AV and 3D Tool Box!
Written: Dec 12 '00 (Updated Mar 06 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Awesome quality and speed! Best TV display!
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: The Radeon 32 MB All In Wonder is an excellent upgrade to the serious media system. It is also no slouch for 3D.
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| markhaml's Full Review: ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON, (32 MB) PCI Video Card |
Something "snapped" at ATI last year...
My guess, is that ATI, tired of having their $85 4X AGP (40 FPS Quake III) boards get trounced by 3DFX and Nvidia, decided to get busy and deal out a nice little "reality check" to Nvidia. They haven't quite beaten them like red-headed step-children, but Nvidia has some bruises...
Years of quality products
If you ever owned an ATI, you know the picture quality is always top-notch, even if performance lags slightly behind the other offerings. Not so any more!!! Only the Geforce 2 and Radeon offer hardware T&L
*** Tech term *** T&L - Transform and Lighting. In a 3D game or application, the "T" occurs when the textures or skins are applied and lined up (due to movement). The "L" is a big bonus, as there are hundreds (256 to be exact) of changes to be done to different areas of the textures to produce shadows. Rendering this in hardware, allows the same level of performance, while the quality remains on par with movie effects.
How does it stack up?
The Radeon comes in at just a few FPS behind the Geforce 2 DDR, but at about 150% of the quality (Yeah I know, it is a visual judgement. Read as "Much better quality at nearly identical speed") The All-in-wonder has always been the best TV out multipurpose card... Now it just added BLAZING 3D performance to its belt..
Bag -O- Tricks
ATI has long mastered the unique challenges of TV output. The Radeon is only polishing their leadership position in this area, so anyone looking to blow up their buddies on their 50" TV would get infinitely more satisfaction from the Radeon cards.
The All-in-wonder Radeon
This card was slated to ship in both 32MB and 64MB varieties, but only the 32 MB version is available now. The Windows 2000 support is much better with this model (The older All-in-wonders had problems with Windows 2000) Even while doing all those things that make it a "wonder", it does not loose ANY punch in the 3D arena. Some people say the card is pricey, I think it is a tremendous value! You would take up to three cards to do what it does, and to do it as well, the price would be over double that of the Radeon All-in-wonder.
Summary
All Radeon offerings are INCREDIBLE VALUES! I am well pleased!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
markhaml
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Member: Lee Markham
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 14 members
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