How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[mephistopoa]

Anyone else here having trouble with MSI Afterburner and Catalyst 11.4 Preview? I am getting random lock up and bsod regardless of the speed/voltage set with Afterburner. Once Afterburner is removed, no more problem.

I only got problems with afterburner using clocks that apparently my card doesn't cope well with. Using 880/1375 is working fine on AB for me using 11.4, I'll run some more tests tonight

 

[NameonPrime]

Guys, things have changed ,

would i be able to unlock shaders, and oc volts and frequencies to 6970 spec

on the asus hd 6950 2gb with voltage tweak?

 

[NameonPrime]

i mean the asus card that comes with a voltage tweak and/or slight OC right out of the box\

 

[mephistopoa]

The only way to know is doing it, but if your card doesn't have the bios switch, I would not recommend doing it

 

[JupiPupi]

No worries at all! Make sure your OC is stable. Post back with some results as to what clock speeds you hit!

I have overclocked my XFX 6950 1GB
Core clock: 950Mhz
Memory clock 1375Mhz
Voltage 1.212
Average temperature: 85c
3DMark 11 Premium Graphic score: 5506

But! I have noticed some strange behaviour while browsing with Firefox and playing games two.
If You look at the graph. You can see that core frequency is jumping from 500 to 950Mhz all the time, while memory frequency is constant. Is anything of that normal behaviour?

 

[cadaveca]

Yes, perfectly normal.

But, if this is happening during games, you need to raise the powertune % until it does not happen any more.

 

[manofthem]

OK, let's explain powerplay here.

What it does, is manages power consumption, and if power consumption is too high, the card will downclock.

Moving the powerplay slider increases the limit before that power consumption threshold is reached. You only need to raise it if you see clocks dropping while under load. Raising it will prevent the throttle.


So, of course, +20 isn't going to change anything if your card isn't throttling due to power consumption. Even +1 isn't going to change anything, if you are not really pushing the VRM too much.

I appreciate your insight. Please allow an inquiry:

My 6950 powertune is set to 0, and through games and benches, clocks hold strong and do not downclock (other than Furmark).

I've read that the TDP of a 6950 is 200W, so should I take it that even at full load my gpu is only pulling down somewhere >200W? (Does that not change even if the shaders are unlocked or if I raise voltage and OC to say 900/1375?)

I do thank you.
(I'm asking more for power management reasons; I want to be sure that my PSU will handle crossfire without problems)

 

[cadaveca]

Yes, you can say that in apps other than furmark, your gpu is not exceeding the TDP, if the card is not throttling. At least, that's how it's supposed to work.

And that's why we have access to it...basically AMD has given us the option to exceed TDP by 20%, and then, that's it...

That means that technically, if each and every part of the gpu is designed properly, these cards should basically be indestructible by overclockers...unless there is hard-mods.


I am not sure of what the TDP of these cards is, or if it's both ram and GPU, or just GPU, but I do understand what it is, and what it is supposed to do. I have not encountered any situation where I needed to adjust it, although I have spoken with a few users now that have had to use it to allow for overclocking.

 

[sabrehagen]

HD 6950 1GB with RBE

Hi Guys,

I have a PowerColor HD 6950 1GB and have read the techPowerUp! guide thoroughly and found I need to use RBE to change my clocks because the listed BIOSs are only for 2GB editions. I'm really excited to mod my card, but I'm not getting the expected results. These are the steps I went through:

I downloaded my card's BIOS with WinFlash.
I opened it in RBE and went to the last tab where 6950 > 6970 was enabled. I chose 6970.
I saved the BIOS and flashed it back to my card.
From there I reboot and check the result with GPU-Z and it is still only showing 1,408 unified.

Just to make sure the BIOS was updated correctly, I downloaded the BIOS now on my card and opened it with RBE and it is showing 6970 enabled. Do you know if GPU-Z is misreporting (I'm using the latest version - 0.5.3) or the card isn't picking up the extra Shaders?

On a related note, whenever I flash my BIOS with WinFlash I get "BIOS flash completed successfully" but my computer freezes and I have to hard reboot. No mouse movement either. Is this to be expected? It seems like it would be given you're changing the BIOS on an active device but I just wanted to confirm.

So, in summary, any idea on what I might be doing wrong or how to fix this? I'm sorry if this has been answered before, but I couldn't bring myself to trawl the 51 pages of this thread. I tried searching the forums but that was too coarse grained.

Thanks for your help,


sabrehagen

 

[manofthem]

I'm pretty sure you can't flash a 6970 bios to a 6950 1GB card.

I haven't tried unlocking shaders in RBE, but try this...
www.techpowerup.com/wizzard/Mod_BIOS_HD_6950.zip
I just downloaded a 1GB bios and ran it though that, it worked, though I can't verify that because I don't want to test flashing it on my 2GB card. Give that a shot.

Take your default bios and put it in that folder.
Name it "original.bin"
Then run "run.bat" That should take your bios and enables all 1536 shaders.
Modded bios should be saved as "modded.bin"
Then flash "modded.bin"
After flashing, double check in GPUz that shaders are changed.
Might work (This works with the 2GB version)

 

[jayc]

I'm pretty sure you can't flash a 6970 bios to a 6950 1GB card.

