How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[Qed]

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.

In the 6970 bios ram has higher voltage.

 

[Gaul]

w1zzard = what special this BIOS ?

How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 695...

ic...vgpu only 1.1v

 

[Whoops!]

Big thanks for a big improvement

But then I did upgrade from a 4670 to 6950 - I had been sitting on the fence for ages and this story made me order the XFX 6950 straight away - and flash it straight away too with the XFX 6970 bios - running at 880 / 1375 idles at 30½ degrees and just finished an afternoon of F1 2010 on ULTRA settings - FPS between 45 and 82 during races and max temp at 55 degrees (Fan set manually to 45%)

 

[voro12]

what is the max voltage on 6950 that you can use without causing damage to the card?

 

[ALBPM]

Hey rui0317,

Would it be better to edit the 6970 bios by reducing the memory timing,etc.. to make it safer for the 6950 cards?????

This way CCC thinks the card is a 6970 and gives us the Overclocking capabilities of the 6970... and we would have the increased voltage for the GPU only

 

[Frosty]

In the 6970 bios ram has higher voltage.

Could 1.6v actually cause artifacting though?

Even if that is the case, wouldn't it make more sense to modify the 6950 BIOS be3cause of the higher voltage?

 

[acousticdank]

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.

I think I wrote it wrong.
I meant I am using a 6+2 on the outermost and a 6pin on the inner port. I am using 2 separate cables not a splitter and pulling from a separate part of the psu for both, not sharing with any other cables.
But my point was whether using a 6+2 vs a 6pin really makes a difference.

 

[yonef]

where do I get driver ver. 8.801 ? I'm using Catalyst 10.12a from AMD's site but it is driver ver. 8.790.
I've seen couple of screenshots where the guys using 8.801 with HD6900 series, and original Cat10.12 is not compatible with 6900 series.

 

[ranom]

Albeit rare cases, we've seen 3way or 4way SLIs, CFXs draw too much power from the ATX 24pin connector and burn. I'd rather play it safe and stick to stock 6970 volts at the max for the hd6950 for fear of the pci-e 6pin burning. Like in the article, +27W is a bit over the spec but should be tolerable as long as you dont have a cheap, crappy psu (remember, there are cheap psu's that have fake output specs).

 

[Tuvok]

In the 6970 bios ram has higher voltage.

the 6970 ram has higher voltage but I'm not so sure that it's set by the bios, or is it?

 

[Patjuh]

I'd like to confirm my XFX 6950 has been finally succesfully flashed to 6970 BIOS and clocks. Had some difficulties due to wrong driver, but in the end it's solved Thanks.

 

[razr21]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102914

Can I find this Sapphire cheaper anywhere else, or does anyone have any coupons I can use? Seems like this is the cheapest that I am finding.


Oh well, I should just be happy it's going to unlock and not worry about the price, right?

 

[rui0317]

Hey rui0317,

Would it be better to edit the 6970 bios by reducing the memory timing,etc.. to make it safer for the 6950 cards?????

This way CCC thinks the card is a 6970 and gives us the Overclocking capabilities of the 6970... and we would have the increased voltage for the GPU only

Yes, it is better to do that, in theory.

But I have to say it is too complicated/dangerous to do so. If you wanna play around with the memory timings, you need internal hardware document , manufactory level. Otherwise you have to forget about it.

The thing we can do is reducing/increasing the voltage for getting better OC capabilities. So wait for the new version REB is a good idea.

 

[Qed]

what is the max voltage on 6950 that you can use without causing damage to the card?

The same gpu voltage as the 6970, since are the same chip. No data about the ram.

Could 1.6v actually cause artifacting though?

Even if that is the case, wouldn't it make more sense to modify the 6950 BIOS be3cause of the higher voltage?

You will be able to change voltage and other stuff with RBE once it will support 6900 cards.

