# AMD Radeon HD 6950 1 GB



## W1zzard (Mar 29, 2011)

In order to complete their lineup in the $250 segment, AMD has released a 1 GB version of the HD 6950. This makes the card $40 cheaper, yet does not impact performance in any way as our testing shows. We also saw great overclocking potential on our card which makes this card a tweaker's dream combined with the HD 6950 to HD 6970 modding potential.

*Show full review*


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## Ghost (Mar 29, 2011)

Wow, no performance difference vs 2GB version even @ 2560x1600.


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## KainXS (Mar 29, 2011)

good card i guess, id buy it.


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## Sasqui (Mar 29, 2011)

Ghost said:


> Wow, no performance difference vs 2GB version even @ 2560x1600.



No kidding... are there any applications out there that would fill the 1GB to the point of swapping?


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## Over_Lord (Mar 29, 2011)

why does the power consumption increase soo much?? 1GB card should guzzle lesser power shouldn't it than the 2GB one?


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## DarkOCean (Mar 29, 2011)

thunderising said:


> why does the power consumption increase soo much?? 1GB card should guzzle lesser power shouldn't it than the 2GB one?



Because of the higher stock voltage this one have 1,19v and the 2gb version had 1,11v .


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## DanTheMan (Mar 29, 2011)

Wow, good card at a great price considering no drop in performance from big 2G brother. I wonder if AMD will do a 1 GB version of 6970? BTW - Great review W1zzard!


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## cadaveca (Mar 29, 2011)

Sasqui said:


> No kidding... are there any applications out there that would fill the 1GB to the point of swapping?



Lots, when running 3 monitors and AA.


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## Sasqui (Mar 29, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Lots, when running 3 monitors and AA.



First hand?


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## Deleted member 67555 (Mar 29, 2011)

Wow Nice review! W1z
If my 2gb model hadn't unlocked I think I'd be more tha a little annoyed with the extra cost...I'm a little bit more than surprised that this card held it's own with less memory at higher resolutions


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## cadaveca (Mar 29, 2011)

Sasqui said:


> First hand?



Yep. Pretty much and DX10/11 title and multimon needs 1280mb+. Seems pretty obvious, as otherwise, nVidia would have made GTX590 with 570 GPUs, IMHO. 1GB cards just aren't enough for Eyefinity.


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## Vargtass (Mar 29, 2011)

If anyone can confirm unlock of shaders - this will be my next GPU.

Nice review W1zzard.


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## dieterd (Mar 29, 2011)

Am I onlyone a bit confused about that 6950 1gb is reviewd here only now? I mean on many other portas that happend in end of januarry and that priceing is also not updatd, cuz now hd 6870 costs less like 20-30$ from hd 6950 1gb price  (in my mind it still has no chance vs this HD 6950 1gb). In many other test there were no issues with more power draw or more heat (vs 2gb version). and in all other tests preformance is exacty the same for both 1gb and 2gb


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## OneCool (Mar 29, 2011)

Maybe less memory = tighter memory timings?

It is odd to see it out perform the 2gb version in just about everything


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## Swamp Monster (Mar 29, 2011)

And odd that voltage is also higher, I wonder why is that.
But anyway, great review and great performance!


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## Sasqui (Mar 29, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Yep. Pretty much and DX10/11 title and multimon needs 1280mb+. Seems pretty obvious, as otherwise, nVidia would have made GTX590 with 570 GPUs, IMHO. 1GB cards just aren't enough for Eyefinity.



Important point to distiguish the two cards.  Thx.


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## Salsoolo (Mar 29, 2011)

dieterd said:


> Am I onlyone a bit confused about that 6950 1gb is reviewd here only now? I mean on many other portas that happend in end of januarry and that priceing is also not updatd, cuz now hd 6870 costs less like 20-30$ from hd 6950 1gb price  (in my mind it still has no chance vs this HD 6950 1gb). In many other test there were no issues with more power draw or more heat (vs 2gb version). and in all other tests preformance is exacty the same for both 1gb and 2gb


same here 
didnt wizz review it when the card was out?


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## DaC (Mar 29, 2011)

Finally a worth card to upgrade from the hd4850.... it just needs to drop to around $180 and lower now... which a top card hadn't hit for a long time since HD4xxxx


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## halfwaythere (Mar 29, 2011)

I'm not questioning w1zzards methods but the choice of drivers for the amd cards is a bit strange. Also a 3.8Ghz Bloomfield might be holding some of these babies down a bit hence the lack of difference between models. 

In the end this card ends up where its supposed to be, the 560 territory. I'm not sure they are advertising the unlocking feature enough since a couple of AIBs are using the switch to actually switch between an 6950 and a 6970 and are guaranteeing the unlock-ability.


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## DanTheMan (Mar 29, 2011)

W1zzard, do you know if AMD will release a 6970 1 GB card?


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 29, 2011)

Swamp Monster said:


> And odd that voltage is also higher, I wonder why is that.
> But anyway, great review and great performance!



Because it's a leakier chip. Considering that all four versions off the 6900 series use exactly the same chip, AMD have decided to designate the best binned chips for the 6990 and the worst binned ones for the 6950-1GB.


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## 20mmrain (Mar 29, 2011)

Great review as always.... But the only Problem I have with it is.... I have not seen this 6950 1gb OEM version anywhere for sale. Everyone of the 6950 1gb cards I have seen are designed from the distributer (XFX/Sapphire/HIS/EXC.....). The good news is I noticed most of them are using the same types of PCB as each other. But the bad news is it is different from the PCB shown in this review. Which makes it tough to water cool if someone was interested. Also on most of the 1gb cards I have noticed the VRM's are on the other side then the VRM's shown on this review.

Hey if someone can show me were to pick up the OEM versions of the card that would be awesome....But if you can't find one don't expect the PCB and Chips location to be the same. Just a heads up.

***Edit****
I take that back it looks like the 6950 1gb Direct CU might have a similar PCB and VReg location as to the OEM AMD Radeon 6950 1gb card. But I don't know if it is the same. I didn't look that close at it.


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## cadaveca (Mar 29, 2011)

Sasqui said:


> Important point to distiguish the two cards.  Thx.



Sure is. the lower cost of the 1GB cards makes them an attractive option for those jsut runnig a single monitor. There are a couple of game, striaght out, that need 2GB, like GTA4, etc...but those are few and far between when running one monitor.


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## dir_d (Mar 29, 2011)

This card is win, best card for the money as of right now.


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## CDdude55 (Mar 29, 2011)

Looks like a nice card for a nice price.

Still gonna keep my GTX 470 for now though, as it's still a great performer in games. So i'll probably wait till the next gen cards arrive.


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## yogurt_21 (Mar 29, 2011)

awesome card, good to see that the memory doesn't change anything. I'd been figuring it didn't. (well unless you're trying for an uber res like cad does but if you can afford 3 monitors you can afford the 2gb version of this card, or rather a pair of them in crossfire)


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## alexsubri (Mar 29, 2011)

Wow it beat the 470 in Metro 2033. Good to see my 5850 crossfire is still holding strong  I am waiting for the 7xxx. I was semi impressed by the 6xxx series.


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## jamsbong (Mar 30, 2011)

HalfAHertz said:


> Because it's a leakier chip. Considering that all four versions off the 6900 series use exactly the same chip, AMD have decided to designate the best binned chips for the 6990 and the worst binned ones for the 6950-1GB.



Judging from the higher voltage and the low sale price. It is quite possible that this is a relatively low quality chip. That would mean the chances of modding the chip to become 6970 1gb will be low.

I imagine, increasing voltage and possibly underclocking the GPU will be necessary for a successful mod.

I wonder if anyone has gotten experience modding this card?


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## 20mmrain (Mar 30, 2011)

jamsbong said:


> Judging from the higher voltage and the low sale price. It is quite possible that this is a relatively low quality chip. That would mean the chances of modding the chip to become 6970 1gb will be low.
> 
> I imagine, increasing voltage and possibly underclocking the GPU will be necessary for a successful mod.
> 
> I wonder if anyone has gotten experience modding this card?



I have looked it up but too my sadness.... I can find know one who has tried to do so. Although...my XFX 6950 1gb Cards do have the Duel BIOS switch option..... I could definetly see something like a XFX 6950 1gb Flash to a ASUS 6950 1gb Direct CU flash... where maybe it's not a 6970 but it would have the CCC Cap removed??? Something to consider. At very least I bet I could flash it to the 1gb XFX Black version


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## Jonap_1st (Mar 30, 2011)

buy two stick of this for $470, and bam.. you got 6990 twins 

for noise and heat, i will wait until non-reference card arrive..


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## Arska (Mar 30, 2011)

Um, so did W1z mod this card to a 6970 with a bios flash or not? With a quick look I couldn't find any such info. As far as I could see, it was just speculation based on the overclockability of the review card.

Surely this is very important for enthusiasts. I mean, I haven't seen a bios for 6970 1GB around, for obvious reasons.


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## dj-electric (Mar 30, 2011)

"Modding the card to HD 6970 also seems possible, making this a nice toy for tweakers and overclockers." wait.... WHAT?!


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## W1zzard (Mar 30, 2011)

Arska said:


> I mean, I haven't seen a bios for 6970 1GB around, for obvious reasons.



http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/95720/ATI.HD6950.1024.110311.html


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## devguy (Mar 31, 2011)

W1zzard said:


> http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/95720/ATI.HD6950.1024.110311.html



Nice W1zz.  My XFX 1gb HD 6950 arrives on Friday, and I intend to try and unlock the shaders using the utility on the forums.  I'll let y'all know how it goes!

Note: Do NOT try flashing an HD 6970 BIOS.  There's really no need, as with the higher stock voltage of the 1GB version, one could easily overclock the card to 6970 speeds after unlocking the shaders.

And BTW, I highly doubt that a 3.8Ghz Bloomfield would hold back this card at 1080p or higher.  At high resolutions, my Phenom II at 3.75Ghz should perform almost identically.


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## runevirage (Mar 31, 2011)

Why is the performance/watt so different from the 2GB version when both the performance and TDP are extremely similar?


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## buggalugs (Mar 31, 2011)

Wow its really a top performance card for a cheap price. I dont think performance/dollar has ever been better.

 BTW theres an error on the value and conclusion page

"AMD's Radeon HD 6850 1 GB can be found online for around $235"


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## ZenZimZaliben (Mar 31, 2011)

devguy said:


> Nice W1zz.  My XFX 1gb HD 6950 arrives on Friday, and I intend to try and unlock the shaders using the utility on the forums.  I'll let y'all know how it goes!



Please be sure to post your results. I am thinking about doing the same thing. Except strapping a full coverage waterblock on it and OC'ing the crud outa it.


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## Calleidoscope (Apr 2, 2011)

I use a HD R6950 oc gigabyte 1 GB  windforce . if i use the shader unlocker bios will it have any effect on my VGA or will it break it ?


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## devguy (Apr 20, 2011)

ZenZimZaliben said:


> Please be sure to post your results. I am thinking about doing the same thing. Except strapping a full coverage waterblock on it and OC'ing the crud outa it.



Sorry I forgot to post back in this thread.  Unlocked just fine.  I haven't overclocked it much, as the CCC limits are very low, and I haven't bothered to use a 3rd party util yet.

Although, my XFX card is a reference card (has the BIOS switch and everything), but with a custom cooler.  Many are saying that they've had worse luck with the non-reference 1GB cards (like the XFX card with dual fans), but I cannot confirm.


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## alecela (May 9, 2011)

devguy said:


> Sorry I forgot to post back in this thread.  Unlocked just fine.  I haven't overclocked it much, as the CCC limits are very low, and I haven't bothered to use a 3rd party util yet.
> 
> Although, my XFX card is a reference card (has the BIOS switch and everything), but with a custom cooler.  Many are saying that they've had worse luck with the non-reference 1GB cards (like the XFX card with dual fans), but I cannot confirm.



Would you mind posting the model/part # of your XFX card?  Tx.


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## devguy (May 11, 2011)

alecela said:


> Would you mind posting the model/part # of your XFX card?  Tx.



Mine is the XFX with the ZNFC suffix and dual BIOS switch. But remember, even if you get the same model as I have, you aren't guaranteed that the shaders will unlock. There's a good chance, but you never know...


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## Gabkicks (May 16, 2011)

I just ordered a powercolor 1gb 6950, but amazon says it wont ship for 2-4 weeks. Hopefully I can turn it into a 1gb 6970


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