How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[wmblalock]

Again - Many thanks wmblalock - You help us all to understand more

Your testing proves what I mentioned some posts before regarding TRIXX....

I think we al have to remind that we are still playing with BETAs of AB and TRIXX... And of course BETA Catalysts!!!

Again (as I wrote some posts before) . In my opinion a good solution is in total:

- VGPU via RBE
- FAN via Afterburner
- 2D/3D Clocks (no limits) via ATI Tray Tools with 2D/3D profiles for auto-OC'ing.

What a pitty that there is no solution in ATT for FAN curve at the moment....Want to get rid of thoose card seller tools...

The only difference to ATI Powerplay is that UVD clocks (500/1375) are not present if you use ATT.... But the 6950/6970 will do it also with 250/150 easily!

Up to now there is no perfect tool at all!

Hopefully... Sometime.. there will be a support for clocks and FAN in RBE...

Then all the problems will be gone... Normally dont like those tools running al ther time....

What windows are you running? I tried installing ATI Tray Tools on Windows 7 X64 and every time I try to start the program I just get a blue screen and reboot

 

[DJManiac]

That would be great if it worked out. The only issue I see, if you are able to import the signature, is that the overclock limits still might not be high enough. Both of my cards are rock stable at 965mhz/1450mhz 1.200v, and I think a lot of peoples probably are at 1.200v. I might even be able to push my card some more. I just doubt even the powercolor increased limits will allow that much of an overclock, but I guess we will see.

My hope is now in PowerColor's HD 6970 LCS which gives us 925/1425 @ stock. And probably even more to OC... But its also possible that CCC also limits @ 950/1450 again...
We will see... Did not found any BIOS of it in NET of it. Of course its not completly released yet. Will take some time again and we will find in in techpowerup database...

I think we all want to much... too fast

 

[DJManiac]

What windows are you running? I tried installing ATI Tray Tools on Windows 7 X64 and every time I try to start the program I just get a blue screen and reboot

Also Win7 64x - ATT installation without problems here...

Be sure to take the newest Beta (ATi Tray Tools 1.7.9.1537 Beta)

http://www.radeon3d.org/downloads/ati_software_und_tools/ati_tray_tools_beta/

Try "Low Level Driver Installation" from ATT Menu.
And what did you set in Win7: Settings for User Account Control? Try lowest settings

 

[Tatty_Two]

That would be great if it worked out. The only issue I see, if you are able to import the signature, is that the overclock limits still might not be high enough. Both of my cards are rock stable at 965mhz/1450mhz 1.200v, and I think a lot of peoples probably are at 1.200v. I might even be able to push my card some more. I just doubt even the powercolor increased limits will allow that much of an overclock, but I guess we will see.

And if it didnt work I would be quite happy to take the route that you have chosen, the difference then would be that much more time will have elapsed so I can see how many of the cards have failed in the longer term if you get my meaning, 2 - 3 weeks is great but I want to see 2-3 months before I take the plunge, but like I said, I stopped my heavy overclocking adventures a couple of years ago.

 

[wmblalock]

Does ATT allow you to overclock past the normal CCC limits like Trixx does? If so, I will give ATT another attempt when I get home and see about letting afterburner just control my fan.

I posted my Afterburner troubles in their bug thread days ago and haven't gotten a response yet. I did post about the fan issue in AB while unofficial overclocking was enabled, and they just wrote back saying to disable unofficial overclocking, which makes the program useless :shadedshu

Does anyone know where I can post or how I can get a hold of the Trixx programmer to let him know about the Power Control bug?

 

[kalviper]

i realise that after unlocking afterburner, the lowest clock that you can set for 2d is 400/6xx, is tat the lowest? cause that is higher than the default 150/250. this make my card run higher/hotter when i m surfing the net.......

 

[krousnik]

I've unlock my powercolor 6950 in some games it works perfect without rendering errors but in pro evolution soccer 2011 sometimes they appear. Anny thought?

 

[wmblalock]

i realise that after unlocking afterburner, the lowest clock that you can set for 2d is 400/6xx, is tat the lowest? cause that is higher than the default 150/250. this make my card run higher/hotter when i m surfing the net.......

That's one reason I do not use Afterburner. Plus if you have a custom fan curve, Afterburner will not keep using it if you have AB setup to auto switch between 2D and 3D profiles which can cause the card to run even hotter. Unfortunately there is no great solution to fully run all the settings we need on these cards at the moment.

 

[kalviper]

That's one reason I do not use Afterburner. Plus if you have a custom fan curve, Afterburner will not keep using it if you have AB setup to auto switch between 2D and 3D profiles which can cause the card to run even hotter. Unfortunately there is no great solution to fully run all the settings we need on these cards at the moment.

nah. i m the like the other lucky guy. my custom fan curve will return after a few sec. So in actual fact, i m very close to what we want. only thing lacking is the 2d clocks....damm

 

[wmblalock]

nah. i m the like the other lucky guy. my custom fan curve will return after a few sec. So in actual fact, i m very close to what we want. only thing lacking is the 2d clocks....damm

Lucky, but even so, yeah the 2D clock issue still kills it for me. I don't mind having a high overclock on my card as long as it's only running that while playing games. Most likely that will never damage the cad. Now running the card fast all the time, now that just seems like a bad idea and unnecessary wear and tear. I wish I was a programmer, I'd love to make a simple program for this card that just worked! Ultimately it would be great if we could do the clock speeds, fan, and voltage in the bios. But either way, i think software controls the fan now, not the bios so that won't happen I guess. I wonder if there is a way to mod the fan curve in the ATI drivers so we don't need a 3rd party program to do it.. anyone know if that's possible?

 

[Sebascenso]

There is a buzz in my mind asking me if all this trouble is worth the extra 70 bucks. Poor driver support, the mod not fully successfull (I see some snow/dust particles and things dissapearing in games). Before the 6950 I had a 460gtx, and previous to the nvidia 460 y had an ati 4850, so you can see that I'm not a fanboi. I just care about performance and price. I was happy with the 460gtx 1gb that overclocked to 830/1000 worked well, but I wanted more horsepower, and when I saw the articles about the 6950 mod, I thought it was my chance to upgrade taking profit of the extra free performance. But as i said, I don't know if it is worth it. I'm thinking about returning the card and buying a 570gtx.
I can return the card for free, but I have only 5 more days to decide, if not, I have to stay with the 6950.

 

[DJManiac]

Does ATT allow you to overclock past the normal CCC limits like Trixx does? If so, I will give ATT another attempt when I get home and see about letting afterburner just control my fan.

Does anyone know where I can post or how I can get a hold of the Trixx programmer to let him know about the Power Control bug?

Yes - it allows OC to 1335 GPU / 2062 RAM here More that enough. The only thing it to get the higher clock you have to start ATT while 3D clocks were activated otherwise only 2D clock range is there... For 2D profile the same... start ATT while card is in 2D mode... If you got it running ask again for concete settings regarding 2D/3D profiles if you need help...

TRIXX: This post says it is our W1zzard from here
Sapphire TriXX supporting Crossfire

 

[wmblalock]

There is a buzz in my mind asking me if all this trouble is worth the extra 70 bucks. Poor driver support, the mod not fully successfull (I see some snow/dust particles and things dissapearing in games). Before the 6950 I had a 460gtx, and previous to the nvidia 460 y had an ati 4850, so you can see that I'm not a fanboi. I just care about performance and price. I was happy with the 460gtx 1gb that overclocked to 830/1000 worked well, but I wanted more horsepower, and when I saw the articles about the 6950 mod, I thought it was my chance to upgrade taking profit of the extra free performance. But as i said, I don't know if it is worth it. I'm thinking about returning the card and buying a 570gtx.
I can return the card for free, but I have only 5 more days to decide, if not, I have to stay with the 6950.

I guess its preference really. If I was just doing this to save money, then no, it wouldn't be worth it I don't think. I really do it for fun and to see how much extra I can get. If i spent $70 more and go something else I would push it to its limits as well.

 

[Sebascenso]

Don't get me wrong, I like to push the limits too, that was one of the reasons, besides price-performance, of why I jumped on board with this mod thing. But I'm a practical person too. Maybe buying a 570 gtx and overclocking it, would be a better deal. What should I do? Thoughts?

 

[wmblalock]

Don't get me wrong, I like to push the limits too, that was one of the reasons, besides price-performance, of why I jumped on board with this mod thing. But I'm a practical person too. Maybe buying a 570 gtx and overclocking it, would be a better deal. What should I do? Thoughts?

I haven't really looked into the 570 gtx and how it compares to the 6950/6970, but I am pretty happy with my card. The only issue I have with my modded 6950 is getting software to run the fan/overclock/power control/2d idle settings all correctly. Trixx is pretty close, and hopefully they will fix the Power Control setting conflict which would make Trixx the perfect program for this card. I think it will get better as time goes on and more programs / drivers fully support these 6900 cards, remember they are new cards. If you are having problems with the shader unlock in-game maybe you got one of the rare cards that doesnt work well with the extra shaders? I have mine unlocked at 965mhz/1450mhz rock solid with no issue or blips in games to speak of.

