6950 might have potential to unlock 128 extra shaders.

[CharlieCS]

Don't get too exited,but there have been some user reports. And as is with CPU's,the unlocked shaders might not be stable.



http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=335318 Instructions.


Attempt this at your own risk!!


6950 just got more delicious :)

[ChanceCoats123]

Is this like the 400 series unlocking? Seems very promising. :clap:

[kayson]

One more reason for me to get a 6950. Sigh... goodbye $300

[CharlieCS]

some more user reports on XS.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=264159


If you attempt this please post results :)

Is this like the 400 series unlocking? Seems very promising. :clap:

No it's not,with 400 series you have a limited number of cards,that was released for sole purpose of marketing and were only sold in limited numbers by only few brands.Here likely all cards have a potential to unlock,regardless of brand.

[Rattle]

i got one coming tuesday, keep an eye on that XS thread

[ChanceCoats123]

some more user reports on XS.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=264159


If you attempt this please post results :)



No it's not,with 400 series you have a limited number of cards,that was released for sole purpose of marketing and were only sold in limited numbers by only few brands.Here likely all cards have a potential to unlock,regardless of brand.

I was just referring to the fact that the cores were turned off via a bios modification at the factory, and now they can be turned back on via a bios modification at home. Thanks for the information.

[Seebs]

More news on this:

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

Seems retail cards are being sold with the BIOS lock instead of the HW lock...

[Knufire]

Already decided on a 6950, going to order it within the next couple days. Going to try this for sure :thup:.

[CharlieCS]

TechpowerUp has an article up.


AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod (http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159)


Seems the risks are pretty low,with the new dual BIOS feature on these cards.Just read the instructions carefully before attempting.

[Laoag24]

I am somewhat skeptical that AMD would allow this to happen. . . Wouldn't AMD put a stop to this? Or they intend to make this happen?

[EarthDog]

Oh its happening, and all over the place. It happened with their CPU's too!

[Peeved Kitten]

I look at this as a way to one up Nvidia, with the people in the know. Most of my clients have no clue what to get and go off of my word. therefore, if AMD can make me happy and in love with their products somehow, then I am more likely to recommend it to my customers. Besides what Overclocker doesn't love the idea of shaving 70$ off a card.

I just wish this was out when I got my 6970, I might have thought twice.

[EarthDog]

Nvidia can do it too... some 465's can unlock to 470's. ;)

[mdcomp]

Just tried it. Works like a charm!
:)

Haven't overclocked yet, but I was able to run Vantage at stock 6970 speeds/shaders. Definitely glad I went for this instead of shelling out the extra $60.

Matt

[Laoag24]

First of all, I can't see them letting 6970 performance at 6950 prices for a period of time. Secondly, AMD should know this would happen, maybe they would let it happen to sell a lot of 6950 cause they don't sell so great if they hoped for. The new batch would probably have laser cuts for sure but then again they sold a lot of 6950 by then.


Edit:

Btw my AMD Sapphire HD 6950 will be delivered today.

[EarthDog]

Do you know how few we enthusiasts that know about this there actually are? Not enough to make a dent in sales.

[TiZakit]

Reminds me of the x800gto2....

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/127

Well... Now I need to find 300 bucks...

[doz]

First of all, I can't see them letting 6970 performance at 6950 prices for a period of time. Secondly, AMD should know this would happen, maybe they would let it happen to sell a lot of 6950 cause they don't sell so great if they hoped for. The new batch would probably have laser cuts for sure but then again they sold a lot of 6950 by then.


Edit:

Btw my AMD Sapphire HD 6950 will be delivered today.

Laser cuts are nothing. You forget the old Athlon XP CPUs? :D

[TiZakit]

What? You mean the pencil trick, and the whole market of products designed to unlock them?

[EarthDog]

Reminds me of the x800gto2....

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/127

Well... Now I need to find 300 bucks...X800pro to XT, 9800pro to XT... some were laser, some were not.

