How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[Frosty]

So the general concesus is to modify the 6950 BIOS so that the memory timings remain intact, right?

My only concerns are that the device will not be identified as a 6970 and the voltage will be slighlty lower which could cripple overclock potential at this time.


Would it be possible to mod a 6970 BIOS so that it has the memory timings of the 6950 or is that something that cannot be modified?

 

[abirdie4me]

So the general concesus is to modify the 6950 BIOS so that the memory timings remain intact, right?

My only concerns are that the device will not be identified as a 6970 and the voltage will be slighlty lower which could cripple overclock potential at this time.


Would it be possible to mod a 6970 BIOS so that it has the memory timings of the 6950 or is that something that cannot be modified?

Well, I have 2 Sapphire 6950s and the original 6970 bios flash that W1zzard posted worked for me. My temps are quite a bit higher than when on stock 6950 settings, but I'm able to sustain a 920 clock and 1400 memory timings during benchmarks and several hours of gaming. I doubt you would get a clock like that with just a modified 6950 bios, but you never know. I think it also depends on your individual card(s).

Some other posters have asked the same question regarding modding the memory timings of a 6970 bios, I believe that was somewhere around page 15 if you want to see what they decided.

 

[Qed]

I have an update regarding my Sapphire 6950 modding. So I used the utility posted by W1zzard and I can confirm that it all works properly. I am using the maximum gpu and memory clocks that overdrive will allow and so far no artifacts or crashes. Thank you rui0317 and W1zzard!

I'm start thinking it is more related to the power supply and how much power can flow through the 2x6-pin connectors insted of the 6-pin+8-pin. Now you are using lower core voltage and lower ram voltage.

 

[Wijkert]

Hi guys, have been reading these forums for a while, but never registered untill now. I have succesfully flashed my 6950 XFX with the 6970 bios and changed the clocks to 6970 stocksettings. While running 3dmark 11, 3dmark vantage en furmark no artifacts appeared. As I already know from pasted experience, running games is a whole different thing from running benchmarks/stability tests. Last night I accountered to types of different artifacts in WoW and GTA4. In WoW I saw some black spikes, which I recognize from when my previous card (4890) had to high core clocks and I saw green stars/dots in GTA4 wich probably have something to do with to high mem clocks. Both the types of artifacts went away when I lowered the clocks to 6950 stocksettings.

Previous posters have already requested a bios with unlocked shaders + 6970 voltage settings, since those timings might make in necessary to keep those mem clocks low. I am also very interested in such a bios, but recognize that it might be unrealistic to make a several bioses for several different needs.

I would like to thank both W1zzard and Dave for providing a lot of information about this topic.

 

[Qed]

Previous posters have already requested a bios with unlocked shaders 6970 voltage settings, since those timings might make in necessary to keep those mem clocks low.

What timings are you talking about?

 

[Wijkert]

What timings are you talking about?

The ones from the videomemory that are set to tidier settings in the 6970 bios, because the 6970 has different/better mem modules.

 

[Yidaki]

I think the timings of the 6970 are not that tight, but it operates at a higher frequency (and also 1.6V and not 1.5V like the T2C).

 

[Qed]

The ones from the videomemory that are set to tidier settings in the 6970 bios, because the 6970 has different/better mem modules.

It doesn't make sense to me, source?

 

[Yidaki]

Do you need a source for the different memory chips or the different timings?

 

[Qed]

Do you need a source for the different memory chips or the different timings?

I need a soucre showing the gddr5 timings are different from 6950 to 6970, different memory chips doen't imply different timing.
The ram frequency of the 6970 is 10% higher than the 6950 and the bandwidth is exactly 10% higher. So it doesn't make sense to have different timings.

 

[Wijkert]

I need a soucre showing the gddr5 timings are different from 6950 to 6970, different memory chips doen't imply different timing.
The ram frequency of the 6970 is 10% higher than the 6950 and the bandwidth is exactly 10% higher. So it doesn't make sense to have different timings.

I know that different chips does't imply different timings, but a kinda assumed since multiple people have metioned these faster timings in this thread a copple of pages ago. If they are wrong, then I am wrong and my request/point is mute.

In that case it just comes down to lowering the clocks untill no game shows artifacts, or increasing the voltage when the 69xx series will be supported by afterburner or similar program. That brings up another point. What would be the max save voltage for a 6950?

 

[Tuvok]

Hi! I can't unlock my Powercolor 6950. Tried your batchfiles and ATIFlash. It does not want to erase the flash. Also the manual unlocking does not help.

Make sure that the bios switch is in the "1" position

 

[Tuvok]

@ the Asus 6950 Bios Modded. So, you used W1zzard's script? Shouldn't that only change the conditional jump (CMOVNS)? Why is there a NOP at the header? (XCHG EAX,ESI -> NOP) What is it NOP'ing?

Yes I only used the batch unlocker, don't know about the rest.
I'd also like to point out that the smart doctor voltage tuning works but gpu-z can't detect it (it stays at 1.1v), but it's definitely there (check temperatures and overclocking)

 

[Qed]

In that case it just comes down to lowering the clocks untill no game shows artifacts, or increasing the voltage when the 69xx series will be supported by afterburner or similar program. That brings up another point. What would be the max save voltage for a 6950?

That's exactly my point.

About the gpu voltage, the chips are the same as the colling system so it is safe to assume voltage can be exactly the same. As for cpu, you can have "better" chip depending on how many dust grain are on the die compromising performance at higher frequency. The worst thing that can happen are artifacts,

About ram voltage, i coundt find any data. Disabling shaders and setting frequency by bios seems suggesting the chips are the same, only different in the "quality" as i mentioned before. Also, producing a gddr5 working at 5.5 GHz imply having pices, coming out the productive process, unable to work at that frequency but working at slight lower one.


The thing imo is making the difference is the power supply. If the 6970 has 8pin+6pin connector, you cant expect to have the card working under any condition with a 2x6pin connectors. It's known that some power supply are capable of higher currents than the specification required.

 

[Patjuh]

So, I tried removing all drivers with driver cleaner and ATi CCC uninstalling everything which was on my pc. I already flashed my XFX 6950, and now CCC doesn't show up every time I installed it. Someone knows how to solve this? Version we're talking about is 10.12...

Kind regards

 

[voro12]

Is it possible that unlocking of shaders make the card unstable when overclocking?

 

[Gugi]

If i remember right the only difference between 6pin and 8pin pci-e power connector is that 8pin has 2 extra grounds.
So that should not make any difference in powering the card.

 

[Wijkert]

The thing imo is making the difference is the power supply. If the 6970 has 8pin+6pin connector, you cant expect to have the card working under any condition with a 2x6pin connectors. It's known that some power supply are capable of higher currents than the specification required.

What I find puzzleling is that when I run furmark wich puts a high demand on powersupply, the temp shoots up to 90c, but no artifacts can be found. And when I run a game like GTA4 artifacts are visible within a minute of play. As I said in my first post, I know this to be the case when overclocking a videocard, but that does't mean I understand why.

 

[BZB]

So, I tried removing all drivers with driver cleaner and ATi CCC uninstalling everything which was on my pc. I already flashed my XFX 6950, and now CCC doesn't show up every time I installed it. Someone knows how to solve this? Version we're talking about is 10.12...

Kind regards

You should be using the 10.12a hotfix driver.

 

[davetheshrew]

If i remember right the only difference between 6pin and 8pin pci-e power connector is that 8pin has 2 extra grounds.
So that should not make any difference in powering the card.

yep your right, that was confirmed a while back, i think it was hardware secrets.

im having no trouble with any bios, i guess im lucky

 

[tecnoworld]

here are the pinouts:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html

the 8pin has the same 12+12+12 than the 6pin, but has an higher official maximum wattage delivery (150W vs 75W).

 

[davetheshrew]

true but not the case for this paticular card.

 

[Gugi]

So this could mean that if your power supply has only 6pin pci-e power connectors it can deliver 2x75W (+75W from mobo) = 225W of juice to the graphics card.
And 6950 modded to 6970 hungers for a maximum of 250W (says so in the specs of 6970) then it means you have a problem.

But if you have a power supply that has 6+2pin pci-e power connectors that can deliver 2x150W (+75W from mobo) = 375W of juice to the graphics card.
Then there should be not problems.

Am i right?

 

[Sqweekie]

Probably yes, because your powersupply will be able to supply the necessary power on your 6pin connector.

 

[tecnoworld]

it could be interesting to make a fast survey about which power supply is used, here, to see if there is a correlation among it and the success/unsuccess