How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[SplifPolitics]

may i ask if you're card had a dual bios? because it's not a reference card and we all know that there are really small chances on unlocking or flashing those card..can give me the procedure on how did you do it?

Ye, I do have a dual bios.

Well, I tried three different ways on unlocking:
The first was saving my current bios with Winflash and then edit the shaders with RBE and then flash with RBE/winflash.
The other one was to flash a 6970 bios with RBE/Winflash.
the las one was to flash a modded bios of my original with the batch file that Wizzard posted (which is the same as the first method).

I had two result:
First, When unlocking the shaders of my original bios with RBE after the reboot GPU-Z show 1408 shaders (nothing changed) but in RBE it's ticked on 6970 shaders (lol?).
Second, When flashing a 6970 bios the pc stuck on the pre MB bios; black screen-no beeps.

 

[swchoi89]

Hi,

I followed your instructions (using the package that you created for less experienced user) on my MSI Radeon HD 6950 Twin Froze OC II. Now my card is not functioning and seems like the BIOS is messed up. Any tips?

 

[chan1600]

I changed my MSI R6950's shaders to 1536 Unified.
And, I tried to restart the computer is work with 1536 Unified.

However, I don't see any option to change the GPU clock more than 840MHz

Did I success to change the 6950 to 6970 yet?

 

[swchoi89]

I changed my MSI R6950's shaders to 1536 Unified.
And, I tried to restart the computer is work with 1536 Unified.
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/12/01/19/2dx.png


However, I don't see any option to change the GPU clock more than 840MHz


http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l344/chan1600/TEST.jpg

Did I success to change the 6950 to 6970 yet?

Could you please explain to me how you did yours? Mine got busted for some reason :S

 

[manofthem]

I changed my MSI R6950's shaders to 1536 Unified.
And, I tried to restart the computer is work with 1536 Unified.
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/12/01/19/2dx.png


However, I don't see any option to change the GPU clock more than 840MHz


http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l344/chan1600/TEST.jpg

Did I success to change the 6950 to 6970 yet?

Looks like it's a modded 6950 bios according to the clock speeds and your post. Unlocking shaders only unlocks the shaders. Use MSI Afterburner to overclock. Edit the user cfg file to allow "unofficial overclocking" to set clocks much higher, and in the settings options, you can allow voltage control and monitoring. Don't worry about using CCC to change clocks from there on out.

Hi,

I followed your instructions (using the package that you created for less experienced user) on my MSI Radeon HD 6950 Twin Froze OC II. Now my card is not functioning and seems like the BIOS is messed up. Any tips?

If you don't have a bios switch on your card, and your card won't boot at all, use another video card in your first pcie slot and throw your "dead" in second pcie slot. Flash it back to default bios, but using the different pcie slot number (0 for primary pcie and 1 for second pcie)

 

[swchoi89]

Looks like it's a modded 6950 bios according to the clock speeds and your post. Unlocking shaders only unlocks the shaders. Use MSI Afterburner to overclock. Edit the user cfg file to allow "unofficial overclocking" to set clocks much higher, and in the settings options, you can allow voltage control and monitoring. Don't worry about using CCC to change clocks from there on out.



If you don't have a bios switch on your card, and your card won't boot at all, use another video card in your first pcie slot and throw your "dead" in second pcie slot. Flash it back to default bios, but using the different pcie slot number (0 for primary pcie and 1 for second pcie)

Thanks for the reply. If you could further clarify for me, that would be great.

Now I'm scared how to flash anything at all...

So i have a spare radeon 5770 that I can use. At the same time, I have the file that has "flash to 6950". So how would I know if i run that program will apply to my second slot (the "dead" one)? In other words, what is the trick using GPU-Z or whatever to help me flash ONLY the "dead" one?

My second question would be... seems like I might run out of cables for the cards. Do both cards require that they are plugged in to the power supply? For example, 5770 has one 6pin slot whereas 6950 has 2. would my computer recognize that 6950 is plugged in without the 6pins?

Again, thank you very much!

 

[chan1600]

Looks like it's a modded 6950 bios according to the clock speeds and your post. Unlocking shaders only unlocks the shaders. Use MSI Afterburner to overclock. Edit the user cfg file to allow "unofficial overclocking" to set clocks much higher, and in the settings options, you can allow voltage control and monitoring. Don't worry about using CCC to change clocks from there on out.



If you don't have a bios switch on your card, and your card won't boot at all, use another video card in your first pcie slot and throw your "dead" in second pcie slot. Flash it back to default bios, but using the different pcie slot number (0 for primary pcie and 1 for second pcie)

Thank you, man!!
I try to find out how to edit cfg. Thank you so much

 

[chan1600]

Looks like it's a modded 6950 bios according to the clock speeds and your post. Unlocking shaders only unlocks the shaders. Use MSI Afterburner to overclock. Edit the user cfg file to allow "unofficial overclocking" to set clocks much higher, and in the settings options, you can allow voltage control and monitoring. Don't worry about using CCC to change clocks from there on out.



If you don't have a bios switch on your card, and your card won't boot at all, use another video card in your first pcie slot and throw your "dead" in second pcie slot. Flash it back to default bios, but using the different pcie slot number (0 for primary pcie and 1 for second pcie)

OK .... Work now...!
Thank you so much!

 

[chan1600]

Tested by Heaven DX11 Benchmark 2.5.
I have to improve the Core Voltage to more than 1100 and run well.

 

[Amfidiusz]

[--SOLVED--]

Hey,

I tried to unlock additional shaders using RBE application to switch bios on my Asus HD6950 DCII. Unfortunatelly, due to lack of experience I managed to mess something up and now have troubles in flashing the card with the original bios copy. A few facs of how it behaves now:

- Windows 7 will not start at all - I get a BSOD after the welcome screen.
- Windows starts in safe mode but none of the tools seem to work.
- My card is not referential one so I don't have a dual bios switch.
- After creating a bootable USB stick with atiflash 3.60 on it, I get an error 0FL101 Adapter not found
- I got just one pci-e slot on my motherboard.

Is there any other way to flash it with a working bios? Maybe some other tool loaded on the USB stick? Is there any chance I will get this card working again?

I hope you'll be able to help me

[--/SOLVED--]

OK, seems like the old atiflash utility didn't recognize a newer card. In fact, I was convinced I had to use version 3.60 as it had bootable files instead of just exe file in 3.89. Apparently, atiflash.exe works from USB key smoothly and I was finally able to flash my card.

But there is always a bright point - I finally was forced to create an account here after several last weeks of just reading your articles and tutorials

 

[manofthem]

Thank you, man!!
I try to find out how to edit cfg. Thank you so much

I don't know if you figured out how to do it yet, but if not, you can look here:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=327291

[--SOLVED--]

Hey,

I tried to unlock additional shaders using RBE application to switch bios on my Asus HD6950 DCII. Unfortunatelly, due to lack of experience I managed to mess something up and now have troubles in flashing the card with the original bios copy. A few facs of how it behaves now:

- Windows 7 will not start at all - I get a BSOD after the welcome screen.
- Windows starts in safe mode but none of the tools seem to work.
- My card is not referential one so I don't have a dual bios switch.
- After creating a bootable USB stick with atiflash 3.60 on it, I get an error 0FL101 Adapter not found
- I got just one pci-e slot on my motherboard.

Is there any other way to flash it with a working bios? Maybe some other tool loaded on the USB stick? Is there any chance I will get this card working again?

I hope you'll be able to help me

[--/SOLVED--]

OK, seems like the old atiflash utility didn't recognize a newer card. In fact, I was convinced I had to use version 3.60 as it had bootable files instead of just exe file in 3.89. Apparently, atiflash.exe works from USB key smoothly and I was finally able to flash my card.

But there is always a bright point - I finally was forced to create an account here after several last weeks of just reading your articles and tutorials

Good job on solving it
Hopefully you'll get that 6950 unlocked. Try it again, just not the same way as the first time.

 

[Rule-R]

[--SOLVED--]

Hey,

I tried to unlock additional shaders using RBE application to switch bios on my Asus HD6950 DCII. Unfortunatelly, due to lack of experience I managed to mess something up and now have troubles in flashing the card with the original bios copy. A few facs of how it behaves now:

- Windows 7 will not start at all - I get a BSOD after the welcome screen.
- Windows starts in safe mode but none of the tools seem to work.
- My card is not referential one so I don't have a dual bios switch.
- After creating a bootable USB stick with atiflash 3.60 on it, I get an error 0FL101 Adapter not found
- I got just one pci-e slot on my motherboard.

Is there any other way to flash it with a working bios? Maybe some other tool loaded on the USB stick? Is there any chance I will get this card working again?

I hope you'll be able to help me

[--/SOLVED--]

OK, seems like the old atiflash utility didn't recognize a newer card. In fact, I was convinced I had to use version 3.60 as it had bootable files instead of just exe file in 3.89. Apparently, atiflash.exe works from USB key smoothly and I was finally able to flash my card.

But there is always a bright point - I finally was forced to create an account here after several last weeks of just reading your articles and tutorials

Welcome

 

[chropose]

Texture Units & SIMD.

Does unlocking shaders with RBE also unlocks texture units and SIMD as well (88 to 96 for texture units and 22 to 24 for SIMD) ?

Thanks.

 

[fausto412]

I have an engineering sample.

I have an AMD Engineering sample 6950. what are my chances to flash it to 6970 speeds. anybody have any luck?

How can I tell what brand my card is in the bios? will GPU-Z tell me?

I believe the date on the label on the outside is December 2010


Which bios are you guys all using?

 

[sildar]

I have an AMD Engineering sample 6950. what are my chances to flash it to 6970 speeds. anybody have any luck?

How can I tell what brand my card is in the bios? will GPU-Z tell me?

That should be a reference card, so you should have an easier time flashing to a 6970 BIOS if that's what you choose to do. You're better off modding your BIOS with RBE, though.

And if it's an engineering sample, the brand should be AMD, shouldn't it?

 

[fausto412]

That should be a reference card, so you should have an easier time flashing to a 6970 BIOS if that's what you choose to do. You're better off modding your BIOS with RBE, though.

And if it's an engineering sample, the brand should be AMD, shouldn't it?

I will try the flashing the BIOS. what's the benefit with RBE? how will i know if that will work?

My 6990 engineering sample has Sapphire branding on the bios.

I was trying to crossfire the 6950 with the 6990 but the system wouldn't always see the 6950 or both the 6990's. I ran into problems with that. I also couldn't enable cross fire on 3 gpu's, never figured out how. Hoping that flashing to 6970 allows me to crossfire with 6990 and downclock to keep power demands under control as my PSU is a Corsair AX850 which is pretty good but top TDP for both these cards is pretty darn high for it. I figure i could Powertune it -20% and I should be good.

I could also just game with the 6950 or modded 6950 if it provides a better BF3 experience. I read that 3 gpu's gets rid of stuttering which I have a lot of with the 6990.

 

[sildar]

I will try the flashing the BIOS. what's the benefit with RBE? how will i know if that will work?

My 6990 engineering sample has Sapphire branding on the bios.

I was trying to crossfire the 6950 with the 6990 but the system wouldn't always see the 6950 or both the 6990's. I ran into problems with that. I also couldn't enable cross fire on 3 gpu's, never figured out how. Hoping that flashing to 6970 allows me to crossfire with 6990 and downclock to keep power demands under control as my PSU is a Corsair AX850 which is pretty good but top TDP for both these cards is pretty darn high for it. I figure i could Powertune it -20% and I should be good.

I could also just game with the 6950 or modded 6950 if it provides a better BF3 experience. I read that 3 gpu's gets rid of stuttering which I have a lot of with the 6990.

The guide lays out the basics of RBE, and the software has good documentation. There's lots of info in this thread, as well. Basically, instead of downloading and flashing a 6970 BIOS to your 6950 card, it's much more stable to use RBE to download the BIOS from your card, modify it to unlock your shaders (and perhaps modify the powertune limits), and re-flash the modded BIOS to your card.

I can't give you advice on CF with your 6990, or with 3xCF. Maybe someone else can.

 

[onehans]

oh well i did flash than i did flash back to original state but i still get occasional artefacts in fire fox browser :? i guess i damaged card a bit :/

 

[xcorp]

So I just flashed my card (Diamond) with the Diamond 6970 bios. Everything went well and the clock speed is set to 880/1375, but I only have 1408 shaders. I loaded the Bios into RBE, but the Shaders unlock part is greyed out. Any suggestions on what to do?

 

[manofthem]

So I just flashed my card (Diamond) with the Diamond 6970 bios. Everything went well and the clock speed is set to 880/1375, but I only have 1408 shaders. I loaded the Bios into RBE, but the Shaders unlock part is greyed out. Any suggestions on what to do?

Perhaps reinstall drivers. Same thing happened to me last year when I flashed and shaders didn't indicate 1536 right away.

 

[xcorp]

I just went back to the stock bios because BF3 kept locking up my whole computer after 15 mts of gameplay.

 

[ramguerra]

Trying to Unlock

Hey guys. I have a Diamond 6950 reference card seen here and I have tried to unlock the shaders. I was able to load different BIOS to it, but none will unlock. I am able to load the Diamond one from the links posted, but all I get is the overclock and not the unlock. Even RBE shows the option to unlock the shaders, but when I do and push the new bios in, It still shows the 1408 shaders. Any Ideas?

 

[manofthem]

Hey guys. I have a Diamond 6950 reference card seen here and I have tried to unlock the shaders. I was able to load different BIOS to it, but none will unlock. I am able to load the Diamond one from the links posted, but all I get is the overclock and not the unlock. Even RBE shows the option to unlock the shaders, but when I do and push the new bios in, It still shows the 1408 shaders. Any Ideas?

Did you try reinstalling the drivers?

 

[ramguerra]

Did you try reinstalling the drivers?

Yea I have tried that. Unless I did the uninstall wrong. I just uninstalled The AMD catalyst control center, then used CC Cleaner. But I might be missing a step.

 

[manofthem]

Yea I have tried that. Unless I did the uninstall wrong. I just uninstalled The AMD catalyst control center, then used CC Cleaner. But I might be missing a step.

This guide is great, give her a go
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52502

it may not be the driver as the problem so post back ....
Which bios are you flashing: modded 6950 or a full 6970?