How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[Yidaki]

About ram voltage, i coundt find any data.

H5GQ2H24MFR-R0C (6970): 6.0Gbps/16Bank, 1.6V/1.6V
H5GQ2H24MFR-T2C (6950): 5.0Gbps/16Bank, 1.5V/1.5V

 

[HalfAHertz]

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.

Your card is throttling in furmark and runs at a lower frequency compared to GTA4 that's why you don't see any artifacts. Try lowering memory frequency

 

[Andrei23]

hi

I have a HIS 6950 and I did the bios flash procedure. I managed to get it working, but now the graphics card performs so poorly it is unbelievable, regardless of what clocks and power control settings I try. I am getting half and sometimes a third of the frames I would be getting on my non-flashed 6950. So I decided to switch back to the old bios and still the same low performance problem. Switched to the second bios on the board and still the same problem. getting 18 fps where I would be getting 60 previously, all thanks to this bios flash. what gives?????

in case you are wondering I have a CoolerMaster GX550W PSU with 2 6+2 PCI power connectors....

 

[tecnoworld]

very odd. did you try reinstalling the drivers? you should also try your card on another pc

 

[Andrei23]

I think it was already stated in this thread that you don't need to reinstall the drivers as they are the same for both the 6950 and the 6970

 

[Tuvok]

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?

guys you should stop useless speculations about this 8pin stuff.
my unlocked 6950 runs fine at 1025 mhz even at 1.4 volts on my 450w psu (2x6 pin)

 

[acousticdank]

guys you should stop useless speculations about this 8pin stuff.
my unlocked 6950 runs fine at 1025 mhz even at 1.4 volts on my 450w psu (2x6 pin)

Yeah but what brand of psu? How many fans do you run? How many hard drives? Mechanical or SSD? What cpu?

What games are you running?

Nothing you say really says this speculation is useless, not enough info.

 

[Andrei23]

turns out reinstalling the driver helped
runing stable at 900 core/ 1375 memory

 

[bystander]

turns out reinstalling the driver helped
runing stable at 900 core/ 1375 memory

I'm suprised you weren't forced to reinstall after the flash. I was.

 

[Tuvok]

Yeah but what brand of psu? How many fans do you run? How many hard drives? Mechanical or SSD? What cpu?

What games are you running?

Nothing you say really says this speculation is useless, not enough info.

I'm just saying a lot of people always have to point out that this mod is dangerous cause the 6950 lacks the 8pin connector.
They should only shut up and try for themselves cause all the cards tested are working fine with no power issues, and it's not even close to the limit, since the cards have proven to work fine even under heavy overclock and overvolt

 

[travex]

Hmm, I can push my 6950 over 1007Mhz+ , but the I notice a weird problem with the Cinebench , my score keep decreasing when I try to push the Core higher or even lower now ?! But in 3kmark2011 everything is fine, more Mhz ---> more Frame.

Using Asus Bios and Smartdoctor , 1007@1.3v.

 

[Tuvok]

Hmm, I can push my 6950 over 1007Mhz+ , but the I notice a weird problem with the Cinebench , my score keep decreasing when I try to push the Core higher or even lower now ?! But in 3kmark2011 everything is fine, more Mhz ---> more Frame.

Using Asus Bios and Smartdoctor , 1007@1.3v.

use a tool like gpu-z and check the logs to see if the core is throttling back during the bench

 

[voro12]

Hmm my 6950 is crashing when going over 940 O:
Is it the memory clock that makes the card crash?

 

[travex]

use a tool like gpu-z and check the logs to see if the core is throttling back during the bench

I keep the fan lvl at 55% to let the temp < 60 degree always, and no the core is not throttling back, stay still at the selected Mhz.

 

[Wijkert]

When finetuning your overclock while playing games, would you guys recommend changing core and mem clocks on the fly or clossing the game first then change the clocksspeeds and start it up again?

 

[mironicus]

I managed to flash my Powercolor 6950 successfully. Yes the switch was set to "2". My bad.

Would it also be possible to change the clock speeds if you play a video?

The 6950 clock speeds change to 500/1250 if you just play a plain DXVA-video, so it consumes more than 40 Watts. Thats just too much. It should be possible to have no issues with just 500/500. I think those settings are also stored in the bios, don't you think...?

Another thing I would like to mention: I am just using a 400 Watt PSU. My system running GTA IV with the 6950 (with all shaders enabled with stock gpu speed) just consumes 240 Watt.

 

[kalviper]

seems valid pt regarding the psu on pure 6 pins and 2+6 pins.

i flash my sapphire 6950 to 6970 using the batch unlock. using 10.12 drivers. power tune +20%. overclock to 950 / 1450.

Zero problems wrt to GPUz, gaming(WOW, Metro, L4D2, CnC4, Conviction, Assasin Creed etc) and 3d mark.

Using 850W with 2 x 2+6pin. Those with prob maybe wanna state whether yr psu is 6pin or 2+6pin.

 

[yonef]

Hello guys,
I'm about to unlock my XFX HD6950 to 6970, but first I had to ask few questions to clarify everything, before I mess up everything.

1) Can I use XFX 6970 BIOS to flash it ot my XFX 6950, or I have to use Saphire one?
2) Do I need to reinstall drivers when flashed to 6970 as it is a different card ?

Thanks.

 

[acousticdank]

seems valid pt regarding the psu on pure 6 pins and 2+6 pins.

i flash my sapphire 6950 to 6970 using the batch unlock. using 10.12 drivers. power tune +20%. overclock to 950 / 1450.

Zero problems wrt to GPUz, gaming(WOW, Metro, L4D2, CnC4, Conviction, Assasin Creed etc) and 3d mark.

Using 850W with 2 x 2+6pin. Those with prob maybe wanna state whether yr psu is 6pin or 2+6pin.

I just used a 2+6 on the outermost port since that's the one that the 6970 uses. I doubt it makes a whole lot of difference, is it the cable itself that allows more power to be drawn, or the receiving port?

 

[Frosty]

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.

The only reason I think the timings are tighter on the 6970 chips is because there have been multiple users experiencing an unstable card post-flash (mostly artifacting/rendering errors). This wasn't resolved by lowering the memory frequency to stock 6950 clocks but was resolved when they modified the 6950 BIOS to unlock the shaders.

Hello guys,
I'm about to unlock my XFX HD6950 to 6970, but first I had to ask few questions to clarify everything, before I mess up everything.

1) Can I use XFX 6970 BIOS to flash it ot my XFX 6950, or I have to use Saphire one?
2) Do I need to reinstall drivers when flashed to 6970 as it is a different card ?

Thanks.

1) You can use any 6970 BIOS for a reference card, AFAIK.
2) The drivers are the same for both the 6950 and 6970 so you shouldn't need to reinstall. Personally, I always do a safe mode driver cleaning and then reinstall but I'm paranoid.

 

[travex]

So far so good ! With Asus bios @ 1.3v

 

[tecnoworld]

travex: which brand is your card? And what settings do you use for fan speed?

 

[travex]

travex: which brand is your card? And what settings do you use for fan speed?

Mine is Sapphire flashed to Asus , fan setting is at 50% right now

 

[stevec]

Had been stuck trying to pick between a 6970 and gtx570 since before x-mas until I saw this thread - it was the deciding factor in me ordering a 6950. Have gone for the Asus one and will post results for both the modded 6950 bios and Asus 6970 bios as soon as the card arrives. Also planning to swap out the cooler for my T-Rad2 so will keep a log of temps both before and after incase anyone is interested.

@Makavelli (r.e. aftermarket cooler) I've got a T-Rad2 on my 4870 at the mo (which I love) so emailed Thermalright asking if it's compatible with a 6950, which they confirmed it is!

The Accelero Twin Turbo Pro is also compatible with the 4870 and is pretty similar in design, so I'd be pretty confident it'll work on a 6950 too. The mouting holes must be the same spacing as on the 4870 etc. Will happily measure for you while I'm swapping my cooler out if you like?

Massive thanks to everyone who has contributed, especially to W1zzard and Rui - it's one of the best examples of community spirit i've seen in all my time in nerddom and has certainly made me feel at ease trying it when my card arrives!

Will be back with my results once my card is here (hopefully soon!).

 

[Qed]

I just used a 2 6 on the outermost port since that's the one that the 6970 uses. I doubt it makes a whole lot of difference, is it the cable itself that allows more power to be drawn, or the receiving port?

Having 2 separate 6pin connectors or 1 bouble 6pin is different. Having the 2 separate connectors (a total of 4 6pin connectors) you have 2 times the available power compared to the other situation. That yellow and black lines are connected together inside the UPS.