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Conclusion

All in all though, this board from Sapphire is the most accomplished All-in-Wonder yet. However without an EPG interface in the UK it still falls short as a true PVR. Additionally our card was also affected by glitches such as a loose video-out connection which caused an unsteady picture on our test TV and strangely garbled audio on recordings. This could be down to our board being an early sample though.

At less than £100 more than a standard Radeon 9800 Pro, the Sapphire is something of a bargain especially considering the bundled Pinnacle Studio 8 package for video editing and DVD authoring. It’s certainly a far better buy than a 256Mb version of the Radeon 9800 Pro. However if you don’t need the fastest available 3D performance, the forthcoming All-in-Wonder Radeon 9600 offers regular dual monitor support and a new longer range remote control. In the meantime though, the Radeon 9800 Pro All-In-Wonder 128Mb is the best multimedia card available, bar none.

Verdict

With an analogue TV Tuner, hardware assisted MPEG2 encoding an improved interface and a remote control the Sapphire has plenty of multimedia tricks up its sleeve. It also boasts the awesome 3D power of the Radeon 9800 Pro. If you can afford it, it’s the ultimate all rounder. However its lack of EPG integration and dual monitor support do let it down a little

Specification

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