What does All in Wonder mean?

[master_of_alias]

Hello all,

In the market to up grade my 9800pro agp and find myself once again
trying to understand the differences in chipset and model number
suffixes.

What exactly does All in Wonder mean?

For example, if i see x800 XT and All in Wonder x800 XT are they the
same thing?

Is their a heirarchy of suffixes? Something like GS < GT < XT?

Many thanks and will probably be back with more questions later.

Cheers.

 

[ftran999]

Hello all,

In the market to up grade my 9800pro agp and find myself once again
trying to understand the differences in chipset and model number
suffixes.

What exactly does All in Wonder mean?

It means it has a tv tuner and PVR capabilities integrated into the card.

For example, if i see x800 XT and All in Wonder x800 XT are they the
same thing?

Just about except for the TV tuner.

 

[Barry Watzman]

The "All-in-Wonder" (AIW) series of product have a whole slew of
multimedia components on a single card. These include:

-Video Card
-TV tuner
-Closed caption decoder
-Video (TV) input
-Video capture
-Video (TV) output
-Firewire port (only in some models)

Also, there is related software that comes with the All-in-Wonder
products, for example an EPG (electronic program guide).

The Video card component of AIW cards is generally a bit (but not too
much) less powerful than "just video cards" using the same chip.

ATI has announced that the AIW 2006 (based on the Radeon X1300) will be
the last card in the series and that they currently have no plans for
any future AIW cards.

Yes, ATI does have a standardized heirarchy of suffixes, but I'm not
sure that I know what it is. SE is a low end product, below the "no
suffix" model in performance, but I'm not able to rank GS, GT or XT
(although I think XT is the high-end suffix). I'll let someone else
chime in on that.

 

[Andrew MacPherson]

What exactly does All in Wonder mean?

I like ATI's cards for 2D and 3D, but the AIW side of things has never
worked well for me. So in my opinion it's shorthand for "All in a mess,
wonder if I'll ever get it to work properly?"

Andrew McP

 

[Barry Watzman]

I've had several dozen of them over the past decade and have been
generally satisfied with them.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Master.

As explained by the others, it was an all-in-one card, so (with the help of
the marketing department, no doubt) they called it the "All in One-der"
card.

And as someone explained here recently, after the 8000 and 9000 series
cards, they didn't want to call the next series the 10000 models, so they
used good old Roman numeral X on the X800. But then they were faced with
11000 - and it became the X1800. That's not 1800 in the X series, but 800
in the X1 series. Maybe the reason they sold the company to AMD was because
they couldn't figure out what number comes next.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Currently running Vista x86 build 5744 RC2)

 

[Andrew MacPherson]

I've had several dozen of them over the past decade and have been
generally satisfied with them.

You get through a lot of video cards!

I prefer ATI and will be buying another card soon. But neither my AIW
9800SE or AIW X800Pro (both in different machines) ever worked more than
grudgingly with TV input.

I'm quite prepared to believe my experience is exceptional though.

Andrew McP

 

[Ken Maltby]

Hello all,

In the market to up grade my 9800pro agp and find myself once again
trying to understand the differences in chipset and model number
suffixes.

What exactly does All in Wonder mean?

For example, if i see x800 XT and All in Wonder x800 XT are they the
same thing?

Is their a heirarchy of suffixes? Something like GS < GT < XT?

Many thanks and will probably be back with more questions later.

Cheers.

Have you heard of the phrase:
"Jack of all trades, Master of none"?
Basically the same thing.

Luck;
Ken

 

[Borderline Psycho]

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 11:40 +0100 (BST),

I prefer ATI and will be buying another card soon. But neither my AIW
9800SE or AIW X800Pro (both in different machines) ever worked more than
grudgingly with TV input.

I'm quite prepared to believe my experience is exceptional though.

Don't believe that. I'm on my first AIW card, and it will be my last.
I've also seen enough people posting here with problems regarding the
software that I think the hardware is okay, but the ATI multimedia
drivers and software are the real culprit.

If you must buy an AIW card, make sure to budget for some good third
party software to use it. At least then you can remove the ATI MMC
software from your troubleshooting equation.

 

[Barry Watzman]

A lot depends on the installation and the specifics of the system. I've
had zero trouble with my AIW 2006 (PCI Express version), but others have
had nothing but trouble. Among other things, there are some chipsets
that apparently just don't work well with the AIW cards or [more likely]
their software. I'm using an Intel system, which is the most compatible
of the various chipsets.

 

[master_of_alias]

Just a follow up to add to the knowledge base and help anyone who has
the same question later.

Upgraded my 9800pro to X800xt AIW.
I went with it because: it was in my price range ~150, agp, worked with
my powersupply, scored well on Tom's Hardware tests and was available
locally retail.
Could only find AIW, would have gone with straight x800xt if i could
have found it.

Antec Sonota Case w/ 380 PS.
Motherboard ASUS P4P800 Deluxe
Windows XP sp2

Whole process was very easy.

Made sure my BIOS was up to date.
Removed old video drivers, just used the Windows utility.

New board went in easy enough. Only thing that threw me was the two
boards used different power coupling. But the Sonata had both plugs on
the same powercord so when i finally figured it out it was very
painless.

Installed drivers from disc.

Cant really comment on the AIW features as i did not hook any of that
stuff up. (And it comes with alot of hardware).

Noticed big performance boost in EQ2 went from "balanced" to "High
Quality" with shadows off.
Fixed some bleeding issues i was having with CoD2.

Hope this help someone else.

Cheers.

 

[Andrew MacPherson]

Cant really comment on the AIW features as i did not hook any
of that stuff up

Um... I think that means you're in the wrong thread.

I've never had a problem with the "normal" parts of any ATI card. It's
only the AIW features which have caused me grief.

Andrew McP

 

[Ralphey]

On Wed, 8 Nov 2006 06:53 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),

Um... I think that means you're in the wrong thread.

I've never had a problem with the "normal" parts of any ATI card. It's
only the AIW features which have caused me grief.

Andrew McP

I started using ATI with an 8Mb All In Wonder Pro about 8 years ago
and have used several since. I have never had a problem with them
since the first. The most important thing to remember is that
some versions of the Catalyst software don't work well with
the All In Wonder. I have been using the 9.03 mmc version
for a while and it works well. Also, the AIW series don't like
to be overclocked too much. They tend to go haywire
at much over 70 MHz on the AGP buss.

I am currently using an X800XT AIW 256Mb and I like it.
I am watching X-Files through my Direct-TV on my
second 22 inch monitor.

Maybe somebody else can answer this:
Why has Newegg stopped offering the X800XT AIW
on their site. I haven't seen them for quite a while.
They were last selling for $169.00 about six months ago.