Introduction

I would like to thank Diamond Multimedia for supplying the review sample.

I received the Diamond Viper X1900XT sometime back and I must say at the time the Diamond Viper X1900XT was the lowest priced option and is still one of the lowest priced cards available today.
Diamond Multimedia corporate headquarters is located in Chatsworth, California with another location in Deurne, Belgium and has through the years specialized in many forms of multimedia technology. From producing not only graphic cards, Diamond Multimedia has produced modems, sound cards and MP3 players. Did you know Diamond Multimedia created one of the first consumer MP3 players called the Rio PMP300? They have since sold their MP3 player line, but still offer a range of multimedia products. In this review we'll take a look at this X1900XT offering from Diamond Multimedia along with some basic X1900XT functionality and overclocking tips provided by djbbenn using ATITool.
It's well known that a majority of ATI cards are manufactured in the Sapphire factories and are distributed to other ATI Video Card OEMs. Since most of these offerings are referred to as ATI reference PCB, we’ll lay a Powercolor X1900XT along side the Diamond offering and compare the similarities and if any differences are to be found. With that in mind let’s check out the Diamond Viper X1900XT.

Specifications

• GPU: ATI Radeon® X1900XT
• Bus Type: PCI-Express x16
• Memory Support: 512MB GDDR3
• Memory Interface: 256 bit
• Core Clock Speed: 625 MHz
• Memory Speed: 1.45 GHz
• Shader Units: 48
• Geometry Pipelines: 8
• Peak Pixel Fill Rate: 10 Gpixels/sec
• Peak Vertex Throughput: 1250
• Peak Memory Bandwidth: 46.4 GB/s
• API Support: DirectX¨ 9.0, OpenGL
• Dual DVI & VIVO

Features

• 90 Nanometer Technology
• 48 pixel shader processors
• 384 million transistors on 90nm
• 8 vertex shader processors
• 256-bit 8-channel GDDR3 memory interface
• Lightning fast memory clock speeds
• New cache design, latency improvements
• High Dynamic Range (HDR) rendering
• Support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 & Shader Model 3.0
• AVIVO and 3D excellence
• CATALYST Software Drivers
• Simultaneously drive 2 High Resolution panels
• HDTV Support

Packaging & Contents

It would appear Diamond skipped the box bling in this edition with a plain white box and text. I was a little confused myself until the SB in SB Edition was explained to me, meaning System Builder. It was sent to me for the review before Diamond had received their printed boxes with all the graphics. Even though it's boxed in the SB Edition it still contains the same contents as a full retail Diamond Viper X1900XT. The Diamond Viper X1900XT is wrapped in a couple layers of foam and is well protected for its journey to its new owner.


The Diamond Viper X1900XT comes with a Quick Install Guide, ATI CATALYST, Diamond Tools, DVD Playback, with no bundled games. Also included are a combination of cables which includes Component-out cable adapter, 9-pin S-Video/composite VIVO, 6-inch S-Video cable, 6-inch composite cable, 2 x DVI-to-VGA adapter.


The Quick Install Guide includes a number of applications from Windows Updates to Diamond Tools, Diamonds own overclocking tool and a small Helpdesk with known issues documented. Everything you need to get your system up and running out of the box.

Package Includes:

• Quick Install Guide
• Software: ATI CATALYST, Diamond Tools, DVD Playback
• Component-out cable adapter
• 9-pin S-Video/composite VIVO
• 6-inch S-Video cable
• 6-inch composite cable
• 2 x DVI-to-VGA adapter

The Card

The Diamond Viper X1900XT sports a nice picture of ATI's Ruby on the stock heatsink/fan. The stock heatsink/fan is fairly large to meet the cooling needs of this powerful card. Along with a large heatsink/fan comes considerable amount of noise.


On the backside of the card you can notice there are no memory chips - older generations of video cards from ATI such as the X800 series, had the memory on both sides of the cards.


The X1900 comes with dual DVI ports and also a port to plug in an extension cable for TV in/out and HDTV. The card's dual slot configuration is to accommodate the large cooler, and also has a exhaust vent. On the backside of the card, you can see the heatsink/fan's air intake. Air is also pulled over another smaller heatsink in front of the cooler. This heatsink is for the voltage regulators.


And the heart of it all - the R580. When the heatsink is taken off, the memory chips and core are exposed. There is 512MB of Samsung GDDR3 1.1ns memory (K4J52324QC-BJ11), rated for 900MHZ (DDR1800MHz) @ 2.0V ± 0.1V. The thermal paste looks a little rough but I checked both cards and they were identical in the type as well as the look.
The base of the cooler is made from cast Iron, and the contact point for the core is made of Copper that links to the heatsink. Thermal pads are used for the memory chips to make contact with the cooler. Something not noticeable in the first picture above is a thin sheet of clear plastic that keeps the electronics from touching bare metal. It's cut out around the thermal pads and heatsink.


The heatsink/fan is made of three main pieces - the cast base, the heatsink and the fan unit.


The heatsink itself is made from copper and includes heat pipes to help increase performance, this all mounts to the base via four screws.


A long red heatsink is used to cool the voltage regulators (black rectangle) of the card with a thin thermal pad attached, running from the top to the bottom of the card, it's held on with spring loaded pegs. These get very hot and require the additional heatsink to keep them cool. Even though they are designed to withstand high amounts of heat, it's always good to keep them as cool as possible to increase life span.