Digital Trends

ATI All-In-Wonder X600 Pro

January 17th, 2005 | by Ian Bell

Gaming Performance

Not to be left out, we also decided to benchmark the ATI All-In-Wonder X600 Pro to see how it faired in video game performance. Because it uses the same graphics chip as the regular Radeon X600 Pro, its gaming performance is on par with its gaming brother. Our X600 Pro All-In-Wonder came with 256MB of memory which helped speed up the cards FPS (frames per second) rating ever so slightly over its 128MB counterpart. 256MB of memory helps with those games that decide to use larger textures and which can be stored in the cards memory.

Our X600 Pro All-In-Wonder scored better than Nvidia's FX 5700 series of graphics cards, but trailed the Nvidia 6800 128MB and ATI X800 XT 256Mb video cards in our tests. You will be able to play Half Life 2 and Doom 3 with this card but not at their maximum settings.

Conclusion

ATI's All-In-Wonder X600 Pro improves upon its predecessors in many ways and falls short in others. By combining gaming and multimedia benefits into a single card, owners of PCI-Express based systems can have the best of both worlds for an affordable price. ATI has improved the dongle which you use for audio/video connections by allowing it to physically screw into the card to make it more secure. There are also plenty of audio and video connections to make the casual user very happy. Hardcore gamers or multimedia buffs will want to upgrade to the X800 XT All-In-Wonder card which includes support for component video output, a faster processor and their Remote Wonder remote control. 

We like that ATI's media player supports RealMedia, DivX and Microsoft Windows Media Video 9 codecs, but the player, including the Guide Plus+ software, looks outdated and can feel very slow at times. We loved the new interface that ATI is using with their TV Wonder Elite and would love to have seen the same interface used in their All-In-Wonder line, especially since they are a more expensive product. The TV Wonder Elite also does a better job of cleaning up the analog cable broadcast than the ATI All-In-Wonder x600 Pro giving a much better looking picture.

The ATI All-In-Wonder X600 Pro is a good multimedia solution for under $250 dollars. It comes with a solid software package, including built-in PVR capabilities and the ability to create and edit your own movies.