Sapphire HD 6950 2GB unlock

Durvelle27 · Sep 9, 2012

I was thinking about trying to unlock the shaders on my Sapphire HD 6950 2GB. i want to know how can i do this. Also what will be some good drivers for it ? Thx for any help received

this is the card i ordered

SAPPHIRE 100312-3L Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR...

**UPDATE** 9/12/12

Keep getting this error

Law-II · Sep 9, 2012

Hi

NOTE: This process may not be possible with a non reference or later models

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

Note: Use, GPU-Z Make a backup of your existing bios before modding; save to file
Example

Use the latest drivers from AMD http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx or drivers you know are stable from their archive http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/previous/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx

atb (all the best)

Law-II

manofthem · Sep 9, 2012

Have you tried using the bios switch? Many reviews on Newegg show that the other bios position has 6970 specs, or at least partially. Give that a shot.

Durvelle27 · Sep 9, 2012

manofthem said:
Have you tried using the bios switch? Many reviews on Newegg show that the other bios position has 6970 specs, or at least partially. Give that a shot.

Sorry forgot to mention i won't have the card physically till Monday or Tuesday ?

INSTG8R · Sep 9, 2012

manofthem said:
Have you tried using the bios switch? Many reviews on Newegg show that the other bios position has 6970 specs, or at least partially. Give that a shot.

My first thought too. Sapphire are getting "stealthy" with their model number on their site. So makes it hard to spot the differences. But yeah Sapphire always give you that little bit "extra" Why I have been using them for GENERATIONS! :rockout:

NEVER let me down yet.

Durvelle27 · Sep 10, 2012

manofthem said:
Have you tried using the bios switch? Many reviews on Newegg show that the other bios position has 6970 specs, or at least partially. Give that a shot.

yea i just read that on newegg two half of all the reviews were successful with just the bios switch

brandonwh64 · Sep 10, 2012

I have this card and it unlocked for the previous owner and still it unlocked!

Durvelle27 · Sep 10, 2012

brandonwh64 said:
I have this card and it unlocked for the previous owner and still it unlocked!

how did you do yours BIOs switch or Change BIOs

brandonwh64 · Sep 10, 2012

Durvelle27 said:
how did you do yours BIOs switch or Change BIOs

You would have to ask the original owner Jstn7477

Durvelle27 · Sep 10, 2012

Jstn7477 · Sep 10, 2012

My card, the one Brandonwh64 is talking about, had 2 BIOS banks and a switch. The primary BIOS had the standard 1408 shaders @ 800MHz, and the secondary BIOS had all 1536 shaders unlocked @ 800MHz. All I did was flip the switch and it turned into a pseudo-6970.

Sapphire released a ton of different revisions of the same card, some of which were capable and some that were not (my guess is they may have used some good and some defective chips). My advice is to look for a BIOS switch and flip it to each position to see what settings are stored on each ROM.

I wouldn't really recommend flashing it if possible, unless you absolutely have a 100% understanding of what may happen and how to revert to the original backed up ROM. I see countless people bricking cards of all types every day on this forum thinking they will make their card better by "upgrading the BIOS." Some vendors even go as far as turning write protection on their cards to prevent these problems. My card also seemed to have a pretty low PowerTune throttling threshold (I may be mistaken) so don't expect to unlock it and get 1GHz out of the core or something. Ran mine at 840/1375.

Durvelle27 · Sep 10, 2012

Jstn7477 said:
My card, the one Brandonwh64 is talking about, had 2 BIOS banks and a switch. The primary BIOS had the standard 1408 shaders @ 800MHz, and the secondary BIOS had all 1536 shaders unlocked @ 800MHz. All I did was flip the switch and it turned into a pseudo-6970.

Sapphire released a ton of different revisions of the same card, some of which were capable and some that were not (my guess is they may have used some good and some defective chips). My advice is to look for a BIOS switch and flip it to each position to see what settings are stored on each ROM.

I wouldn't really recommend flashing it if possible, unless you absolutely have a 100% understanding of what may happen and how to revert to the original backed up ROM. I see countless people bricking cards of all types every day on this forum thinking they will make their card better by "upgrading the BIOS." Some vendors even go as far as turning write protection on their cards to prevent these problems. My card also seemed to have a pretty low PowerTune throttling threshold (I may be mistaken) so don't expect to unlock it and get 1GHz out of the core or something. Ran mine at 840/1375.

this is the card i got half of them had success with just flipping the switch

SAPPHIRE 100312-3L Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR...

Jstn7477 · Sep 10, 2012

I had a 100312-3SR and I think the results were about the same.

Durvelle27 · Sep 10, 2012

from the reviews about about 97%

Durvelle27 · Sep 10, 2012

TimothWinter said:
Give that a shot.http://www.iiez.info/samz13.jpg

your link isn't working

INSTG8R · Sep 10, 2012

Durvelle27 said:
your link isn't working

Don't worry about it. He was "Stealth Spamming"

Durvelle27 · Sep 10, 2012

oh ok thx.... card should be here tomorrow so i will get that up and running then try the BIOs switch ?

INSTG8R · Sep 10, 2012

Fingers crossed.

Durvelle27 · Sep 10, 2012

INSTG8R said:
Fingers crossed.

i also ordered 8GB of DDR3 1600MHz RAM

:toast:

INSTG8R · Sep 10, 2012

Can't complain about that either get it while it's cheap

Durvelle27 · Sep 10, 2012

3870x2 · Sep 10, 2012

any second now eh?

Durvelle27 · Sep 10, 2012

3870x2 said:
any second now eh?

i hope

cadaveca · Sep 10, 2012

watching this thread. I got three cards still, have had 6 now, let's see what ya get.

Durvelle27 · Sep 11, 2012

it will be here later today

System Name	Black Prometheus
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System Name	Black Prometheus
Processor	\|AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
Motherboard	ASRock B550M Pro4\|MSI X370 Gaming PLUS
Cooling	Thermalright PA120 SE \| AMD Stock Cooler
Memory	G.Skill 64GB(2x32GB) 3200MHz \| 32GB(4x8GB) DDR4
Video Card(s)	\|AMD R9 290
Storage	Sandisk X300 512GB + WD Black 6TB+WD Black 6TB
Display(s)	LG Nanocell85 49" 4K 120Hz + ACER AOPEN 34" 3440x1440 144Hz
Case	DeepCool Matrexx 55 V3 w/ 6x120mm Intake + 3x120mm Exhaust
Audio Device(s)	LG Dolby Atmos 5.1
Power Supply	Corsair RMX850 Fully Modular\| EVGA 750W G2
Mouse	Logitech Trackman
Keyboard	Logitech K350
Software	Windows 10 EDU x64

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Sapphire HD 6950 2GB unlock

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