Customer Reviews

ATI All-In-Wonder X800 XL 256 MB PCIe

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This PCI-Express video card is both very good for gaming and will turn your computer into the equivalent of a Windows Media Center Edition (R) computer with FM receiver and TV tuner on board. It comes with every type of video and audio connector imaginable, and supports two video screens. It also comes with a Remote Wonder Plus wireless remote control with a receiver which plugs into a USB port. I haven't played with the software much, but it includes the ability to record TV programs, and pause and play programs you are watching.

C/Net's review gives it a "very good" 7.0 out of 10. C/Net notes: "The ATI All-In-Wonder X800 XL will have you gaming, watching TV, and listening to FM radio, but it doesn't stand out in any one area." This includes the software: while it comes with all the software goodies you need including TV, TV-Guide, DVD Player, media player, and FM tuner, the software isn't as slick as Media Center Edition. But, it gets the job done.

The Software is Problematic

Be forewarned, the TV tuner does not work properly with Windows XP using the version of the software which came with the unit I purchased. The TV will work initially, but loses the audio if the computer is on for too long before you start it. You can download updated software which works better, but it is not easy to install properly and does not fully integrate with the TV Guide program included. I do not recommend doing this if you have a dial-up connection unless you want the download to go on all night long. The new software is better, but still buggy -- at least on my computer.

The software in the box includes Gemstar GuidePlus+ software, which acts as a type of TV guide. The upgraded software which you download does not appear to include Gemstar. The old version of Gemstar does not work well with the new TV drivers. The Gemstar installation has an update wizzard which allows the programs to work together more or less propertly.

The TV works Well

Once installed properly, the TV is good, but with the new software, the digitization leaves noticeable "box" distortion, particularly in full screen mode. However, it is watchable and is is much better than the picture on an AverTV video card I used to have. It also has modes where it will replace your desktop wallpaper with the TV video and another mode where the TV picture becomes transparent so you can see the windows below it. It's kind of cool to watch TV behind your desktop icons, but I really can't see much use for it.

The software also includes a program similar to Media Center Edition. It is not as slick as Media Center and not all of the features appear to work. It includes a remote control which almost works.

The card is fast

The card's clock speed is 400 MHz and it has 256K of DDR memory. I have it mated to an Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13 GHz processor, and an Intel DG965wh m/b with 1G DDRII 4300 memory. At screen resolution of 1024 X 768 it got the following benchmark scores:

3dMark 2001 = 21,342
3dMark 2003 = 11,223
3dMark 2005 = 5,098

Although I don't remember the video scores from the processor on board the Intel motherboard, this ATI card is a lot faster. You can get significantly higher video rates, but you would need a card and motherboard which combo which supports multiple video cards (SLI or Crossfire), and/or a faster computer processor. These scores show it is one of the faster solo video cards on the market.

Originally, this card sold for about $400. At the present price point, it may be cheaper to buy this card than to purchase a similar card without the TV and FM tuners. Go figure.

VISTA AND XP MEDIA CENTER EDITION: ATI has drivers/catalyst control center for the video, but nothing yet for the TV. According to other users, it does work with Media Center Edition.

I have always enjoyed ATI Graphics cards because ultimately they provide GREAT video output. But with the onset of Windows VISTA, none of the multimedia functionalities of ANY of ATI's cards will work. Basic video output including HDTV support works, but the All-in-Wonder cards have no TV capability at all, the graphics cards do not have DVD support : basically the ATI's Multimedia Center era has ended with Windows Vista. It is unfortunate that people with the All-in-Wonder cards are left to wonder about Vista support, which allows TV viewing, capture etc. If you have such a card or are even thinking of buying one MAKE SURE YOU ARE RUNNING WINDOWS XP. The card will only ouput to a monitor and nothing else.

ATI is moving towards a Catalyst Media Center (CMC). But according to all the news in various posts this will come bundled with new cards - I don't know from when. Sadly, CMC is reported to be very, very buggy and completely messes up Windows Vista. I am myself still on Windows XP since the ATI's Multimedia Center (the old stuff) does a very good job with Remote Wonder to remote control my DVD playing etc. for my kids. They are ones who find it very useful. So if you think you will get more than BASIC VIDEO OUTPUT functions to your monitor, then think again. GET ATI's SIMPLE GRAPHICS CARDS, and forget about any other functionality that come with their apparently fancier ones. OR STICK WITH WINDOWS XP. While the same may be argued with other video cards, I think in WINDOWS XP ATI cards offer far more functionality than most other cards in their price range.

I hope this will save a lot of headaches. Don't get me wrong - they are GREAT cards, and I fully endorse them for superior video functioning - BUT ONLY IN WINDOWS XP !!! !!! Nobody knows what's in store with ATI and Windows VISTA.