[Laoag24]

Just tried it. Works like a charm!
:)

Haven't overclocked yet, but I was able to run Vantage at stock 6970 speeds/shaders. Definitely glad I went for this instead of shelling out the extra $60.

Matt

Grats. Did you power up the limit at CCC by 20%? Or you didnt touch power tune at all?

[doz]

Curious what the power tune is supposed to do? From my testing (checking voltage through GPUz), it does nothing for load voltage. My maximum voltage is 1.175 no matter what the power tune thing is set for.

[madhatter256]

It's no longer economical to manufacture a GPU for every product stream (high-end, mid-range, low-end). It's like the Phenom unlocking scene. They are x3 cores for a reason - they failed to work as an x4 under normal conditions, so they branded it as an x3. Intel does it, everybody does.

It's just a matter of having the right tools to unlock these disabled features, but whether or not the component runs stable is a matter of trial and error.

However, I think AMD will soon implement a hardware lock, similar to what nVidia is doing, to prevent this.

[EarthDog]

Im not certain Intel does it with i7 stuff... duals are duals, not disabled quads... right?

Nvidia's 465's unlock to 470... did they forget to lock that one out? (not being a smartarse, that is a genuine question for the record :))

[madhatter256]

Laser cuts are nothing. You forget the old Athlon XP CPUs? :D

The same with the SLOT1 CPUS. Intel had a problem with people taking Celerons and turning them into PIIs, and then reselling them as PIIs.

Then there was the AMD Geode transformed into a Sempron 2800+ that counterfeiters would sell.

Im not certain Intel does it with i7 stuff... duals are duals, not disabled quads... right?

Nvidia's 465's unlock to 470... did they forget to lock that one out? (not being a smartarse, that is a genuine question for the record :))

I have not heard of anyone 'unlocking' any current Intel cpu (i5/i7/i3) to something higher-end. I don't think they that sort of thing (disable cores)

[CharlieCS]

Curious what the power tune is supposed to do? From my testing (checking voltage through GPUz), it does nothing for load voltage. My maximum voltage is 1.175 no matter what the power tune thing is set for.

Powertune limits clock speeds,when the chip overall power consumption exceeds preset limits,powertune does not adjust voltage.




Im not certain Intel does it with i7 stuff... duals are duals, not disabled quads... right?

There is a 1336 dual core cpu,server only,its a native quadcore.Disabled HT on quad core i5 comes to mind too.

Nvidia's 465's unlock to 470... did they forget to lock that one out? (not being a smartarse, that is a genuine question for the record :))

Short answer is no.But how about you start a thread in Nvidia section asking the same question ? Stay on topic.

[EarthDog]

A rare CPU.. yes, sure. Thanks for the info! :thup:

And we are talking PHYSICAL cores here, not HT.

Short answer is no.But how about you start a thread in Nvidia section asking the same question ? Stay on topic.
Please. I just answered the question someone else asked...sorrrrrrrrrrE. maybe direct that towards the right person next time. :fight: :grouphug:

[deathman20]

Woah woah woah... unlocking of cards... saving $50-80. Well good thing I didn't buy that 570 just yet :)

Reminds me of my X800Pro and if not mistaken my first ATI card.

[repilce]

this is great news!

[flopper]

one of mine unlocked fine, the other artifacts.
works well for many.

[Lavacon]

I have an unlocked Asus 6950 running currently and I can report that while running default 6950 clocks, the thermals remain the same while netting me about a about a 5% increase in frames in the handful of benchies that I ran. It is what it is, but, given the effort to gain said 5%, it was well worth the little amount of time.

[kayson]

Has anyone tried this on a Gigabyte card? They're up on Newegg with a $20 MIR but I want to make sure it won't kill the card before buying it :X

[BigTerminator]

So does this unlocking feature make this card like a 6960 :) Well I'm definitely getting a 6950 but I've never flashed a video cards BIOS. Hopefully not too hard. Question about the power consumption because it only has two 6 pins where as a 6970 has an 8 and a 6 pin so how limited would your overclocking be after you flash it?

[ChanceCoats123]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong (more than likely), but aren't the two extra wires in the 8-pin connectors just extra ground wires?

IIRC, the PCIe slot goes up to 75w with each 6/8 pin connector being another 75w. :shrug:

[Knufire]

I love it when google sends me right back here, but yes, Chance is right.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=553005

[Laoag24]

My AMD HD 6950 just arrived today everything is running awesome, I'm glad I purchased this. I'll stick with this for now, I'm kinda scared to flash it to 6970. Well soon hopefully when the 6950 to 6970MOD is going great. Because it sounds so stupid if AMD is allowing 6970 performance at 6950 price point.

[blkdoutgsxr]

Could everyone keep it down on this forum... Some newegg rep is going to read this and jack up the price on the 6950 before I can get one... Was kinda interested, now after this I'm definitely going to be buying a card that I have no use for other then benching.. LOL

[don'tknow]

The only real downside seems to be that unlocked 6950's probably won't overclock as well as original 6970's once voltage control comes. Still, generally better to have the extra shaders than higher clocks, depending...

Would be most accurate to determine this with comparisons between a 6950 max oc and a modded 6950's max oc. But we probably won't see much of that until Afterburner adds voltage control for 6900's.

[EarthDog]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong (more than likely), but aren't the two extra wires in the 8-pin connectors just extra ground wires?

IIRC, the PCIe slot goes up to 75w with each 6/8 pin connector being another 75w. :shrug:The 8 pin carries more power though. If you do the math, thats only 225W. PCIe spec is up to 300W.

[BigTerminator]

I'm know a heavily overclocked 6950 at say past 1ghz and over 1550mhz on the memory would be a stock 6970 and due to power constraints on the 6950, your max oc wouldn't pass 900mhz so AMD is really at no loss and the performance will be very similar.

[deathman20]

The 8 pin carries more power though. If you do the math, thats only 225W. PCIe spec is up to 300W.

Another crash course in power from the PC dealing with GPU's :)

PCI-E 16x slot = 150W Power Output (typically I think they are limited to 75W)
6-Pin PCI-E Connector = 75W Output
8-Pin PCI-E Connector = 150W Output
6-Pin PCI-E Connector w/ 8-Pin dongle = 150W Output

Really the 6-Pin connector can toss out 150W, though little extra grounding to the card is nice for the increased power consumption hence why the 2 extra connectors.

So truely the 225W they say is max really is 300W on a typical 2x 6-Pin setup with PCI-E 2.0+ Slot. They just don't use all the power from the slot to limit other people that might have a PCI-E 1.x slot still.

[EarthDog]

Crash Chance, not me... :p! Thanks for the info!

[deathman20]

Crash Chance, not me... :p! Thanks for the info!

:p I've done lots of posts recently on this. I should have a pre-typed word doc with all the posts done and pre-typed up. Besides your post was right there why not use it :santa2:

[EarthDog]

ROFLMAO!!! :)

[Jhatfie]

I have a Gigabyte and Sapphire 6950 coming, I'll be sure to test both once I receive them.

[Neural Net]

First of all, I can't see them letting 6970 performance at 6950 prices for a period of time. Secondly, AMD should know this would happen, maybe they would let it happen to sell a lot of 6950 cause they don't sell so great if they hoped for. The new batch would probably have laser cuts for sure but then again they sold a lot of 6950 by then.


Edit:

Btw my AMD Sapphire HD 6950 will be delivered today.

What you're forgetting is that AMD is still selling the 6950 at a profit.

All I'm wondering now is what the hell the 389mm die size has been spent on, it sure as hell isn't 1536 shaders.

[Theocnoob]

First of all, I can't see them letting 6970 performance at 6950 prices for a period of time. Secondly, AMD should know this would happen, maybe they would let it happen to sell a lot of 6950 cause they don't sell so great if they hoped for. The new batch would probably have laser cuts for sure but then again they sold a lot of 6950 by then.



~Some AMD triple core CPU's are an attempted 4 core CPU with a defective fourth core. Sold as a triple core instead of throwing it away.

~Some AMD triple core CPU's are perfectly good 4 core CPUs that simply had a core locked via bios and were sold as 3 core to meet high demand for 3 core chips at a given point in time. These can easily have that fourth core unlocked.

Many things on AMD chips have been relatively easy to unlock for a number of years. There was a point where you could use a pencil and grease to unlock certain features on their CPUs.

[ChanceCoats123]

Another crash course in power from the PC dealing with GPU's :)

PCI-E 16x slot = 150W Power Output (typically I think they are limited to 75W)
6-Pin PCI-E Connector = 75W Output
8-Pin PCI-E Connector = 150W Output
6-Pin PCI-E Connector w/ 8-Pin dongle = 150W Output

Really the 6-Pin connector can toss out 150W, though little extra grounding to the card is nice for the increased power consumption hence why the 2 extra connectors.

So truely the 225W they say is max really is 300W on a typical 2x 6-Pin setup with PCI-E 2.0+ Slot. They just don't use all the power from the slot to limit other people that might have a PCI-E 1.x slot still.

Thanks for the info. I told you all I was more than likely incorrect. :rofl:

Crash Chance, not me... :p! Thanks for the info!

:chair:

[BigTerminator]

If the 6950 costs as much to manufacture as a 6970 and they still sell them for profit, then maybe they should make the 6970 $300, cancel the 6950 and watch Nvidia cry and see their precious stock fall down :clap:

[deathman20]

If the 6950 costs as much to manufacture as a 6970 and they still sell them for profit, then maybe they should make the 6970 $300, cancel the 6950 and watch Nvidia cry and see their precious stock fall down :clap:

But then they wouldn't have a low high end range card :shock:

[scornduffer]

Does it matter what brand? The one that the egg for $299 plus rebate sold out was a Gigabyte. Will other brands work as well?

[Dolk]

hey death. You don't think that people will need to drop the 6pin off, and add the 8pin with added components? I don't have either of these cards in hand so I have no clue how the power distrabution looks between the two.

[redrumy3]

Just grabbed a XFX 6950 hopefully mine unlocks fine without any problems saving me a good 80 bucks or so :D

[deathman20]

hey death. You don't think that people will need to drop the 6pin off, and add the 8pin with added components? I don't have either of these cards in hand so I have no clue how the power distrabution looks between the two.

Nope, even with 2x 6 Pins, technically that can yield 300W of power there and has been done before on cards that require 2 8-Pin connectors and they just use the 6-8 adapter. Its just not the way it was intended for use but it can be and was done in the past. I know I would of but I got a PSU that had my 8-Pin connectors on it when I got a the new video card back then.

[Peeved Kitten]

I love the new 6pin 8pin set up. My PSU has 2 8 pins and 2 6 pins so it's perfect for running 2 6970's crossfired. What would be the max draw of two of these running in CF? I have a 950 watt Power supply and would really like to use my current PS. If I have to upgrade though I think I'm going seasonic 1200w or so. I intend to add a second pump as soon as I get paid, flowrates are ok with just my cpu loop but GPU+CPU+Magicool 1080 might be a wee bit much for a single mcp655-b.

[EarthDog]

Your 950W PSU wont even break sweat with that setup. Seriously. I would be surprised if you hit 600W at the wall.

[Dolk]

Nope, even with 2x 6 Pins, technically that can yield 300W of power there and has been done before on cards that require 2 8-Pin connectors and they just use the 6-8 adapter. Its just not the way it was intended for use but it can be and was done in the past. I know I would of but I got a PSU that had my 8-Pin connectors on it when I got a the new video card back then.


Figured I would ask and learn.

[ChanceCoats123]

Your 950W PSU wont even break sweat with that setup. Seriously. I would be surprised if you hit 600W at the wall.

Definitely, and that's taking the psu efficiency into account, which is really saying something.

[deathman20]

Definitely, and that's taking the psu efficiency into account, which is really saying something.

To give you a figure now mines not maxed out to any extent but it pulls between 280-320W from the wall if not mistaken. Not bad considering, not sure what it would pull if I had HT enabled and my 3.8Ghz clock or even a 4.0Ghz clock, probably another 40-50W full tilt at least.

[EarthDog]

Let me throw some info down...

an i7 860 @ 4Ghz with HT and a GTX 470 at 750/1500/1800 pulled a hair over 400W with FURMARK, and a max of 380W while gaming and benching. I have a Gold rated PSU so around that load its 90% efficient, so lets say I had about 360W actual load according to the KillaWatt.

[Peeved Kitten]

Mine is certified at 80% so that's what, around 700 watts guaranteed safe? I got the PSU for like $55 on a Newegg sale so being able to use that instead of having to upgrade is absolutely fantastic. Thanks! :)

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

Here is a link to a step by step guide to flash the bios of the 6950 => 6970 :)
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159
If It were me and I bought a 6970, I would take it back... no reason to own one IMO if you can do this...

[Peeved Kitten]

Here is a link to a step by step guide to flash the bios of the 6950 => 6970 :)
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159
If It were me and I bought a 6970, I would take it back... no reason to own one IMO if you can do this...

Until you buy your 6950 and it has a damaged set of shaders and you get a 6950 instead of a 6970. Not all of those cards are guaranteed to do this, and if you really want that performance Guaranteed I think the 6970 is the way to go. There is also no telling how AMD will respond to this. They could be locking it down via hardware right now on all new cards released. I think before you go I'll just get a 6950 and turn it into a 6970 you might want to weight the pros and cons. I'm really hoping that when it comes to overclocking the 6970 will outshine the 6950, but we'll see.

I'm of the opinion what you buy is what you get, anything else is just gravy.

[EarthDog]

Mine is certified at 80% so that's what, around 700 watts guaranteed safe? I got the PSU for like $55 on a Newegg sale so being able to use that instead of having to upgrade is absolutely fantastic. Thanks! :)It doesnt work like that. If its a 950W PSU, its a 950W PSU. THe reading at the wall is where you would take in to account efficiency at the wall. For example, if you are showing 500W at the wall, with an 80% efficient PSU in that power range, then your actual usage is around 400W.

[Peeved Kitten]

It doesnt work like that. If its a 950W PSU, its a 950W PSU. THe reading at the wall is where you would take in to account efficiency at the wall. For example, if you are showing 500W at the wall, with an 80% efficient PSU in that power range, then your actual usage is around 400W.

Wow I totally misunderstood how that worked! Thanks Earthdog for clarifying that, that will help me A lot!

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

Until you buy your 6950 and it has a damaged set of shaders and you get a 6950 instead of a 6970. Not all of those cards are guaranteed to do this, and if you really want that performance Guaranteed I think the 6970 is the way to go. There is also no telling how AMD will respond to this. They could be locking it down via hardware right now on all new cards released. I think before you go I'll just get a 6950 and turn it into a 6970 you might want to weight the pros and cons. I'm really hoping that when it comes to overclocking the 6970 will outshine the 6950, but we'll see.

I'm of the opinion what you buy is what you get, anything else is just gravy.
Out of all the stories on it, the success rate was very good, chances are you will be able to do it, :)

[Peeved Kitten]

Out of all the stories on it, the success rate was very good, chances are you will be able to do it, :)

However, even in our small sampling we have people who are reporting it didn't work 100%.

IE:
one of mine unlocked fine, the other artifacts.
works well for many.


I'm absolutely not saying don't do it, I'm just saying that you may not get what you want if you go that route. We all know of cpu's that overclock amazingly well, but we also know no overclock is guaranteed. Every bit of silicone is different.

If you feel the chance of getting a 6950 that is unlockable is very good, go for it. I might pick up a 6950 and flash it instead of buying another 6970, but right now the sample size is a bit small. I've been searching and haven't found more than 100 people that are saying success. It's just a bit small of a sample size to really give us the full picture right now.

If it works on almost every card besides a bad apple, I certainly will be on the 6950 flashed to 6970 band-wagon, but I won't be sending my 6970 back, especially since I just ordered a full cover block for it today! :)

[kayson]

Can't you just revert back to the original bios if its not working....

[repilce]

yes, and it's made easy with the new bios switches, just make sure you save a copy of your good bios before you start..

[deathman20]

yes, and it's made easy with the new bios switches, just make sure you save a copy of your good bios before you start..

Why the default bios is on the second switch which is hard coded into the card, can't be writen too.

[repilce]

Well i suppose you could backup a good bios to flash with AFTER the fact.. just saying.. you have to make a copy to flash with.

[Elmer-]

I totally agree. Probably the 6950MOD6970 wont overclock as good as the 6950's or 6970's.

[kayson]

Well I just pulled the trigger on a Gigabyte 6950. I'll unlock that bad boy and see how it OC's :D

[flopper]

However, even in our small sampling we have people who are reporting it didn't work 100%.

IE:



I'm absolutely not saying don't do it, I'm just saying that you may not get what you want if you go that route. We all know of cpu's that overclock amazingly well, but we also know no overclock is guaranteed. Every bit of silicone is different.

If you feel the chance of getting a 6950 that is unlockable is very good, go for it. I might pick up a 6950 and flash it instead of buying another 6970, but right now the sample size is a bit small. I've been searching and haven't found more than 100 people that are saying success. It's just a bit small of a sample size to really give us the full picture right now.

If it works on almost every card besides a bad apple, I certainly will be on the 6950 flashed to 6970 band-wagon, but I won't be sending my 6970 back, especially since I just ordered a full cover block for it today! :)

using my own bios mod with wizzards vbs script my shaders are now unlocked, without any artifacts.
870mhz max current on stock volt.
sems the 6970 bios screwed it up for some reason and I assume the timings/volt to ram.

[Laoag24]

I attempted to do this. Failed :(

I followed TechPowerUp instructions. But when I click AtiWinflash it says I need to run it as Administrator then after that pop ups this thing comes up again and says critical files missing. So basically I can't run AtiWinFlash without running it as administrator. So I ran it as administrator and save my current bios then flashed to 6970 then I had a blue screen. So I turn off my system then switch to position 2 then boot to windows and switch to position 1 then flashed back to my original 6950 bios. Can you guys help me flash my bios to 6970?

-Thanks

[Rattle]

dont use atiwinflash its junk

make a bootable usb drive.

put the bios on it with atiflash


Run atiwinflash -unlockrom 0 followed by atiwinflash -f -p 0 bios.bin

[Laoag24]

dont use atiwinflash its junk

make a bootable usb drive.

put the bios on it with atiflash


Run atiwinflash -unlockrom 0 followed by atiwinflash -f -p 0 bios.bin

@ Rattle thanks for the quick response,

So I will open CMD and type in atiwinflash -unlockrom 0 then after atiwinflash -f -p 0 bios.bin

after that I can flash the 6970 bios?

[Knufire]

replace bios.bin with the name of the 6970 bios, then the second command should flash it.

[Rattle]

@ Rattle thanks for the quick response,

So I will open CMD and type in atiwinflash -unlockrom 0 then after atiwinflash -f -p 0 bios.bin

after that I can flash the 6970 bios?



http://www.techpowerup.com/printarticle.php?id=34

heres a good guide on how to setup the usb and the commands

atiflash -s 0 oldbios.bin

use ^^this^^ command to save your current bios to the same usb your flashing from, later you can rename it newyears.bin or whatever you like.

Just make sure your using the newest atiflash and the correct bios.

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

also for your information

a 6970 uses 1.175 volts on core and 1.6 volts on ram

the 6950 is 1.1 and 1.5 if you dont want to overvolt the card but unlock the shaders and still retain 6950 voltage you can use this.

extract wizzards zip to a regular folder thro your stock bios in there and run the exe. it will tell you its been modded, then thro that on your usb and go for it.

heres that also.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=2137760&postcount=381

[Jhatfie]

Reporting in. Received my Gigabyte and Sapphire 6950's the other day. Both unlocked and are happy at 6970 speeds of 880/1375.

Did a handful of 5850 crossfire benchmark runs prior to installing the 6950's. Increase in performance at 5760x1200 resolutions went up 27-40% depending on the game at the same settings. 4xAA was unplayable on games at that resolution with the 5850's and the 6950's tear it up. Very pleased so far.

[Laoag24]

HA! I successfully unlocked it :) yey!. At CCC I set the PowerTune to 20% more like techpowerup said. Do I really need to do that?

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/2295/6950.png (http://img337.imageshack.us/i/6950.png/)

Flashed to 6970:

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/849/mod6970.png (http://img703.imageshack.us/i/mod6970.png/)




-Since I have sapphire 6950 can I use triXX to overclock it then use afterburner to change the fan settings?

[repilce]

I would imagine so.. but i havent seen it yet.

[Laoag24]

3dmark Vantage Result:

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/5084/6970modoverclock.png (http://img810.imageshack.us/i/6970modoverclock.png/)






Question: Why does AMD CPU score low on 3dmarkvantage unlike intel CPU's? I have Phenom X6 1055T @ 4.0ghz and my friend have i5-760 @ stock and he score 39k.

[PhysX]

Gotta say this is the best softmod since the 9800np to 9800xt :)

[deathman20]

Alright.... think I was going on 8-12 months talking about a new video card. I pulled the trigger finally. Sapphire 6950 incoming :)

[Elmer-]

Can successfully did this . But I have a question.

-I'm about to reformat my pc. Since I have a 6950MOD6970sapphire card which drivers should I download from sapphire the 6950 or 6970?

[davedree]

Can successfully did this . But I have a question.

-I'm about to reformat my pc. Since I have a 6950MOD6970sapphire card which drivers should I download from sapphire the 6950 or 6970?

Just catalyst 10.12 will do it mate.

[Elmer-]

-So I can install 6970 drivers and sapphire triXX for my 6950MOD6970? Would that work well?

[davedree]

-So I can install 6970 drivers and sapphire triXX for my 6950MOD6970? Would that work well?

we're all waiting for catalyst 11.1, to which ati should be relasing soon. Catalyst 10.12a is working ok for me at the moment, some people have reported crashing and problems.

the link for 10.12a
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst1012ahotfix.aspx

With ati catalyst drivers it doesnt matter what make or series model ie 6950 or 6970 it will auto-install the correct one.

[Category 5]

Just got my xfx 6950 and flashed it to 6970 using the xfx 6970 bios. Worked a treat and the 6970 clocks automatically showed up on the new card too, unlike with the ati bios. What a satisfying purchase! Looks like I'll need another when these start to come down.

I don't have the power option or the auto tune option in the overclocking section with ver. 10.12 drivers. Any ideas how to enable them?

[Neural Net]

Alright.... think I was going on 8-12 months talking about a new video card. I pulled the trigger finally. Sapphire 6950 incoming :)

Nice! Are you going to crossfire these puppies or just have the one? When you flash it to a 6970 are you going to overclock the bejesus out of it? :santa:

By the way, didn't you have an ATI card before your 285? I seem to remember you having a different set up for some reason (but with a card from the same generation). :confused:

[deathman20]

Nice! Are you going to crossfire these puppies or just have the one? When you flash it to a 6970 are you going to overclock the bejesus out of it? :santa:

By the way, didn't you have an ATI card before your 285? I seem to remember you having a different set up for some reason (but with a card from the same generation). :confused:

Just got one, and I'll OC it as far as I can take it :)

Yup had dual 4850 before the 285, and before that it was a 2900XT, 1900XT, 1800XL, 800Pro flashed to XT, and little fusy think it was either the next lower AT one (9800's) or the nVidia TI4400.

[deathman20]

*pets card* goood boy goood boy :)

Sapphire 6950 i mean 6970 up and running!

Whats some reliable good stress testing for vid cards these days? I know furmark... well doesn't max out the card because of the limits put into it now but curious to whats out there typically people use.

40% fan setting @ 880/1375 most of my GPU temps 2x @ 68C and 2x @ 73.5C for highs after running Heaven benchmark @ 1920x1200, DX11, disabled, high, normal, 16x, 4x

FPS: 41.8
Scores: 1053
Min FPS: 4.6
Max FPS: 80.1

More results posting in my thread..
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=665111

[kayson]

Anyone having trouble installing the new CCC preview? I run the installer and it goes through the process but nothing happens... Still stuck with same old CCC

Edit: NM apparently the new one doesnt support 6900 series :(

[deathman20]

Anyone having trouble installing the new CCC preview? I run the installer and it goes through the process but nothing happens... Still stuck with same old CCC

Edit: NM apparently the new one doesnt support 6900 series :(

Yeah it was the first driver I installed. It didn't seem like anything special so I went to the 10.12a driver instead when I installed my card last night.

[kayson]

Yeah it was the first driver I installed. It didn't seem like anything special so I went to the 10.12a driver instead when I installed my card last night.

Aha! Didn't know they released a hotfix, thanks.

Edit: Uhhh just installed the 10.12a package and its saying I have Catalyst 10.11... is that right?

[deathman20]

No clue i'll look it up in a few hours.

Really could care less just give me 11.1's :) Actually all is running fine right now, and my card can do 925/1450 no problem, and 950/1450 with little error.

[kayson]

Just wanted to say that the flash worked on my gigabyte 6950

[deathman20]

Just wanted to say that the flash worked on my gigabyte 6950

What type of clocks you getting on it?

The best or weirdest error I've ever had was with I was at 20% Voltage and 950/1450 doing a rather old benchmark about 90sec into it. It split the screen... somewhat. Part of the left side of the screen was now on the right, the left half of the screen was fussy/blurry and the rest of the screen was fine except 25% was the far right and 25% was what should be on the far left but was now the far right.

Just think I hit the OC to hard though temps where great according to GPU-z. As well wasn't a hard crash either.

[kayson]

What type of clocks you getting on it?

The best or weirdest error I've ever had was with I was at 20% Voltage and 950/1450 doing a rather old benchmark about 90sec into it. It split the screen... somewhat. Part of the left side of the screen was now on the right, the left half of the screen was fussy/blurry and the rest of the screen was fine except 25% was the far right and 25% was what should be on the far left but was now the far right.

Just think I hit the OC to hard though temps where great according to GPU-z. As well wasn't a hard crash either.

Well its running at the stock 6970 clocks right now. Haven't had a chance to move it up yet.

Did you get a chance to see if your 10.12a is showing up as 10.11?

[deathman20]

Mine does say 10.11 using the 12.1a's

[kayson]

Mine does say 10.11 using the 12.1a's

Well it seems to work well enough anyways. Although I'm getting a little bit of stuttering in WoW. Only occasionally and its not a huge bother though

[Galahad56]

I got a Sapphire 6950 working. Had to use command prompt as i initially got the 'cannot erase bios' error when running atiwinflash. Make sure you are running cmd.exe as Administrator (it will say at the top of the window).

If anyone has a Sapphire and cant get atiwinflash to work for them then let me know, the other brands should be the same though.

[kayson]

I got a Sapphire 6950 working. Had to use command prompt as i initially got the 'cannot erase bios' error when running atiwinflash. Make sure you are running cmd.exe as Administrator (it will say at the top of the window).

If anyone has a Sapphire and cant get atiwinflash to work for them then let me know, the other brands should be the same though.

I had to use the command prompt on my gigabyte as well. It was still incredibly easy to do.

[mohsentux2]

Mine does say 10.11 using the 12.1a's.
have you tried uninstalling the last driver and cleaning the driver with driver sweep and then installing the new drivers?that should fix it.

[deathman20]

Well if I used 10.12's you'd think it should have 10.12 there to begin with since that was my first driver.

Im not worried it runs, I can play games, its faster than my old GTX285 so its all good :)