All-in-Wonder video cards obsolete?

[fenrus]

I have an X800XL All in Wonder video card, I've never used the AiW functions before, kind of a hassle to keep all these extra cables around (as if I don't have enough computer junk in the house).

I've noticed that there are absolutely no video cards now a days that even sell with All-in-Wonder. Are they essentially obsolete now or something? What's the replacement?

I'm wondering if I should just sell my X800XL and just grab a cheapo graphics card, since I don't play intensive games anymore.

[jasperException]

I am in the same position as you. I got an ATI All-in-Wonder 9800 Pro and haven't used the video capture or watch TV on my computer since I got it. To make matter worse it is an AGP. If this card ever die on me, then I will either get a replacement of PCI-E like Nvidia 8800GT video card or an ATI video card that can process HD playback.

[sfu_lifer]

Sell it and get a dedicated PCI encoder card (or even a usb one) if you ever need a tuner and pair that up with a great graphics card. I found it way more convenient than having an AIW plus cables cluttering up everything.

[divx]

I have an X800XL All in Wonder video card, I've never used the AiW functions before, kind of a hassle to keep all these extra cables around (as if I don't have enough computer junk in the house).

I've noticed that there are absolutely no video cards now a days that even sell with All-in-Wonder. Are they essentially obsolete now or something? What's the replacement?

I'm wondering if I should just sell my X800XL and just grab a cheapo graphics card, since I don't play intensive games anymore.

your card isn't intensive anymore either, save yourself the time to sell it.

[Kwirky]

I've noticed that there are absolutely no video cards now a days that even sell with All-in-Wonder. Are they essentially obsolete now or something? What's the replacement?

Yeah, ATi officially stopped producing them, I think the X800XL was the very last AIW card.

[fenrus]

your card isn't intensive anymore either, save yourself the time to sell it.

hey, it can still play Oblivion at like medium/high. I still like a game of RtCW once in a while. Thanks for all the input.

[jory29]

You can run video game consoles off of it (and DVD movies off of a DVD player, etc.) - worthwhile to keep around for that purpose. :)

[terrybear]

ATI dropped the AIW series cause they where having problems with intergrading the tuner chips onto the card & have it interface flawlessly with the gpu onboard.

Last offical AIW card was the pci-e Radeon X1900 XL which they discontinued quickly whent he tuner chip (theater 550) was causing coruptions with recorded video streams.

My advice would be the sell & invest in a Radeon HD3xxx series card that is vivo & buy a seperate theater 650 card if ya need a tuner.

[mobile_mic]

Did you get the Canadian edition of the X800XL AIW? It has the heatsink with an orc on it (not the one with the chick on it). The Canadian edition came with no remote (no loss there), but the core was a downclocked X800XT core. Some guys flashed the BIOS to make the upgrade to X800XT permanent, but you can achieve the same performance increases with most overclocking software (no flash necessary).

I like the AIW cards, and I think they are unduly punished in the market right now due to the lack of Vista/ATI support for the recording features (there are 3rd party Vista software makers who do support the ATI cards) . If you are guilty of not taking advantage of the many video options, then sell it and buy a plainer video card (sell X800XL AIW for $100, buy X1950Pro used for $75). I for one will miss the AIW series cards. nVidia had nothing like it, and ATI always had a loyal group of buyers for them.