Diamond Multimedia Launches New Sonic Impact Line Of PCI Audio Accelerators for Cost-Effective Audio On the PC.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 1998--

Sonic Impact S70 Combines PCI Architecture, 64-Voice Hardware

Wavetable Synthesis, and Multiple O/S Support for Mainstream PC

Users

Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:DIMD), a leader in interactive multimedia acceleration, today announced the company's new Sonic Impact line of PCI-based audio accelerators designed for consumers and business users wanting to upgrade their PCs with the very latest advancements in audio technology.

The first product in this new line, the Sonic Impact S70, delivers robust PCI acceleration and a top-quality audio utility bundle at an aggressive estimated retail price (ERP) of $69.95. Diamond Multimedia's Sonic Impact S70 will ship to distributors, system integrators and retailers this month.

Unlike yesterday's ISA-based sound cards, Diamond's Sonic Impact is forward engineered to exploit the latest advances in PC audio, including PCI performance gains, compatibility with Microsoft's PC98 specification and new application programming interfaces (APIs) DirectSound(R) and DirectSound3D(R) and ease of installation with PCI plug-and-play support. Powered by ESS Technologies' Maestro-2 audio chipset, Diamond's new Sonic Impact S70 features a 64-voice DLS-compatible hardware wavetable synthesizer with effects and multi-stream audio support for up to 32 independent CD-quality audio streams for true audio fidelity.

In addition, Diamond's Sonic Impact provides complete support for real-mode DOS, Windows(R) 95/98, Windows NT(R) 4.0 programs and PC games. For a features list and comparison chart, see Appendix A at the end of this press release.

"There has been a rapid paradigm shift in the PC audio market. Educated PC users know that PCI-based sound cards are required to satisfy the low CPU utilization and high bandwidth requirements of today's advanced PC98 system requirements, multimedia software, Internet content and PC games" said David Watkins, vice president and general manager of the Multimedia Division at Diamond Multimedia. "With our winning, price-performance Sonic Impact products and our powerful 3D gaming Monster Sound audio accelerators, Diamond Multimedia is delivering high-quality PC sound solutions to meet the audio needs of PC consumers."

"Diamond Multimedia has capitalized on the ESS Maestro-2 audio chipset technology to deliver a price performance leader for the PC audio market," said Nicholas Aretakis, vice president of marketing at ESS Technologies. "The Sonic Impact S70 is an innovative PCI audio solution that raises the bar for business and consumer PC audio performance."

Diamond Sonic Impact Delivers the PCI Advantage

By employing a PCI-bus design, Diamond Multimedia's Sonic Impact S70 offers a significant performance boost to the PC. Unlike legacy ISA audio solutions which can use as much as 30 to 50 percent of a system's CPU, the Sonic Impact S70 processes audio functions on the PCI-bus, dramatically lowering CPU utilization to less than five percent.

Additionally, as the fully-accelerated Sonic Impact S70 off-loads sound processing from the CPU, it improves system performance in other areas of the PC such as better graphics and faster network downloads. With ten times the bandwidth of the ISA bus, the Sonic Impact S70's PCI interface can support 32 sound channels and provide larger sample rates for richer, more realistic sounding wave files.

Diamond's Sonic Impact S70 also offers the full advantage of easy plug-and-play installation under Windows 95/98, whereas ISA-based sound cards require users to set jumpers, and resolve IRQ conflicts and I/O addresses during the installation process.

"Diamond Multimedia's Sonic Impact S70 audio accelerator is a solid choice for consumers who need the performance advantages of using a PCI-based audio solution at an affordable price," Todd Moore, PC audio product manager at Diamond Multimedia. "Whether the user is playing games, exploring multimedia software, composing music or streaming audio over the Internet, Sonic Impact delivers high-quality audio playback while leaving the system's CPU virtually free to process power-hungry tasks like 3D graphics and Internet connectivity."

Diamond's Sonic Impact to Include High-Quality Audio Tools

The retail version of Diamond's Sonic Impact S70 audio accelerator will come bundled with a suite of PC audio applications and utilities from Midisoft, including Audio Works Pro(TM) 2.0 Wave Editor, Studio Recording Session (MIDI editor), and Internet Sound Bar.

