Club3D's Radeon X800 XL AGP Presentation and Bundle
Club3D's sobering presentation is a welcome retreat from the horrid stuff that permeates retail presentation from the majority of vendors. In this reviewer's opinion, of course. The box art tells you what's inside without going overboard on specs and lets you know you're in for an AGP board. Opening up the box reveals the board in an anti-static bag, the cabling that accompanies the base hardware and a Club3D-branded DVI convertor that I'm sorely tempted to steal before sending the board back, such is its coolness over other DVI adaptors I have.
The cabling runs to S-Video extender cable for feeding the Theater and a component output cable for displaying video on a compatible television. Lift out the box insert that holds what you see above and you'll find the CDs.
Club3D bundle a copy of PowerDVD 5 and PowerDirector 3 DE, along with a full copy of the great game Colin McRae Rally 05, by Codemasters.
05 is a fine update to 04 and runs fantastically well on the X800 XL. PowerDVD 5 is competent software and does the job. Its CPU-based MPEG2 decoder will make use of the hardware when it can and quality is fine.
Nothing overboard, but that's entirely welcome to some buyers who want the board and cabling and little else. It also counts in Club3D's favour in terms of price.