Will You Wonder Why You Bought The All In Wonder?
Written: Oct 05 '01 (Updated Oct 10 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheeper Than Newer Models
Cons: Many Driver Issues
Has slower ram, does not support mpeg2 or VFW
The Bottom Line: Driver problems, Poor Tech Support, and Incompatibility cause so many problems, unless your using Windows 98 this card is deffinately not recommended.
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| Syntax's Full Review: ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 128 Pro, (32 MB) AGP Video Card |
All In Wonder
I bought an all in wonder 128 pro. I never imagined I would spend over 60.00 on a video card. This was a far stretch for me. Im in no way a video gamer, but I did want a card that could capture as well as support 3d graphics. This seemed to be the afforable answer. I was also low on Slots available inside my computer.
Final Release Driver Problems
Well the first problem arrived when my system would not even initialize the card. I went to ATI's website to download video drivers for windows 2000. I downloaded and installed the final release drivers. Windows however kept forcing me to use the older drivers windows was shipped with. After a long hassle of adding and remove the video card thru Device manager it finally detected the correct files, by browsing them, thru a search and then selecting "use other drivers", the card came up and my desktop was clear.
BETA Driver Problems
Now it was time to try the TV tuner.. Well.. it didnt work again.. It wouldnt tune in at all.. I was told by my wholesaler to go back to thier website to download the latest copy of the BETA drivers which offer no tech support, bad enough ATI is in Canada. So I did, and installed them.
These drivers once again conflicted with the original, and final release drivers I had on the system. The drivers were stacking up, rather than replacing themselves and I found myself with the same name dvice inside the hardware drivers list multiple times. Making it hard to select the right driver. I had to check version number on the drivers each time I detected the card.
Tuning Works With BETA Drivers
I found that the Beta drivers allowed the card to tune into TV channels. I even called Canada and the tech support people to try and get the tuner working, but they were stumped. No idea how to fix it. What a waste of a long distance internation call.
Now For Capturing
Well.. 2 down.. lets capture now.. Well.. once again.. the card failed.. I went back to the site again.. looking for another driver, or update.. I found nothing.. After wasting much time, I decided to take the card back to the store.
I Swapped it out thinking maybe it was bad.. Got another one.. and had the same problem.
People Returning Cards
While standing at my wholesaler to return the card I saw another man pass by, I waved my card and him and he stopped and just looked at me. I said "Is it locking up?" he said "Yes." I said, "It wont capture?" he said "Yes", I said, "Are you on Windows 2000?" he said "Yes", they guy couldnt believe it.. I felt psychic or something, but the truth being ALL the cards have this problem.
I found out shortly after that MANY people were having lockups, frozen screens, ect when trying to use this card on thier computer, especially Windows 2000 machines. Even though the card is clearly marked 2000 compatible. ATI I found out has had alot of problems with drivers, many of thier cards are not compatible with many operating systems, and they do not keep updated drivers on thier site. They design a card for a specific operating system, and if you change OS's they expect you to purchase the newest video card out. Thier tech support is very poor, and long distance at that.
My Computer Crashes A Few Times
I personally had my system crash about 6 times before I gave up, it dumped my ram a few times, a few blue screens and a few reboots later I figured it was time to give up.
I took the 2nd card back and replaced it with a plain Rage Pro 128, without capture for about half the price.
Where to go Now?
Thats not the end of the story, While shopping at another store I found the updated Radeon Card. For 60.00 less than my wholesaler. So I returned the 128 pro and Got The Radeon. If you want to know how that went, view my review of the Radeon Card. Rest assure the Radeon Works Twice as well. But still not without bugs.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 128.00
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Epinions.com ID:
Syntax
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Member: Paul Germer
Reviews written: 181
Trusted by: 11 members
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