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Diamond releases a trio of Radeon cards

by: John -
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Another ATI partner is putting out some new products as Diamond is releasing the Radeon X1950 CrossfireT, Radeon X1950 XTX, and the X1950 Pro in AGP. Diamond ensures you get a good card as they test and retest each new model so that they can cut down on defective cards. The two high end cards will be available for $449.
DIAMOND RELEASES THREE NEW VIPER GRAPHICS CARDS FEATURING THE RADEON X1950 CHIP
Viper Products Provide Best Gaming Performance
of Any 3D Card on Market

(Chatsworth, CA)--Diamond Multimedia (www.diamondmm.com), a leading manufacturer of PC graphics cards, sound cards and communications products, will begin shipping three new versions of its popular Viper video card line on September 14, including the X1950 CrossFireT & X1950XTX in PCI-E models along with the X1950PRO available in an AGP version.

The X1950 cards represent the pinnacle of achievement in a wide-ranging series of high-performance graphics cards produced by Diamond and featuring the powerful ATI Radeon® chip that outperforms any other single or dual-slot solutions.  These cards have tested memory speeds of 450MHz faster than the last generation of X1900 cards, proving to be the fastest graphics card on the market with blazing clock speed and unrivaled video quality to provide the most immersive experience available.

The X1950 cards are also equipped with Avivo ATI Technology video and display platform, which enables a High-Definition visual experience, and allows for universal connectivity to various digital devices, including home theater systems, LCD monitors, HDTVs, projectors and notebooks.  Avivo offers sharper display for video and photos compared with conventional cards, as well as "universal display connectivity" - which remedies the long-standing barrier of being able to display PC graphics on a variety of consumer electronics devices, including big-screen televisions.

Yet another breakthrough is the X1950's support of High Dynamic Range (HDR) with full post-processing capabilities, including anti-aliasing.

The Viper X1950XTX and the Viper X1950 CrossFire both use the Radeon X1950 GPU, with a 512MB GDDR4 interface using the PCI Express data bus.  These cards have a core clock speed of 650MHz and a 2.0GHz memory speed.  The X1950AGP model has a 256MB GDDR4 interface, core clock speed of 600MHz and a 1.4 GHz memory speed (Due Oct 2006).  All these products support Dual DVI (x2 Dual-link), HDTV, D-sub, VIVO and Avivo.

The connectors included are DVI, TV-Out/HDTV and VIVO.  Minimum system requirements for the card are an Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 FX CPU running at a minimum of 2.4GHz, PCI-E slot, 128MB system RAM, 480MB available hard disk space, a CD- or DVD-ROM drive, and 550 Watt power supply or higher.  Also needed is a Super VGA or DVI-I compatible monitor.  The X1950 models will run under Microsoft Windows® XP SP2, XP 64, 2000 SP4, MCE, 2003 32/64, and Vista environments.  The X1950XTX and X1950 CrossFire will require a PCI-E X16 compliant slot & X1950PRO will require an AGP 2.0,3.0/4X,8X.

The Viper X1950 also comes with extensive software, including the Catalyst Control Center, the award-winning feature-rich 3D software application.  Catalyst automatically configures optimal settings for the user's system, and is packed with features that go far beyond traditional driver configuration software.  The Radeon Ultra-Threaded Shader Engine will handle up to 128 threads at once, as well as up to 48 simultaneous shader processors, featuring a revolutionary 3-to-1 shader-to-texture ratio.

All Diamond video cards also carry the Diamond guarantee of quality assurance.  Unlike many cards that are simply first to market, Diamond carefully tests and retests every new model for its ratio of performance to reliability.  Diamond is legendary in the PC video card business for its low return rates - less than 1 percent versus an industry average of approximately 10 percent - and attributes this to its intensive testing, detailed product knowledge down to the component level, superior relationships with suppliers and unyielding commitment to quality.  Diamond cards use superior connectors, cables and components, as well as undergo more thorough testing for heat susceptibility and durability, and this is directly reflected in its superior track record of longevity at the highest levels of performance.

The X1950 CrossFire and X1950 XTX each retail at $449.  All Diamond cards are available through most North American distributors, such as ASI, D&H, Ingram Micro and TechData along with most leading computer retailers and e-commerce sites like NewEgg.com and Amazon.com.