Sapphire 6950 Unlocked@20% , to CF or not to, help me decide!

[nerdstaz]

My current system:

i5-750 Lynnfield (with a Coolermaster hyper 212+ HSF)
8GB of Gskill Ripjaw DDR3 1600 (the 7-8-7-24)
Sapphire 6950 2GB (Unlocked with Sapphire 6970 Bios and Overdrive set to +20% power)
ASRock P55 Deluxe3 Motherboard
HDD (WD Raptor 150 for OS/Games ...NO SSD yet, and 2 Seagate Barracuda 2 TB hds for storage)
Coolermaster HAF 932 AMD Edition (Got it for 99 bucks locally, don't make fun of my AMD logo)
Corsair Gaming Series 800w Power Supply
Windows 7 64-Bit

I have 2 21.5 inch Samsung monitors. One runs at 1680x1050 (secondary) and I use a 1920x1080 as my main screen for gaming.

I like to at least test drive any relevant game and tend to play MMOs pretty hardcore. (such as Rift)

So now my question:

I have one 6950 unlocked already as listed. I have another I am debating on returning, unopened. I went a little over budget, but I can deal with that. My concern is, is it worth me installing the second one? Obviously it is likely overkill...but e-peen/nerd points say different. I just want to know what the community suggests. Should I send it back or should I unlock this as well and run two of them? Two of the same cards. I am about to move, and plan to also connect my pc to a 42 inch 1080p LCD TV for watching movies. But that wont be enabled when I game, so I don't think that's an issue.

Also, when I am gaming with the auto fan control I see temps up to 84C , should I work on profiles to update the way the fan works? I set it to just 35% and it drops my temp substantially (about10-12C) without being too loud.

Anyway, any help will be appreciated. Thank you for helping me make my decision =P

 

[thilanliyan]

Before you do anything else, ditch that 6970 BIOS IMMEDIATELY!! You can damage your card as the memory timings are different on the 6970. You can flash a 6950 BIOS with the shaders unlocked and then just overclock to 6970 speeds.

 

[nerdstaz]

Before you do anything else, ditch that 6970 BIOS IMMEDIATELY!! You can damage your card as the memory timings are different on the 6970. You can flash a 6950 BIOS with the shaders unlocked and then just overclock to 6970 speeds.

I've read this in a few places but I've read the opposite in most other places.

I used this guide, and most of the people reported success and no problems. Ive been gaming on it for about 24 hours worth of time now and I have noticed no issues yet....

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159

 

[nerdstaz]

BUT I have heard people having artifacting issues doing the method you reccomend also. Can you link me to some more information about it? I've really only found one forum post where some guy did some raw benchmarks.

I didn't notice much of a difference, that's for sure.

 

[thilanliyan]

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159

That is the original method when the cards first came out. W1zzard himself posted how to unlock just the shaders. It's not that the flash will be unsuccessful but over time the vram can get damaged leaving you with a permanently damaged card.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2142549

Here is how to do the shader unlock:
http://www.overclock.net/ati/915716-6950-shader-unlock-voltage-control.html
If you get artifacts using just the shader unlock...the card just cannot run with the shaders enabled, or at the clocks you are trying. This is assuming it wasn't artifacting at stock.

 

[badb0y]

If you try the shader-unlock method and your card artifacts it means that the shaders are unstable.

 

[Jules]

Id just stick with 1 and get a better card later on. I picked up a 6950 a few days back and for some odd reason i wanted another for crossfire. I ended up getting another and while i liked the increase in fps i just rather have 1 card so i ended up returning it. Id stick with the unlock + oc.

 

[3DVagabond]

That is the original method when the cards first came out. W1zzard himself posted how to unlock just the shaders. It's not that the flash will be unsuccessful but over time the vram can get damaged leaving you with a permanently damaged card.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2142549

Here is how to do the shader unlock:
http://www.overclock.net/ati/915716-6950-shader-unlock-voltage-control.html
If you get artifacts using just the shader unlock...the card just cannot run with the shaders enabled, or at the clocks you are trying. This is assuming it wasn't artifacting at stock.

Well, in the Anandtech link, in 3 pages there was one person who actually had any issues. The rest of the thread is either people with the cards saying all is well, or people who don't have a 6950 in the first place.

 

[Arkadrel]

I like to at least test drive any relevant game and tend to play MMOs pretty hardcore. (such as Rift)

I doubt there is any MMO out there, that wont get really good FPS with a 6950 that has unlocked shaders, and is overclocked.

My suggestion is to keep 1 card, and return the other if your over budget already.

1 x 6950 + unlocked shaders + overclock = enough for any mmo.