I haven't tried unlocking shaders in RBE, but try this...
www.techpowerup.com/wizzard/Mod_BIOS_HD_6950.zip
I just downloaded a 1GB bios and ran it though that, it worked, though I can't verify that because I don't want to test flashing it on my 2GB card. Give that a shot.

Take your default bios and put it in that folder.
Name it "original.bin"
Then run "run.bat" That should take your bios and enables all 1536 shaders.
Modded bios should be saved as "modded.bin"
Then flash "modded.bin"
After flashing, double check in GPUz that shaders are changed.
Might work (This works with the 2GB version)

I don't think sabrehagen is actually flashing his 6950 1Gb with a 6970 bios.
It's just RBE's label on the button that sort of says, unlock your shaders to something similar to a 6970.
So RBE just takes the bios you opened and unlocks the shaders.
It saves the new bios file for you to flash.

sabrehagen,
I think we are in new territory here with your 1Gb powercolor 6950. I have not seen anyone unlock shaders on this card personally. There is a possibility that Powercolor have cut physical traces to the extra shaders. It's an expensive option for them but it's possible. We can't do anything about that.

There is another possibility that you have incorrectly performed the re-flash.
This is something we can explore.
Use the script that manofthem has linked to and re-create a shader unlocked bios from your card.
Then use atiflash/winflash to load on the new bios.

Taking care that your card is in the primary PCI-E slot (closest to CPU).
Make sure you issue the - unlockrom 0 command, before the flash bios command.
Write down step by step, what you did and the result. Report back.

 

[sabrehagen]

I'm pretty sure you can't flash a 6970 bios to a 6950 1GB card.

I haven't tried unlocking shaders in RBE, but try this...
www.techpowerup.com/wizzard/Mod_BIOS_HD_6950.zip
I just downloaded a 1GB bios and ran it though that, it worked, though I can't verify that because I don't want to test flashing it on my 2GB card. Give that a shot.

Take your default bios and put it in that folder.
Name it "original.bin"
Then run "run.bat" That should take your bios and enables all 1536 shaders.
Modded bios should be saved as "modded.bin"
Then flash "modded.bin"
After flashing, double check in GPUz that shaders are changed.
Might work (This works with the 2GB version)

Unfortunately this method still results in 1408 being reported in GPU-Z. Any other ideas?

 

[FL4K]

I have a 1GB XFX card (the dual fan ZDDC model). I can download and mod the bios fine (it finds the string and replaces it) but cannot flash the image back. I get an error from atiwinflash and atiflash that the rom cannot be erased (even though I have issued the command to unlock it).

The dual bios switch is masked and not present on the card - I assume the ROM is read only (though that seems an odd thing to do on a single-bios card).

Any idea?

 

[jayc]

I have a 1GB XFX card (the dual fan ZDDC model). I can download and mod the bios fine (it finds the string and replaces it) but cannot flash the image back. I get an error from atiwinflash and atiflash that the rom cannot be erased (even though I have issued the command to unlock it).

The dual bios switch is masked and not present on the card - I assume the ROM is read only (though that seems an odd thing to do on a single-bios card).

Any idea?

A number of XFX 1Gb owners have successfully unlocked the shaders on their card. Read back a few pages to see what they did.

Make sure your card is in the primary GPU slot closest to the CPU when running the commands.

 

[fullinfusion]

Sorry but XFX suck except there Warrenty. Dont unlock, Whats the sense? your rig cant run your games?

Has anybody had any luck using MSI Afterburner on x-fired 6900 series cards?

I can use voltage and core,memory settings on the first gpu. 2nd gpu, any settings in AB cause a bsod... Any Idea's?

 

[manofthem]

Sorry but XFX suck except there Warrenty. Dont unlock, Whats the sense? your rig cant run your games?

Has anybody had any luck using MSI Afterburner on x-fired 6900 series cards?

I can use voltage and core,memory settings on the first gpu. 2nd gpu, any settings in AB cause a bsod... Any Idea's?

I had a problem with MSI AB when I installed my second card. No matter what I touched (clocks up 1 mhz or applying a fan curve), it would crash my pc. No bsod but some crazy lines and have to reboot.

I had to uninstall afterburner (and I may I've reinstalled drivers), and reinstalling AB did it work. I only did same OC as CCC, but had a custom fan curve.

 

[fullinfusion]

I had a problem with MSI AB when I installed my second card. No matter what I touched (clocks up 1 mhz or applying a fan curve), it would crash my pc. No bsod but some crazy lines and have to reboot.

I had to uninstall afterburner (and I may I've reinstalled drivers), and reinstalling AB did it work. I only did same OC as CCC, but had a custom fan curve.

What?

 

[manofthem]

What?

Sorry if I didn't make any sens; I was on my phone while we were in the drive though at Maimi Subs...