 

[wmblalock]

Yes - it allows OC to 1335 GPU / 2062 RAM here More that enough. The only thing it to get the higher clock you have to start ATT while 3D clocks were activated otherwise only 2D clock range is there... For 2D profile the same... start ATT while card is in 2D mode... If you got it running ask again for concete settings regarding 2D/3D profiles if you need help...

TRIXX: This post says it is our W1zzard from here
Sapphire TriXX supporting Crossfire

I was able to get a hold of W1zzard about our Trixx issue with the Power Control setting. Here was his response:

"I have heard about the issue, but haven't had time to look into it yet.

Voltage support for 6900 series is planned and we're just waiting on documentation from the vrm manufacturer"

I do appreciate his work, and am sure he will look into the issue when he gets some time. At least he is aware of the issue, so now all we can do is wait and hope he can get it worked out fairly easily. Thanks W1zzard!

 

[Mark22]

Lucky, but even so, yeah the 2D clock issue still kills it for me. I don't mind having a high overclock on my card as long as it's only running that while playing games. Most likely that will never damage the cad. Now running the card fast all the time, now that just seems like a bad idea and unnecessary wear and tear. I wish I was a programmer, I'd love to make a simple program for this card that just worked! Ultimately it would be great if we could do the clock speeds, fan, and voltage in the bios. But either way, i think software controls the fan now, not the bios so that won't happen I guess. I wonder if there is a way to mod the fan curve in the ATI drivers so we don't need a 3rd party program to do it.. anyone know if that's possible?

In afterburner I never set a 2D profile and it always then reverted to default clocks in 2D. Also it always used the custom fan curve, maybe your issue is through forcing a 2D profile rather than letting it drop back to ccc settings in 2D.

 

[wmblalock]

In afterburner I never set a 2D profile and it always then reverted to default clocks in 2D. Also it always used the custom fan curve, maybe your issue is through forcing a 2D profile rather than letting it drop back to ccc settings in 2D.

Do you have unofficial overclocking enabled? The problem does not occur if unofficial overclocking is not enabled.

 

[Mark22]

No, that's enabled in smartdoctor but I close that after booting. Maybe you could do the same for now then?

I don't use afterburner any more as it disables power control and I don't need custom fan as I attached a Zalman VF3000A. But I can still overclock in ccc because smartdoctor enables it to oc to 1620/2500. My 2D clocks are always @450/1250 with dual monitors (good temps with new cooler anyway) but do drop to 150/250 or whatever it is if I disable one and did with afterburner set to 880/1300 inn 3D profile.

 

[wmblalock]

No, that's enabled in smartdoctor but I close that after booting. Maybe you could do the same for now then?

I don't use afterburner any more as it disables power control and I don't need custom fan as I attached a Zalman VF3000A. But I can still overclock in ccc because smartdoctor enables it to oc to 1620/2500. My 2D clocks are always @450/1250 with dual monitors (good temps with new cooler anyway) but do drop to 150/250 or whatever it is if I disable one.

I am just hoping Trixx fixes the Power Control bug, then it will be perfect for me. I don't use smart doctor because I don't want to put an Asus bios on my card. I like using my stock, modified bios just to be safe.

 

[Mark22]

Are you sure smartdoctor wont still be able to enable ocing in ccc. I'd of thought that is probably seperate to whatever bios you happen to be running. Bit of a bodge job though I admit, I'll have a look at this Trixx proggie if it gets sorted to control power as well, does Trixx open up overclocking further in ccc?

 

[wmblalock]

Are you sure smartdoctor wont still be able to enable ocing in ccc. I'd of thought that is probably seperate to whatever bios you happen to be running. Bit of a bodge job though I admit, I'll have a look at this Trixx proggie if it gets sorted to control power as well, does Trixx open up overclocking further in ccc?

I don't know about in CCC, but I know the overclock limits in Trixx itself are automatically very high. Smart Doctor will not run at all, not even to enable higher CCC limits if you don't have an Asus bios on your card. And then, if you take the Asus bios off the card the CCC limits go back to normal. Yeah, check out Trixx. I think it will be perfect once they fix the Power Control bug. They are also adding in voltage control for the 6900 cards soon. After that, it will be the complete package.

 

[Mark22]

Ahh cool, that sounds like it will save some messing about.

 

[dom99]

mark22 and dom99: have you tried crysis at 880Mhz? I'm asking since my card seems to handle anything at that frequency, but Crysis, that locks up.

No I havent tried Crysis I dont have the game, got Crysis 2 on pre-order though!

my most intensive game is BFBC2 and that seems ok but im not too sure whether I am seeing it rip a little more than previously

 

[TRiGDaDDy]

I got the shaders to unlock finally! i did what wmblalock said and instaed of running the Dos prompt I right clicked it and ran as an administrator and it went through its flash and I rebooted and GPU-Z confirmed 1500+ shaders! Thanks!