Chatsworth, Calif. - Diamond Multimedia, a manufacturer of PC graphics cards, sound cards, and communications products, has begun shipping three new versions of its Viper video card lineon. The new editions include the X1950 CrossFireT, X1950XTX with PCI Express, and X1950PRO in an AGP version.
The X1950 high-performance graphics cards produced by Diamond feature the ATI Radeon chip. The cards have tested memory speeds of 450MHz faster than the most recent generation of X1900 cards, to provide an immersive experience.
The X1950 cards are also equipped with Avivo ATI Technology video and display platform, which enables an HD 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.
The X1950s support High Dynamic Range (HDR) with full postprocessing capabilities, including antialiasing.
The Viper X1950XTX and the Viper X1950 CrossFire both use the Radeon X1950GPU, with a 512MB GDDR4 interface and PCI Express data bus. These cards have a core clock speed of 650MHz and a 2.0GHz memory speed.
TheX1950AGP model has a 256MB GDDR4 interface, core clock speed of 600MHz, and a 1.4GHz memory speed. 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.
The Viper X1950 also comes with software, including Catalyst Control Center 3D software. Catalyst automatically configures optimal settings for the user's system. 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.
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 ande-commerce sites like NewEgg.com and Amazon.com.