NHL 2004

We downloaded and allowed the computer to play through one period of Anaheim vs New Jersey. Fraps was used to capture the framerates of the action.

The graphics are quite impressive, though not too straining on many of today's more powerful video cards. Still, good framerates will matter as it could mean the difference from deking out an opponent, or stumbling into the boards. 1024x768 seems to be the sweetspot here, as 1280x1024 did get choppy when the action got more intense around the net.

Max Payne 2

Max is back, and he's still pissed. We'll be using Max Payne 2 for our DX9 testing. With an improved physics model, near photorealistic graphics, and great looking lighting, fire, and mirrored effects, this should be quite a test for the current, and upcoming crop of cards.

We used Fraps again, and ran in a repeatable route around the level, firing our gun at designated areas, and using bullet time to go through a couple of doors. Our game settings were at maximum quality, using hardware D3D acceleration.

Max Payne 2 @ 1024x768

At 4xAA/8xAF, the game was actually quite playable. It didn't feel choppy, and the experience was just as smooth as no AA when using the ATI cards. The FX5600 Ultra played quite well also, but there were some dips in framerate when there was some serious gun fire.

Max Payne 2 @ 1280x1024

Things were different at 1280x1024. Both ATI cards were playable, but things got noticably choppy in the more intense fights (especially when fire was involved). The FX5600 Ultra was near unplayable, and at 4xAA/8xAF, even a simple task such as running in a straight line didn't feel right.

Splinter Cell

For some Direct X 8.1 testing, we'll be using UbiSoft's 3rd person action game, Splinter Cell. We used the Beyond3D demo, and ran the cards through the gamut. There are problems with AA, so we'll only be presenting no AA results.

Preferably, you'll want to play at 1024x768, as you lose about 20fps when moving up to 1280x1024. There isn't quite as much of a drop moving to 1600x1200, but don't expect much of a playable experience.

3D Image Quality

3D gaming image quality has never been a problem with past ATI cards, and trend continues for the AIW 9600 Pro. I do play a fair amount of 3D shooters, and although speed is important to me, I don't play with bitmaps turned off, and contrast set to maximum. the whole point is to become immersed in the experience, so here's some screenshots of the more popular titles.

Call of Duty

No AA/AF	4xAA/16xAF	6xAA/16xAF

Unreal Tournament 2003

9600 Pro No AA/AF	FX 5600 No AA/AF	9600 Pro 4xAA/8xAF	FX 5600 4xAA/8xAF

There's quite an improvement in image quality as you jump up in AA levels. There is a hit in performance, but 4xAA/8xAF is still playable at 1024x768 in most cases. Between the FX and the 9600 Pro, I found image quality to be quite similar.

2D Image Quality

We loaded up a 1600x1200 image David and I normarlly use in our video card reviews. I also pulled up an HTML document with various sized fonts to judge the text rendering. The document used white text on a black background, and vice versa. The screen resolution for all tests was 1600x1200 @ 85Hz on a Dell rebranded 21" Trinitron.

Scores are subjective, but having worked with many video cards the last few years, I got a pretty firm grasp on what card renders 2D better than the others. The scores will be out of 10, with 10 being excellent.

All the ATI cards looked pretty much the same to me with the bitmap file, but there is an obvious quality drop when moving to the FX5900 when it comes to reading small text. The FX5900 rendered white text on a dark background horribly, and in order not to lose my eyesight, I had to use the mouse to select blocks of text I wanted to read.

TV-Tuner Playback

A TV-Tuner wouldn't be much good if the image quality is weak, so we decided to test the TV-Tuner's capture and playback quality compared to other TV-Tuners and video cards.

Our first test is the AIW 9600 Pro's TV capture quality compared to that of the MSI TV@nywhere. The original stream was a five minute clip captured in MPEG-2 format using the AIW 9600 Pro. This file was then burned to CD in SVCD format, then re-captured via composite cables for both TV cards.

ATI	MSI

I specifically chose hockey highlights as I felt that the fast paced action would make it easier to catch framerate loss. The ATI card dropped about 2% of the frames over five minutes, whereas the MSI card dropped about 4%. In each case, the loss wasn't noticable while paying attention to the clip, though the picture was a little more grainy on the MSI card.

Next up was a test of the XFX FX5600 Ultra vs the AIW 9600 Pro in video playback. I captured a stream from Zoolander to MPEG-2, and snagged identical screenshots to compare the quality.

ATI	XFX

Both cards do a fine job in playing back the file, though like I've seen in the past, there seems to be a slightly darker image on the nVidia based cards. There wasn't any noticable noise that I could notice. How about cartoons?

ATI	XFX

Again, there doesn't seem to be much difference between the two, but upon close examination, there was a little bit of colour banding on the FX 5600, and colours seem better saturated on the AIW.

