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Diamond Viper Radeon HD 3870 and HD 3870 1GB

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News Posted: Thu, Jul 10 2008 9:48 AM

Throughout most of the 1990s, Diamond Multimedia was one of the major players in the graphics card world.  Their well made cards with solid performance resulted in some of the most well known brand names of the time including the Speedstar, Stealth, and Viper.  After merging with S3 Incorporated in 1999, the resounding failure of their joint contribution: the Diamond Viper II Z200 based on S3's Savage 2000, eventually led to the combined Diamond/S3 company backing away from third-party graphics cards.

In 2003, however, Best Data stepped in and purchased the rights to the brand name and assets from SONICblue Incorporated, including the Stealth and Viper brand names.  Focusing on ATI's Radeons as their GPU of choice, the original line-up seemed to be focused mostly on the lower-end, more mainstream cards, including the Stealth S80 we took a look at in early 2003.  The good news is, with some more time and resources under their belt, Diamond has completely revitalized the Viper name in both body and spirit.  Once again, with high-end products at the core, Diamond is a force to be reckoned with in the market.  Today, we've got two of their HD 3870's in the labs for comparison - one is mostly plain vanilla but the other is an overclocked version utilizing GDDR4 memory.  Let's get a bit more acquainted with them, shall we?

Diamond Viper Radeon HD 3870 and HD 3870 1GB



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Super Dave replied on Thu, Jul 10 2008 10:41 PM

 Diamond Multimedia was one of HotHardware's sponsors in the HotHardware April Sweepstakes. Soon after that contest I remember reading a rather sad review of a Diamond Viper Radeon 3650 1GB HERE. I felt sad that the Diamond card rated so poorly in that review, but I was also proud that HotHardware pulled no punches. Now, after reading this latest review, I would consider Diamond products at the top of my list if I were in the market for a new video-graphic solution!

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recoveringknowitall replied on Thu, Jul 10 2008 11:18 PM

I had a Diamond 9600 in a PIII build a few years ago... it did the job well enough.

BTW: How's the search for a $300 PC for your sister in-law coming? Tiger Direct has excellent bare-bones deals!

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amdcrankitup replied on Fri, Jul 11 2008 8:15 AM
Ive always been a fan of nvidia but considering Ati,s offerings as of recent I could be swayed to change!Always looking for the fastest and the lowest cost option.Being an enthusiast and being financially challenged Im always struggling over my wants and my actual needs,and my wants usually at least in my mind overtakes my needs.Kinda of like buying a car just cheaper!

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jtm55 replied on Sat, Jul 12 2008 9:09 AM

Super Dave:

 Diamond Multimedia was one of HotHardware's sponsors in the HotHardware April Sweepstakes. Soon after that contest I remember reading a rather sad review of a Diamond Viper Radeon 3650 1GB HERE. I felt sad that the Diamond card rated so poorly in that review, but I was also proud that HotHardware pulled no punches. Now, after reading this latest review, I would consider Diamond products at the top of my list if I were in the market for a new video-graphic solution!

Hi All

That's what I like about HH Reviews. You can count on them to give you a unbiased Review.

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ice_73 replied on Sun, Jul 13 2008 12:51 PM
visiontek imo is one of the best ati board partners because of their life time warranty. diamond... well i would love to say my experience with them has been great... but it hasn't and im still awaiting a working 3870x2. my favorite brand though has to be xfx. i had to rma a card one, they upgraded me, and the rma took about a week (total.. from the time i sent in to when i got it back!).

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