6950->6970 Flash Success Rates - With Poll

[MrK6]

Just as the title says, if you flashed a 6950 to a 6970, were you successful or not? Successful means the card runs at 6970 specs (1536 shaders, 880MHz core, and 1375MHz). Please vote once for each card you have flashed in respect to what BIOS you used to flash it.

NOTE:

If you fried your 6950 by pushing it further, please do not vote
If you fried your 6950 by modifying it (physically or otherwise beyond the flash), please do not vote
If you overclocked your 6950 to 880/1375MHz but didn't unlock the shaders, please do not vote

EDIT: Also, after voting, please post to elaborate on your experience, thanks :thumbsup:

 

[Arkadrel]

I remember a Hardware site testing 15 HIS cards, and 15 out of 15 worked for them.

General consensus is that its higher than 90% of all cards of the 2gb models that can do it. What good does a pole here do? and wasnt there a thread like this earlier on?

 

[MrK6]

I remember a Hardware site testing 15 HIS cards, and 15 out of 15 worked for them.

General consensus is that its higher than 90% of all cards of the 2gb models that can do it. What good does a pole here do? and wasnt there a thread like this earlier on?

That seemed to be my understanding as well, but then there are threads like this popping up: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2142549 where it seems some people didn't get the memo. Therefore, I'd like to see what the Anandtech community's experience is with flashing and see if there is some consensus.

 

[happy medium]

That seemed to be my understanding as well, but then there are threads like this popping up: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2142549 where it seems some people didn't get the memo. Therefore, I'd like to see what the Anandtech community's experience is with flashing and see if there is some consensus.

I think the general consensus is most do flash but how do they perform after the flash.

A simple shader flash is fairly worthless unless you can overclock the card to 6970 speeds.

I do see most cards flashing but then overclocking/overvolting the cards to see 6970 performance is where this card is failing/artifacting/overheating.

 

[Arkadrel]

its a thread made by Wreckage <.<

also other poles where trolled by people that dont have any 6950's voteing,,, or nvidia guys that thought it was fun voteing for defects.

Ppl that dont even own a 6950 card voted in that poll.... just take a look at the users claiming to have damaged there cards.

Im not sure what a benefits there are to a pole, if people for fun are voteing "defects" even if they dont own 6950s.

 

[MrK6]

I think the general consensus is most do flash but how do they perform after the flash.

A simple shader flash is fairly worthless unless you can overclock the card to 6970 speeds.

I do see most cards flashing but then overclocking/overvolting the cards to see 6970 performance is where this card is failing/artifacting/overheating.

That's why the poll is here with the aforementioned parameters, let's find out.

its a thread made by Wreckage <.<

also other poles where trolled by people that dont have any 6950's voteing,,, or nvidia guys that thought it was fun voteing for defects.

Im not sure what a benefits there are to a pole, if people for fun are voteing "defects" even if they dont own 6950s.

That's why this poll is public - everyone who votes can be seen and we can validate whether or not they have a 6950.

So far, the only solid results I've seen are from TPU - http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159 . These show a 97% success rate.

 

[lowlymarine]

I posted in the other thread as well so I won't repeat everything I said, but the short version is: Gigabyte 6950 2GB, modified 6950 BIOS + overclock to 915/1375, stable and no artifacts for a week.

 

[brencat]

Crap...voted before reading thoroughly.

Modified 6950 bios with unlocked shaders @ 840/1325 at the moment. So am short of the 6970 speeds. Sorry.

 

[littlezipp]

2 XFX 6950's flashed with 100&#37; success for over a month now.
I have ran both the 6950 shader unlocked bios as well as an XFX 6970.

 

[MrK6]

Thanks for the replies guys so far! Looks like we're at a 100&#37; success rate here on Anandtech :thumbsup:.

 

[badb0y]

Voted and here's a thread I started before with a poll:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2135697&highlight=

 

[Elfear]

2 XFX 6950's flashed with 100% success for over a month now.
I have ran both the 6950 shader unlocked bios as well as an XFX 6970.

+1 except I'm using Gigabyte cards. Tried both bioses with no issues.

