How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

cadaveca · Mar 30, 2011

i used this one:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2137760&postcount=381

littlej · Mar 31, 2011

cadaveca said:
i used this one:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2137760&postcount=381

Awesome! It worked for me! Thanks a million!

cadaveca · Mar 31, 2011

I figured it would. It really didn't make any sense to me that XFX would claim such, and after a small bit of investigation, I can understand why they said what they did, but perhaps they would have been better served if they explained a bit as to what the situation was exactly.

I was a bit concerned that I might brick my card, but becuase of that earler claim, I ahd to check and see. I mean, there is always the chance that some cards out there will not like ahving the shaders enabled, but it seems very unlikely that simply flashing a bios would truly brick a card in such a way that a flash back wouldn't fix it, unless the bios some so different that the voltages it gave the card were way over spec.

So between the 2 of us, we sussed out the real story.

jayc · Mar 31, 2011

Nice seeing some success stories for the XFX cards and 1Gb 6950s.

TigerLord · Mar 31, 2011

Did I brick my card?

I bought the Asus 6950. Clearly reference since it has a bios switch and the AMD stamp above the PCI-E connectors on the PCB. Winflash wouldn't let me flash bios (subsystem ID mismatch) so I used the script provided.

Worked beautifully... played Shogun 2 for an hour, then Furmark for 25 min just to see how hot it would get (94C... damn). Then suddenly, constant crashes and hung-ups. I successfully flashed the backup.bin, but it still happens.

I boot fine into windows, but 30 seconds later, I blue screen with the message "A process or thread crucial to system operation has unexpectedly exited or been terminated."

How could I have bricked a card that is now running its stock and original BIOS??? I don't understand this at all.

Any help would be appreciated.

cadaveca · Apr 1, 2011

TigerLord said:
How could I have bricked a card that is now running its stock and original BIOS??? I don't understand this at all.

Any help would be appreciated.

Try full driver uninstall, then re-install driver.

If you were overclocknig using extra volts, it's possible something happened to the card. The 6970 has extra pins on power plugs for a reason...running the high clocks needs it. I have been monitoring PCIe power consumption, per plug, decided that clocking up to 850mhz on 1.1v is good enough for my cards.

i don't suggest going anywhere over 1.15v unless you are supplying signifigant cooling to the VRM, and on stock cooler, you are not.

fullinfusion · Apr 1, 2011

TigerLord said:
Did I brick my card?

I bought the Asus 6950. Clearly reference since it has a bios switch and the AMD stamp above the PCI-E connectors on the PCB. Winflash wouldn't let me flash bios (subsystem ID mismatch) so I used the script provided.

Worked beautifully... played Shogun 2 for an hour, then Furmark for 25 min just to see how hot it would get (94C... damn). Then suddenly, constant crashes and hung-ups. I successfully flashed the backup.bin, but it still happens.

I boot fine into windows, but 30 seconds later, I blue screen with the message "A process or thread crucial to system operation has unexpectedly exited or been terminated."

How could I have bricked a card that is now running its stock and original BIOS??? I don't understand this at all.

Any help would be appreciated.

I dont think its your gpu but it sounds like you cpu is under volted... try upping it .5v and see if it helps. I see that bsod msg when my cpu pisses out on an overclock.

TigerLord · Apr 1, 2011

My OC has been rock stable for 3+ months... could a more demanding card impact speed? I run a i7 920 at 4.0ghz on about 1.275v. I tried booting at stock CPU speeds and got the same problem.

Could RAM voltage of the 6970 bios have damaged the RAM?

Good news: I replaced the card with an old backup 8600 and the problem is persisting, so this is not GPU-related. What an odd coincidence though...

fullinfusion · Apr 1, 2011

TigerLord said:
My OC has been rock stable for 3+ months... could a more demanding card impact speed? I run a i7 920 at 4.0ghz on about 1.275v. I tried booting at stock CPU speeds and got the same problem.

Could RAM voltage of the 6970 bios have damaged the RAM?

Good news: I replaced the card with an old backup 8600 and the problem is persisting, so this is not GPU-related. What an odd coincidence though...

