Bundle and extras
ABIT's flashy packaging illuminates some of the more desirable features of the bundle. Special note is made of Half-Life 2, the much-anticipated sequel from Valve. As you will probably already know, the game has been delayed well into 2004, so most AIBs are including a simple voucher that can be redeemed against the full title on release. HL2's delay has been a huge blow for Valve and ATI. The 9800 XT was meant to be the card for HL2. All the early benchmarks put it well ahead of the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra.
ABIT hasn't lost the packaging touch. The card is held firmly in an anti-static bubble bag that just fits into the right-hand box. The other two boxes hold the hardware and software additions. ABIT ensures that transit damage is nigh-on impossible.
There's only a single CD in the package. It contains the CATALYST 3.9 driver set (we're currently on an official 4.2), a Radeon 9800 XT manual in pdf format, DirectX 9.0b, and Cyberlink's PowerDVD 5.0. We were duly disappointed not to discover any ABIT-branded overclocking tools or further gaming software. The well-written pdf manual's replicated in printed form. There's also a second multi-language quick setup manual that's aimed at the experienced user. Hardware-wise it's pretty average. Decent lengths of S-Video and RCA cabling are supplied, as is a handy convertor between the two. The ubiquitous molex power extender and DVI-to-VGA dongle round off ABIT's bundling efforts.
