The Diamond Multimedia Viper Radeon X1950 AGP is a video card based on a reference design by AMD ATI. The card may have 256 or 512MB of onboard memory and is compatible with Microsoft DirectX 9. Several problems can occur with this video card, due either to incorrect installation or extended use. Studying the symptoms of the problem can help you find the solution.
System Memory Reduced
All 32-bit versions of consumer Windows operating systems can address a maximum of 4GB of memory. This limitation affects the computer's system and video memory and can cause the amount of system memory to appear reduced if you upgrade to the Viper Radeon X1950 from a video card with less memory. For example, suppose your computer has 4 GB of memory installed and your previous video card had 256MB of memory. Windows would report approximately 3.75GB of available system memory. If you upgrade to the 512MB version of the Viper Radeon X1950, windows would report approximately 3.5GB of available memory.
Overheating
The Viper Radeon X1950 uses a cooling system consisting of a heatsink with many thin copper fins for heat dissipation and a fan to force the hot air away from the video card's components. If dust collects between the fins of the heatsink, hot air may collect and cause the Radeon X1950 to overheat. When this happens, computer games may crash or run with distorted video. This problem may be quite severe if the video card's fan fails. If your computer exhibits these symptoms, you can resolve them by leaning the video card's cooling system and replacing the fan if necessary.
Outdated Driver
Diamond Multimedia released updated Windows XP and Windows Vista device drivers for the Diamond Viper Radeon X1950 AGP in 2008. Updated device drivers frequently resolve issues with games and other software released after a video card. If you experience issues with a game released after you purchased the video card, installing the driver update may resolve the problem.
Black Screen
If the Viper Radeon X1950 is installed incorrectly, the screen may remain black when you turn the computer on. The computer's internal speaker may also beep several times. This generally indicates that the card is not fully seated in the AGP slot or the required auxiliary power connection is unused. You can resolve this issue by shutting the computer down, disconnecting the power cable and examining the video card. Remove the video card from its slot, reseat it and connect a six-pin power cable to the auxiliary power connection.
Tags: video card, Radeon X1950, Viper Radeon, Viper Radeon X1950, auxiliary power