DIAMOND X1950 Pro Video Card Review :: DIAMOND X1950 Pro Card

DIAMOND EAX1950Pro
Brand	DIAMOND
Model	EAX1950Pro
Graphics Chip	RV560
Graphics Memory Type	GDDR3
Memory (MB)	512
Graphics Core Clock (MHz)	575
Memory Clock (MHz)	1400
Memory Speed (ns)	1.4
RAMDAC Frequency (MHz)	Dual 400
Active Cooling on Graphics Chip	Yes
Heatsink on Memory	Yes
Video Capture	Yes
Ports
Dual Monitor Support	Yes
VGA Out	DVI-Ix2
Video In and Out	S-Video Out
Package and Support
Printed Manual	Yes
Driver CD	Yes
Performance Tool Software	ATI OverDrive
Major Games	None
Major Software	None
VR Glasses	No
DVD Player Software	None
Video Recording Software	N/A

Diamond decided to use a modified PCB from the reference X1950 Pros. The heatsink looks like a racing car with fins on the rear of it. A picture of Ruby holding a massive sword is on the heatsink. The name of AMD's card, the RADEON X1950 Pro is on the PCB as well as the Graphics by ATI logo on the 11-fin fan that covers the front part of the card.

Heatsink

Fins

Fan

Ruby

Fan power connector

Capacitors

The rear of the card is populated by a variety of capacitors and resistors to regulate the power the card needs. Speaking of power, the card requires more power than the 75W provided by a PCI Express x16 slot, 75W. To facilitate this card has an auxiliary power connection. In order to install the card, you need to attach power to the connection or the card will beep.

Rear shot

Serial number

Heat plate

PCI Express

6-pin power

The rear of the card is dominated by a heat plate that matches the footprint of the front heatsink/fan. The X1950 Pro is a hot running chip, and the heat plate along with the heatsink/fan on the front of the card keeps the card running at a nominal temperature. The back of the card also contains stickers with the serial number and part number of the card.

IO

DIAMOND has four models of X1950 Pro available. There is a 512MB PCI Express version, a 512MB AGP version, a 256MB PCI Express version and a 256MB AGP version. The AGP X1950 Pros are the best cards available on the old AGP bus as there are only 7800GS cards on AGP bus from NVIDIA. There are 8 64MB chips on the X1950 Pro card rated at