Bundle and extras
A comprehensive bundle is pretty important in the midrange sector. If you're intent on buying a Radeon 9800XT, chances are that the cheapest one will do. Buyers hanker for the power; the bundle is often incidental. Midrange cards, though, are in the monetary reach of a larger group of consumers, so having a product which stands out is all the more important. We already know that PowerColor has exercised individuality by adding in the Rage VIVO chip. Let's find out what else £125 buys you.
No OEM-style white box for PowerColor. We like the understated design. All the pertinent features, including 128MB RAM, VIVO capability, and an indication of the included software, are displayed on the cover. PowerColor pushed the default RAM speed to 675MHz on the Bravo model. That's 75MHz faster than ATI's spec. sheet shows. PowerColor could well be advised to make reference of this 'feature'. There's nothing quite like the feeling of the consumer feeling that they're getting something for free.
A generic approach to software bundling here. We reviewed PowerColor's Radeon 9800XT and found that it contained many of the pieces available here. In detail, there's a full copy of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, which, coincidentally or not, runs better on ATI hardware. Big Mutha Truckers is another full, if older, title. There's also PowerColor's 5-in-1 demo bundle, comprising of: Splinter Cell, Warcraft III, Breed, Colin McRae Rally 3, and TOCA Racing Driver.
Cabling is good, as it needs to be for any card that features video-in and video-out. An S-Video cable extends to provide both RCA and S-Video input and output plugs. Two sets of RCA and S-Video extension cables offer enough length to connect the card up to other compatible devices. WinDVD4 is always welcome. The manual, whist being multi-language, was above average, both in terms of style and conciseness. The driver CD was missing from our evaluation pack. If we go by PowerColor's 9800XT, it will contain at least the CATALYST 3.8 driver set, DX9 and HYDRAVISION software.
VIVO usage requires compliant software. Cyberlink's PowerDirector 2.0 ME Pro is an easy-to-use application that makes capturing easy. We decided to capture footage from one card to another.
Nice, eh?.
