unlocking your 6950 to a 6970

Success rate is around 90% last time I heard. And there is minimal risk since you flash the second bios. If anything goes wrong you flick the switch back to defauly bios
 
There were a couple reports of cards getting fried because of the higher shader speeds, but it never seemed to be something that was widespread. Don't know if it was even because of the flash. I flashed mine when I got it and actually went back to the original BIOS after a week or so to compare the difference. Can't say it seemed that much better so I have left it as stock ever since.
 
If you've got a reference model of the HD6950 with dual BIOS, then you should be able to flash it to an HD6970, but you might have to downscale on the memory speeds, because most of them aren't designed for the HD6970's speeds.
 
Pada said:
If you've got a reference model of the HD6950 with dual BIOS, then you should be able to flash it to an HD6970, but you might have to downscale on the memory speeds, because most of them aren't designed for the HD6970's speeds.
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I reverted my OC'ed MSI 6950 after the temperatures I was getting whilst running dual monitors was unsustainable, even after dropping my memory speeds. I have, since then, upgraded my case (read: airflow) and added an additional monitor, so who knows.
 
Just buy a 6970 :D

I just got my 6970 for R2800 today. Cant wait to test it out at home :D

But ya, i've spoken to a few people who have succesfully unlocked theirs, so go for it. you can just RMA it if it dies :D
 
Just use the 6950 modded BIOS with the unlocked shaders and then oc to your preference.

The problem with the 6970 unlock is the increased voltage and memory timings, iirc, since the two cards have different spec RAM chips in them.
 
Yup Rudimental, they do have different RAM chips.

That is by far the best idea: just unlocking of the extra shaders and then overclocking to whatever you feel is safe.
 
yeah used it on mine , the one i had.

though used custom bios for overclocking, works nicely!!
 
As far as i am aware, only 6950's that came out originally or are a stock reference card can do the bios trick. They have patched this bios hack, the very first 6950's were 6970's that were just downgraded with locked shaders, etc, hence why you could do it in this first place. Be aware of modded bios, you may hit a pitfall.
 
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A quick question: Do any games lately push a card like a 6950? (I haven't played any of the recent titles)
 
Brawler said:
A quick question: Do any games lately push a card like a 6950? (I haven't played any of the recent titles)
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Yes. Just enable Anti-Aliasing / Anisotropic Filtering and play on 1920x1080, then you'll easily max out the GPU.
You can use like MSI Afterburner to check the GPU usage.

I've maxed out the Asus HD6970 DirectCU II's GPU on 1920x1200 without even enabling AA/AF or HBAO in Bad Company 2, and the framerate wasn't even above 60fps the whole time - like with my 2x GTX460's IIRC.
If the stupid Asus card didn't have issues with its dual-link DVI, then I would tried that beast on 2560x1600 :D
 
thing is, games are getting more and more advanced so quickly... or they are poorly developed so they arent efficient at all

Ive still got my 5850 but when you put on some eye candy at 1920x1200 it takes strain. its gay

i like a smoooooth gaming experience so this 40fps is total BS, like in the witcher. It often drops to that (and below). I happen to like RPG games the most, and these days they seem to be the most demanding on a GPU.

ran 3dmark 2011 last night, demo edition (cant change any settings and I think the default res is 1280x720 ie. 720p) According to the result my PC is within range (it does an online check). This was with my CPU running at 3.2

bumped the x to 3.6 and ran it again. Got like 0.05% increase. Safe to say my GPU is a bottleneck

and that annoys me

:)
 
GPU is always a bottleneck in graphics intensive benchmarks... my GTX 580 is my bottleneck in furmark... you need to test your system in your favorite games to see what your bottlenck is.

6950 unlocked is running close to its limits when running as a 6970, a 6970 can still be overclocked far beyond those limits.
 
I hope the next jump in GPU tech is a big one... its always the GPU slowing things down

its so damn annoying unless you loaded lol
 
Woah, 6970 was a nice jump from a 6870 :D

Games to max your PC : Witcher 2.

The game is the best looking game i've ever seen
 
The Witcher 2 is a monster to run, but nice graphics! Would be something to see it maxed out, I wish with my HD 5850! :)

I've also heard that only the reference HD 6950s can be modded and that most have since been updated to prevent this unlocking??
 
yeti said:
I reverted my OC'ed MSI 6950 after the temperatures I was getting whilst running dual monitors was unsustainable, even after dropping my memory speeds. I have, since then, upgraded my case (read: airflow) and added an additional monitor, so who knows.
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When you sell it, don't forget to tell the buyer you altered it. ;)
 
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