6950 unlocked crossfire of 6990?

bobesko · Mar 8, 2011

What would be the disadvantages of this crossfire? Advantage is definitely the price.

erocker · Mar 8, 2011

I don't understand what you mean by disadvantage? Do you mean disadvantage over the 6990? Well, it takes up two slots on your motherboard instead of one.

Frizz · Mar 8, 2011

There are also some implications of long term side effects when you unlock the 6950s.. truth is it will never become a 6970 just a wannabe version since it doesn't have the required pins.

GSG-9 · Mar 8, 2011

Well I am assuming you mean you are going to flash the 6950s to 6970s. There are reports of permeant damage to cards. All I can tell you is what happened to mine; and that is that they run with the 6970 bios at 900mhz, my ram core is at 1250 (6950 stock) and I have no issues whatsoever (Its been 2.5 months). So unlock them at your own risk and I wish you luck!

cyriene · Mar 8, 2011

I'm happy with my crossfire 6950s Cheaper than 6990 and it seems in the past AMD's dual gpu cards have additional driver issues than two separate cards.

Frizz · Mar 8, 2011

GSG-9 said:
Well I am assuming you mean you are going to flash the 6950s to 6970s. There are reports of permeant damage to cards. All I can tell you is what happened to mine; and that is that they run with the 6970 bios at 900mhz, my ram core is at 1250 (6950 stock) and I have no issues whatsoever (Its been 2.5 months). So unlock them at your own risk and I wish you luck!

Yeah based on the reports it seems more related to the RAM running OC'd at or over 6970 speeds that caused problems. Although I can't be sure.

bobesko · Mar 8, 2011

And what about the noise of 2 6950 unlocked. Currently, mine is bearable but I wonder how is it gonna be after adding another one. Btw, tommorow Iam getting i52500k and Ill be trying to oc it to 4,5 ghz. I assume it would be enough for these two cards.

InnocentCriminal · Mar 8, 2011

bobesko said:
And what about the noise of 2 6950 unlocked. Currently, mine is bearable but I wonder how is it gonna be after adding another one. Btw, tommorow Iam getting i52500k and Ill be trying to oc it to 4,5 ghz. I assume it would be enough for these two cards.

More than enough. What resolution will you be playing at?

GSG-9 · Mar 8, 2011

bobesko said:
And what about the noise of 2 6950 unlocked. Currently, mine is bearable but I wonder how is it gonna be after adding another one. Btw, tommorow Iam getting i52500k and Ill be trying to oc it to 4,5 ghz. I assume it would be enough for these two cards.

The noise is basically dependent on how much power you give them/if you modify the fan profile and I expect your top most cards fan will be going pretty fast most of the time since crossfire does not allow the best airflow.

newconroer · Mar 11, 2011

randomflip said:
There are also some implications of long term side effects when you unlock the 6950s.. truth is it will never become a 6970 just a wannabe version since it doesn't have the required pins.

You don't have to use 6970 voltages and clocks. A shader unlocked 6950 at 840/1325(or whatever CCC max is) is pretty much a 6970 when it comes to real performance. Stock 6950 crossfire hangs (and sometimes slightly edges, especially at 2560 res) with the 6990.

bobesko said:
And what about the noise of 2 6950 unlocked. Currently, mine is bearable but I wonder how is it gonna be after adding another one. Btw, tommorow Iam getting i52500k and Ill be trying to oc it to 4,5 ghz. I assume it would be enough for these two cards.

6950 on full 3d clocks can run with a 45% fan speed and stay comfortable below 60-65 degrees in a good case, even when in Crossfire configuration. The noise isn't that bad, and with a pair of headphones, you don't hear it.

At this point anyone with 6950 Crossfire, even stock would be wasting their time. And unlike the 4870x2 of years past, I wouldn't recommend the dual solution from ATI this time around.

In contrast to the 6950 Crossfire(and in some cases 6970) :

6990 Pros
Single card means single PCI E lane.

6990 Cons
Consumes a noticeable bit more power than a 6950 Crossfire setup.
Costs more.
Drivers can be an issue with new hardware as always.
If the card gets damaged or goes down temporarily, you have no back up.
More noise potentially because the card can get considerably hot and require a higher fan speed rate.

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6950 unlocked crossfire of 6990?

bobesko

New Member

erocker

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Frizz

GSG-9

cyriene

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Frizz

bobesko

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InnocentCriminal

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GSG-9

newconroer

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