Diamond have always made crap cards no matter what technology they have implemented. Does anyone remember the EDGE 3D range that was meant to bring 3D games such as virtua fighter to the PC????
or the S3 range of video cards.
Riva TNT*'s are great when implemented by proper manufacturers. such as STB and Hercules so stop complaining.
The diamond vipers are crap not because they're based on Riva TNT's but because their made by Diamond.
------------------
The PC is only tool make great use of it
Current System:
ABIT BH6
Celeron 400
STB Velocity 4400 16MB AGP
128MB PC100 Ram
ADAPTEC 2904CD SCSI CARD
TEAC CD-R56S-600 6x24 CD Writer
8.4gb Maxtor Diamond 2800 UDMA 33
EIDE LG Gold star 16xMax CD-ROM
MACHINE 1:
ASUS P3V4X
256MB PC-133
PIII 700E
GEFORCE SDR 32MB AGP
SBLIVE VALUE
NETGEAR FA311 NIC 10/100
PLEXWRITER 12/10/32A
30.7GB IBM DESKSTAR 75
DXR3
12X HITACHI GD-7500 DVD-ROM
CTX PR960F 19" MONITOR
What are you basing this post on exactly? Pretty much anyone who has a viper 770 enjoys it very much. They run the same as any other tnt 2 cards at the same clock speeds... Anyway, who ever said that viper's suck and its Riva's fault; what are you responding to? All TNT*'s are GREAT!
I actually had an edge 3d, it came with my computer. To tell you the truth, if the industry would have had a standard that the edge supported, it might have been the best card at the time. Besides, wasn't that chipset made by nvidia too?
This is in response to all Riva TNT doubters who have slaaged of the Riva TNT in the past.
I'm sorry to say that the majority of other boards and this one have had users who had numerous problems with thier diamond vipers and swore they would not use Riva TNT based cards again.
Er, um... ok... Diamond products have always been know for their quality, stability, and good performance, although they havn't always had the latest and best.
I have used several diamond products (including the original viper, monster fusion, and Viper v770) and I am yet to have a single problem with any of them.
Now, that is just my experience, but from reviews and info I have seen on websites, and in magazines, most people agree, Diamond products are stable, high quality, and good performers (even the S3 line was pretty good).
Just wanted to put in my two cents,
-Will
Note to self: No matter how bad life gets, there's always beer.
OVER THE YEARS, I HAVE OWNED: DIAMOND STEALTH 2000, STEALTH 3000, VIPER V330, AND NOW A V770 ULTRTA, THEY ALL KICKED ***. THE V770 ULTRA WAS THE 2ND BEST THING I EVER BOUGHT FOR A COMPUTER (1ST WAS MY CELERON 300A FOR $85, AND IS 1% FASTER THAN A P3 450!)
132 FPS (800-600 MOTOCROSS MADDNESS)
88 FPS (800-600 QUAKE2) 3.53
CELERON 300A@450
256 PC100 RAM
ABIT BH6 MB
6.8 MAXTOR (5400RPM)
SBLIVE (LIVE!WARE 3.0)
AND A PIECE OF CRAP MODEMBLASTER THAT I THOUGHT WOULD DO BETTER THAN MY ISA SUPRAEXPRESS, BOY WAS I WRONG)
I haven't had too many problems with Diamond products either. However, I must agree that Diamond sucks compared to other video card vendors.
They NEVER update their drivers hardly. They also NEVER update older products drivers after they release a new video card. The last time a Viper 550 driver was released was 3/24/99. Geez. They could have added some 3DNow support to make the older cards run a bit better with AMD systems. BUT that might discourage someone from upgrading to a Viper 770. No we bettered not update the 550 anymore. They also never update any of the drivers for their other perepherals either.
Diamond at one time I had alot of faith in, but they have went downhill since the Viper330. Their last good card. They could learn alot from Matrox and ASUS about driver updates. And oh, good luck if you need an MX300 driver update. They don't update them anymore.
On a side note, If you think Diamond makes good TNT cards, you obviously haven't seen the design layout of the ASUS TNT cards. The Viper 550 looks like crap in comparison to the ASUS 3400 TNT. Which I might add ASUS put a cooling fan on to keep the hot TNT chip cooler. This is where I think alot of people have problems with TNT. HEAT. Oh and ASUS still updates their 3400 drivers.
You can say your happy all day long about Diamond products, but the FACTS say there is better out there. I think it's safe to say Diamond USED to be a great company. But they need to get their act together before I ever buy another card from them.
I have a Viper 550.
The driver I have originally does not work, showing no display when used.
Hence I switch to a Hercules driver thinking that it will work. Well, it did, and it is work well so far. Looking at the Diamond Savage4 card, which I wanted to buy for a low /mid end PC. But the reiews does not jusified the money I am spending.
Hence I went for a G400 knowing that Matrox is working on their OpenGL drivers.
Well, I spend something slightly more, getting a better card and can let it last for longer than a year at least, wise choice, don't you all think so???
Although Diamond are certainly not video innovators or big on support, their cards work fine. I find it hard to believe that you would hack down the quality of a piece of hardware when you run with a Celeron processor, talk about cheap crap!!
I don't know about Diamond making crap cards but I do know that they have crap driver support. S3 is just as poor. Put those together and you have products I'll definitely avoid like the plague.
There was a petition not too long ago asking Diamond to be more timely with their driver updates. I don't think it worked. Driver support for S3's Savage4 was lousy at best and the best ones you could find were ones made by the community. I hope I don't have to remind anyone about the Viper II release.
Diamond is known for their name. You can find their products easily at Best Buy so surely they must be good quality (just like everything you buy from there). For my money, I'll pass on any Diamond/S3 product no matter how available it is.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks