Diamond's Newest Vista-Ready Viper Model Provides Fastest Performance of Any 3D Card

CHATSWORTH, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- November 14, 2006 --Diamond Multimedia (www.diamondmm.com), a leading manufacturer of PC graphics cards, sound cards and communications products, has begun shipping two PCI-E versions of the X1950PRO with AGP versions in December.

The Viper X1950PRO represents 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. This card uses the Radeon X1950 GPU and comes in both 256MB and 512MB GDDR3 interfaces. It has a core clock speed of 575MHz and a 1.38GHz memory speed. It supports Dual DVI (x2 Dual-link), HDTV, D-sub and VIVO.

The X1950PRO is one of the first graphics cards to feature the native CrossFire® technology with the new plug-and-play CrossFire configuration. Native CrossFire makes use of CrossFire bridge interconnect cables that attach directly to the cards for easy installation, while still delivering the same high-performance multi-GPU gaming experience CrossFire is known for, enabling high resolutions and refresh rates.

Yet another breakthrough is the X1950PRO's support of High Dynamic Range (HDR) with full post-processing capabilities, including anti-aliasing, providing sharp texture filtering to ensure that every game detail is crisp and clear. The X1950PRO also features built-in native HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection).

The Viper X1950PRO supports DirectX 9, and Shader Mode 3.0. It is Microsoft Windows Vista-ready and supported by 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 X1950PRO retails at $229 and $179 for PCIE, and $249 and $299 for AGP. 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.

About Diamond Multimedia

For the past two decades, Diamond Multimedia has been widely recognized as a pioneer in the graphics, sound and communications industries and as a key player in launching the multimedia revolution. Through the process of specialization, multimedia companies have become nearly extinct, each concentrating on a few aspects but never again addressing a complete experience. In that time evolution and natural selection has transformed Diamond into a new type of multimedia company, a company that brings all of the differing technologies together under one brand. Diamond Multimedia is partnered with some of the top technology companies including AMD as ATI graphics provider.

Diamond provides the absolute best quality in advanced graphics, digital television, communications and sound hardware solutions for home and business users, enabling users to create, access and experience compelling new media content from their desktops and through the internet.

Diamond products are available to the public throughout North America through retailers, resellers and systems integrators as well as top technology product distributors. Diamond products stand for performance, quality and value. Corporate headquarters are located in Chatsworth, California.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Rita Tennyson TERPIN COMMUNICATIONS (310) 821-6100 x104 rita@terpin.com