Should i unlock a 6950?

[mike204]

I made a thread a while ago about a 6950 vs 560 and learned that i can unlock a 6950 to have the shaders of a 6970. Im not experienced at all with flashing and the only thing ive ever used my BIOS for is checking CPU temps.
I figure i should learn to unlock and overclock sometime but i dont know if i should yet.
I have concerns about things like what happens if it fails? from this guide here:

http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/942034-how-flash-6950-6970-guide.html

It says that i can just use command prompt and ill be fine. But some people say that if the flash is unsuccessful, then you get a black screen and you cant use the computer until a new one is put in. I have a 870A-UD3 so i dont think that it has integrated graphics if the flash fails.

Also, people on newegg are saying that you cant flash a saphire 6950 to a 6970. It seems the MSI is the one that you can flash.
Also just a reassurance question, an MSI 6950 would fit in my case right? (coolermaster HAF 912).

So my general question is if i get a 6950 and attempt to unlock it to a 6970, would it be 100% failproof. I dont care if the 6970 flash doesnt work and i can flash it back but if it just doesnt work and i cant reflash it, i dont want to do it.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

See this thread at TechPowerup :
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137136&page=52


I'd suggest flashing a modified 6950 BIOS (ie. unlocked shaders but with 6950 core/mem clocks and mem timings), then manually overclocking / overvolting using software. Safest route and worked perfectly for my two Sapphire 6950s.

 

[RussianSensation]

So my general question is if i get a 6950 and attempt to unlock it to a 6970, would it be 100% failproof. I dont care if the 6970 flash doesnt work and i can flash it back but if it just doesnt work and i cant reflash it, i dont want to do it.

As long as you don't flash the card with HD6970 bios, there is very little risk involved since you can just use the secondary BIOS on you card. So do the mod script unlock 6950 of your own card's BIOS. Just save the original bios beforehand using GPU-Z.

This page 101 has a lot of things summarized from the giant thread.

 

[mike204]

@whobedaplaya- your suggestion makes more sense to me because i understand what oyu say a little more. What do you mean by flashing a modified 6950 bios though? i understand the voltage and could figure out how to do it but im not sure what a modified 6950 should look like. Also, since you said sahpire's work, do you know if i could flash a HIS ICEq turbo?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-372-_-Product
@RussianSensation- would this be very hard to do. I didnt understand much of what you said and will have to do some research but if its easy to do and is failproof, id do it.

thanks for the help

 

[toyota]

if you are still at 1600x900 then you will never see the difference anyway. your cpu would be a larger bottleneck than the difference between an overclocked 6950 and overclocked 6970.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

The extra shaders don't seem to make much of a difference with most games. If you are comfortable flashing a vga bios, why not but there are a lot of people who have never flashed a vga bios going and having problems due to the flash. There are also quite a few people on the forums blaming driver issues due to the bios flashing.

 

[tigersty1e]

Through testing, I've determined that the extra shaders are equivalent to an extra 20-30 extra hz on the core.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Through testing, I've determined that the extra shaders are equivalent to an extra 20-30 extra hz on the core.

That's it? Surely not...

 

[Kevmanw430]

It probobly a 7% increase in some games, no increase in others. Depends on the CPU, and game.

 

[toyota]

I think clock for clock its only about 5% in most cases.

and again for him at 1600x900 and with a Phenom 2 X4 he will never see that difference anyway.

 

[OS]

do these even unlock anymore?
I just ordered two but i figured the dies were physically altered at this point.

 

[betasub]

^ It's most likely that recently ordered cards are physically locked, so don't count on anything. The advantage of having the dual-BIOS (switch) version is that you can test-flash to the writeable BIOS, with the read-only BIOS making recovery from any problem very simple (flick of a switch ).

 

[mike204]

^ It's most likely that recently ordered cards are physically locked, so don't count on anything. The advantage of having the dual-BIOS (switch) version is that you can test-flash to the writeable BIOS, with the read-only BIOS making recovery from any problem very simple (flick of a switch ).

would you mind explaining this more? Ive seen tutorials of flashing and they say that you can just flick the switch back and it recovers the original bios. Do you know which models can do this if its true?
Also another question, if i get a 6950, would it be possible to use my gts 450 as a dedicated physx card or do ATI and Nividia not go together like that? Im not sure about this because i dont know if you have to SLI to do that.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

do these even unlock anymore?
I just ordered two but i figured the dies were physically altered at this point.

I haven't seen any evidence to support those claims. It seems like most 6950s whether they be the new cards, 1gb cards, or non-reference cards. The only people that I've seen claim that the flash and modification didn't work are posters with like 2 post that don't really explain what they tried. It could very well be user error in those cases.

 

[biostud]

Also another question, if i get a 6950, would it be possible to use my gts 450 as a dedicated physx card or do ATI and Nividia not go together like that?

Yes you can:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-physx-hack-amd-radeon,2764.html
http://www.ngohq.com/graphic-cards/17706-hybrid-physx-mod-v1-03-v1-04ff.html

 

[Spikesoldier]

the laser cut dies is FUD spread by forum trolls.

one has since been bannzored for mega trolling.

FUD until confirmed.

back on topic:

note that even if the VGA bios flash goes wrong, you can always flash back to the stock image that you should have backed up, by booting with a spare VGA card and flashing the old image back.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

I agree

Secondly that OCN guide is very, very outdated. There are now two different ways to edit the stock bios on your own card. There is no reason to flash a bios from another card onto your own. Also the atiflash in that package linked in that thread is outdated.

Most importantly I would never take any advice from people on ocn, notice how everyone there has been registered for less than a year, including the moderators.

Here is a quick guide that should work with any 6950.

 

[Aikouka]

I tried it once and it caused a bit of instability even without the higher timings. I recall one time where I was playing a game and my GPU use shot up to 100% (not that common for me) and stayed there for about a minute. I just put it back to normal... if I want a 6970, I'll not be a cheap-ass and just buy one next time .

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

I tried it once and it caused a bit of instability even without the higher timings. I recall one time where I was playing a game and my GPU use shot up to 100% (not that common for me) and stayed there for about a minute. I just put it back to normal... if I want a 6970, I'll not be a cheap-ass and just buy one next time .

That was a known driver issue. The whole 100% gpu usage bug.

 

[betasub]

would you mind explaining this more? Ive seen tutorials of flashing and they say that you can just flick the switch back and it recovers the original bios. Do you know which models can do this if its true?

The TechPowerUp! forums (see WhoBeDaPlaya's link in post #2) have the most information on this.

AnandTech's review on the relase of the 6900 cards illustrated how reference cards all have a BIOS switch:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/11
The BIOS switch isn't required for flashing, as BIOS1 is writeable, but having a read-only BIOS2 makes recovery to stock a cinch should you flash a BIOS that doesn't take.

Apart from reference cards, it is hard to know which other models have the switch. There have been a number of threads about manufacturers changing their 6950 cards, sometimes indicated by nothing more than a hidden v1.00 -> v1.01 revision. So buyer beware - try to first view images of the card you intend to order.

 

[tigersty1e]

That's it? Surely not...

It probobly a 7% increase in some games, no increase in others. Depends on the CPU, and game.

Yeah, it almost does nothing. 7% is being generous. It's more like 2-3%.

But the extra performance is good if you like to maximize performance. Also, locking the shaders doesn't give you higher clocks or lower voltage. Overclock is the same. I can do 1.1 volts @ 900 core or 1.2 volts @ 940 core. It would be better to unlock and run at 1.1 volts instead of locked shaders at 1.2 volts and running at 940. But I like to unlock and run at 940 for demanding games.

 

[mike204]

The TechPowerUp! forums (see WhoBeDaPlaya's link in post #2) have the most information on this.

