What 6950's are still unlockable?

[NAGZS]

So, I heard that you can unlock a 6950 and boost its performance up to that of a 6970. It is to my understanding that only SOME of the 6950's can still be unlocked, so does anyone know which ones can be unlocked still? and beyond that what the risk of unlocking might be? preferably a new egg link

Thankyou!

 

[Binky]

I unlocked one of these about a month ago and overclocked it to stock 6970 speeds. The cooler is very good too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127562

Keep in mind that overclocking to 6970 levels gives much more of a boost than the extra (unlocked) shaders. Even if you buy one that isn't unlockable, but you can overlock it, you will only lose a few percent off the speed.

 

[NAGZS]

How well would the 6950 overclock with the usual z68 motherboard?
And, just wondering, but do you have an extra fan, or VGA cooler to keep it cool when overclocking?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Most if not all Sapphire Dirt 3 edition and Toxic cards unlock from the factory.

 

[mojo8472]

Both my MSI 6950 TF3s unlocked perfectly

 

[NAGZS]

Ok, thanks for the reply's everyone, but can someone give me a link to the BEST unlockable 6950, one for performance and one for bang for the buck. There don't have to be unrelated....... if not, thanks anyway

 

[cmdrdredd]

Sapphire 2GB HD6950 Dirt 3 Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DV...0879538&sr=8-1

The toxic edition seems to be gone now.

 

[SkyBum]

Sapphire HD 6950 2GB Dirt3 Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...950%20dirt%203

Just got mine 7 days ago. Flipped the switch, installed it, and the shaders were unlocked, doesn't get much easier than that. Looks like they just went out of stock though....

 

[cmdrdredd]

price went up on them too...lol

 

[spinejam]

Not all Dirt3 editions are "unlockable". If it has an "Antilles" GPU then it will not unlock. The good news is that you can still overclock them.

Here is one that I had that didn't unlock (newegg purchase):



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[Shmee]

what is the difference between cayman and antilles?

 

[GaiaHunter]

The antilles is the code name for the 6990.

I thought that the 6990 were just 2xCaymans...

 

[d4a2n0k]

I bought an MSI Twin Frozr III 2 GB a month ago and using this MSI released BIOS, it worked perfectly.

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/msi_r6950_twin_froz_iii_power_edition_unlocking,1.html

 

[NTAC]

Both my Sapphire HD 6950 Dirt 3 edition cards successfully unlocked the shaders with a simple flip of the BIOS Switch.... I just bought these about 2 weeks ago.

Either way, as someone already mentioned, the shader unlock is not that big of an improvement in performance, its the ability to overclock these that makes the big difference. So if they don't unlock its not the end of the world, your mainly hoping that you get a card that can oclock well, and that I'd assume depends mostly on the cooler.

I haven't oclocked mine yet, but I plan to shortly, but most Sapphire dirt 3 oclocks have been pretty decent from what I've seen.