Okay, we are a little slow sometimes, we won't deny that. Why looking at a Radeon HD 2900 XT 1GB card when the new Radeon HD 3870 is out? Well, there are a few reasons. Firstly, if you're looking for a high-end video card with 1GB of memory your options are pretty much limited to the Radeon HD 2900 XT 1GB at the moment. Secondly, they're still available off the shelf so it's not like they're no longer available. Ultimately though, what the GeForce 8800 GT and Radeon HD 3870 has done to these other high-end cards is make them worth absolutely bugger all on the second hand market. What this means is you can really pick up a bargain these days. - TweakTown

Diamond Viper HD 2900 XT 1GB Video Board Review

The front of the box looks pretty cool, we can see some big logos on the front like HDMI, HD-DVD and Blu Ray. We can clearly see the model and the fact that it comes with 1024MB or 1GB of GDDR4 memory. There is also the sticker that shows the inclusion of Black Box as we have come to expect from all Radeon HD 2900's. The naming scheme for the card is Viper which is pretty cool, so it looks like Diamond certainly know what they're doing. Turning the box over we have the usual speak of what's so good about the Radeon based card. Diamond have also partnered with some other well established companies.

It looks like a standard Radeon HD 2900 XT, the 1GB and 512MB models really don't have anything to distinguish them apart. Diamond haven't worried about covering the default flame design on the cooler and have just chosen to place the Diamond logo on the middle section of the fan. This is all a very standard line-up for most companies these days, be it someone like Diamond or someone more established like ASUS. Adding big stickers to each card only takes more time which means it takes them longer to get to the market. Again two power connectors, a standard 6-pin PCI Express one and the more annoying 8-pin.

This particular card from Diamond comes pre-overclocked out of the box. While the standard Radeon HD 2900 XT comes in at 2000MHz effective on the GDDR4 memory the Diamond gets a nice boost taking it to 2200MHz effective mmeory speed. The core continues to remain the same at 743MHz. The Radeon HD 2900 XT 1GB is one of the most power hungry cards and has a good 80 watts of extra power needed at load compared to the newer offerings from NVIDIA and AMD. The Radeon HD 2900 XT isn't a bad card at all, after a few releases of drivers it really gained some good momentum, that it isn't that far behind the new cards.

The problem with it now though is that it's a rip off when you look at its pricing off the shelf. On the plus side, when you jump onto the second hand market you will notice all of a sudden that the Radeon HD 2900 XT's are for sale at ridiculously low pricing. The GeForce 8800 GTS has really dropped in price and is worth next to nothing on the second hand market. Right now it's an excellent chance for people to jump on the CrossFire or SLI bandwagon on the cheap. So if you already have a GeForce 8800 GTS or a Radeon HD 2900 XT graphics card, it might be the right moment to get a second one and enjoy dual-GPU power.

The Radeon HD 2900 XT 1GB from Diamond is a great card, the pre-overclocked speeds on it give it a nice boost over a stock clocked Radeon HD 2900 XT, even bringing performance up to and above the Radeon HD 3870 a few times. We're looking forward to checking out what the Diamond Viper HD 3870 brings with it, and until then there is no doubt a lot of people out there are going to be able to pick up a real bargain. If you look outside of buying a new card for the moment, simply put the Radeon HD 2900 XT in 512MB and 1GB form are the ultimate bang for the buck.