Diamond SpeedSTAR 24X
Diamond launched the SpeedStar 24X in July 1992. It kept the cost down by using DRAM instead of VRAM which is faster but more expensive. Despite this, Diamond claimed the 24X was still competitive with many VRAM-based cards.
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Released | July 1992 |
| Bus | ISA 16-bit | |
| Chipset | Western Digital WD90C31A-LR | |
| Standards | Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA | |
| Memory | 512 KB (maximum 1 MB) DRAM | |
| Ports | 15-pin DSUB (video out) 26-pin VGA Feature connector |
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| RAMDAC |
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| Part # | ||
| FCC ID | FTUC31A | |
| Price | At launch: $249, Feb 1993: $155-$175 | |
| See Also | SpeedSTAR, SpeedSTAR 24 |
The SpeedStar 24X was part of a new batch of Windows accelerators in 1992 which improved Windows performance by two to eight times over standard VGA controllers. Among them were cards based on ATI's Mach 32, S3's 86C801, 86C911 and 86C924 chips, and Chips & Technologies' 82C481.
In tests such as the WinTach benchmark from Texas Instruments, the SpeedStar 24X outperformed S3 cards in general word processor and spreadsheet work. Where cards from S3 sped up Windows performance only, the WD90C31-based 24X improved performance in both DOS and Windows compared to earlier SpeedStar models. Its core clock runs at 80 MHz.
The SpeedStar 24X supports TrueColor 24-bit colour depths (16.7 million colours) in a non-interlaced resolution of 640 x 480. At 800 x 600 non-interlaced it can display up to 32,768 colours, and at 1024 x 768 non-interlaced it can display up to 256 colours. Finally, at its highest resolution of 1280 x 1024, it can display 16 colours. Refresh rates run as high as 72 Hz non-interlaced, and at 45 Hz interlaced.
Early releases of the SpeedStar 24X did `not function properly on 50 MHz 486DX machines, but the problem was quickly rectified by Diamond. If you have an earlier BIOS than version 1.02, it will have this issue.
Unlike the SpeedSTAR 24, the 24X does *not* work in an 8-bit ISA slot.
Board Revisions
Two board revisions are known for the SpeedStar 24X: A3 and A5.
Competition
The Diamond SpeedSTAR 24X went up against other Windows graphics accelerators in 1992 such as the ATI Mach 32-based Graphics Ultra Plus and Graphics Ultra Pro, the Genoa VGA 79000, NDI Volante Warp 10, STB Systems' Powergraph X-24 and Wind/X, and Matrox HiPer VGA and Impression 1024.
Some of these cards came with 2 MB of video memory, and in some cases they even used the new VRAM technology to further improve memory bandwidth over the older and slower DRAM.
The table below shows the results of PC Magazine's Winmark performance tests on a range of ISA cards. The Winmark measure is a weighted harmonic mean of 12 Windows graphics and text functions derived from a variety of popular Windows applications. It is measured in megapixels-per-second:
| Chipset | 640x480 256 |
640x480 32K |
640x480 64K |
640x480 24-bit |
800x600 16 |
800x600 256 |
800x600 32K |
1024x768 16 |
1024x768 256 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tseng Labs ET4000 (ref) | 1.36 | 1.07 | - | 0.74 | 1.37 | 1.29 | 1.03 | 1.72 | 1.38 |
| ATI Mach32 | 6.40 | 6.09 | - | 6.48 | 6.40 | 5.69 | 6.45 | 6.35 | |
| Cirrus Logic CL-GD5422 | 2.31 | - | - | 0.68 | 2.06 | 2.51 | - | 1.89 | 2.41 |
| WD 90C31-LR | 3.75 | 0.80 | - | 0.95 | 3.04 | 3.83 | 1.47 | 2.76 | 3.76 |
| S3 86C801 | 5.49 | - | 2.70 | 5.46 | 2.90 | 5.52 | - | 1.44 | 6.19 |
| S3 86C911 | 3.43 | 1.63 | - | 1.81 | 3.66 | 3.41 | - | 3.72 | 3.45 |
| S3 86C924 | 4.05 | 1.78 | 1.66 | 0.23 | 3.96 | 4.04 | - | 3.99 | 4.06 |
| S3 86C928 | 5.59 | 2.75 | 2.75 | - | 5.44 | 5.60 | 5.42 | 5.59 |
Comparing the Graphics Winmark score of the Diamond against its competition at 800 x 600 in 256 colours:
| Card | Winmark Score |
|---|---|
| Video Seven Win.VGA | 2.11 |
| WD Paradise Accelerator Card | 2.75 |
| Matrox HiPer VGA | 3.29 |
| Matrox Impression 1024 | 3.32 |
