Digital Trends

ATI All-In-Wonder 9600XT

May 10th, 2004 | by Ian Bell

Gaming Performance

The All-In-Wonder 9600XT performed admirably in all of our graphics tests.  In fact, it smoked the comparably priced Nvidia 5700 video card in every test, despite the 5700 having twice as much memory (256MB over the 128MB found on the All-In-Wonder 9600XT). In our tests we compared the All-In-Wonder 9600XT to the Nvidia 5200, Nvidia 5700, Radeon 9700PRO, and Crucial 9800PRO graphics card. You can clearly see on the test graphs that the 9600XT falls right into line with the other ATI cards. Last years 9700PRO shows a slight performance increase over the All-In-Wonder 9600XT, while the 9800PRO of course shows an overall best performance score of the group, especially in DirectX 9 games.  As far as ATI cards go, the All-In-Wonder 9600XT is a very strong performer overall and while the 9600 doesn't compete with the high-end video cards, it has been the best all-around  mainstream graphics card on the market and will play most games adequately for all but the most demanding of gamers. Click on the performance tab and link located above and below this review for benchmarking results.

Conclusion

The All-In-Wonder 9600XT is not a product geared for the high-end of video cards and ATI is not targeting this audience. It does not support satellite or digital cable, it does not have HDTV support right out of the box and its graphics chip is not the fastest that ATI produces. But for what the All-In-Wonder 9600XT is capable of doing, it does it extremely well. Every feature of the All-In-Wonder 9600XT has been improved and finely polished over previous models of the All-In-Wonder line. The new remote control, while longer than we would like, still offers a lot of functionality and control, and overall helps to create a pleasurable experience. The menu and navigation system looks fantastic and is better than most stand-alone DVR's in the market.

On the graphics side, the processor used in the All-In-Wonder 9600XT is faster than comparably priced Nvidia video cards and should be able to handle most of today's games as long as the games are configured for medium graphical settings. Priced at around $299, the All-In-Wonder 9600XT is a relatively new card and we expect its price to drop with the introduction of ATI's next generation video cards. Otherwise, if you would like more graphical power, we would recommend upgrading to the All-In-Wonder 9800 which can be found for only $30 more.