If you used the 6970 bios then YES you killed the ram. You should only use the UNLOCKED SHADERS only bios... These ram chips run higher timings and a low end binned chips that don't like the added voltage. There is only a hand full of reference 6950's that tolerate the higher volts. I have 2 of them and still no problems after a month of running them @ 6970 clocks.

fullinfusion · Apr 1, 2011

TigerLord said:
My OC has been rock stable for 3+ months... could a more demanding card impact speed? I run a i7 920 at 4.0ghz on about 1.275v. I tried booting at stock CPU speeds and got the same problem.

Could RAM voltage of the 6970 bios have damaged the RAM?

Good news: I replaced the card with an old backup 8600 and the problem is persisting, so this is not GPU-related. What an odd coincidence though...

Up the cpu volts a bit to test it.

TigerLord · Apr 1, 2011

I used the package provided in the thread... I assume it was the correct one?

cadaveca · Apr 1, 2011

TigerLord said:
I used the package provided in the thread... I assume it was the correct one?

The can be only one.

:wtf:

BababooeyHTJ · Apr 1, 2011

TigerLord said:
Did I brick my card?

I bought the Asus 6950. Clearly reference since it has a bios switch and the AMD stamp above the PCI-E connectors on the PCB. Winflash wouldn't let me flash bios (subsystem ID mismatch) so I used the script provided.

Worked beautifully... played Shogun 2 for an hour, then Furmark for 25 min just to see how hot it would get (94C... damn). Then suddenly, constant crashes and hung-ups. I successfully flashed the backup.bin, but it still happens.

I boot fine into windows, but 30 seconds later, I blue screen with the message "A process or thread crucial to system operation has unexpectedly exited or been terminated."

How could I have bricked a card that is now running its stock and original BIOS??? I don't understand this at all.

Any help would be appreciated.

Flip the switch, and do a clean driver install.

TigerLord · Apr 1, 2011

Turns out the sparks I thought I saw and heard when powering up the 6950 (pre flash at that) were not hallucinated. It seems to have fucked up my entire motherboard.

I got the flashing package from here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1920/HD_6950_to_HD_6970_Flashing_Tools.html

I assume this was the correct one (ie. unlocks the shaders without the memory changes).

Everything ran at stock... but the mobo is definitely fooked up.

ferod · Apr 1, 2011

HD-695A-CNFC
HD-695X-CNFC

Can we have the xfx success thing seperated for the two? I believe the A one is AMD rebranded and takes extremely well to the flash whereas the X doesn't, is from XFX and a newer revision, so it's not fair to group them into one XFX success rate

.

Sorry if posted before, which in the 80+ pges I'll presuem it has, was just redirected here by a friend xD.

Flerbizky · Apr 1, 2011

Late version XFX 1Gb modded -

Hi.

Just to let you know - Successfully unlocked shaders on a new version XFX 1Gb 6950 -

Instead of using ATIWinFlash in Windows mode, I used cmd mode (Run as Administrator) and the following commands -

"atiwinflash -unlockrom 0"
"atiwinflash -f -p 0 modded.bin"

as suggested by W1zzard here http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2134576&postcount=19

modded.bin has been attached - it's a modded stock 6950 bios from my own card, modded with Wizzards script from here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2137760&postcount=381

Thanks W1zzard - Flerbizky Signing Off...

[Edit:] Just realised - since this card replaced my SLI 8800GTS 512Mb setup, I had the PCIe bus running at x8 instead of x16. New Postmodded screenshot attached with correct PCIe speed.

cadaveca · Apr 1, 2011

ferod said:
HD-695A-CNFC
HD-695X-CNFC

Can we have the xfx success thing seperated for the two? I believe the A one is AMD rebranded and takes extremely well to the flash whereas the X doesn't, is from XFX and a newer revision, so it's not fair to group them into one XFX success rate .

Sorry if posted before, which in the 80+ pges I'll presuem it has, was just redirected here by a friend xD.

Both cards mod. I have the 695X; this card was just discussed as being able to mod, although you must mod bios off of card for shader unlock, no 6970 bios flashes for this card.

