 30s throughout. One thing to keep in mind is that the HD 3650 is about ¼ of a HD 4870 and playing games like these without AA and AF turned on is an enjoyable experience. The A-I-W HD is meant for the casual gamer and should be looked at overall instead of focusing on gaming by itself.
SOURCE: http://www.neoseeker.com/
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