Date: |
January 4, 2004 |
Price: |
$199 |
Sponsors: |
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Author: |
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Editor: |
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Score: |
9/10 |
HIS Excalibur Radeon 9600XT Video Card Box Contents
What's in the box?
 You know you're going to get a video card and a driver
CD, but what else will you get when you open the box of the HIS Excalibur Radeon
9600XT? Well, besides the driver CD, which also contains Adobe Acrobat Reader
and an electronic version of the User's Guide, you also get a printed copy of
the User's Guide, a DVI-to-VGA adapter, an S-video cable, and an S-video to RCA
adapter cable, just in case you want to hook your video card to a component
video connector on your television, VCR, or DVD player.
 You also get some goodies on CD. Besides the
previously mentioned driver CD, you also get a 6-in-1 game CD with demos of
Comanche 4, Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, Tom
Clancy: Black Thorn, Vietcong, and Worms Blast. There is also a copy of
Cyberlink's PowerDirector VE 2.5, for all you budding video editors out there,
and a copy of PowerDVD 5. These are full editions, not shareware or time-bombed
demos, unlike the games on the 6-in-1 CD, which are all demos.
Last, and far from least, is the coupon that you can use to get
Half-Life 2 when it comes out. This alone is worth about US$50, which helps make
the US$200 or so pricetag a lot more appealing. There are three ways you can go
about getting Half-Life 2; you can go to ATi's Half-Life 2 offer
website and sign up for a Steam account with Valve for access to
the Valve Premier Pack, which will get you access to Half-Life, Counter
Strike, and other games now and Half-Life 2 immediately when it comes out, you
can fill out a form to send in for a copy of the Valve Premier Pack on CD and
Half-Life 2 when it becomes available (US$10 to US$15 for shipping, depending on
shipping method) and you wait 4-6 weeks for it to get to you, or you can opt not
to get the Valve Premier Pack at all and fill out a different form to get
Half-Life 2 when it comes out, which does not incur any shipping charges, but
still has a lag time of 4-6 weeks for delivery.
No matter which option you choose, you'll get Half-Life 2. You will also want
to note that the activation code you need for any of the options listed above is
hidden under some of the silver scratch-off gunk on the coupon. If you scratch
the gunk off for the code and try to return or exchange the video card,
don't be surprised when you can't. This goes for any ATi product with a
Half-Life 2 coupon, not just the HIS Excalibur Radeon 9600XT. It's stated in
plain English and in French (I don't know French, so it may or may not be
plain) in bold type on the side of the coupon with the scratch-off gunk, so
don't say you didn't know! All this means is that you should make sure you're
happy with your video card before you scratch off the gunk to get the activation
code.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this review, please post them
in this thread in our forums.
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