 

[Wanevinger]

Got my xfx 6950 played a little bit of metro and left 4 dead for about 3 hours with no problems. Flashed using the batch provided by tech powerup and the default saffire 6970 bios. It made me load the same driver again. The very instant that driver loaded i heard what sounded like power leakage when i scroll down certain websites or play games with odd render errors like peoples limbs stretching in left 4 dead. Flashed back to 6950 then flashed to xfx 6970 bios and still the same problem. Returned back to 6950 and have had no problems since but that high pitched sound is still there.

 

[badb0y]

Got my xfx 6950 played a little bit of metro and left 4 dead for about 3 hours with no problems. Flashed using the batch provided by tech powerup and the default saffire 6970 bios. It made me load the same driver again. The very instant that driver loaded i heard what sounded like power leakage when i scroll down certain websites or play games with odd render errors like peoples limbs stretching in left 4 dead. Flashed back to 6950 then flashed to xfx 6970 bios and still the same problem. Returned back to 6950 and have had no problems since but that high pitched sound is still there.

I think that's coil whine you are talking about.

If it is coil whine then it can come from your PSU or video card.

 

[WelshBloke]

I think that's coil whine you are talking about.

If it is coil whine then it can come from your PSU or video card.

And its nothing to worry about.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I flashed 2 gigabyte 6950s to 6970s using an Asus 6970 bios. The cards are running beautifully and under constant stress. Both have been running full tilt, +20 powertune, 24/7 for weeks crunching numbers for a distributed computing project.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

I flashed it succesfully then a bulldozer accidently drove over my PC. Where must I vote

 

[KIAman]

I have my XFX 6950 flashed with ASUS 6970 bios and overclocked for over a week. Success for me.

 

[Mezzanine]

XFX 6950 flashed to 6970 without any problems so I voted that way but I intend to flash to a 6950 bios with unlocked shaders and manually overclock just to be on the safe side.

 

[MrK6]

Looking great so far gents! Wanevinger, that sounds like coil whine which is usually due to your PSU. Try using different rails, sometimes that helps.

I added myself as well, 6950 unlocked using a modified 6950 BIOS. I still highly suggest using a modified 6950 BIOS as opposed to a 6970 BIOS to stay safe. A member of techpowerup forums, rui0317, posted this utility which I used to mod my card's stock BIOS with no issues: http://www.techpowerup.com/wizzard/Mod_BIOS_HD_6950.zip . Post here if you have any questions!

 

[dust]

I flashed it succesfully then a bulldozer accidently drove over my PC. Where must I vote

You mean you live in the street?!? I wouldn't vote democrat next time then ;P

 

[Annisman*]

You mean you live in the street?!? I wouldn't vote democrat next time then ;P

+1

 

[RussianSensation]

Looking great so far gents! Wanevinger, that sounds like coil whine which is usually due to your PSU. Try using different rails, sometimes that helps.

I added myself as well, 6950 unlocked using a modified 6950 BIOS. I still highly suggest using a modified 6950 BIOS as opposed to a 6970 BIOS to stay safe. A member of techpowerup forums, rui0317, posted this utility which I used to mod my card's stock BIOS with no issues: http://www.techpowerup.com/wizzard/Mod_BIOS_HD_6950.zip . Post here if you have any questions!

Does this BIOS unlock the additional texture units as well, or just the shaders?

 

[MrK6]

Does this BIOS unlock the additional texture units as well, or just the shaders?

It unlocks the whole unit (both texture and shaders).

 

[Bartman39]

Looking great so far gents! Wanevinger, that sounds like coil whine which is usually due to your PSU. Try using different rails, sometimes that helps.

I added myself as well, 6950 unlocked using a modified 6950 BIOS. I still highly suggest using a modified 6950 BIOS as opposed to a 6970 BIOS to stay safe. A member of techpowerup forums, rui0317, posted this utility which I used to mod my card's stock BIOS with no issues: http://www.techpowerup.com/wizzard/Mod_BIOS_HD_6950.zip . Post here if you have any questions!

XFX6950 unlocked no problem to a XFX6970... Did try FurMark last night but it shut down the PC completely, then realized I still had a 580watt PS in my I7 920@4Ghz main rig... Swapped out for a 780watt that I was going to in the first place and it runs it perfect now no coil whine or anything... Also it idles at 40C and if you leave the fan on auto it tops out at around 75C so no issues with heat to speak of... But might give the above listed bios a try to be a bit safer...? Thanks for the link...:thumbsup: