How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[lauri_hoefs]

Can someone post up the process they took to unlock using RBE. As I posted before, Winflash failed for me and when I went the cmd line route my computer froze when I tried to -unlock
I have the MSI Twin Frozr II 2GB

There's also this from a couple of pages ago:

MSI 6950 Twin FrozerIII owners look here. Anyone seen this http://www.ocdrift.com/2011/04/msi-r...locking-guide/

It's for TwinFrozer III, but the method should work just fine for other cards and bios files too.

 

[Mad Diplomat]

Greetings I've been planning on trying this out on my PowerColor HD6950 2GB for quite a few months now, but never found the time (too busy OCing the CPU and RAM ) Anyway, just did it today (flashed it to PowerColor HD6970 BIOS) and so far so good. All 1536 shaders show up in GPU-Z and I managed to complete 99 runs of Metro 2033 benchmark without any visible artifacts. I will keep out an eye for any issues in the coming days as I test it in other games.

So far I am running it at stock 6970 speeds (875/1375 I think?). Before the BIOS flash I was running my card at 875/1475 MHz. I read somewhere that 6970 BIOS changes settings for the VRAM as well? Does anyone know what they are? Voltage, timings, something else? If so, can I expect the card to still reliably operate at 1475MHz memory now that I flashed it (first I have to make sure it's 100% stable at stock). Or maybe it will even go higher if only voltages are higher and timings are not? Did anyone have any experience with this? Thanks

Update:
Everything's still running great. It seems that memory @ 1475 is no longer a go for some reason, 1450MHz is the stable maximum since the flash. Just as well, since I can now basically uninstall Sapphire's TRIXX I've been using to get past the limits of ATI's control panel. Since I flashed the card, ATI's utility now maxes out at 1450MHz which is what I need.
So 880 core, 1450 mem, +20 power is what I'm running at. My futuremark score increased by around 1000-1500 points since the flash.

 

[capital]

Been having problems unlocking the shaders on my card. It's the AMD reference 2GB model. I've used my own bios (saved from gpu-z) and ran the script for the shader unlock. Then ran atiwinflash, loaded the modded.bin, programmed and restarted my PC.

GPU-Z still reports my shaders to be at 1408. I've tried other how-to's online and have been able to get 810/1250 as default, but shaders still remain at 1408. I did try one of the 6970 bins as well as other 6950 ones from other manufacturers; the 6970 bios did hit the whole 880/1375 number but shaders remained at 1408

So now I'm back to stock at 800/1250. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

 

[manofthem]

First time i unlocked my card back in January, the shaders remained at 1408 in GPUz. Someone recommended reinstalled the drivers, since they had had the same problem and fixed it that way. Worked for me. Others say you don't have to do it, but it's worth a shot if you haven't tried it yet.

 

[capital]

First time i unlocked my card back in January, the shaders remained at 1408 in GPUz. Someone recommended reinstalled the drivers, since they had had the same problem and fixed it that way. Worked for me. Others say you don't have to do it, but it's worth a shot if you haven't tried it yet.

Yeah, after reading some other forums, I ran the installer again (no luck); uninstalled the drivers, rebooted then ran GPUZ again and it detected the vender as an Asus (rather than ATI), reinstalled drivers and it kept the 810/1250 but the shaders remained locked at 1408.

- saved my bios via atiwinflash & gpuz
- ran the script that modded the bios to unlock shaders only
- flashed through the atiwinflash gui & command line
- no shaders unlock.

Then did the same with various bios files here, like the modded asus and diamond one.

I'll definitely try again and am open to any ideas on what to do.

 

[menacenz]

Have you tried using the atiflash dos flashing utility? That is my next attempt coming up because I too have tried everything (including grabbing the original bios off this website for my card to try unlock that but to no avail) but nothing seems to get it to shader unlock. One thing I did note is when using winatiflash via command it never actualyl gives a success message so I wonder if that implies something is off.

I'll try this dos flash idea once I get my hands on a usb stick i can format for it but if that fails then im out of ideas. Anyway thoguht you might want to give it a try also if you have not already.

Another thing I noticed is I can't change my voltage in afterburner no matter how I try enable the feature (.cfg and in the settings) so I wonder if that voltage locknig has anything to d iwth my inability to unlock but I did find someone with the exact same card as me and they had success the dos method so i'm hopign that will work out for me.

 

[Darkrix]

Sapphire 6950 2gb

i have problem. Sapphire toke the bios switch out Cant flash bios at all..
allways error Cannot erase rom..no matter where ill try in DOS OR CMD OR WIN nothing goes trough even the orginal bios if ill try to flash it says CANNOT ERASE ROM.


some help i want those shaders up and running..


CPU AMD Phenom II X4 975 @ 4100mhz 1.48Volt
GPU Sapphire HD 6950 2 GB@ 860/1400 1.2volt
MEM G-Skill 4X 2GB 1600mhz 7-8-7-24 1.65Volt
MB Asus Croshair IV Formula
PSU Corsair HX 620W < BTW i think i need bigger PSU

PN 288-4E186-000SA
SKU# 11188-00-40R

 

[menacenz]

When I say dos I mean real dos, not a command prompt. Basically there's a tutorail on it somewhere (probably in this thread undoubtably) in that you run I think it's a HP app that makes a usb pen drive a bootable floppy and you then copy atiflash tool ( not ati winflash )to it as well and power down then power back up with the correct bios boot sequence and then flash from there completely outside of windows.

Yet to try it myself because im just biding my time til I pickup a pen drive I can format.

 

[Darkrix]

nothing works. no dos no dos with another card, just tryed with useing hd2900pro@xt bios in and the hd6950 in pcie 2 slot went in atiflash -i showed both cards fine unlockked the rom from hd6950 thne tryed to flash it with command atiflash -f -p 1 unlock.bin and tenmiljon times rom not erased.. so they have lockked it someway that we dont know and yes I WAS IN CALDERA DOS,, have been modding and soft modding GPU and MBOS long time so i know what im doing but this card is killing me..

 

[Darkrix]

edit picture includet in dos and yes i was trying here to put 6970 bios in but same think whit even ORG bios..

 

[panacuba]

Well I did even more research. The Twin Frozr II isn't unlockable =/ I had seen people say they unlocked their's the day I decided to buy it (since all the ref cards were out of stock) but now, going back to those posts, they typo'd. They meant to say their Twin Frozr III cards unlocked. Lame. But I can still overclock my card.

Dont worry I have a solution for you, you can unlock those shaders in your Twin Frorz without using a 6970bios. read this post i found in tomshardware, it give you a good tutorial on how to do that. it works with your video card, i have talked to the guy who gave the directions and he has that same model, im waiting for my card to arrive i ordered the same as you

edit: search for it seems like i cant post links to other forums:
this is the name of the post : MSI r6950 2gb Issues Help?

 

[jayc]

Yeah, after reading some other forums, I ran the installer again (no luck); uninstalled the drivers, rebooted then ran GPUZ again and it detected the vender as an Asus (rather than ATI), reinstalled drivers and it kept the 810/1250 but the shaders remained locked at 1408.

- saved my bios via atiwinflash & gpuz
- ran the script that modded the bios to unlock shaders only
- flashed through the atiwinflash gui & command line
- no shaders unlock.

Then did the same with various bios files here, like the modded asus and diamond one.

I'll definitely try again and am open to any ideas on what to do.

What version of GPUZ are you using?
Make sure it's at least v0.5.1.

What brand is your card?
Have you tried flashing with the switch in the other position?

 

[Yosharian]

I'm getting an MSI 6950 2GB and I'm a bit confused about how I should approach unlocking the shaders. Apparently it's now NOT recommended to flash the bios to a 6970 one?

It seems like I'm supposed to use a WinFlash script to modify the existing bios in order to unlock the shaders. I think I understand that part.

What do I do next? Bearing in mind it's an MSI so I have access to Afterburner?

And also, where does the risk come in with regard to voltages and so on? What can I do safely, and where does the risk start coming in?

Edit: oh and also its not a Frozr version. Link

 

[ace80]

Hi guys, been a while since i been on here.
Just got back into the pc game and bought myself a Sapphire 6950 2gb then found out it could be moddified.
After reading all the info thought id give it a go, tried all methods apart from flashing to 6970 to no avail, seems i have a card that cant be unlocked

Used RBE to unlock shaders and the script file too.
When using winflash through the command line the progress bar shows up for a sec then dissapears with no verification of successful flash even after leaving for about 5 mins.

Also tried 2 versions of atiflash on bootable usb.

I always get the rom not erased error. U guys think ive hit a dead end. oh and it has no bios switch on this card.

Wish id done my research before buying the card now

 

[panacuba]

I'm getting an MSI 6950 2GB and I'm a bit confused about how I should approach unlocking the shaders. Apparently it's now NOT recommended to flash the bios to a 6970 one?

It seems like I'm supposed to use a WinFlash script to modify the existing bios in order to unlock the shaders. I think I understand that part.

What do I do next? Bearing in mind it's an MSI so I have access to Afterburner?

And also, where does the risk come in with regard to voltages and so on? What can I do safely, and where does the risk start coming in?

Edit: oh and also its not a Frozr version. Link

Its a Reference card, its possible to unlock shaders by removing the 6950 bios and adding the 6970. but after i read this entire thread I dont sugest doing that. its better to just mod the 6950 bios to unlock those shaders and then OC

 

[Yosharian]

Its a Reference card, its possible to unlock shaders by removing the 6950 bios and adding the 6970. but after i read this entire thread I dont sugest doing that. its better to just mod the 6950 bios to unlock those shaders and then OC

Yes... the OC part... how do I do that? Can I do it just using MSI AB?

And is it only the OC part that comes with the risk of damaging memory?

 

[manofthem]

Yes... the OC part... how do I do that? Can I do it just using MSI AB?

And is it only the OC part that comes with the risk of damaging memory?

OC using MSIAB. Remember to enable unofficial overclocking and allow voltage control, otherwise you'll be stuck at same clocks as CCC. I've been running an overclocked 6950 since January at about 900/1375-1400. Then in march I got another one and run them both at 900/1375@1.175V. No problems or stability issues.

OC as high as you can per voltage until unstable. Then either raise voltage to go higher or back clocks off a tad.

 

[Kdubb223]

MSI Kombustor scores...

Hey guys just wondering if anyone experienced slightly higher scores after reducing the power in CCC.

I have a HIS 6950 2gb flashed to 6970 bios and stock clock speeds 880/1375. originally had CCC set to +20%

I ran Kombustor at 20%, 10%, and 0% CCC power settings and the highest score was when it was set to 0%...

Just wondering if anyone else experienced this and would be safer to have it set to 0%?

Thanks

 

[capital]

What version of GPUZ are you using?
Make sure it's at least v0.5.1.

What brand is your card?
Have you tried flashing with the switch in the other position?

Used .5.3 GPUZ.

It's a Visiontek reference card, the one with the big black cover and not the one with the two cooling fans. This time I've tried both positions just now with no luck with the RBE method

- Saved bios 1 & 2 via GPUZ (1 I'll assume is the one farthest from the crossfire connector)
- Loaded bios in RBE, clicked the 6970 shader unlock option; saved new bios.rom file
- ran CMD as admin, did the whole "atiwinflash -unlockrom 0" thing (progress meter showed up, filled, disappeared)
- "atiwinflash -f -p 0 bios.rom" progress meter filled up, another confirmation popup then a prompt to restart.

Restarted, ran GPUZ, nothing changed. 1408 shader, 800/1250 clock. Did that for both switch positions and it remained the same.

I guess I'll try the actual dos one using the USB method and see if that helps.

 

[Vicc]

Dude you just need to open the CMD window and just copy and paste the commands you see below...


cd %USERPROFILE%\desktop\winflash
atiwinflash -unlockrom 0
atiwinflash -f -p 0 unlock.bin


BUT LOOK HERE 1ST v
- Unpack the Winflash download onto your desktop in a folder called "winflash"
- Save the 6970 BIOS in your Winflash folder and name it unlock.bin
- Click Start Button
- Type "cmd"
- Right click the entry and select "Run as Administrator"
- Black command prompt windows opens
- Type "cd %USERPROFILE%\desktop\winflash"
- Type "atiwinflash -unlockrom 0" <-- the 0 means first adapter, if you have multiple cards, physically uninstall all but the one you want to flash
- Type "atiwinflash -f -p 0 unlock.bin"
- It should complete the flashing process with a message saying something with "verified".

Sigh. Doesn't work for me. Once I flash the card my pc refuses to boot up.

 

[jayc]

Used .5.3 GPUZ.

It's a Visiontek reference card, the one with the big black cover and not the one with the two cooling fans. This time I've tried both positions just now with no luck with the RBE method

- Saved bios 1 & 2 via GPUZ (1 I'll assume is the one farthest from the crossfire connector)
- Loaded bios in RBE, clicked the 6970 shader unlock option; saved new bios.rom file
- ran CMD as admin, did the whole "atiwinflash -unlockrom 0" thing (progress meter showed up, filled, disappeared)
- "atiwinflash -f -p 0 bios.rom" progress meter filled up, another confirmation popup then a prompt to restart.

Restarted, ran GPUZ, nothing changed. 1408 shader, 800/1250 clock. Did that for both switch positions and it remained the same.

I guess I'll try the actual dos one using the USB method and see if that helps.

You seem to be doing everything right.
The next time you attempt this, uninstall the ATI catalyst drivers from Windows first.
There have been previous reports of the windows drivers blocking unlock attempts.

 

[Second]

i'd flashed my xfx card with edited bios and now i have a problem with hardware acceleration in firefox.

PIC: hw acc. top-enabled bottom-disabled
Anyone knows the solution?

EDIT: it was morphological filtering on.

 

[PoulGrym]

I had the same thing a few months ago. I beleive it was an Gaming>3D setting in the AMD Vision Engine Controll > Anti-Aliasing Filter or something.. Give that a spin..

 

[jayc]

Sigh. Doesn't work for me. Once I flash the card my pc refuses to boot up.

More info Vicc ??
What did you do?

 

[Vicc]

More info Vicc ??
What did you do?

I tried both the BIOS mod and the 6970 bios. The 6950 mod simply didn't do anything (tried both switch positions). With the 6970 bios, I think I flashed successfully, but when I restarted my pc it wouldn't load. I don't have a second pc to check it with. I had to flash back by starting my pc with the BIOS switch in 2nd position, and while the pc was running I switched to the 1st.
I'm using MSI 6950 Twin Frozr iii Power Edition.

Hmm should I try another manufacturer's BIOS, or try modding the previous version of Twin Frozr BIOS?