How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[manofthem]

Originally Posted by Sleuth

No it was not used, it was bought new. Like I said, the box does say it is factory overclocked already, so that explains the higher clock rate I guess.

Your card unlocks to a 6970 with the bios switch, which is why your card has 8pin/6pin for power. Only difference is your memory clocked to 1300 instead of 1375 like a normal 6970.

[noobsrus]

hey guys, i'm new to this and was hoping someone could fill me in/ help me out with unlocking this card. i have the XFX Double D HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB. im not sure if it can be unlocked, but wanted to ask the community if it can. i dont want to burn nor mess it up. by the way, my card doesnt no have the bios switch. is there anyone that could help me out? heres the link: Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg

[TRWOV]

unlocking is hit or miss, no guarantees. Just in the previous page another dude with the same card as me unlocked with no problems but I couldn't.

[noobsrus]

whats the wrost thing that could happen if i try this? and how do i fix it? i dont have a backup card

[TRWOV]

The worst is that the bios bricks the card and then you'll have to reflash it with the original bios. If your motherboard has an IGP (board has DVI or VGA port) you can use that as a "backup card".

[noobsrus]

Originally Posted by TRWOV

The worst is that the bios bricks the card and then you'll have to reflash it with the original bios. If your motherboard has an IGP (board has DVI or VGA port) you can use that as a "backup card".

how can i backup orignal bios? i believe my motherboard has an igp, gpu z picks up another video display when i launch it

[TRWOV]

Originally Posted by noobsrus

how can i backup orignal bios? i believe my motherboard has an igp, gpu z picks up another video display when i launch it

You can backup the bios from GPU-Z itself (clic on the "Save BIOS" button). If your motherboard has a DVI, HDMI or VGA connector it has an IGP.

[noobsrus]

this is the second option in gpz, does this mean i have an igp?

[TRWOV]

yes

[noobsrus]

when i do command "atiwinflash -f -p 0 unlock.bin" in cmd, its saying "rom not erased" is tha normal? and the 6950 is device 0

[TRWOV]

try -unlockrom before flashing.

If that doesn't work, the bios might be hardlocked (the pin that enables flashing is disabled). Also, remember to run the command line as administrador (if you're using Vista/W7).

[jeff_man]

So before someone flames me, Yes tl;dr but I have a very simple question.

Card I have is a HIS HD6950 2GB H695FT2G2M

I did the 6970 unlock over a year ago using RBE to make my custem bios and just did a simple 6970 unlock then set power the +20% in ati control panel.

Now to get the to HD6950 w/1536 shaders and 6970 clocks do I simply just turn up the Core to 900MHz and memory to 1400MHz in the ATI controle panel or do I load one of the bios from HIS HD6970 Bios

Or can I safely go higher?

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by jeff_man

So before someone flames me, Yes tl;dr but I have a very simple question.

Card I have is a HIS HD6950 2GB H695FT2G2M

I did the 6970 unlock over a year ago using RBE to make my custem bios and just did a simple 6970 unlock then set power the +20% in ati control panel.

Now to get the to HD6950 w/1536 shaders and 6970 clocks do I simply just turn up the Core to 900MHz and memory to 1400MHz in the ATI controle panel or do I load one of the bios from HIS HD6970 Bios

Or can I safely go higher?

You can go higher.

however, 6950 stock votlage is 1.1 V on that card, while stock 6970 voltage is 1.174 V. Both use the same cooler.

So, load up Sapphire Trixx, go to teh settings tab, check the "disable ULPS" option, and enable the "run trixx at startup", "minimize", and "load clock" options on the settings page.

Reboot.

Upon booting into windows again, ULPS will be disabled. Then you can safely adjust voltage to 1.174 V, and then adjust clocks as you desire.

[jeff_man]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

You can go higher.

however, 6950 stock votlage is 1.1 V on that card, while stock 6970 voltage is 1.174 V. Both use the same cooler.

So, load up Sapphire Trixx, go to teh settings tab, check the "disable ULPS" option, and enable the "run trixx at startup", "minimize", and "load clock" options on the settings page.

Reboot.

Upon booting into windows again, ULPS will be disabled. Then you can safely adjust voltage to 1.174 V, and then adjust clocks as you desire.

Thanks for the fast replay

never used Sapphire Trixx but guessing it will work with any ati card? When you say I can go higher... What is a good safe high bad ass number or how do I went to far. Guessing crashing and freezing means turn it down but looking for a good starting number i.e. 950/1500

Also does the setting 1.174v replace setting power at +20% or do I need to do both?