AnandTech's review on the relase of the 6900 cards illustrated how reference cards all have a BIOS switch:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/11
The BIOS switch isn't required for flashing, as BIOS1 is writeable, but having a read-only BIOS2 makes recovery to stock a cinch should you flash a BIOS that doesn't take.

Apart from reference cards, it is hard to know which other models have the switch. There have been a number of threads about manufacturers changing their 6950 cards, sometimes indicated by nothing more than a hidden v1.00 -> v1.01 revision. So buyer beware - try to first view images of the card you intend to order.

From this post and others, im assuming a reference card is a card that has a switch. Yes, i did google it and it came up with a lot of buyers guide things lie factory overclocked vs reference. If i brought a card that has a bios switch, would i be able to switch it back if the flash didnt work?
Im not exactly sure how the switches on those work but from the guides ive seen, they always switch them.
To whoever posted this
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...I-think-is-the-easiest-way-to-unlock-any-6950
So this just creates a backup? this way seems much easier. The method unlocks all the shaders itself? because right when he made the modded folder, he said that the shaders are unlocked without even doing anything.

Thank you to whoever posted this
http://www.ngohq.com/graphic-cards/17706-hybrid-physx-mod-v1-03-v1-04ff.html
Are there any physx titles coming up or that just came out because the only physx games id really be interested in are metro 2033 and batman.

Someone said that if the flash fails, i could just use a different gpu to flash it. If the 6950 flash didnt work, i could put my 450 in the x4 slot and reflash the bios to the original? Would i ever be able to flash the 6950 again and would it work normally if it failed?

 

[mike204]

Thanks for all of the replies. This way seems the easiest:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...I-think-is-the-easiest-way-to-unlock-any-6950
This should work right? i wont have to play with voltages or anything?
Also, would it just be better to sell my 450 considering that the software posted messed with the drivers and the only game that use physx that i would buy is metro 2033?
Will any upcoming releases like skyrim have physx?

 

[RussianSensation]

MSI TwinFrozr III appears to be the only card I see on Newegg that has the 2nd bios switch. It also happens to be one of the best HD6950 2GB cards. Having that cooler will likely allow for a much better overclock than what's possible with the stock cooler, while maintaining lower noise.

At the same time, you can also get a $285 GTX570, which will support PhysX if that's something you care about. At 1920x1200 or below, the GTX570 is actually slightly faster than an HD6970.

If overclocking is considered, HD6970 doesn't have a lot of overclocking headroom and doesn't scale well when overclocked. If you are gaming at 1920x1200 or below, the GTX570 overclocked will be faster. So something for you to think about since there is no flashing involved. Some months ago, a GTX570 was priced at $330-350, making it hard to recommend. But now at $285, it's very attractive unless you are gaming at 2560x1600.

 

[mike204]

MSI TwinFrozr III appears to be the only card I see on Newegg that has the 2nd bios switch. It also happens to be one of the best HD6950 2GB cards. Having that cooler will likely allow for a much better overclock than what's possible with the stock cooler, while maintaining lower noise.

At the same time, you can also get a $285 GTX570, which will support PhysX if that's something you care about. At 1920x1200 or below, the GTX570 is actually slightly faster than an HD6970.

If overclocking is considered, HD6970 doesn't have a lot of overclocking headroom and doesn't scale well when overclocked. If you are gaming at 1920x1200 or below, the GTX570 overclocked will be faster. So something for you to think about since there is no flashing involved. Some months ago, a GTX570 was priced at $330-350, making it hard to recommend. But now at $285, it's very attractive unless you are gaming at 2560x1600.

Thank you very much. I was unaware of the price drop. This is now a serious option for me. Is it very hard to overclock and are there any guides you can reccomend? the guides i found on google you guys said were outdated, so i should probably get one from someone who knows a bit more.
Also, if i get a 570, what brand should i get?
theres also a superclocked 570 for sale, would this be the same as if i did it myself?
thanks for the reply, this really helped me out and i probably wouldnt have known if you didnt tell me.

Also, that second post was an accident, i thought the original DIDNT post so i made a new one...