Sunday, December 26th 2010

AMD Radeon HD 6950 Can be Unlocked to HD 6970

Looks like Santa brought an extra present for us hardware enthusiasts this year. Thanks to a less secure locking method AMD's new Radeon HD 6950 can be unlocked to a full blown HD 6970 with a few mouse clicks.

As detailed in our article, you can safely perform the flashing process from within Windows. In case something goes wrong it is easier than ever to recover the card thanks to AMD's new Dual-BIOS feature.

We tested the unlock on three HD 6950 cards: one AMD engineering sample, one HIS media sample and one ASUS retail card. All of them unlocked perfectly and run at HD 6970 speeds now. More success reports are compiled into a table at the end of the modding article.
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302 Comments on AMD Radeon HD 6950 Can be Unlocked to HD 6970

#127
GSquadron
This means that none will buy 6970 anymore....
Also the prices are going to get crappy :D
Posted on Reply
#128
a_ump
AMD i garantee will fix this. either that, or what i think they'll do will happen. HD 6970/6950 wasn't their origional release. It wouldn't surprise me if they did have a 1920SPU chip, the real HD 6970, and the HD 6950 will be phased out, or start coming standard with the 1536SPU's.

Be a banging idea for AMD to surprise nvidia and have a card up their sleeve incase shit gets deep for em.
Posted on Reply
#129
alexsubri

Great Scott! I'll buy the xfx xxx 6850 if I can flash it with the 6990 in xfire :)
Posted on Reply
#130
vvulture
toyoIn your face, AMD... (man I hardly believe they didn't know about this possibility before launch)
Dude, AMD were well aware of this... its a marketing stunt which seems like will work very well in their favour. Trust me, they're smarter than you or me.
You should be saying thank you instead...
Posted on Reply
#131
Patjuh
Well I just ordered my 6950 yesterday expecting it to hit 6970 bios :)

I really think AMD chose to software-limit the 6950 instead of lasercut it so that de 6950 will boost AMD sells. However I do think the new 6950's in production will be lasercut.
Posted on Reply
#132
New-Bee
Hi,
W!zzard, I allready wrote you yesterday that in unlocked my Sapphire 6950.
Now I have a "problem":
At +10%PT I get the best results in Crysis Warhead (PCGH Benchscene).
With +20% I loose a lot of Frames.
Can I see somewhere if my GPU runs into the Limit?

I hope you can understand it;)

New-Bee
Posted on Reply
#133
pantherx12
New-BeeHi,
W!zzard, I allready wrote you yesterday that in unlocked my Sapphire 6950.
Now I have a "problem":
At +10%PT I get the best results in Crysis Warhead (PCGH Benchscene).
With +20% I loose a lot of Frames.
Can I see somewhere if my GPU runs into the Limit?

I hope you can understand it;)

New-Bee
It sounds like your PSU can't handle the output when set to the full +20% just keep it at +10 : ]
Posted on Reply
#134
New-Bee
pantherx12It sounds like your PSU can't handle the output when set to the full +20% just keep it at +10 : ]
ok thx...
It's a beQuiet Dark Power P6 600W. Do you think it's to old? It's not my PSU and I want to buy a new one. If I buy this one :gh.de/a583752.html
will it work with +20%?
Posted on Reply
#135
pantherx12
Hmmm well I may have to take that back, that PSU should be able to run things fine.

Good brand as well.
Posted on Reply
#136
New-Bee
It could be that the PSU is a little bit wracked. I tried a 4870 CF and it didnt work (a lot of arifacts) but with a 450W bequiet it was finde.
I'll try it again with the new PSU.
Thanks
Posted on Reply
#137
LAN_deRf_HA
The sapphire version sold out on amazon, now it's been replaced by one with a red pcb. Would be interesting if this new one doesn't unlock. There wouldn't have been time for it to be a reaction to this unlocking craze.
Posted on Reply
#138
Completely Bonkers
I think everyone wanting to do this will be good for at least 30 days, and probably longer. IF AMD decided to change approach, then first, factories in Asia need to modify the production process. Then they need to ship them here. Then old stocks in stores need to run out.
Posted on Reply
#139
microtrash
I've tried with my card, a sapphire 6950 and it worked well. Thx !!
Posted on Reply
#140
bear jesus
I have to say i really don't understand why so many assume that AMD will start fully disabling the future chips, with having unlockable CPU's for so long now i would expect AMD to know about the GPU unlocking and just be glad it helps sway people towards their product due to great value.

Depending on the core AMD has single cores that unlock to dual cores, dual cores that unlock to triple or quads and triple core's that unlock to quads, do people expect AMD to stop that as well?

I'm really tempted to get a 6950 and unlock it once i have the cash but depending on the overall success rate other people have in the near future i could be willing to go for a 6970 but either way I'm in no major hurry due to my 6870 doing so well with most games.
Posted on Reply
#141
chinook
I've succesfully unlocked a Sapphire 6950. Got it up to speed to match the 6970 speeds but i'm hearing this strange buzzing sound from the card when it is under load. I checked the cooler but it is not the one that's making the noise. Any ideas on this ? Anyone else experienced something similar ?
Posted on Reply
#142
dnihilist
chinookI've succesfully unlocked a Sapphire 6950. Got it up to speed to match the 6970 speeds but i'm hearing this strange buzzing sound from the card when it is under load. I checked the cooler but it is not the one that's making the noise. Any ideas on this ? Anyone else experienced something similar ?
Yes, I hear it on my modded HIS 6950 as well. Mine more a high pitched electronic whine.
Posted on Reply
#143
dnihilist
horikSucces here with my sapphire 6950,first i tried to load the 6970 bios with winflash but did not work,then i tried with the command lines in cmd but did not work,then i downloaded your update pack and here you can see,1536 shaders and 880 mhz Gpu /1375 mhz memory. Thx W1zzard:respect:
Now the strange thing is that i have no way to change voltages in CCC or in Trixx...
Are you in XP or Windoze 7?
Posted on Reply
#144
DanishDevil
A lot of higher end nvidia cards do that. It's probably normal for a card under heavy stress, and since you're running an 8+6pin card on a 6+6pin, that's why it's whining.
Posted on Reply
#145
TheGuruStud
From what I've read it's a coil vibrating. I initially had this problem with my 1st 4890, but it magically went away. But do these vid cards even have any coils on them?
Posted on Reply
#146
chinook
I'm on windows 7 64 bit. Thought about it being from coil vibration, but i still think it's not normal. And it was making the noise before i flashed it, also. I returned the card and i'm waiting for a new one. Hopefully it will not make the same noise, as it was very annoying and quite audible, even higher pitched than everything else inside / outside the case (7 vents).
Posted on Reply
#147
Rule-R
chinookI'm on windows 7 64 bit. Thought about it being from coil vibration, but i still think it's not normal. And it was making the noise before i flashed it, also. I returned the card and i'm waiting for a new one. Hopefully it will not make the same noise, as it was very annoying and quite audible, even higher pitched than everything else inside / outside the case (7 vents).
Hmm, doesnt flashing void the warrenty?
Posted on Reply
#148
chinook
I don't know.. i used a sapphire bios.. does it?
Posted on Reply
#149
Tatty_Two
Gone Fishing
chinookI don't know.. i used a sapphire bios.. does it?
yes it does, however if you re-flashed to the 6950 Bios you will have no worries.
Posted on Reply
#150
chinook
Yes, i did reflash the original bios back. I hope it will have the same black pcb, as i've heard that new boards are selling with red pcb. I might have misread that though..
Posted on Reply
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