# MSI HD 6950 Twin Frozr II 2 GB



## W1zzard (Jan 19, 2011)

MSI's HD 6950 Twin Frozr II is the first custom design HD 6950 to reach our labs. It comes with a small overclock out of the box and MSI's well established Twin Frozr II heatsink to keep the card cool.

*Show full review*


----------



## Salsoolo (Jan 21, 2011)

your sample didnt unlock? hmmm so non reference cards have even lower chance if not possible right?


----------



## DanishDevil (Jan 21, 2011)

Non reference cards most likely won't lock. Reference cards will start to not be able to unlock.

I personally disagree with the low rating. I think that card scales quite nicely with voltage, and people will usually pay $30 for a better, quieter cooler. The fact that is doesn't unlock will soon become irrelevant because all of the unlocking cards will already be off the shelves and in customers' hands. My view: If you missed the unlocking bandwagon, snag one of these and put a waterblock on it


----------



## ebolamonkey3 (Jan 21, 2011)

I just realized, tpu reviews don't have temperature?


----------



## DanishDevil (Jan 21, 2011)

There's a graph with voltage, temperature, and core clock on the overclocking page.


----------



## Salsoolo (Jan 21, 2011)

ebolamonkey3 said:


> I just realized, tpu reviews don't have temperature?


in the overclocking page
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/HD_6950_Twin_Frozr_II/31.html

but yeah its not titled as temps


----------



## Andrei23 (Jan 21, 2011)

so how is 3dmark 03, 05 and even 06 even relevant? I thought 3dmark 11 was the new rage now


----------



## W1zzard (Jan 21, 2011)

Andrei23 said:


> so how is 3dmark 03, 05 and even 06 even relevant? I thought 3dmark 11 was the new rage now



next rebench of all new cards will have 3dmark11


----------



## Lionheart (Jan 22, 2011)

Good review Wizzard but that 7.8 was abit harsh  this is the card I've been waiting for well 2 of em


----------



## Jonap_1st (Jan 22, 2011)

Lionheart said:


> Good review Wizzard but that 7.8 was abit harsh  this is the card I've been waiting for well 2 of em



$130 dollar for just > 6 fps higher?
i'd rather buy two 6850 cyclone 1GB for crossfire than bought this card :shadedshu


----------



## Elninio (Jan 22, 2011)

In my opinion, review for MSI is to low, i read test in polish review http://www.in4.pl/recenzje.htm?rec_id=680 and compar. For me unlock,  physx isn't important things - when i bought AMD GPU I known, i will don't had it. Low noise and  temperature is most important for me.


----------



## SlayerJC (Jan 22, 2011)

I think the cards deserve more than 7.8. A Badass cooler, good temps and better overclock for just $30 more than reference card.


----------



## mtosev (Jan 22, 2011)

Doesn't unlock. Fail for most of the people here.


----------



## dalekdukesboy (Jan 22, 2011)

also, wouldn't it be kinda nice to give an idea of how the card performs once you overclock/voltage tune it to well over 1 ghz? Maybe it's just me but definitely would think people would be interested in seeing what this card does not just with the stock voltage overclock but with the voltage added...probably all but smokes the gtx 580 in some things at that speed...for 330 bucks...again I agree with others saying a 7.8 rating along with the harsh words of how the card isn't worth a "premium" of 30 bucks seems kind of crazy to me honestly considering the great temps and much better overclocking of the card over reference.


----------



## heky (Jan 23, 2011)

^+1 on the overclocked/overvolted performance figures!


----------



## pantherx12 (Jan 23, 2011)

That's one thing I'd like to see as well, but know wiz does too much already lol

Probably doesn't have time to really get his tweek on.

I go to other websites to see overclocked results, easy.

Whilst it's all cool only using tpu for reviews, always better to check other places


----------



## psyko12 (Jan 23, 2011)

Awesome looking card. Although I have just bought this rig a few months and now wanting to upgrade my 5850 up a notch, although it still serves me fine.


----------



## Swamp Monster (Jan 23, 2011)

So this is version with Texas Instruments Dr.Mos! It's a pity I can't see model numbers on them. Looks interesting, as it uses only ceramic capacitors to smooth out voltages. It makes me think that it uses very high frequency VRM switching (1-2MHz). It must have very low ripple ,maybe that is another reason why it clocks so well.
*edit* looks like it uses electrolytic ones too, but they are small, so I think ripple could be low woth this card.


----------



## Salsoolo (Jan 23, 2011)

> •DirectX 11 relevance limited at this time


dont understand, i thought there are dx11 games out there?
btw when does this card get to market?


----------



## Initialised (Jan 24, 2011)

Shame about the unlocking, it kind of seals the deal on the 6950. Just pulled it off on a Powercolor card.


----------



## BURR (Feb 17, 2011)

Good, informative review as usual  But a question arise: you've achieved 945 MHz on core with the MSI default 1.21 V, but in Voltage Regulation section the table displays approximately 990MHz at the very same value of 1.21 V, - so am I right to understand that the second result is due to the graphic memory left intact ? 
However, the card is great, I don't see its inability to be unlocked as a drawback at all ! The reference cards, as a really general wailing demonstrates, are somewhat unbearable noise and heat production stations, even without any mods/unlocks. 
Personally I will soon be choosing between these new "Twin Frozrs" - on HD6950 and GF560Ti chips ... 

And yes, Wizzard, I will also like to see HD6950 and GF560Ti face to face with the same clocks around 1000 MHZ - Core and 5000-5500 MHZ -memory ...


----------



## W1zzard (Feb 17, 2011)

voltage regulation table shows measured voltage using dmm, voltage tuning shows voltage read from the voltage controller


----------



## BURR (Feb 17, 2011)

So? Sorry, Wizzard, can't just catch on what it should mean for me practically, what voltage should I try to put to get, let's say, - 1000 Mhz on core, stable ...


----------



## Olias_of_Sunhillo (Apr 2, 2011)

*Modding the MSI HD 6950 Twin Frozr*

I have one of these cards and I am very pleased with it, it overclocks effortlessly to 950 with a voltage of 1.21, has anyone managed to mod this card & which vBios did you use, I am willing to try it as I have a couple of video cards spare so I could install one to unbrick the 6950 if I need to.


----------



## BURR (Apr 8, 2011)

*Olias_of_Sunhillo*

My kind but firm recommendation - don't dare do it, do not try to mod the card! At the corresponding thread of our Russian enthusiastic overclockers forum - http://forums.overclockers.ru/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=381608&start=5400 (you may, I presume, study it yourself with the help of, say, GoogleTranslate) - we have already come to the more or less general conclusion that in the case of the totally non-reference card as the 6950 Twin Frozr II is indeed, 6950-to-6970 modding appears to be unnecessary risky and unworthy lottery. The more so as without any mods it does overclock brilliantly (and you yourself confirms it) to the level where it becomes a happy rival of the 6970


----------



## Radys (Apr 9, 2011)

I made an account to say this: Good video card reviews, I always check them but why do you keep writing as a negative point for the AMD cards the "No support for CUDA" stuff?

Never heard of APP? 

The huge majority of us use CUDA/APP for transcoding and CUDA is by far the worse solution. 
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...d-app-nvidia-cuda-intel-quicksync,2839-9.html 

Also Anandetch has an article with the same conclusions. 
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...e-i5-2600k-i5-2500k-and-core-i3-2100-tested/9

Now, a small minority of people and some applications use CUDA for rendering but there are other applications that use APP, do I need to list them?

So, why not say in the Nvidia reviews as a negative point "No support for APP", it would be much more appropriate since most of us are transcoding? And the few who are in professional video editing definitely don't use...CUDA. 

Or better ditch the "no support for"...altogether? That thing looks like a page from an Nvidia ad.


----------



## Dinzy (May 30, 2011)

The Twin Frozr II does unlock, it just will not flash to a 6970 reference bios.  I have one and used an unlock script as outlined here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/316974-33-radeon-6950-shader-unlock-instructions#t2368661

should work for all non-reference 6950


----------



## dragonbone (Aug 23, 2011)

Hi i am New here,i build AMDS computer and have been working on them sent's the comd 64,stared in 1990 when it come to building a AMD i am a pro,my computer is called a Dragon420 and well post,i am all ways up grading so my computer is is not done yet because i buy new tec all the time,i have a MSI 6750 twin frozr ll unlocked and overclock and i give it 9 out of 10-7.8 if not unlocked or overclock
Anthony Brown o and if the motherboard works with the vid like mine lol ,how can you rate it,with out using all motherboads i well put my MSI 6950 frozr up agains any vid = to mine AMD or Geforce


----------



## Jamborhgini313 (Aug 23, 2011)

dragonbone said:


> Hi i am New here,i build AMDS computer and have been working on them sent's the comd 64,stared in 1990 when it come to building a AMD i am a pro,my computer is called a Dragon420 and well post,i am all ways up grading so my computer is is not done yet because i buy new tec all the time,i have a MSI 6750 twin frozr ll unlocked and overclock and i give it 9 out of 10-7.8 if not unlocked or overclock
> Anthony Brown o and if the motherboard works with the vid like mine lol ,how can you rate it,with out using all motherboads i well put my MSI 6950 frozr up agains any vid = to mine AMD or Geforce



damn...


----------



## DanishDevil (Aug 23, 2011)

dragonbone said:


> Hi i am New here,i build AMDS computer and have been working on them sent's the comd 64,stared in 1990 when it come to building a AMD i am a pro,my computer is called a Dragon420 and well post,i am all ways up grading so my computer is is not done yet because i buy new tec all the time,i have a MSI 6750 twin frozr ll unlocked and overclock and i give it 9 out of 10-7.8 if not unlocked or overclock
> Anthony Brown o and if the motherboard works with the vid like mine lol ,how can you rate it,with out using all motherboads i well put my MSI 6950 frozr up agains any vid = to mine AMD or Geforce



Could you try to write a cohesive paragraph of multiple sentences instead of one impossible to understand run-on sentence? Come on, man! I don't even know what you're trying to say!


----------



## b43k (Sep 13, 2011)

dragonbone said:


> Hi i am New here,i build AMDS computer and have been working on them sent's the comd 64,stared in 1990 when it come to building a AMD i am a pro,my computer is called a Dragon420 and well post,i am all ways up grading so my computer is is not done yet because i buy new tec all the time,i have a MSI 6750 twin frozr ll unlocked and overclock and i give it 9 out of 10-7.8 if not unlocked or overclock
> Anthony Brown o and if the motherboard works with the vid like mine lol ,how can you rate it,with out using all motherboads i well put my MSI 6950 frozr up agains any vid = to mine AMD or Geforce



double damn... Well, since this is my first post, first off I would like to say: whats up, all?  

Ok back on topic, i'm just here soaking up all this info because I been working on AMDS computers snes the thunderbird lol.  i aam not a pro, my computer is called a Neo Cosmos 420 Galaxy, and I am always upgrading and my new tec all te time.  I got MSI 6750 Twin Frozr 2 not yet unlocked or oc'd.  I still give the card a 9 stock!  LOL  ...sorry had to do that 

But anyways, this here is an excellent site and thank everyones input on unlocking the TF II!


----------