I think I wrote it wrong.
I meant I am using a 6+2 on the outermost and a 6pin on the inner port. I am using 2 separate cables not a splitter and pulling from a separate part of the psu for both, not sharing with any other cables.
But my point was whether using a 6+2 vs a 6pin really makes a difference.

I agree, I didn't express myself well. What i'm asking to ppl who didnt have a stable card after the flash: "Is you power supply able to handle 8pin+6pin?". The difference between 6pins and 8pins is only the shape and the nominal power. You can have 150W on a 6pin connector as long as your UPS is able too.

 

[bebyy]

Unlocked my Powercolor 6950 to an Asus 6970 last night, have been running furmark for about an hour now, clocks and temperatures in the attachment.

 

[PopcornMachine]

Unlocked my Powercolor 6950 to an Asus 6970 last night, have been running furmark for about an hour now, clocks and temperatures in the attachment.

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/10/12/30/hye.png

Nice overclock. The most I've been able to do stably is 900/1400.

But I see that, although the temps remain at a nice 65C, you had to put the fan up to 70% which is kind of noisy.

 

[travex]

Unlocked my Powercolor 6950 to an Asus 6970 last night, have been running furmark for about an hour now, clocks and temperatures in the attachment.

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/10/12/30/hye.png

70% Fan = jet engine !

 

[bebyy]

70% Fan = jet engine !

Yeah, it was quite loud but I've set it down to about 60%, 3420RPM, temps gone up to 71-72 degress stable. Don't really notice the noise mostly have headphones in everytime i use the comp

 

[travex]

Yeah, it was quite loud but I've set it down to about 60%, 3420RPM, temps gone up to 71-72 degress stable. Don't really notice the noise mostly have headphones in everytime i use the comp

Hmm, mine @ 1016-1.3v with 50% fan setting only reach 70 degree, maybe you need more airflow in your casE?

 

[thesmokingman]

I managed to get both xfx 6950s unlocked with the xfx 6970 bios. Both cards are clocked at 930/1440. These cards can get hot now, it's a bit surprising.

 

[bebyy]

Hmm, mine @ 1016-1.3v with 50% fan setting only reach 70 degree, maybe you need more airflow in your casE?

Yup, I have a CM Storm Scout and I didn't check if the card would fit into the case. Then when i tried it didn't. So i had to take my hard drive cage out and the bottom of my 3.5" drive bays, wells its abit altered .

Looking on buying a 600T/700D in the coming weeks, so the CM is fine for the moment.

 

[razr21]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102914

Can I find this Sapphire cheaper anywhere else, or does anyone have any coupons I can use? Seems like this is the cheapest that I am finding.


Oh well, I should just be happy it's going to unlock and not worry about the price, right?

Also, will I be able to return this card if the unlock doesn't work?

 

[erocker]

Also, will I be able to return this card if the unlock doesn't work?

For that specific reason, no.

 

[thesmokingman]

Also, will I be able to return this card if the unlock doesn't work?

Oops, damm meant to quote. Anyways, it's 100% unlock rate, ie. all the chips are bios locked not fused locked.

 

[jonathan1107]

Unlocked 6950 problems :O(

Hi, I read the article, and I've sucessfully unlcocked my 6950 with atiwinflash with the 6970 bios.

I got the shaders and the CCC overdrive utility working. Everything was going great until today. Things are still working fine, but the gpu voltage and the gpu load jumps up every 20 seconds.

Even if I tweak the +20% or -20% in the ATI overdrive section of CCC I still get jumps (smaller ones or bigger depending on what I changed)

I'm not sure what is causing this... I have flashed my card back to 6950 but I'm still getting those voltage jumps... Obviously, every jump increases the GPUs temp a little which is not so bad with correct fan speed... I'm just hoping I didn't mess my card up. Those voltage jumps are weird.

I Would appreciate all the help I can get... especially considering the fact I'm not an expert with cmd.exe or graphics cards. Please help :O(