I should point out that by adjusting nVidia's colour properties, I was able to bring the image quality very close to ATI's levels. The point I'm making though is out of the box, and with default driver settings, the AIW was near perfect.

DVD Playback

Though they are still being sold, PCI based DVD players isn't something I'd imagine many people would use given that software based players are being given away for free in most video card packages. To test DVD playback, we used Cyberlink's PowerDVD, which is my personal favorite, and captured stills from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

AIW 9600 Pro	XFX

Of the video cards tested here, overall, I've found the 9800 Pro to display the best quality when playing back DVDs. The AIW 9600, which is everything the AIW 9800 Pro is, except for the VPU, displays very strong image quality, with no noticable pixelation or framerate loss. Colours were well saturated, and image banding wasn't present.

The FX5600 also managed to output a very nice image, with no loss in framerates. There is a slight amount of pixel noise in the FX based cards, and picture was slightly darker as well. Granted, it's tough to tell the two apart unless you watch the movie side-by-side on each card, but I will give the nod to ATI here.

Overclocking

With the rather smallish fan, and the lack of memory cooling, we didn't have high hopes for overclocking. We snagged the Rage3D Tweak for our overclocking needs, and proceeded to crank up the speeds. The core was done first, keeping the memory at 325MHz. From 400MHz, we topped off at 428MHz. At 429MHz,we experienced lockups when trying to run some benchmarks.

We bumped the core down to 400MHz, and began moving the memory clock up. Eventually, we topped out at 370. Anything higher resulted in either dropped textures, or image noise during benchmarks.

When we overclocked both the core and memory together, we settled for a 425/360 core and memory overclock. Since both items were being overclocked, we weren't able to run either component as high as we were able to when ran alone. What did this do for performance?

Splinter Cell, AIW OC'd @ 425/360

Not much of an improvement I must say. I know a couple framerates are important for a lot of our readers, so I'll leave it up to you to decide if the inherited risks involved in overclocking is worth the small boost in speed.

Final Words

The ATI All-In-Wonder 9600 Pro is another strong offering from the boys and girls in Markham, Ontario. With some good performance, great image quality, and the excellent A/V features, this is a must have product based on those strengths alone, but, there is more.

Everything you need to get up and running is included. With the exception of the missing antenna, there probably won't be a need to make many trips to the local Radio Shack. The remote is a fine piece of hardware, and with the coupon for a free Remote Wonder II, you're set for those killer remote applications of today and tomorrow. :P

Dual CRT capabilities was long wished for by many, and not only from multimedia designers. Power users can make excellent use of the dual screens, though this feature will not work for gaming. Although the TV needs to be on the primary display, you can easily shove work windows into the secondary display. This, in my opinion, is a better option than the ThruView. Since I use Photoshop quite extensively, a great way to free up desktop space is by putting all your menus on the second screen, leaving you with more viewable canvas space.

The FM-Tuner is going to be one of those features people can or cannot live without. For myself, it's the former, but for others, being able to listen to local radio stations at your desk, without the need of an actual radio may be well worth it.

The very same FM-Tuner some people will no doubt love, will also be reviled by people who swear by their small form factor PCs. I managed to get the AIW 9600 Pro to fit, without mods, into our FIC Ice Cube VL67, but for SFFs with inner AGP slots, I really doubt you'll get the combination working in its stock form. A Dremel is something these users will need to keep handy. Remember, the Dremel is for the SFF case, and not to lop off the FM-Tuner.

Image quality is up to ATI's usual standards, which is excellent. Even during timedemos, there weren't any texture popups (the kind you see on some arcade driving games, where buildings mysteriously appear). The drivers were rock solid, and although there have been complaints of overheating cards and the Catalyst 3.8 drivers, we did not experience any problems, and I tend to be on my PC quite often.

The AIW 9600 is a fast gaming card, but it isn't anywhere near being the fastest. Then again, it isn't the most expensive either, and when you consider the hardware features, the $205 USD pricetag is very reasonable. Also consider that Half-Life 2 is going to be available for download upon release. Assuming the game is going to go for about 50$ USD, and it was something you were going to pick up anyways, the price of the AIW 9600 Pro is now 155$. Not bad at all.

Pros: Good gaming performance, excellent 2D and 3D image quality, TV-Tuner, dual CRT display, cables and remote included. Half-Life 2 and Remote II vouchers.

Cons: FM-Tuner will cause problems with some SFF barebone PCs.

Bottom Line: The FM-Tuner is a concern for SFF owners, but the dual CRT display ability has finally made it to the AIW. It's a fast card, loaded with features, and with Half-Life 2 available as a free download, you can't go wrong with the AIW 9600 Pro.

If you have any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.