Flerbizky here has same PCB, but differnt ram, and it's worked for him as well. Turns out XFX techs aren't exactly helpful. I've had an ongoing RMA with then since January, still going on.

manofthem · Apr 2, 2011

Flerbizky said:
Hi.

Just to let you know - Successfully unlocked shaders on a new version XFX 1Gb 6950 -

Instead of using ATIWinFlash in Windows mode, I used cmd mode (Run as Administrator) and the following commands -

"atiwinflash -unlockrom 0"
"atiwinflash -f -p 0 modded.bin"

as suggested by W1zzard here http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2134576&postcount=19

modded.bin has been attached - it's a modded stock 6950 bios from my own card, modded with Wizzards script from here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2137760&postcount=381

Thanks W1zzard - Flerbizky Signing Off...

I just realized that the 1 GB model has higher clocks than the reference 2 GB.

Flerbizky · Apr 2, 2011

manofthem said:
I just realized that the 1 GB model has higher clocks than the reference 2 GB.

I don't think these are reference design though. Guess is, XFX cranked the knob a bit on these.

devguy · Apr 2, 2011

Flerbizky said:
Hi.

Just to let you know - Successfully unlocked shaders on a new version XFX 1Gb 6950 -

Instead of using ATIWinFlash in Windows mode, I used cmd mode (Run as Administrator) and the following commands -

"atiwinflash -unlockrom 0"
"atiwinflash -f -p 0 modded.bin"

as suggested by W1zzard here http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2134576&postcount=19

modded.bin has been attached - it's a modded stock 6950 bios from my own card, modded with Wizzards script from here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2137760&postcount=381

Thanks W1zzard - Flerbizky Signing Off...

I just got my XFX HD 6950 1GB and flashed it just as you did, after modifying the BIOS using W1zzard's script. I now have the full 1536 shaders unlocked as well! Proof.

BTW, I uploaded my BIOS too, as mine is the slower clocked, non-porn model (non XXX model

).

W1zz, do you think you could make an announcement or something that these 1GB models unlock just fine? There seems to be a lot of people on these and other forums telling people to stay away from the 1GB versions because they "don't unlock".

tekgun · Apr 3, 2011

Hi, thanks for the guide, I have successfully unlocked my Sapphire 6950 :toast:

I would be interested to know which programs you guys are using for stability testing though.

Makaveli · Apr 3, 2011

fullinfusion said:
If you used the 6970 bios then YES you killed the ram. You should only use the UNLOCKED SHADERS only bios... These ram chips run higher timings and a low end binned chips that don't like the added voltage. There is only a hand full of reference 6950's that tolerate the higher volts. I have 2 of them and still no problems after a month of running them @ 6970 clocks.

I agree, recommend people shader unlock first then test with Games and stress programs running the 6970clocks or beyond with MSI afterburner where can push the core voltage. This way you don't mess with any memory times or the memory voltage. After you have confirmed its stable then go full 6970 bios if you still choose to.

Wastedslayer · Apr 4, 2011

After about 2 months of being stumped with flashing my card I figured it out, needed to switch the Bios on the card to #2, Gigabyte must lock the first one or something. After my comp has what can only be described as a seizure and the Mobos Bios freaking out Im back up and running.

What a night!

manofthem · Apr 4, 2011

Wastedslayer said:
After about 2 months of being stumped with flashing my card I figured it out, needed to switch the Bios on the card to #2, Gigabyte must lock the first one or something. After my comp has what can only be described as a seizure and the Mobos Bios freaking out Im back up and running.

What a night!

My Gigabyte flashed fine the first time, and I didn't even have to do it in cmd like I do with my XFX card. but the reference cards have 2 bioses: one that can be flashed, and the other is a read only default bios. Is that what you are referring to? It's great that you got it working though, thumbs up.

jayc · Apr 4, 2011

tekgun said:
Hi, thanks for the guide, I have successfully unlocked my Sapphire 6950
I would be interested to know which programs you guys are using for stability testing though.

Furmark, and 3dMark Vantage.
But nothing tests as well or is as much fun while testing as actually playing the games you play with.

Use the your most graphically intensive game as a stress tool for your newly unlocked GPU.

