AMD Radeon HD 6950 Can be Unlocked to HD 6970

[PaNiC]

Question....

If I don't buy another 6950/70 before they change the VRM stuff, would I be able to successfully change the voltage on xfire'd card?

yeah but you mite have to wait for a new version of your software choice to come out
eg. afterburner

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

if amd were willing to delay and almost miss out on xmas shop period for the DrMos then im sure that its better.

You think that AMD put them on the mid range (Barts) because they are better? Why do you think that you can't adjust the core voltage on GTX285? Nvidia switched to a cheaper vrm.

They had a last minute shortage on the vrms. Thats why 6850 and 6870 were out of stock every where for the longest time.

Why do you feel the need to derail this thread with your bs? Should we start a new thread about the vrm change? Every post in your post history is you trolling some AMD thread.

 

[PaNiC]

You think that AMD put them on the mid range (Barts) because they are better? Why do you think that you can't adjust the core voltage on GTX285? Nvidia switched to a cheaper vrm.

They had a last minute shortage on the vrms. Thats why 6850 and 6870 were out of stock every where for the longest time.

Why do you feel the need to derail this thread with your bs? Should we start a new thread about the vrm change? Every post in your post history is you trolling some AMD thread.

you lost me here.
Barts uses chil vrm not texas industry or volterra.
nvidia didnt rip me off amd did and fan boys like you that try justify it.
haha i was trolling due to the fact that btarunr post misinformed junk on the front page of this site and then called me misinformed. rofl. the whole tpu froum said i dont know what i was on about and everything i said was spot on
evan on that bulldozer theard i was bloodcrazz on my mates account read the bit about the amd fx
AMD Details Bulldozer Processor Architecture
TPU Forum got skooled by some random

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

you lost me here.
Barts uses chil vrm not texas industry or volterra.
nvidia didnt rip me off amd did and fan boys like you that try justify it.
haha i was trolling due to the fact that btarunr post misinformed junk on the front page of this site and then called me misinformed. rofl. the whole tpu froum said i dont know about i was talking about but i was spot on and the whole forum got skooled
evan on that bulldozer theard i was bloodcrazz on my mates account read the bit about the amd fx
AMD Details Bulldozer Processor Architecture
TPU Forum got skooled by some random

I'm sorry much like with yourself in the past I was mistaken there.

I'm a huge fanboy. I had a GTX280 for two years, I loved that card. I owned a Nvidia card before that too. I'm not going to bitch and moan about stuff that probably won't make a difference at the end of the day. Did Nvidia "rip off" GTX470 owners with GTX465? Did Nvidia "rip off" GTX285 and GTX260 users who couldn't even adjust the core voltage? I don't look at either company as any better than the other.

I really don't care about some hearsay. Once Bulldozer is actually released and I can look at some benchmarks I'll worry about it. I just don't care enough to try and make sense of your incoherent post or to check your link. Capitalization and punctuation helps btw.

 

[HammerON]

The topic of this thread is 6950 Can be Unlocked to HD 6970...

Take your conversation somewhere else please

 

[TheGuruStud]

Is gpu-z correctly reporting voltage?

It says I'm always at .9

I assume it's not right b/c there's no way I could run 3D clocks at that voltage.
Wait a sec, when I was changing CCC settings it did spike to 1.175....

 

[largon]

i take that back. slightly new junk then that which was used in the 5xxx series.

And series X1800, X1900, HD2900, HD4800, plus the already mentioned HD5800, HD5900. AMD has been using Volterra VRM parts for years.

i did say "Volterra digital PWM" i didnt give out a model number. we still didnt get the top shelf gear

Durrr...
Volterra VT1000 series VRMs are simply the best you can get. Also they're the most expensive you can get.

 

[largon]

msi uses uPI for hawk and lighting cards i would have to say thats the best due to been able to control memory voltage as well

Eh? What exactly makes it the best? Software controlled VID? No matter Volterra and many other vendors' parts do the same and much more.
µPI semi only makes the phase controller. The VRMs are plain-jane regular n-channel mosfets from a random manufacturer. I wonder what makes such a generic combination the best, in your opinion?

Volterra makes the whole package; phases controller and the VRMs.
Volterra parts have few downsides:
1. high operating temperature due to CSP packaging, BGA interface has high thermal resistance
2. physically fragile, again due to CSP packaging
3. comparably high price

 

[jimmyz]

msi uses uPI for hawk and lighting cards i would have to say thats the best due to been able to control memory voltage as well

Sorry Gonna have to side with Largon here, the Volterra chips seen recently are top shelf parts the ones you mention are well below. Don't confuse one vendors implementation of the features to mean the chip is better. The manual voltage read points for example, since it can't display voltage in software...so... it can change the voltage but can't tell you what it set it to... nice chip

Volterra makes top grade stuff Chil is great as well. However the software people out there are not exploiting all of the features of these chips simply because the RMA rate would go through the roof.

 

[PaNiC]

Eh? What exactly makes it the best? Software controlled VID? No matter Volterra and many other vendors' parts do the same and much more.
µPI semi only makes the phase controller. The VRMs are plain-jane regular n-channel mosfets from a random manufacturer. I wonder what makes such a generic combination the best, in your opinion?

Volterra makes the whole package; phases controller and the VRMs.
Volterra parts have few downsides:
1. high operating temperature due to CSP packaging, BGA interface has high thermal resistance
2. physically fragile, again due to CSP packaging
3. comparably high price

evan if it is better which i think it is, amd will always use all in one sultion on reference borads they leave that to borad partners to decide on combinations

 

[sliderider]

What about the power consumption?

How can it unlock to 6970 when the 6970 requires an 8 pin and a 6 pin and the 6950 only requires 2 6 pin? Wouldn't it be short the required voltage to run like a 6970?

 

[sliderider]

Haha, Oh this sucks so bad for people that have already got their 6970's

Sucks even worse for those who already got their GTX570/580's.

 

[PaNiC]

Sucks even worse for those who already got their GTX570/580's.

i would trade my 2 6970 for 1 gtx 580 and evan with the unlock 570 is a better card

 

[sliderider]

Doht! I just bought a 6850, as it seemed like best bang for buck 6000 series. I wonder if it would unlock to 6870?

I just bought a Sapphire 6870 because I managed to find a really good price on it. $210 after $20 MIR. 6950 and GTX570 still fit the power profile of my PSU, though, and have been in my mind as possible future upgrades later on as prices fall. This news definitely boots GTX570 off my list of future upgrades now unless the 28nm cards from either company blow the doors off of them for the same money.

 

[Swamp Monster]

How can it unlock to 6970 when the 6970 requires an 8 pin and a 6 pin and the 6950 only requires 2 6 pin? Wouldn't it be short the required voltage to run like a 6970?

It wouldn't be short of voltage, because voltage is the same on all connectors. Only difference between two connectors is extra ground pins, that allows more amperage, but it's nothing big, so no worries.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

How can it unlock to 6970 when the 6970 requires an 8 pin and a 6 pin and the 6950 only requires 2 6 pin? Wouldn't it be short the required voltage to run like a 6970?

Most power supples like mine only use a couple of jumpers from the existing six pin anyways.

 

[Swamp Monster]

+1
Already forgot that I have 6pin-to-8pin too

 

[turbobeta]

UPDATE ON MY GIGABYTE 6950 >>> 6970:

FAIL: At speeds 875mhz core / 1350mhz memory and higher, I get memory artifacts in Borderlands, and WoW Cataclysm crashes at the login screen. All other benchmarks, Unigine Heaven, FFXIV bench, FFXI bench, work fine.

PASS: At speeds of 870mhz core / 1345mhz memory and below, Borderlands, WoW Cataclysm, Unigine Heaven, FFXIV, and FFXI function properly.

ERATTA: For safety and stability's sake, I'm running my card 3 ticks down from last known failure, so my final clocks are 860mhz core / 1335mhz memory.

The card I have: GIGABYTE GV-R695D5-2GD-B Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bi...
The bios I used: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/88934/Gigabyte.HD6970.2048.101124.html

 

[gumpty]

Ordered a XFX 6850 yesterday before the bloody UK tax increase. Should be here some time this week.
So shortly there'll be a barely used 6870 for sale.

 

[MarcusTaz]

UPDATE ON MY GIGABYTE 6950 >>> 6970:

FAIL: At speeds 875mhz core / 1350mhz memory and higher, I get memory artifacts in Borderlands, and WoW Cataclysm crashes at the login screen. All other benchmarks, Unigine Heaven, FFXIV bench, FFXI bench, work fine.

PASS: At speeds of 870mhz core / 1345mhz memory and below, Borderlands, WoW Cataclysm, Unigine Heaven, FFXIV, and FFXI function properly.

ERATTA: For safety and stability's sake, I'm running my card 3 ticks down from last known failure, so my final clocks are 860mhz core / 1335mhz memory.

The card I have: GIGABYTE GV-R695D5-2GD-B Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bi...
The bios I used: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/88934/Gigabyte.HD6970.2048.101124.html

bummer... is anyone else having these issues reaching 6970 speeds?

 

[Tatty_Two]

bummer... is anyone else having these issues reaching 6970 speeds?

I have asked the question a couple of times, someone might be in a position to answer now..... is the default stock 3D voltage in each of the 2 cards the same? or is the 6970 3D+ extra volts higher because if it is, that may be the answer.

 

[Retrodrift]

After Linus' excellent review (as usual) of the bios flash i ordered the 6950 from NCIX to replace a hard to replace 8800gt sc. Reading through this forum and google this process seems to be really stable. One user on this site talked about the RAM chips differing in quality between the 50 & 70 (TC2 vs RoC).

1) Besides the 8 pin connector on the 70 are these the only 2 things that differ 70 from 50?

2) As fun as it is to mod our stuff out, is the 11+% performance gain worth the risk or are the 2 really the same card as stated here?

 

[gumpty]

As fun as it is to mod our stuff out, is the 11 % performance gain worth the risk or are the 2 really the same card as stated here?

Normally I probably wouldn't have gone for something like this because of that risk, but the added safety of the back-up BIOS switch has made me take the plunge - I've got a 6950 on the way.

 

[trt740]

Anyone with a 6950 when flashed to a 6970 is this card loud under load.

 

[vvulture]

Would anyone here be able to speculate as to when we could expect an updated RBE with 69xx support ?

Getting very itchy here... lol