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Technology Stocks : Diamond Multimedia -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jonathan Quick who wrote (3572)	5/14/1998 7:20:00 AM
From: Javelyn Bjoli	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4679

Do you have some info on who the market share leaders are for the <$1k PC so far? Boards are not a dead end, every box needs a board and somebody has to make them. However, motherboards are about the lowest margin boards around, and I agree that this move is not in itself likely to be profitable for DIMD. DIMD does not have the speed, vision, or talent, and probably not the cash reserves, to remake themselves into another type of company. It has been touch & go hanging on to their own market against Creative & STB. I don't see how they could follow the strategy you suggest. Look at the board business from the PC maker's point of view - buy cheap stuff from Taiwan, or slightly better stuff from DIMD, stick it in a box, sell it. Outsource the whole business starting at the bottom (mfg labor) and working your way up, ultimately keeping it together with a vision, a good operations team and a strong brand name. If DIMD wanted into imaging, they would have to spend megabucks building expertise and brand name so they could justify the markup on OEM'd products &/or have some superior home-grown products. The problem is, all the players in that market are much bigger and have much better brand names already. I am referring to Kodak, Sony, HP, and so on. I think a better move is to target dirt-cheap MM game/internet PC's for home customers, becoming a box maker at the very low end. It is an easy move from here. You refer to this as the set-top market, but set-tops will be bought by the millions by one big company from another - DIMD will not qualify. But they can make them for retail, Web direct, and infomercial sales.

To: Jonathan Quick who wrote (3572)	5/20/1998 4:03:00 PM
From: Joe Knoll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4679

Diamond Multimedia's 12MB Monster 3D II Bundles Microsoft's New Monster Truck Madness 2 SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 1998--Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:DIMD), a leader in interactive multimedia acceleration, announced today that the retail version of its 12MB Monster 3D II, based on the Voodoo2 chipset from 3Dfx, includes a full version of Microsoft's hot new 3D game for the PC, Monster Truck Madness(TM) 2. The 12MB Monster 3D II, which has an estimated retail price (ERP) of $299.95, provides the fast frame rates and extensive hardware 3D feature support necessary to bring smooth, realistic motion to the richly textured 3D models of this hot racing title. "Software bundles can play a significant role in a gamer's decision to buy a graphics accelerator," said Ken Wirt, vice president of corporate marketing at Diamond Multimedia Systems. "An exciting, extremely detailed 3D title like Monster Truck Madness 2, combined with the brand-name recognition and 12MB power of our latest Monster 3D II accelerator, presents an attractive 3D upgrade to the hard-core PC gamer." Microsoft's Monster Truck Madness 2 The sequel to Monster Truck Madness, one of the best-selling racing games for the PC, Monster Truck Madness 2 puts gamers in the driver's seat of nine brand new monster trucks as they crush, splatter, jump and roll their way to victory on eleven new circuit or rally courses. New challenges include changing weather, road and racing conditions, allowing players to speed through rain or snow, day or night on varying road surfaces. Virtual monster truck racers will also thrill at the sight of richly detailed, dynamic scenery like moving trains. Monster Truck Madness 2's multiplayer support lets gamers test their skills against other human opponents over the Internet. Challenge up to eight other players on Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone (http://www.zone.com) and fight it out on Summit Rumble, the multiplayer-only game where racers decide who is truly King of the Hill. A new graphics engine with the latest 3D effects give the tracks, trucks and dynamic scenery of Monster Truck Madness 2 a compelling realism. This new engine also takes advantage of the latest advances in PC processor technology, like the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), and its Direct3D(R) application programming interface (API) compatibility will bring faster frame rates to users of 3D accelerators like the 12MB Monster 3D II. "The processing and texture mapping power of Diamond's Monster 3D II accelerator helps Monster Truck Madness 2 players get the most out of its 3D vehicles and environment," said Keith Weintraub, Microsoft's product manager for Monster Truck Madness 2. "Our Direct3D compatibility works seamlessly with Monster 3D II's hardware for a truly immersive gaming experience." Diamond Multimedia's 12MB Monster 3D II The 12MB Monster 3D II is powered by 3Dfx Interactive high-performance Voodoo2 graphics chipset and features four megabytes of EDO memory for the Voodoo2's setup engine and eight megabytes for its two texel engines. Monster 3D II's dedicated hardware triangle setup engine enables faster 3D rendering; single pass multi-texturing for rapid processing and realistic color images; and single-pass trilinear filtering to provide smoother, more defined visuals. Other key functions include edge anti-aliasing, Gouraud shading, alpha blending, texture mapping and more. Diamond Multimedia further enhances the capabilities of this chipset with its unique value adds, including easy plug-and-play installation, customizable display drivers with easy over clocking and performance enhanced software drivers. The Monster 3D II is also available at retail in an 8MB configuration with a rich software bundle for an ERP of $249.95. Diamond Multimedia's MEGAMonster(TM) option allows users to run two Monster 3D IIs, either two 12MB boards or two 8MB Monster 3D IIs, at the same time for double the 3D processing power. The MEGAMonster configuration delivers blistering-fast 3D rendering with performance as high as 300 million pixels per second and support for resolutions up to 1024 x 768 with 16-bit color for the ultimate 3D experience.