ATI AIW refurb from newegg

[CountZero]

Anybody have any experience with these as far as how operational there are missing the cables? In particular missing the power cable and the dongle that seems to have all sort of video inputs (or outputs) on it.

I know there is a chance you'll get that stuff but its not guaranteed, and there seem to be a lot of cables that come with it.

 

[rbV5]

AIW refurbs are not even worth it IMHO. They never come with the cables, remote, editing software. I would stay away.

 

[CountZero]

But what if the comparable not AIW card but not refurbed would be more expensive? i.e. 9700pro is ~200 for the refurb AIW or 238 for the regular. So for $40 less could get a working 9700pro that with a little more money could also be a tv tuner.

In that case would it still not be worth it? Seems like there must be something up for that to happen but I don't know what.

 

[rbV5]

In that case would it still not be worth it? Seems like there must be something up for that to happen but I don't know what

In that case, it may be worth it. AIW 9700 pro = 9700pro performance wise. If you don't need dual head support, you would be getting basically the same performance considerably cheaper...warranty not taken into consideration. The cables from ANY AIW Radeon (perhaps Rage also) excepting the 8500DV and AIW 9600 pro will work perfectly as well. Then its just a matter of the remote (doesn't come with the nonAIW anyway, but real nice to have and needed for EasyLook HTPC interface, and the native component output. So maybe in that case. The tuner itself will work without cables (just hook coax right up) and you can hook the audio internally (CD audio cable) so that you can hear the TV without the multigang output plug.

So maybe considering the caveats..as long as you're informed
The other consideration is you won't have the ATI installation disc, so no Guideplus+ software, or ATI DVD decoders...these are not downloadable either, all the rest of the MMC software, drivers and Hydravision are freely available for download from ATI.

 

[CountZero]

Well I don't have a DVD drive anyways. Is there any 3rd party PVR software that works with it?

And what about that power cable, I'm assuming that doesn't come either, that's probably needed right? Or is the plug on the board a standard plug type (looks like a floppy power connection to me but I just don't know).

Thanks for the help! Pretty sure I'm gonna give it a go.

 

[rbV5]

And what about that power cable, I'm assuming that doesn't come either, that's probably needed right?

Definately needed. I'm not sure if a floppy power connector is the same or not...sure looks it, I'll check around. I'll bet something cheap works if not just a standard flopper connector..good catch!

 

[CountZero]

I found the answer to that on the ATI site:
9700 9800 power connection

Just in case anyone else was reading this and was curious.

It would appear that its just a floppy power connection.

So with that in mind I'm gonna go for it. Anyone know of any 3rd party pvr stuff that works with it?