System Name	Hades
Processor	Intel E8400@4Ghz
Motherboard	Asus Rampage Formula X48
Cooling	Custom Watercooled
Memory	8Gb Patriot PC8500
Video Card(s)	6950 2Gb @ 6970 unlocked
Storage	2x 1Tb WD Black
Display(s)	22' Samsung 226BW S
Case	NZXT Hades
Power Supply	Corsair HX620

Processor	i5 3570k
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z77 UD5h
Cooling	XSPC Raystrom
Memory	4x4GB DDR3 1600mhz
Video Card(s)	7950 crossfire
Storage	a few
Display(s)	27" Catleap
Case	Xigmatek Elysium
Audio Device(s)	Xonar STX
Power Supply	Seasonic X1050
Software	Windows 7 X64

Processor	3900X @ 4.0
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X570-E
Cooling	DeepCool Castle 360EX
Memory	G Skill Trident Z Neo 32GB 3600
Video Card(s)	RX 5700 XT Pulse
Storage	Sabrent Rocket Q 1TB
Display(s)	LG 34UC88
Case	Thermaltake P3
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III 750w
Mouse	Logitech G900
Keyboard	G Skill KM570 MX Silver
Software	Windows 10 Pro

Processor	AMD Phenom II 1055T @ 3.6ghz 1.3V
Motherboard	Asus M5A97 EVO
Cooling	Xigmatek SD1284
Memory	2x4GB Patriot Sector 5 PC3-12800 @ 7-8-7-24-1T 1.7V
Video Card(s)	XFX Radeon HD 7950 DD @ 1100/1350 1.185V
Storage	OCZ Agility 3 120GB + 2x7200.12 500GB Raid1
Display(s)	QNIX QX2710 27" LCD 1440p @ 120hz
Case	Cooler Master 690M
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC892
Power Supply	Enermax Liberty 620W Eco Edition
Software	Windows 7 Professional x64 / Ubuntu 12.04 x64

System Name	The Expanse
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard	Asus Prime X570-Pro BIOS 5013 AM4 AGESA V2 PI 1.2.0.Cc.
Cooling	Corsair H150i Pro
Memory	32GB GSkill Trident RGB DDR4-3200 14-14-14-34-1T (B-Die)
Video Card(s)	XFX Radeon RX 7900 XTX Magnetic Air (24.10.1)
Storage	WD SN850X 2TB / Corsair MP600 1TB / Samsung 860Evo 1TB x2 Raid 0 / Asus NAS AS1004T V2 20TB
Display(s)	LG 34GP83A-B 34 Inch 21: 9 UltraGear Curved QHD (3440 x 1440) 1ms Nano IPS 160Hz
Case	Fractal Design Meshify S2
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi + Logitech Z-5500 + HS80 Wireless
Power Supply	Corsair AX850 Titanium
Mouse	Corsair Dark Core RGB SE
Keyboard	Corsair K100
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 22H2
Benchmark Scores	3800X https://valid.x86.fr/1zr4a5 5800X https://valid.x86.fr/2dey9c 5800X3D https://valid.x86.fr/b7d

System Name	GRAYSCALE\Butterfly
Processor	Intel Core i7 8700k @ 5.2Ghz\Intel 4690k
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus X Hero \Asus Z97 Maximus Hero VI
Cooling	Custom Water\Stock
Memory	2x8GB G.Skill RGB DDR4-3200 \2x8GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600
Video Card(s)	NVidia Titan Xp w/ EK Block \ MSI Reference GTX 780
Storage	512GB Samsung 960 PRO (M.2)\128GB OCZ Vertex 4 + 500GB WD Black
Display(s)	Asus PG278Q ROG Swift\Acer x213h 21.3'' 1920x1080 LCD
Case	Thermaltake P3 Core\NZXT S340
Audio Device(s)	Integrated w/ AKG K702 65th Anny's\Integrated
Power Supply	Corsair HXi 1000 \Corsair HX850
Mouse	Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum\2014 Razer Naga
Keyboard	Ducky One TKL RGB
Software	Windows 10 Pro (x64)\Windows 10 Pro (x64)

How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

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