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Apr 19, 2006, 03:13 AM
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#1
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Burned
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 29,775
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DH Review: AVIVO / AIW X1800XL / TV Wonder Elite
Read the review here
__________________________
Steve has spent the last month with ATI's Avivo an AIW ATI X1800XL and a TV Wonder Elite to bring together a comprehensive analysis of how all of this gels together.
"With all the new high quality video options available today, ATI's AVIVO technology is a truly exciting experience for home media enthusiasts. ATI claim AVIVO will revolutionize the quality of multi media and how it is incorporated into a home Media Center PC. To be more specific AVIVO specifically targets high definition formats like HDTV, Blu-ray and HD-DV and ATI’s new cards with AVIVO technology strive to give end users the best, most vibrant video quality available."
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Apr 19, 2006, 07:10 AM
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#2
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DriverHeaven Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 472
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Nice review steve, im curious, what is the noise level like from the AIW card?
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Apr 19, 2006, 07:21 AM
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#3
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 4,473
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it's not bad, they are kinda loud when you first start the system for a brief moment because the fan winds up when first powered on but after that not bad at all
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Apr 19, 2006, 07:59 AM
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#4
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Administrator
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Cloaked
Posts: 2,853
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As Steve says, the card is pretty average noise wise. What i've noticed with my sample is that if you build a really quiet HTPC then the card does become more noticable. I installed an Arctic Cooling Accelero on my AIW X18 and its practically silent now. So thats always an option.
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Apr 19, 2006, 01:03 PM
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#5
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 4,473
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I am going to stop and grab one of the Arctic Cooling Accelero coolers on my way home tonight and give it a whirl on the AIW X1800XL
$29 CDN seems like a good deal to me  |
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Apr 19, 2006, 03:23 PM
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#6
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Delete Me
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 14,676
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nice review
seems like a pretty sweet card indeed....  ...I gotta get on the PIC-Express bandwagon  |
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Apr 19, 2006, 03:58 PM
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#7
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: norcal
Posts: 5,854
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i just ordered one of those accelero coolers for my wifes 1800xl. replacing all the fans with quiet panaflos.
hey CHAOS! what drivers do you use with yours?
forget that, read your sig.
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Apr 20, 2006, 12:21 PM
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#8
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Just an Average Joe...
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: On my way to live in Haiti or something
Posts: 1,598
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Really nice write up man, good job. One question tho, I am putting together a media box using my old X850 with Rage Theater, which I know has HDTV support at the driver level.
Watching TV and movies at 1080i, do you think the newer hardware would give noticably better quality?
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Apr 20, 2006, 12:38 PM
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#9
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 4,473
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Rasta Monsta
Really nice write up man, good job. One question tho, I am putting together a media box using my old X850 with Rage Theater, which I know has HDTV support at the driver level.
Watching TV and movies at 1080i, do you think the newer hardware would give noticably better quality?
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That would depend on what you wanted to do if you are thinking about just using tv out from the X850 then probably not but if you want a card with a TV tuner built in I give high regards to the AIW cards. You may just want to add a TV Wonder Elite to your setup, that gives you a PVR, TV tuner and FM radio
I cant wait to go home after work and install the Accelero X2 cooler on the AIW X1800Xl |
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Apr 20, 2006, 03:28 PM
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#10
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Just an Average Joe...
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: On my way to live in Haiti or something
Posts: 1,598
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Chaos
That would depend on what you wanted to do if you are thinking about just using tv out from the X850 then probably not but if you want a card with a TV tuner built in I give high regards to the AIW cards.
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Well, I'll be using a DVI-HDMI cable, and I have a Hauppauge MCE compatible TV tuner that works very well, so sounds like I'm in shape.
Thanks,
rasta |
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Apr 20, 2006, 03:39 PM
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#11
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 4,473
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from what i have seen the ATI TV Wonder Elite has better image quality than any of the Hauppauge tv tuners. The TV Wonder Elite offers 12-bit analog to digital converters compared to 9 or 10 bit that the Hauppauge tv tuners provide
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Apr 20, 2006, 08:38 PM
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#12
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Delete Me
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 14,676
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not to mention some hauppage models crash on SP2
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Apr 24, 2006, 12:58 AM
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#13
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Bristol, UK
Posts: 80
Rep Power: 0
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Do these cards have proper HDCP support yet then?
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Apr 24, 2006, 12:21 PM
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#14
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 4,473
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Shakey_Jake33
Do these cards have proper HDCP support yet then?
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From ATI website:
"Currently there is no commercially available HDCP content. ATI's Radeon® X and Radeon® 9550 series of GPUs are capable of processing HDCP signals ("HDCP ready"), however ATI does not presently manufacture any graphics cards which are HDCP ready. Some third parties manufacture graphics cards containing ATI GPUs -- you can inquire of them which models, if any, -- are HDCP ready." |
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Apr 24, 2006, 01:19 PM
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#15
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Bristol, UK
Posts: 80
Rep Power: 0
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You'd think they'd be more on the ball with this, given Vista will require it for it's HD-DVD output.
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Apr 24, 2006, 10:21 PM
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#16
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 79
Rep Power: 0
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Shakey_Jake33
You'd think they'd be more on the ball with this, given Vista will require it for it's HD-DVD output.
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And when is Vista coming out? Or HD-DVD movies? Or how about HD-DVD-ROM drives for that matter?  There's plenty of time before all 3 of those are out in decent numbers, trust me.... |
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Apr 25, 2006, 12:41 AM
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#17
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Bristol, UK
Posts: 80
Rep Power: 0
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by _ə_
And when is Vista coming out? Or HD-DVD movies? Or how about HD-DVD-ROM drives for that matter? There's plenty of time before all 3 of those are out in decent numbers, trust me.... |
Oh true, but it is the main reason they're pushing the H.264 acceleration of these cards! |
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