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Private company

Diamond Multimedia

Logo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

American company

Diamond Multimedia is an American company that specializes in many forms of multimedia technology. They have produced graphics cards, motherboards, modems, sound cards and MP3 players; however, the company began with the production of the TrackStar, an add-on card for IBM PC compatibles which emulates Apple II computers. They were one of the major players in the 2D and early 3D graphics card competition throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.2 It is part of PowerColor.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1982Founded1
  • Industryelectronics industry1
  • HeadquartersLos Angeles1
  • Websitewww.diamondmm.com
  • Legal formjoint-stock company1

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Diamond Multimedia is an American company that specializes in many forms of multimedia technology. They have produced graphics cards, motherboards, modems, sound cards and MP3 players; however, the company began with the production of the TrackStar, an add-on card for IBM PC compatibles which emulates Apple II computers. They were one of the major players in the 2D and early 3D graphics card competition throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.2

Corporate structure

Diamond Multimedia is part of a group headed by PowerColor. 2 entities, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • PowerColor 新北市
    • Diamond Multimedia Los Angeles

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

The company was founded by Chong Moon Lee with H. H. Huh, who acted as the technical designer. Diamond Multimedia later merged with S3, Incorporated in 1999 after a long-time cooperative business arrangement, when S3 decided to expand their business from producing graphics chipsets to manufacturing retail graphics cards. The move paralleled the 1999 3dfx purchase of STB Systems, which changed 3dfx from a graphics chipset supplier to companies including Diamond, into a vertically integrated graphics vendor and direct competitor to S3. However, the first major product after the merger, branded as the S3 Savage 2000, was a commercial failure. Growth in the add-on sound card market, also an ongoing Diamond business, was tempered by the 2000 bankruptcy of Aureal Semiconductor and subsequent asset purchase by vertically integrated Creative Technologies.

With these market failures, the new combined Diamond/S3 company decided to change direction and leave the PC addon-board market. SONICblue was formed. Diamond Multimedia resurfaced in 2003 after the brand and assets had been purchased by Best Data. Diamond again built expansion boards.

The company was the defendant in a significant copyright case for its Rio digital music player, which the Recording Industry Association of America claimed infringed copyrights; the Ninth Circuit deemed it to be a fair use, however, in RIAA v. Diamond.

From Wikipedia’s article on Diamond Multimedia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

  • graphics card

Listed on Wikidata.1

TrackSTAR

Diamond's first product (under the corporate name Diamond Computer Systems) was the TrackSTAR, an 8-bit ISA plug-in card for the IBM PC that emulated an Apple II. An early advertisement from 1984 also claimed it would add CP/M compatibility via the included Zilog Z80 processor. The TrackSTAR was redesigned to fit in the shorter expansion slot of the Tandy 1000 and was key to that marque's expansion into the educational computer market.

Rio PMP300

Diamond's innovation created the Rio PMP300, one of the first consumer MP3 players, but they soon sold their MP3 player line and no longer provide support for it.

SupraMax DSL modems

The SupraMax line is a popular value DSL modem line. The brand has a lineage going back to Supra, Inc.

Diamond Micronics motherboards

Diamond began manufacturing PC-compatible motherboards after purchasing Micronics Computers in 1998.

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Maximum DVD

Diamond was an early (1997) entrant into PC DVD kits with their Maximum DVD 1000DB-VAR (Value Added Reseller) and 2000-RETKIT (RETail KIT).

These kits bundled a 'feature reduced' (several pin headers and other parts not installed) full length PCI MPEG2 analog overlay decoder card made by division. This card connected to the VGA card with an external passthrough cable, a 3.5 mm (1⁄8 in) external patch cord to the soundcard's line-in jack, and the analog audio cable from the included Toshiba SD-M1002 DVD-ROM drive connected to the division card while a second cable passed the audio on to the soundcard's internal connector.

Diamond also made kits called the Maximum DVD 1500 and 2500. (Hardware specifications unknown.) The drivers and player software for these are not compatible with the DVD 1000 and 2000. They are a slightly newer product with the 'Navigator' player software having a cleaner user interface.

None of these DVD kits are DirectX compatible and as the drivers are the VxD type, they will only work with Windows 95 through 98SE. Dual-layer DVDs are not supported in original Windows 95 or 95a, but are in the various versions of 95 OEM Service Release 2. Windows 98 or 98SE is not recommended due to problems that may happen with video color and alignment. Only the bundled player software can use the hardware MPEG2 decoding of the card.

SCSI adapters

Diamond produced the capable but relatively low-cost FirePort 40 SCSI adapter in the late 1990s.

From Wikipedia’s article on Diamond Multimedia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1982Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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