Sunday, December 26th 2010

AMD Radeon HD 6950 Can be Unlocked to HD 6970

Looks like Santa brought an extra present for us hardware enthusiasts this year. Thanks to a less secure locking method AMD's new Radeon HD 6950 can be unlocked to a full blown HD 6970 with a few mouse clicks.

As detailed in our article, you can safely perform the flashing process from within Windows. In case something goes wrong it is easier than ever to recover the card thanks to AMD's new Dual-BIOS feature.

We tested the unlock on three HD 6950 cards: one AMD engineering sample, one HIS media sample and one ASUS retail card. All of them unlocked perfectly and run at HD 6970 speeds now. More success reports are compiled into a table at the end of the modding article.
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302 Comments on AMD Radeon HD 6950 Can be Unlocked to HD 6970

#26
dnihilist
TheGuruStud8 pin doesn't add power.
ok thnx

My theory is that MAD knew of this already and since the positioning of 6970 is in no-man's land, the free advertizing generated from this "feature" would sell more than enough 6950's to cover caniballized 6970 sales.
Posted on Reply
#27
trt740
toyoIn your face, AMD... (man I hardly believe they didn't know about this possibility before launch)
Well now you have it do you really think they didn't? I mean they know the W1zzards of the world are out there.
Posted on Reply
#28
TheGuruStud
dnihilistok thnx

My theory is that MAD knew of this already and since the positioning of 6970 is in no-man's land, the free advertizing generated from this "feature" would sell more than enough 6950's to cover caniballized 6970 sales.
That's exactly what I think. Just like unlocking the duals and tricores. It's working. I'm sitting on amazon's checkout page.... :eek:


And I bought one. I'm so ashamed. It's like I paid a prostitute for the gratification. :D

Sapphire's on amazon is $292.50, btw. I wish I could hold out till the 3rd party coolers are available, but I guess I don't want to risk AMD actually fusing them.
Posted on Reply
#29
Unregistered
Would this card perform on par with a GTX 295, or better.
Posted on Edit | Reply
#31
dnihilist
TheGuruStudThat's exactly what I think. Just like unlocking the duals and tricores. It's working. I'm sitting on amazon's checkout page.... :eek:


And I bought one. I'm so ashamed. It's like I paid a prostitute for the gratification. :D

Sapphire's on amazon is $292.50, btw. I wish I could hold out till the 3rd party coolers are available, but I guess I don't want to risk AMD actually fusing them.
Heading out to get one now, nothing wrong about getting the most bang for your buck.

The dual-bios is starting to make sense, no point getting your noob 6950 customers bricking their cards performing their "free" upgrade.
Posted on Reply
#32
TheGuruStud
dnihilistHeading out to get one now, nothing wrong about getting the most bang for your buck.

The dual-bios is starting to make sense, no point getting your noob 6950 customers bricking their cards performing their "free" upgrade.
Yeah :laugh: I was wondering why they implemented the feature. I loved it before this, but it definitely makes sense and makes me even happier.

Go Green Team! Or is it Team Green?
Posted on Reply
#33
KainXS
well this makes the 6970 worth it to me now, get a 6950 flash to 6970

thats some incredible performance per dollar
Posted on Reply
#34
LAN_deRf_HA
Have these flashed cards been stability tested? Because most 6950s reviewed don't seem to hit 880 on stock volts, and isn't the 6950 vid higher to begin with?
Posted on Reply
#35
PaNiC
thank you AMD for taking $200 away from me
Posted on Reply
#36
DigitalUK
man this sucks, i was going to buy the 6950 but spent the extra ,just put my system together again after installing my nice new 6970 and first thing i see 6950 unlocked. i thought the cores were different on the 6950 and 6970


also is there a reason mine is showing 1600 shaders.

Posted on Reply
#37
buggalugs
You gotta use the new GPUZ to read the 69xx cards properly
Posted on Reply
#38
Salsoolo
was eyeing a 6870. definitely getting a 6950 in two weeks on extra monies :rockout:
hope it works with me
Posted on Reply
#39
DigitalUK
that is the latest version 0.4.9, its gonna make 6950's sell like hot cakes.
Posted on Reply
#41
DigitalUK
thanks buggalugs didnt know that, everything reading properly now and bandwidth showing what it should.
Posted on Reply
#42
Rebelstar
I wonder if AMD will close this way to unlock in the next 6950 revisions probably and only first 6950's are possible to unlock.
Posted on Reply
#43
buggalugs
...... this is a nice Christmas present if you own a 6950 but i wouldnt be too upset if i already had a 6970. The best binned chips probably went into the 6970.
RebelstarI wonder if AMD will close this way to unlock in the next 6950 revisions probably and only first 6950's are possible to unlock.
Dont think so. I think they do it on purpose, same with their unlocking of cores on their CPUs. AMD are too smart to let this happen by accident.
Posted on Reply
#44
KainXS
it might be why they did the dual bios anyway. . . . . .

took to fast to figure this out
Posted on Reply
#45
dir_d
Performance is the same even with two different architectures? Why did AMD switch to 4-Way? Was it a test run like the 40nm 4770?
Posted on Reply
#46
crazyeyesreaper
Not a Moderator
no so much the same i can tell you in games like crysis warhead dual 5800 to dual 6900 was nearly double the performance it really depends on the game

Metro 2033
Alien Vs Predator

both scale and are far faster on the new cards by a landslide just DX9 and DX10 there on par or 20% faster *usually* but there are weird situations

example Bad Company 2 regular multiplayer xfire scaling is 18% Bad Company 2 Vietnam multiplayer scaling for me is around 82-85% and at those frame rates its about 35-40fps more then my 5850 oc xfire setup was

to be blunt theres far more games out there then the 5-10 you see in reviews and the games that need the xtra performance the 6900s do there share of improving :toast:
Posted on Reply
#47
Rebelstar
buggalugs.
Dont think so. I think they do it on purpose, same with their unlocking of cores on their CPUs. AMD are too smart to let this happen by accident.
Well, then I think we'll see OUT OF STOCK message for 6950 at newegg very soon :)
Posted on Reply
#48
wolf
Performance Enthusiast
This makes the 6950 a hec of a lot more tempting, gahhh, if only the GTX560 were out already to make my decision easyer.
Posted on Reply
#49
crazyeyesreaper
Not a Moderator
come on wolf we both know the 560 will just be a new 470

580 replaced 480 took a step up
570 = 480
560 = 470
550 = 460

so on and etc
Posted on Reply
#50
wolf
Performance Enthusiast
crazyeyesreapercome on wolf we both know the 560 will just be a new 470

580 replaced 480 took a step up
570 = 480
560 = 470
550 = 460

so on and etc
yes but pricing and overclockability of the tweaked chip are unknown, we can make performance estimates for for enthusiasts like us that isnt the whole picture.

also I have to stick to a 500w PSU budget nowadays.
Posted on Reply
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