 

[nyker96]

from what I can see, an unlocked 6950 is plenty to handle 1080p which is your main gaming screen. Xfire might be useful if you plan on going eyefinity, at 1080p it's quite an overkill.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

1080p can be pretty demanding once you turn everything to max. I don't think 6950 crossfire is overkill @ 1080p. I game @ 1080p.

 

[bargetrav]

Before you do anything else, ditch that 6970 BIOS IMMEDIATELY!! You can damage your card as the memory timings are different on the 6970. You can flash a 6950 BIOS with the shaders unlocked and then just overclock to 6970 speeds.

Don't listen to this fool. I've had a fully unlocked 6950 w/ 6970 bios using 20% power and OC'd to 925core/1410mem.


just because memory timings are different he thinks you can damage the card? that in itself should discredit him

 

[tincart]

just because memory timings are different he thinks you can damage the card? that in itself should discredit him

That is one theory put out on the Techpowerup forums for a problem that may not exist, or at least be completely unrelated to what some people are claiming. Not enough info yet.

 

[nerdstaz]

That is one theory put out on the Techpowerup forums for a problem that may not exist, or at least be completely unrelated to what some people are claiming. Not enough info yet.

I went with the advice of just unlocking the shaders and pushing the OC a bit. I seem to be doing fine artifact and temp wise @ 900/1450.


As far as MMO framerate...

In Rift I get between 70-90 fps on Ultra settings. In the main city about 50. If I turn AA on it drops below 50 in the world and to 20-30 in the city....If I add shadows in the mix, well let's just say it's unplayable. Now Rift is in beta, and has had trouble with ATI...but that's where my tough spot is. I spoke to a guy yesterday who was running 6850s. He disabled one and got 20-30 in the city and 50 in the world without AA...with AA he and two cards, he beat my FPS. Will I see the the same increase? I am more or less afraid that if I plan to play at max settings (which isn't necessary but is desired), will I see a similar increase in unlocking this other 6950 and installing it.

When I say I was over budget, i just went outside of the figure my wife and I decided, but it wasn't detrimental. She got over it...ha. It's just more or less, I do have the option to return it...but what would the fellow nerd world do in this situation?

 

[thilanliyan]

Don't listen to this fool. I've had a fully unlocked 6950 w/ 6970 bios using 20% power and OC'd to 925core/1410mem.


just because memory timings are different he thinks you can damage the card? that in itself should discredit him

Memory timings AND memory spec are different. What do you think is going to happen when you try to run 6970 specs on 6950 memory? Have you not read about people getting artifacting and permanently damaging their cards after flashing their cards with the 6970 BIOS? FYI, I'm not the only one saying this.

 

[nerdstaz]

Memory timings AND memory spec are different. What do you think is going to happen when you try to run 6970 specs on 6950 memory? Have you not read about people getting artifacting and permanently damaging their cards after flashing their cards with the 6970 BIOS? FYI, I'm not the only one saying this.

I found dozens of threads to support this

 

[3DVagabond]

I went with the advice of just unlocking the shaders and pushing the OC a bit. I seem to be doing fine artifact and temp wise @ 900/1450.


As far as MMO framerate...

In Rift I get between 70-90 fps on Ultra settings. In the main city about 50. If I turn AA on it drops below 50 in the world and to 20-30 in the city....If I add shadows in the mix, well let's just say it's unplayable. Now Rift is in beta, and has had trouble with ATI...but that's where my tough spot is. I spoke to a guy yesterday who was running 6850s. He disabled one and got 20-30 in the city and 50 in the world without AA...with AA he and two cards, he beat my FPS. Will I see the the same increase? I am more or less afraid that if I plan to play at max settings (which isn't necessary but is desired), will I see a similar increase in unlocking this other 6950 and installing it.

When I say I was over budget, i just went outside of the figure my wife and I decided, but it wasn't detrimental. She got over it...ha. It's just more or less, I do have the option to return it...but what would the fellow nerd world do in this situation?

Mate, what the hell. You got it, the wife is cool with it, why not keep it and enjoy it? I can see both sides of the equation. One side is that a single 6950 is "enough" for 1080. The other is with 2 you can just crank the piss out of the settings and have it still playable. Some of these effects, DOF, etc, might not make much of a difference now, but in games 6 or 9 monthd from now these features might prove to be outstanding additions and you'll be able to run them. Maybe your wife will even let you get 2 more monitors once the sticker shock of this purchase wears off.

 

[Adam8281]

There are basically two conversations going on in this thread: One, re: the OP's question about what to do with the 2nd video card, the other about the wisdom or folly of flashing a 6950 to a 6970. I'm interested in the latter question, and I suggest someone make a thread about that topic so we can discuss it without littering OPs thread. I, too, am trying to decide whether I want to flash my 6950, or just OC it.

 

[thilanliyan]

^There are several threads about flashing and/or the dangers of it already in this forum. Do a search.