| STB Wind/X HC GUI Accelerator | 3.47 |
| Prism Graphics Accelerator VGA | 3.54 |
| NDI Volante AT600 Plus | 3.54 |
| Sigma Designs Legend GX | 3.56 |
| Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 | 3.57 |
| Focus 2 The Max VGA GUI 6000 | 3.57 |
| Diamond SpeedStar 24X | 5.06 |
| NDI Volante AT1000 | 5.23 |
| STB Powergraph X-24 | 5.59 |
| NDI Volante Warp10 | 5.70 |
| ATI Graphics Ultra Plus | 6.39 |
| ATI Graphics Ultra Pro | 6.42 |
In the Media
Diamond Computer Systems' Speedstar 24X graphics card provides 16.7 million colors in 640-by-480 mode and a choice of monitor resolutions up to 1,280-by-1,024 for a modest $249. The diminutive card (3.5 by 6.25 inches) is built around the Western Digital 90C31 graphics accelerator chip and has 1MB of 70-nanosecond DRAM video memory.
The board installs easily, with three jumpers to deal with system and BIOS incompatibilities and four DIP switches to set up the default monitor timings for 800-by-600 and 1,024-by-768 resolutions. The SpeedStar 24X graphics card is compatible with a wide range of multisynchronous and fixed-frequency monitors.
SPECIAL DRIVERS
The SpeedStar software installation program copies its Windows drivers to your Windows directory and installs a Diamond icon, which activates the program to change resolution and color depth. Diamond provides its own Windows drivers instead of the standard drivers available from Western Digital Corp. By using the specially tuned drivers, the SpeedStar 24X card turned in an average Graphics WinMark score of 7.8 on PC Magazine Labs' WINBENCH graphics performance tests, a respectable showing for a video accelerator in this price class.
An included program lets you select the model of monitor connected to the adapter and to adjust the size of the image on-screen to suit your needs. You run it whenever you want to use the custom monitor settings that you have chosen (running the program from AUTOEXEC.BAT makes this an automatic task).
Also included with the SpeedStar 24X are Panacea's AutoCAD Display List Drivers; the HALO Desktop Imager, a tool for editing and manipulating photographic images; and high-resolution DOS drivers for Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Word, and WordPerfect.
The megabyte of on-board video memory necessarily limits 24-bit resolution to 640-by-480, but the SpeedStar 24X offers a good variety of other resolutions and colors.
If you don't need higher resolutions for 24-bit color work, you may find the SpeedStar 24X's combination of solid performance, a wide range of resolutions, software extras, and a reasonable price very compelling."
PC Magazine, Oct 1992
The SpeedStar 24X also comes with a strong set of drivers, though not quite as varied as those that come with the Warp 10. In addition to Windows 3.x, there are drivers for AutoCAD, CADvance, PCAD, VersaCAD, Microsoft Word 5.0 and 5.5, Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, and WordPerfect 5.0 and 5.1.
The SpeedStar doesn't offer the Volante's 1,152-by-900 pixel capabilities, but in other respects it matches the Volante's resolutions and colors.
In addition, the SpeedStar is compatible with VESA standards and can serve as a VGA pass-through for other video cards." InfoWorld, 7 Dec 1992
Setting it Up
Downloads
Operation Manual Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Original Utility Disk Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Video BIOS ROM Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Video BIOS ROM Odd and Even BIOS ROM dumps courtesy of Andy Welburn of Andy's Arcade |
Video BIOS
Courtesy of Vogons user keropi. |
Video BIOS ROM Odd and Even BIOS ROM dumps courtesy of Andy Welburn of Andy's Arcade |
Windows 3.1 Drivers
Windows 3.1 display drivers with support for up to 1280x1024 in 16 colours, 1024x768 in 256 colours, and 800x600 in 65536 colours. |
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More Pictures
SpeedSTAR 24X (credit unknown)
Images of two SpeedStar 24X cards with different BIOS versions, courtesy of Andy Welburn of Andy's Arcade