When I went crossfire 6950's, MSI Afterburner started acting up. Whenever I tried to apply any change at all, my pc would crash. It wasn't a BSOD, but I had to reboot nonetheless. (I don't know if that's similar to what you have going on)

I fixed it by uninstalling MSIAB completely. Then I may have uninstalled/reinstalled ATI drivers, can't remember. Then I reinstalled MSIAB. After reinstalling, I can now set up a custom fan curve and overclock. I have only OC'd in MSIAB as far as 840/1325 on both cards. I haven't gone past that with unofficial overclocking or touching voltage though.

 

[mingsoup]

Recently got two Sapphire reference 6950's. Pulled out the bios with GPU-Z. Modifed with RBE. Reflashed with ATIWinflash.

Cards are 100% stable with 1536 shaders in crossfire mode at stock 1.1V/800/1250.

However, I'm having real troubles trying to get them up to 6970 speeds.

First off. Sometimes when I use MSI AF 2.2 Beta 2 and set 1.175/880/1375 and hit apply I get an immediate BSOD. I *think* this might have something to do with ULPS? Trixx has an option for disable ULPS. I don't usually get an immediate BSOD when I use that. However strangely, my clocks were reverted after 1/3 AVP benches.

Manually disabling ULPS in regedit seemed to let me set 1175/880/1375 in MSI, but after benchmarking one AVP, the second GPU stayed at 100% after the bench failed, followed by a BSOD.

Do I just need a tiny bit more voltage? Thoughts?
I thought I could run 6970 speeds with stock 6970 voltage? (1175mV) correct?

Whats super strange is that crossfire shuts off after a restart from a BSOD or a AVP benchmark crash w/o BSOD but restart. Second GPU disappears out of Ati Manager and Device Manager. Until another restart. UHG. I am using 11.4 Preview.

Whats up with the OC resetting itself on its own, despite me dialing it into MSI?

 

[cadaveca]

I can run 6970 speeds on both my cards @ 1.135v. Most 6970's OC like mad, 950 is a cakewalk, but 6950's...not so much.

 

[Sk1nner]

increasing the pci-e clock increases gpu performance? i increased to 104 and i see about 8fps increase in msi kombustor. Is that possible?

 

[AMD718]

I have a Gigabyte 6950 2GB. Successfully running 6970 BIOS (Sapphire.HD6970.2048.101124.bin) at stock 6970 clocks (880/1375). I do set powertune to +20, otherwise I can witness the clocks dynamically throttling back to keep the TDP within spec. Ran FUR burn in for 7 hours straight no issues. Played Crysis for a few hours and no graphical issues, however, Crysis did lock up twice. The computer was not locked, nor did the graphics card/driver reset. I just had to ctr+alt+del and kill the crysis process and restart the game. I'm chalking that up to a Crysis bug until proven otherwise.

My question is, is there anyway to get the TDP defaults to match the 6970 or are they not included in the BIOS? I just don't want to have to worry about manually setting powertune to +20 in the future. It's obviously required so I'd like to make it a permanent default if possible.

 

[Bcterp]

I recently unlocked the shaders on my MSI 6950 (modified my own bios using RBE) and didn't touch anything else. I now get artifacts (speckles) in 2D using certain programs (firefox 4, CCC). The artifacts disappear after closing the program. Switching to the stock bios eliminates the artifacts so something is definitely up with the extra shaders. However when gaming everything is rock solid using the unlocked shaders. I even bumped the core to 880 and played the Frozen Paradise level of Crysis Warhead. Not a single artifact. Once I exited the game and opened Firefox, immediate speckles. Seems strange that only 2D programs using some GPU get artifacts.

Any ideas?

 

[cadaveca]

My question is, is there anyway to get the TDP defaults to match the 6970 or are they not included in the BIOS? I just don't want to have to worry about manually setting powertune to +20 in the future. It's obviously required so I'd like to make it a permanent default if possible.

I do not think this is possible, as the VRM for 6950 is quite different than 6970. I feel that they have used readings from hardware VRM current draw to set the limit, and the limit is the same for each card, but much lower on 6950 due to only being 6x6 instead of 6x8.

Any ideas?

Sure, many apps within the desktop space are 3-D accelerated. maintaining 2D clocks with 3D acceleration is probably why your card is NOT a 6970 already.

Is that possible?

Yes, as increasing the PCI-E bus gets data to the gpu faster.

 

[AMD718]

I recently unlocked the shaders on my MSI 6950 (modified my own bios using RBE) and didn't touch anything else. I now get artifacts (speckles) in 2D using certain programs (firefox 4, CCC). The artifacts disappear after closing the program. Switching to the stock bios eliminates the artifacts so something is definitely up with the extra shaders. However when gaming everything is rock solid using the unlocked shaders. I even bumped the core to 880 and played the Frozen Paradise level of Crysis Warhead. Not a single artifact. Once I exited the game and opened Firefox, immediate speckles. Seems strange that only 2D programs using some GPU get artifacts.

Any ideas?

I saw this at first on my 6950 right after flashing the 6970 BIOS. I went into the CCC overdrive, set the clocks to defaults (880,1375), shutdown the computer (to clear hardware registers) and then booted back up. The issue never reappeared.