How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[Arktic]

Hey Guys.

So I recently got my VTX3D 6950 2gig the other day and have had endless troubles with trying to get it to work with 6970 bios as it would flash fine but then would speckle when entering games or 3D Mark Vantage.

Im happy to say Ive found the solution after a few days of toil and many bioses later.

So heres what I did.

1) Downloaded the Powercolor HD 6950 PCS++ BIOS switch in normal position (Overclocked/unlocked) bios
http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/94169/Powercolor.HD6950.2048.110121.html

2) The downloaded the 6950_to_6970_bios mod.zip.

3) Replaced the 6970 bios with the powercolor one and renamed it to unlock.bin

4) Ran the 6950_to_6970_mod script and waited for it to flash.

5) Reset and everything was great!


The clocks off 880 core didnt work so great on the vtx so I used 860/1350 and its perfectly stable now.

So now its at 1536 shaders with 860core and 1350 memory

Finally after all the hard work im happy that I now have mostly a 6970 lol!!

 

[rgsaunders]

Smooth sailing today, flashed my Sapphire 6950 2GB P/N 21188-00-40R using the batch files, no problems with what is now identified by GPU-Z as a 6970.

 

[jayc]

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.
Any ideas?

Try tdimarzio's suggestion, otherwise, did you reinstall the drivers?
If not, do it.
If it's still a problem, you could try RBE and adjust your bios' 2d voltage. 2D Default is 900mV. You might need a smidgen more, like 905mV. Then reflash with this updated voltage bios.

 

[jayc]

The clocks off 880 core didnt work so great on the vtx so I used 860/1350 and its perfectly stable now.
So now its at 1536 shaders with 860core and 1350 memory

You can still get it to run at 880 core IF you increase the core voltage. Did you try increasing the voltage?
MSI afterburner will be able to increase voltage for this card.
Alternatively, RBE can increase it OR decrease voltages more permanently at the bios level.

 

[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?

Forgive my diarrhea post there.

I've eliminated alot of the variables. Drivers and OC utilities were not the culprit. Insufficient power is not the culprit. It seemed to be my second card not wanting to cooperate and also the one behaving oddly after OC. So I took it out and tested it alone with the stock bios (switch to 2) and attempting to overclock the memory to 1375 resulted in the same exact instability. So I've effectively narrowed it down to the memory OC on my second card that is giving me grief. I'm up to 840/1300 @1.1V perfectly stable. I also tortured my stock clocked unlocked shader config with 10x AVP bench, and it benched perfectly and no articulating. So it seems in the end, that my second card's memory just doesn't want to go that high. Any solutions? Would flashing a 6970 bios maybe allow me to run at 1375? I *want* these to go to 6970 stock speeds.

 

[Arktic]

You can still get it to run at 880 core IF you increase the core voltage. Did you try increasing the voltage?
MSI afterburner will be able to increase voltage for this card.
Alternatively, RBE can increase it OR decrease voltages more permanently at the bios level.

Yeah when I started up my PC this morning it speckled again but ran COD4 for a few seconds and now its cleared away. I cant up the volts in MSI Afterburner.

Will adding volts help with the speckling issue? What are the standard volts of the 6950 2gig?

 

[NameonPrime]

Unlocking my hd 6950 shaders

Guys, major problem,

i just received a different version of my hd 6950

Its the 2GB sapphire card with a fan in the middle adn NO BIOS SWITCH,

would you still recommend for me to try unlocking those extra shaders?

or do i run a greater risk of bricking the card since it may be unflashable

and it has no backup BIOS

please in need info fast, esplecially from the knowledgable MANOFTHEM and Cadaveca

 

[mingsoup]

Forgive my diarrhea post there.

I've eliminated alot of the variables. Drivers and OC utilities were not the culprit. Insufficient power is not the culprit. It seemed to be my second card not wanting to cooperate and also the one behaving oddly after OC. So I took it out and tested it alone with the stock bios (switch to 2) and attempting to overclock the memory to 1375 resulted in the same exact instability. So I've effectively narrowed it down to the memory OC on my second card that is giving me grief. I'm up to 840/1300 @1.1V perfectly stable. I also tortured my stock clocked unlocked shader config with 10x AVP bench, and it benched perfectly and no articulating. So it seems in the end, that my second card's memory just doesn't want to go that high. Any solutions? Would flashing a 6970 bios maybe allow me to run at 1375? I *want* these to go to 6970 stock speeds.

