All-In-Wonder - remember that?
It's been a long time since we heard AMD talk about the long-forgotten All-In-Wonder series of cards. In fact, if memory serves, the last All-In-Wonder card, the X1900, was released early in 2006, before AMD's acquisition of ATI.
Skip forward some 30 months, and AMD finds itself largely back on track in the graphics scene thanks to the launch of its HD 4000 series. This could, therefore, be the perfect opportunity to resurrect the All-In-Wonder series, and AMD's doing just that with a HD spin.
The all-new card, dubbed the ATI All-In-Wonder HD, combines "award-winning ATI Radeon Premium graphics and ATI TV Wonder HD tuner technology card in one PCI Express 2.0 solution," says AMD
So, what's really under that blazing-red cooler? Well, the graphics chip offers DirectX 10.1 support and is based on the last-gen 55nm 600-series. It'll feature a core clock of 725MHz and memory clocked at 600MHz - AMD states it'll give 5 to 15 per cent more performance than a Radeon HD 3650 on most popular games.
On the media front, the card provides MPEG2, VC-1 and H.264 hardware acceleration for all your HDTV needs. There's ClearQAM, an adaptive 3D comb filter and a HDMI port that'll provide 5.1 Dolby Digital. The card will also come bundled with ATI's Catalyst Media Centre software, and AMD's Live Entertainment Suite.
Matt Skynner, vice president of marketing, Graphics Products Group at AMD, said:
Never before has this level of HDTV and graphics performance been seen in an all-in-one PC multimedia solution. The award-winning ATI All-In-Wonder lineage is built on long-standing leadership in TV and video on the PC. For the hundreds of thousands of owners of previous ATI All-In-Wonder models and for those hungry to realise the full potential of their PC, we’re excited and proud to introduce the newest addition to AMD’s PCTV product family.
It's nice to see the All-In-Wonder series making a comeback, and this card looks set to be a very useful option for Media PCs.
There is, however, a downside. The All-In-Wonder HD is a product aimed solely at North America. Our friends across the pond can expect to see the card from Diamond Multimedia and VisionTek in late July, priced at $199.
Back in the day, ATI was renowned for struggling to get PAL versions of its All-In-Wonder products out the door. We're hoping that's changed, but we wouldn't recommend holding your breath for a European or UK release.
Official press release: AMD Expands The Ultimate Visual Experience™ Combining Exceptional HD Graphics, HDTV, and HD Video for PCs
