My HD6950 -> HD6970 experience

[bargetrav]

Don't mean to burst your bubble, but weren't there some issues with the 6950 flash to 6970, some people having their card die within a week or so even if they reflashed back to stock bios?

You're not bursting anyone's bubble with your FUD, I've had mine flashed with a 6970 bios running at 925core/1410mem for 2 months.

 

[namtran512]

You're not bursting anyone's bubble with your FUD, I've had mine flashed with a 6970 bios running at 925core/1410mem for 2 months.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2163453#post2163453


There are bound to be hardware failures but it doesn't seem like the 6950 was designed to run as a 6970, with good reason too.


It appears that unlocking the shaders is fine, but I think there are certain methods which are considered unsafe.

 

[bargetrav]

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2163453#post2163453


There are bound to be hardware failures but it doesn't seem like the 6950 was designed to run as a 6970, with good reason too.


It appears that unlocking the shaders is fine, but I think there are certain methods which are considered unsafe.

That is a thread designed specifically for anyone who thinks they had problems. You're forgetting about the hundreds of successfull flashes.


Do you own a 6950? I do, mine worked flawlessly and has OC'd passed 6970 clocks without any voltage tweaking, as have HUNDREDS OF OTHERS.

 

[KIAman]

I guess with any modding, there COULD be problems but that is part of the excitement of modding for me.

Also, leaving everything default COULD cause problems as well. Nothing is 100% defect free.

So far, I've been running at these settings and everything is flawless. I just wish I knew about RBE before this ordeal, LOL. Would have saved me a lot of pain.

 

[namtran512]

That is a thread designed specifically for anyone who thinks they had problems. You're forgetting about the hundreds of successfull flashes.


Do you own a 6950? I do, mine worked flawlessly and has OC'd passed 6970 clocks without any voltage tweaking, as have HUNDREDS OF OTHERS.

You realize the 6950 doesn't have the same ram as the 6970, so any OCing of the ram (which a reflash to a 6970 does) can potentially cause damage. And we all know how sensitive memory is on a video card.



I would stick to unlocking shaders and that's it. You honestly have no need to up the firepower while risking a 280ish card, especially when the performance gains you get versus the amount of risk you are taking (which is far higher than just normal OCing) is way higher.



In the long term, I'm willing to bet 100 bucks you are really likely killing your card, especially if you are going above stock 6970 memory settings.

 

[bargetrav]

You realize the 6950 doesn't have the same ram as the 6970, so any OCing of the ram (which a reflash to a 6970 does) can potentially cause damage. And we all know how sensitive memory is on a video card.



I would stick to unlocking shaders and that's it. You honestly have no need to up the firepower while risking a 280ish card, especially when the performance gains you get versus the amount of risk you are taking (which is far higher than just normal OCing) is way higher.



In the long term, I'm willing to bet 100 bucks you are really likely killing your card, especially if you are going above stock 6970 memory settings.

you have no idea what you're talking about, don't think i'm going to continue discussion.

 

[namtran512]

you have no idea what you're talking about, don't think i'm going to continue discussion.

lol?


Anyone that knows anything about the cards knows that the 6950 uses different memory than 6970, and thus if you don't use the modded one that only unlocks the shaders, then you can easily screw your card up.


It's all well documented, on many forums. 6950 memory is not meant to run at 6970 settings, and you run a fairly big risk of killing your card if you aren't running stock mem settings.

 

[badb0y]

lol?


Anyone that knows anything about the cards knows that the 6950 uses different memory than 6970, and thus if you don't use the modded one that only unlocks the shaders, then you can easily screw your card up.


It's all well documented, on many forums. 6950 memory is not meant to run at 6970 settings, and you run a fairly big risk of killing your card if you aren't running stock mem settings.

Even though he is not right in saying that the card will unlock without risk, you are equally wrong in saying that a full fledged unlock will increase the chances of damaging the memory. The unlock ups the voltage by a very minuscule amount, something along the lines on .1 mv or so, that won't be catastrophic but it MAY kill your card (I'd say 5% chance?).

All in all you don't even need to use a full fledged 6970 BIOS to reach those speed with the memory, my 6950 has a 6950 BIOS with shaders unlocked only and my memory is running at 1400 mhz when I game and I see no instability or error. Numerous other people have their cards over clocked similarly and have no problems.

All in all it is a concern but it's not as big as many people around the web are making it out to be, I have to admit I did get scared but later realized that I didn't need that extra bit of voltage anyways since I was pushing my memory at 1400+ mhz.

 

[3DVagabond]

lol?


Anyone that knows anything about the cards knows that the 6950 uses different memory than 6970, and thus if you don't use the modded one that only unlocks the shaders, then you can easily screw your card up.


It's all well documented, on many forums. 6950 memory is not meant to run at 6970 settings, and you run a fairly big risk of killing your card if you aren't running stock mem settings.

No more so than when you O/C the mem on any card. "a fairly big risk" is just FUD and scare tactics.

 

[drys666]

look here

 

[MrK6]

No more so than when you O/C the mem on any card. "a fairly big risk" is just FUD and scare tactics.

There's a difference between overclocking and overvolting. Overclocking won't harm hardware, overvolting will. Now does that mean the extra voltage you give the 6950 memory from flashing it with a 6970 BIOS will kill it? I don't think we have a definitive answer.

 

[apoppin]

There's a difference between overclocking and overvolting. Overclocking won't harm hardware, overvolting will. Now does that mean the extra voltage you give the 6950 memory from flashing it with a 6970 BIOS will kill it? I don't think we have a definitive answer.

More dangerous FUD.

Overclocking by itself can harm hardware and shorten its life. Overvolting is an exponential speeding up of the process.
:\

 

[MrK6]

More dangerous FUD.

Overclocking by itself can harm hardware and shorten its life. Overvolting is an exponential speeding up of the process.
:\

More ridiculous paranoia. I have early PIII-based servers that have been running overclocked for almost a decade. If you want to hypothesize and argue the nuances of electromigration enjoy yourself, but playing with volts dramatically increases the chances of destroying hardware, and instantly at that, overclocking won't.

 

[namtran512]

No more so than when you O/C the mem on any card. "a fairly big risk" is just FUD and scare tactics.

O/C and running the Memory at a totally different voltage that it isn't meant to run are two totally different things. The 6950 memory is not meant to handle the levels of the 6970, and overtime it can degrade the memory. It is better to stick to unlocking shaders, and then go from there rather than go a full unlocked bios.


For people who have all the money in the world, go ahead. Some people though don't have spare money laying around, and it is better to have information about possible risk out there rather than a bunch of upset posters who weren't informed of the fact that their 6950 memory isn't meant to run at 6970 memory settings.

 

[thilanliyan]

It's the memory TIMINGS that are the problem when flashing with a 6970 BIOS. The memory speed can be upped but the timings are different for the different 6970 and that is what is causing the dead cards from what I've read. Upping the core voltage/speed to 6970 levels doesn't have much of a negative effect. I fully agree with namtran...just unlock the shaders, then overclock using Afterburner or something similar. I personally have not flashed it...from what I've read, OCing gives the lions share of the performance increase compared to the additional shaders.