FINALLY figured out what the problem was.

Not drivers, shaders, unlock, crossfire, or whatever.

It was power. Don't try to run two 6970's on a 750watt Antec.
Alone each will bench 100% stable 5loops of AVP with 1536 shaders and 880/1375/1175mv. Problem solved. Tomorrow I put in my Corsair 850W. If that doesn't work, then I'll buy a 1200watt and forget about it.

 

[cadaveca]

Guys, major problem,

i just received a different version of my hd 6950

Its the 2GB sapphire card with a fan in the middle adn NO BIOS SWITCH,

would you still recommend for me to try unlocking those extra shaders?

or do i run a greater risk of bricking the card since it may be unflashable

and it has no backup BIOS

please in need info fast, esplecially from the knowledgable MANOFTHEM and Cadaveca

wait a sec...does this card have a big round grey "button" on the heatsink near the output side?? Becasue if it does, that is the bios switch.

If not, then, yes, you can still attempt a flash.

Yes, Ido think there is a higher chance that the gpu you get may not work with all shaders. I am convinced, myself, that the only reason these card really unlock is due to the delay on the real 6950 PSB, which looks alot like the 6870 PCB.

I flashed my card with this "new" PCB, no problem. However, at hte same time, I do have 2 cards, so recovery from a bad flash is something I could recover from.


I have even flashed the wrong bios to the card, and it wouldn't boot into windows with the driver installed...but thanks to have a second card, recovery was not that hard.

All that said, if you don't feel comfortable with the situation, don't do it. I you do, use ATIWinFlash to suc kthe bios off of you card, mod it to enable the extra shaders, and flash away. Reboot after tha flash, and maybe everything will work right...and maybe not.

 

[2DividedbyZero]

Reboot after tha flash, and maybe everything will work right...and maybe not.

well put, never a truer word been spoken.

Kinda puts you off flashing

 

[cadaveca]

Meh, I "bricked" my card, was easy to recover. You jsut need to be full awre of what might happen, and know how to recover. NO big deal.

 

[Bcterp]

Try tdimarzio's suggestion, otherwise, did you reinstall the drivers?
If not, do it.
If it's still a problem, you could try RBE and adjust your bios' 2d voltage. 2D Default is 900mV. You might need a smidgen more, like 905mV. Then reflash with this updated voltage bios.

Unfortunately reinstalling the drivers didn't help. However, I think I got the 2D artifacts with my 6950 shaders unlocked sorted out. I found that the problem isn’t the idle clocks (250/150/0.9v) but the full speed clocks when in 2D (800/1250/ 1.1v). The artifacts appear whenever a 2D program (like Firefox rendering a web page) causes the GPU to briefly step up to full speed and voltage. I used Afterburner to setup a new 2D profile set at 500/1250/1.1V. It still drops down to 250/150/0.9 when idle but the GPU core will now max out at 500 when in use in 2D. This has eliminated the artifacts. My 3D profile is set to 870/1325/1.1 and thus far is stable and artifact free after several ~30 minute sessions of Crysis Warhead. I’ll need to do some more testing to be sure it is stable. It seems my unlocked shaders can’t handle 2D rendering at full speed but can handle 3D gaming just fine..

 

[AMD718]

Unfortunately reinstalling the drivers didn't help. However, I think I got the 2D artifacts with my 6950 shaders unlocked sorted out. I found that the problem isn’t the idle clocks (250/150/0.9v) but the full speed clocks when in 2D (800/1250/ 1.1v). The artifacts appear whenever a 2D program (like Firefox rendering a web page) causes the GPU to briefly step up to full speed and voltage. I used Afterburner to setup a new 2D profile set at 500/1250/1.1V. It still drops down to 250/150/0.9 when idle but the GPU core will now max out at 500 when in use in 2D. This has eliminated the artifacts. My 3D profile is set to 870/1325/1.1 and thus far is stable and artifact free after several ~30 minute sessions of Crysis Warhead. I’ll need to do some more testing to be sure it is stable. It seems my unlocked shaders can’t handle 2D rendering at full speed but can handle 3D gaming just fine..

So, the 2D "speckling" or "specks" that I thought were gone are not actually gone. They're just not very prominent or prevalent. You'll see them occasionaly on black background or in white areas if you look closely enough. I am in the same boat as you then. 3D is rock solid with 6970 clocks and shaders (I just used the 6970 BIOS rather than modding mine) but 2D has these speckling artifacts. I got annoyed and flashed back the original 6950 BIOS but given your suggesting of modifying the 2D profile using afterburner I might give it another shot. It would be a nicer fix to actually modify the 2D clocks in the BIOS itself so that afterburner is not required but I don't know if that's possible with the current tools.

 

[NameonPrime]

sooo.....

Let me get this straight cadaveca,

Even if my Sapphire 2gb hd 6950 is not reference design, has no BIOS switch and
has a reworked and shorter PCB (i think - than a reference hd 6950), i can still try to unlock those shaders?

and if i brick my card i can find a way to reflash it with its origional BIOS
since i have a backup hd 5830.... How?

and you have had success with this particular card as well?

 

[highfive]

I flashed my Powercolor 6950 2MB but it won't work on restart.. I tried powercolor and sapphire bios and then the procedure described in post #1234.. no success, all i can do is flash it back to normal.
Also i couldn't flash it in Winflash, but had to do it in DOS mode..

I have this one:

Anyone has a suggestion to what might be the problem?

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

It's not a reference card.
Radon Bios editor should allow you to unlock the shaders on the bios.

 

[highfive]

Alright RBE was the thing i needed.
Unlocked! thank you.

 

[xanture]

I just got a xfx6950 2gb and tried using the batch file and tried flashing in dos. I made sure I ran as Admin but no luck so far. I tried all 3 diffrent xfx versions you have listed. Any ideas? http://www.frys.com/product/6575973?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG is the card I have

 

[mingsoup]

FINALLY figured out what the problem was.

Not drivers, shaders, unlock, crossfire, or whatever.

It was power. Don't try to run two 6970's on a 750watt Antec.
Alone each will bench 100% stable 5loops of AVP with 1536 shaders and 880/1375/1175mv. Problem solved. Tomorrow I put in my Corsair 850W. If that doesn't work, then I'll buy a 1200watt and forget about it.

Now I'm getting a STOP BSOD shortly after applying OC via MSI AB.
But alone both cards are perfectly stable. uhg.

 

[manofthem]

Now I'm getting a STOP BSOD shortly after applying OC via MSI AB.
But alone both cards are perfectly stable. uhg.

Try completely uninstalling MSIAB, then reinstalling after reboot. Same thing happened to me. But then again, I'm running 2 on a 750W PSU...

I just got a xfx6950 2gb and tried using the batch file and tried flashing in dos. I made sure I ran as Admin but no luck so far. I tried all 3 diffrent xfx versions you have listed. Any ideas? http://www.frys.com/product/6575973?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG is the card I have

According to the part #, it's not a reference card. It should be unlockable, shaders only though.
www.techpowerup.com/wizzard/Mod_BIOS_HD_6950.zip
Mod your own stock bios with that. Did you try that?

 

[xanture]

@Manofthem, first of all thank you for the quick response. I guess what i'm looking for is a reference model card though i'm not 100% sure what i'm looking for when. I don't have a firm understanding what is and what is not a reference card. I plan to take back the xfx tomorrow and continue my search for a 6950 I can unlock completely. I see the list of bios to flash but is there a list of reference cards I can look at so I can get the right thing next time? Thank you for your patients.

 

[mingsoup]

System is as follows:

i5-750 @ 4.2Ghz. Completely stable long before my two new 6950's. Previously ran crossfire 5770's OC'ed no stability problems.
8gb (2x4) DDR3 1600
Asus P7P55D Deluxe
Corsair 850TX
5 120mm Fans.
2 7200 Sata HD's
2 DVD drives
2 Sapphire Reference 6950's Both are shader unlocked from stock Bios. Shader unlock is stable without OC applied.
Catalyst 11.4/MSI AB 2.2 Beta 2

I simply cannot get these guys to OC stable when put together. Alone each will go through 5 AVP benchmarks at 1175/880/1375 no problem.

Together, I have all sorts of problems. It seems if I go into the registry and disable EnableULPS wherever I find it and restart, the computer will not immediately BSOD when I apply overclocks in MSI AB 2.2 Beta 2.

So then I moved on to benching. However after 1/5 AVP benches, the clocks reverted to normal automatically. Weird!

Restart and Uncheck CCC AMD Overdrive on both cards.
Bench again. AVP stops responding on 2/5 AVP bench. Whats really weird is that after I recover the memory and usage of the second GPU is stuck at MAX. If it was a power problem, wouldn't the computer simply shut down, rather than the benchmark stop responding? But the cards OC alone perfectly.....

Why would these cards OC perfect alone, but not together. The only thing I can think of is not enough power. However with this funny ULPS business, anything is possible I suppose.
Any help appreciated. Moving from a 750 Antec to an 850 Corsair didn't change any of my Crossfire symptoms. Do I need to get a 1250Watt?

 

[manofthem]

@Manofthem, first of all thank you for the quick response. I guess what i'm looking for is a reference model card though i'm not 100% sure what i'm looking for when. I don't have a firm understanding what is and what is not a reference card. I plan to take back the xfx tomorrow and continue my search for a 6950 I can unlock completely. I see the list of bios to flash but is there a list of reference cards I can look at so I can get the right thing next time? Thank you for your patients.

Your XFX should be able to flash and unlock shaders. I have an XFX and I've read about other XFX cards being unlockable.

What happens when you try to flash your card?

 

[manofthem]

System is as follows:

i5-750 @ 4.2Ghz. Completely stable long before my two new 6950's. Previously ran crossfire 5770's OC'ed no stability problems.
8gb (2x4) DDR3 1600
Asus P7P55D Deluxe
Corsair 850TX
5 120mm Fans.
2 7200 Sata HD's
2 DVD drives
2 Sapphire Reference 6950's Both are shader unlocked from stock Bios. Shader unlock is stable without OC applied.
Catalyst 11.4/MSI AB 2.2 Beta 2

I simply cannot get these guys to OC stable when put together. Alone each will go through 5 AVP benchmarks at 1175/880/1375 no problem.

Together, I have all sorts of problems. It seems if I go into the registry and disable EnableULPS wherever I find it and restart, the computer will not immediately BSOD when I apply overclocks in MSI AB 2.2 Beta 2.

So then I moved on to benching. However after 1/5 AVP benches, the clocks reverted to normal automatically. Weird!

Restart and Uncheck CCC AMD Overdrive on both cards.
Bench again. AVP stops responding on 2/5 AVP bench. Whats really weird is that after I recover the memory and usage of the second GPU is stuck at MAX. If it was a power problem, wouldn't the computer simply shut down, rather than the benchmark stop responding? But the cards OC alone perfectly.....

Why would these cards OC perfect alone, but not together. The only thing I can think of is not enough power. However with this funny ULPS business, anything is possible I suppose.
Any help appreciated. Moving from a 750 Antec to an 850 Corsair didn't change any of my Crossfire symptoms. Do I need to get a 1250Watt?

My 750W PSU is running almost the same things that you are running. You shouldn't need much more than what you are running. What happens when you have crossfired enabled and just running everything default in CCC? Try not using MSIAB

 

[mingsoup]

My 750W PSU is running almost the same things that you are running. You shouldn't need much more than what you are running. What happens when you have crossfired enabled and just running everything default in CCC? Try not using MSIAB

I think its heat.

LOL!/Uhg.

I turned on fans to 50% constant and no more freezing at the same exact point. That combined with turning off ULPS, makes the 880/1375/1175mV OC stable @ 3x AVP bench, which I have *never* been able to achieve before, before always freezing at the beginning of the hallway with the alien stream.

Thanks for the help manofthem. I'll keep working on it. Bought these two 6950's explicitly to run them at stock 6970 speeds and be done with it. Seems I'm getting much closer. Glad I don't have to buy a 1250Watter. I'll keep testing. Looks like its time for a longer Crossfire bridge/more case fans/new fan profile/alloftheabove. My current setup has a top fan, intake, output, and two pushing/pulling on a Scythe Mugen. You'd thing that would be enough fans....but its all inside an Antec P180, which isn't the best for heat.