The Diamond 3650PEG1 is a mid range ATi graphics card targeting the masses with a good cost/performance ratio. With the test results, we have seen that this card is probably not that suitable for demanding 3D games running in high resolutions.

In fact, the card is prices pretty low as a mid range card suitable for game playing and Blu Ray movie playback. Using Using the ATitool's 3D artifact detection software, we left the card to run. for 15 minutes. At normal room temperature of around 30 Degrees, the GPU temp maintains at 33 degrees Celsius. After 10 mins of running the catalyst artifact scanner, the GPU temperature rises steadily to about 61 degrees Celsius. The card runs pretty cool under the load.

In terms of overclocking, we are able to o/c the GPU core but we are restricted by the GDDR2. If GDDR3 is paired up with it, I supposed the 3D benchmarks would do better. In fact, from we have seen in other reviews, the GPU does not seem to be able to run fast enough to take advantage of 1GB of memory. That is also the reason why some manufacturers chose to use the more expensive GDDR3 but locked it at 512MB.

In terms of technology, the 3650 series supports the support DX10.1 and SM 4.1. It also comes with  a HDMI port and HDMI audio all built onto the card itself. Thus, it if you intend to use the card as to decode AVC/H.264. videos, you don't have to relay audio connectors within the system itself, channeling mainboard's audio to the video card (that happens on NVIDIA cards). With it's D-SUB, HDMI and DVI-D, you can choose whichever method is best for connecting to your external display.

In conclusion, this card is not the fastest 3D card you can find but it is a card best suitable for HTPCs due to it's high price/performance ratio for building a HTPC.

Price ~ 100USD (Click the icons on the top and bottom of the page)

Pros

• Pretty quiet
• Low CPU utilisation when playing back Blu-Ray
• Runs pretty cool
• Supports  DX10.1 & SM4.1
• CrossFire X support

Cons

• 3D GPU a bit low for high resolution games
• Package is too simple

Ratings

Here are my ratings out of 10 stars.