RADEON All-In-Wonder 64

To attain this level of pricing, ATi obviously had to cut costs somewhere. Therefore, the VE only comes with one renderpipeline, instead of two, and without the standard RADEON's T&L unit! To make the chip more attractive, there is a second RAM-DAC integrated into the chip's core to support multi-monitor systems, similar to MATROX' (DualHead) and NVIDIA's (TwinView) offerings. ATi will bundle the VE with a specialized multi-monitor management software by Appion, called HydraVision. A TMDS transmitter, which can be used to control an optional DFI port, has also been designed into the chip.

The passively cooled VE boards will be available in the following variations: VGA+TV-OUT, VGA+VGA, VGA+DFI, DFI+DFI (with a separate TMDS controller onboard), and VGA+TV-OUT+VGA. Versions with 64bit DDR-SDRAM or 128bit (single data) SDRAM are possible. The clockspeed for all versions will be 183MHz, with core and memory running synchronously.

TV Wonder USB Edition

ATi's other product announcement at COMDEX besides the VE was that of the new RADEON All-In-Wonder. These RADEON based cards with an onboard TV-tuner are expected to be available starting December, and will feature the ATi Rage Theater chip. According to ATI, the USB TV-box "TV Wonder USB Edition" will instead use a Brooktree Bt 878 chip. This should be great news for friends of the German (pay-per-view) cable channel "Premiere". Both the RADEON All-In-Wonder and the TV Wonder USB will come with an IPG (Interactive Program Guide), which allows you to create your own favorite program. Just select the shows you want to watch and the card or box will switch to the correct channel when the time comes.