AIWs vs Regular Vid Cards

[ed iz fresh]

I know this is a nub question and I couldnt find a thread like it but my question is, Do All in Wonders perform just as well as regular video cards? I mean would you get the same FPS or even benchmarking scores?.. if you have, say for instance, if one had AIW X800xt vs a regular X800xt. And if they do perform just as good, why do they cost less? I mean they do have more features than a regular vid card. With all those special components in AIWs, does it hinder any performances at all? :shrug: Just been wondering about this for awhile now.

[juliendogg]

x800 AIW should perform the same as x800 and should NOT be cheaper. I do not know where you found an AIW that was cheaper than it's normal counterpart but you should definately share that info.

The thing about AIW is that they are very expensive due to the built in tv tuner and other features. Now, if you think about this, most people upgrade their video cards every couple years or so. Do you really want to have to upgrade your tv tuner hardware when you upgrade your video card? I would suggest getting the x800 and picking up a hauppage tv tuner or ati tuner card to go along with it. This way when you need to upgrade your video you don't have to spend the extra cash for the AIW model.

J.

[ed iz fresh]

x800 AIW should perform the same as x800 and should NOT be cheaper. I do not know where you found an AIW that was cheaper than it's normal counterpart but you should definately share that info.

Werd. I found it here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=Go&DEPA=0&type=&description=x800xt&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

There is one AIW x800xt in there that is cheaper than regular x800xt. Thanks for your input Julien. So they DO perform the same. Great! :)

[hawtrawkr]

at default clocks they should perform the same the non aiw cards usually tend to oc higher though. at least that was my experience with my 9800pro aiw compared to my other 3 non aiw 9800pros.

you might find an x800xtaiw thats an oem deal which would make it cheaper than a retail x800xt but they should cost a bit more than a non aiw card.

[Emon]

If I remember correctly, the only thing about an AIW's tuner that's superior to a PCI tuner is that you have the advantage of the AGP bus for capturing video. Other than that, a seperate TV tuner is probably cheaper and a better investment since you won't have to buy another AIW in the future.

[whitebloodcell]

Does a TV Tuner even use up all the PCI Bus though? Would the extra AGP bandwidth help?