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The
Card and The Bundle |
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Pristine Layout, Solid Quality and Lots Of Extras |
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As we noted
earlier, the layout on this card is super tight. The
heatsink is a different shape than that which is found on a
Radeon 9800 Pro but the surface area is comparable. It
does a decent job of cooling the VPU, however, we found our
card to run pretty hot over all. Although the heat is
not excessive, the TV Tuner section on this card also adds a
fair amount of warmth to the overall assembly.
Regardless, we found our card ran very stable within spec
and actually overclocked respectably as well. We hit a
stable 415MHz Core and 710MHz Memory speed, without lock-ups
or artifacts.
The included bundle ATi provides
with this card, offers all you'll need to take advantage of
the card's capabilities and then some. Included are
full release copies of Morrowind Elder Scrolls, a fantastic
looking game from Bethesda Softworks (screen shots coming
up!), as well as Matchware Mediator 7 and Pinnacle Studio 8,
an excellent video editing package. The purple colored
break-out box and associated cabling ATi packs in with the
AIW R9800 Pro, allows for S-Video and Composite Video and
Audio input, for capture in the card's on board "Theater
200" video controller. This setup gave us the ability
to easily take an S-Video output from our Digital Camcorder
(or any other video device) and capture MPEG or MPEG2 movies
on our system, with a wide array of quality levels ranging
all the way up to DVD quality 720X480 capture. Of
course you can also capture direct from the TV Tuner signal
as well.
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The
Remote Wonder |
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The
Right Way To Run The Clicker |
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ATi's "Remote
Wonder" has been shipping with many of their All In Wonder
solutions for a long time now. It is easily the most
powerful, longest range remote control solution for the PC
currently, that money can buy. We've showcased this
device in several other All-In-Wonder articles here at
HotHardware but for those who have missed our coverage, this
remote is not like any you have ever used before, most
likely. The Remote Wonder is an RF (Radio Frequency)
remote and as such, does not need to have a "line of site"
to its companion USB transmitter (pictured above).
With a range of about 30 feet, this remote works through
walls and the transmitter can be easily tossed behind your
PC case, out of site, yet still function perfectly.
The Remote
Wonder's software suite also includes mouse functionality,
for full control of your desktop. This function alone
allows you to convert your PC into a true multi-functional
and Multimedia device. A PC with this installation can
be operated from the comfort and convenience of your living
room sofa, as you surf the web, play DVDs, and music.
Add to this a companion cordless mouse and keyboard and
you'll be completely cable free. Finally, there are a
number of plug-ins available for popular Music, Video and
Multimedia players, that can be installed for use with the
Remote Wonder. WinAmp, Windows Media Player and
PowerDVD are just a few of the third party applications that
have Remote Wonder plug-ins available. You can take a
spin by the
Remote Wonder site, for a list of all plug-ins currently
available.
Multimedia Center 8.5, EasyLook and Bundled Software
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