Diamond Multimedia

Diamond Multimedia is driving the interactive multimedia market by providing advanced solutions for home, business and professional desktop computer users, enabling them to create, access and experience compelling new media content from their desktops and through the Internet. Diamond accelerates multimedia from the Internet to the hard drive with products that include the Stealth and Viper(R) series of media accelerators, the Monster series of entertainment 3D and sound accelerators, the Fire series of professional 3D and SCSI accelerators, and the Supra(R) series of modems. Diamond also markets DVD and video phone kits. Diamond's common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol DIMD, and its web site address is www.diamondmm.com.

How to Contact Diamond Multimedia

There are many ways to reach Diamond for sales support, technical assistance, driver updates and general information:

-0-

Internet Web Site: http://www.diamondmm.com Diamond Multimedia's Headquarters and Multimedia Division:

408/325-7000; Fax: [phone] Communications Division (Supra brand modems) Main Phone Number:

360/604-1400; Fax: [phone] European Division (Germany): [phone]; (UK): [phone];

(France) [phone] Korean Office (Seoul): [phone]; Fax: [phone] Japanese Office (Tokyo): [phone]; Fax: [phone] ASEAN Office (Singapore): [phone]; Fax: [phone] Hong Kong Office: [phone]; Fax: [phone] Australian Office (Sydney): [phone]; Fax [phone] Product Support (Voice), United States: 541/967-2450;

Europe (Germany) [phone]; Europe (UK) [phone];

TDD/TTY Support 541/967-2451 Product Support (Fax), United States: 541/967-2401; Europe (Germany)

[phone]; Europe (UK): [phone];

(France) [phone] Pre-sales Information: 1-800/468-5846 Investor Relations: 408/325-7476; 1-888/474-3463 (U.S. and Canada) 24-Hour Fax-On-Demand Service: 1-800/380-0030 FTP site: ftp.diamondmm.com BBS: 541/967-2444 (to 33.6 Kbps) or 408/383-0551 (ISDN);

Europe (Germany) BBS at [phone] (to 28.8 Kbps)

or [phone] (ISDN); Europe (UK) at [phone]

(to 33.6 Kbps) -0-

Note to Editors: Monster 3D and Supra are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. Monster(R) is a registered trademark of Monster Cable. Viper(R) is a registered trademark of Directed Electronics, Inc., Used under License. All other trademarks referenced are the service mark, trademark or registered trademark of their respective manufacturers. This announcement relates to products whose introductions are in North America. The product name, contents, prices and availability may differ elsewhere in the world according to local factors and requirements.

Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, such as statements relating to the Company's ability to successfully exploit technological and market developments, the timing and success of new product introductions by the Company and its competitors, and the Company's ability to invest in new technologies and to enhance its existing systems are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the impact of competitive products and pricing and alternative technological advances, the timely and successful development and market acceptance of new products and upgrades to existing products, and other risks as detailed from time to time in Diamond Multimedia's SEC filings, including its most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q. -0-

Appendix A - The Diamond Advantage: Sound Card Comparison Chart

                           Sonic Impact         Sound Blaster AWE
                                                 64 Value
                           --------------------------------------
Manufacturer               Diamond Multimedia   Creative Labs(R)

Estimated Retail Price     $69.95               $99.99

Bus Type                    PCI                  ISA

Audio Chipset              ESS Maestro-2        EMU8000

No. of Hardware
Accelerated
Audio Stream
Processing                 32 streams(b)        1 stream

No. of Hardware
Accelerated
3D Audio Streams           6 streams            2 streams

Speaker Support            2 Speakers           2 Speakers
                           Headphones           Headphones

True Interactive              YES                  NO
Positional                 DirectSound 3D       Uses proprietary
3D Audio Accelerator

OS Support                 DOS                  DOS
                           Windows 3.1          Windows 3.1
                           Windows 95/98        Windows 95
                           Windows NT 4.0

Signal to Noise Ratio      greater than 90dB    greater than 90dB

Wavetable Synthesis        64-voice ESS         32-voice
                           hardware-based       hardware-based
                                                32-voice
                                                software-based

Full Duplex Audio Yes                          No (supported in SW
                                                   only)

-0- (a) Sample set sounds used with express permission of Roland

Corporation (b) Shared with wavetable voices

CONTACT: Diamond Multimedia Systems

Mary Medeiros, 408/325-7350

[e-mail]

Bob Nelson, 408/325-7419

[e-mail]

www.diamondmm.com

or

Faiola Davis Public Relations

Andrea Sausedo/Heidi Davis, 213/933-4959

[e-mail]