AMD ATI Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB AGP Graphics Card (100-437809) ATI Radeon X1950 Pro HD PCI Express 256MB Video CardATI All-In-Wonder X800 XT Video CardATI All-in-Wonder 2006 Edition PCI Express ( 100-714600 )ATI All-in-Wonder X1900 256 MB PCI Express Video CardATI All-In-Wonder X800 XL 256 MB PCIe

I own 5 ATI All-In-Wonder cards. I've had pretty good luck with the AGP versions of AIW's(X9600XT, 9800PRo, X800XT) but this particular model is frustrating me.
I can't get it to install anything but the T200 Drivers, and while not ideally what I want, it would be ok if I could get it to work with MMC 9.09 or lower. But what usually ends up happening is the installation goes fine and the TV Tuner functions with T200 drivers (say with Catalyst 5.7 or Catalyst 6.1 and MMC 9.09; but around Ch 40 I have static sound and it gets worse the higher up I go, by the time I hit CH 60 I have only 100% static and the picture is Blk and White. I've tried installing MMC 9.08, MMC 9.06 to see if it's simply a problem with MMC 9.09...and i've also tried manually forcing the NSP_WDM drivers but that doesn't work, I've only gotten it to work with T200 drivers.

I can of course go forward and install newer Catalyst drivers but then i'm forced to install MMC 9.13-9.16 which have a host of their own problems!

If you are familar with AIW's you likely are aware of the dramatic changes that took place at the end of 2004 - 2006. They changed analog drivers from a required external sound connection SP_WDM drivers to NSP_WDM drivers, which introduced a lag which for gamers was a death blow when what you see and hear is delayed it's worthless in games... That wasn't bad enough though, then ATI decided to progress us all to T200 Unified WDM Digital drivers, and for a while had all three WDM drivers bundled on a driver install program; eventually though it was only T200 drivers that they bundled in Catalyst so if you wanted to or needed newer Catalysts and wanted to keep MMC you had to DOWNGRADE to the ridiculous mess that is and was MMC 9.13, 9.14, 9.16! They broke more things than they fixed with those releases & then AMD took over and fired everyone in the AIW department, and gave us all the middle finger. Left with broken software and little to no clear and concise instructions on upgrade paths and what installations worked with what. PLUS they promised in writing on their website that X800XT & X1900 would have VISTA Support that all went away too! LIARS! Sadly no lawyer ever took up the case either.

The worst thing was, they weren't doing anything to ALERT THERE CUSTOMERS to just what the HELL Was going on with all there changes and WHY the hell they ok'd it for MSofts updates to recommend anything for the AIW cards I'll never know.
Let's say you had a working system with [Catalyst 6.2 drivers and there Multimedia Center (MMC) 9.03 - TV Tuner etc. software] and you wanted to upgrade or made the TERRIBLE mistake of clicking Windows Update to upgrade to the suggested/recommened ATI drivers that it was going to be like throwing a monkey wrench into a 10,000 RPM fan! BOOM!

To make matters WORSE and compound the hell out of the problem: If you could figure out what was going on...thanks to the message boards (NOT ATI) you knew you had a big installation mess. But ATI's un-installer instruction/program when it came to WDM and the various MMC components was SLOPPY. Blame Microsoft, blame ATI I don't care.... you could easily wind up in a situation where you either had to root around in the registry and after ADD/Remove did a miserable job you could try and carefully remove all things ATI, track down every single hidden file/folder in Windows & System 32 etc.

-OR- if you were lucky there were / are programs like Driver Cleaner Pro that HELP, but they don't always get EVERYTHING... and if you are fighting to go back from a the abomidible T200 Drivers back to the analog drivers (b/c windows would continue to find them tucked somewhere and try to re-install them that leaves some having to do a clean install or restore a system image.

It would have been ONE thing to have had CLEAR information posted on ATI's website detailing the changes and why...the change from SP to NSP to me made sense (no more external cable to the sound card), but they did nada to explain it and that was the minor problem compared to the T200 & then full digital conversion. Plus would it have been to darn much for ATI to have written a complete uninstaller. I mean they had something they wrote back in 2002-2003 called the (Cat-uninstaller) but even it did a half - @$$ job. They must have fielded and still to this day much field 1000s of AIW problem questions that had they simply written a real thorough ATI - Uninstaller they could have cut calls & repeat calls / email down greatly!

ANYWAY if anyone has what the Original Catalyst version & MMC version came with this card shipped were please post!
Also if anyone else has this exact card (can't be the AIW X800XT - AGP) or the (OEM AIW X800XL AGP) running some version of MMC below MMC 9.10 I'd like to know which set up Catalyst version & MMC version and whether you have T200 Drivers (found in device manager under SOUND...) or whether you were able to get the NSP Analog component drivers installed an the TV works I'd sure like to here them.