Off the read and watch how to videos.

[cadaveca]

Personally, I run unlocked shaders and 925 MHz @ 1.15 V on my three cards now.

And yes, Trixx tends to work with most AMD cards without any real intervention by adjusting configuration files, or any of that stuff. Since that HIS card is reference, it should work like a charm.

I have three reference cards, one Sapphire, one Gigabyte, and one XFX. XFX card uses a different BIOS, yet, Trixx has no prolems clocking all three cards perfectly.

I also suggest you use 12.3 or 11.11c drivers with HD6950, and the latest CAP profile. I have done extensive testing with these cards, and the 12.3 driver is the last that works properly, after 11.11c. All others have bugs of one form or another.

[jeff_man]

Why run an older driver, I'm also running a single card not a cross fire. Guess 925Mhz at 1.174v is a good place to start but what about memory MHz?

See you edited as I was replying.

[cadaveca]

Older driver as it performs best with that generation of cards. Since the 7-series launch, the drivers have been focused for those cards.

I also use a single non-reference HD6950 2 GB card in all my motherboard and memory reviews posted here, so that goes for both single GPU and multi-GPU. Yes, I have four of thesse cards.

For memory, some cards won't do the 1375 MHz of the 6970 BIOS. some will run 1475 no problem. GPU clocking is just the same...luck of the draw. Unlocknig shaders is the same as well, but the original reference cards have a very high probability to unlock, but as these cards were produced, and OEMs binned cards for different models, things like clocking and such have been greatly restricted. You got a reference card, so it should clock well, but there's no way for me to provide any guidance as to what you shoudl aim for. Most of these "reference" 6950's were only released in this refernce "form" becuase of a parts shortage for the actual 6950 PCB, which had it's power delivery section by the vga ports, so some chips are great..soem are very poor, pushed out just to meet orders.

[jeff_man]

My card stock is 840/1408 plus the shades unlocked some I'm past the 1375 =D. For OCing I know i just keep adding 10MHz on the core till I start seeing artifacts. Does the memory fallow the same logic?

[cadaveca]

Yeah, sure does, but personally, I use 25 MHz jumps, then when it fails, go back 25 Mhz to the past good clocks and call it done.

[dragoskid10]

Hello and thx for this great hack,
I have a Ati 6950 2GB from Sapphire.
I had this card inside a P5ql pro MB from asus 775 socket - and intel E8400+ 4GB ram DDR2.
I unlocked the shaders and tha card worked pertfectly.
I placed the card into a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H + 3570k Ivy Bridge + DDR3 8GB ram.
It doesnt wana post with the new bios (unlocked one), it only wants to start with stock bios.
I dont know what is the problem, the new platform doesnt suports it???

[Ruhnie]

Is it possible that some z77 boards will have an issue with this unlock? I have been beating my head against the wall for the last 24 hours with an issue with my new build. Popped my unlocked 6950 into a new mobo and I can't get any signal from the graphics card. Did some googling and found an Asus Z77 board that was confirmed to have a problem with this unlock. Guess I'll try updating my BIOS and see if it fixes it, and worst case run with my backup 6950 BIOS

[manofthem]

Originally Posted by dragoskid10

Hello and thx for this great hack,
I have a Ati 6950 2GB from Sapphire.
I had this card inside a P5ql pro MB from asus 775 socket - and intel E8400+ 4GB ram DDR2.
I unlocked the shaders and tha card worked pertfectly.
I placed the card into a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H + 3570k Ivy Bridge + DDR3 8GB ram.
It doesnt wana post with the new bios (unlocked one), it only wants to start with stock bios.
I dont know what is the problem, the new platform doesnt suports it???

Originally Posted by Ruhnie

Is it possible that some z77 boards will have an issue with this unlock? I have been beating my head against the wall for the last 24 hours with an issue with my new build. Popped my unlocked 6950 into a new mobo and I can't get any signal from the graphics card. Did some googling and found an Asus Z77 board that was confirmed to have a problem with this unlock. Guess I'll try updating my BIOS and see if it fixes it, and worst case run with my backup 6950 BIOS

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/35...-unlocked-6950

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?p=22466102

It seems that it is/was a bug with the z77 chipset. i don't know if you have the latest bios on your motherboard, might try that. But it seems that the unlocked shaders works better than a full 6970 bios flashed. Try the unlock instead.

[Ruhnie]

Originally Posted by manofthem

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/35...-unlocked-6950

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?p=22466102

It seems that it is/was a bug with the z77 chipset. i don't know if you have the latest bios on your motherboard, might try that. But it seems that the unlocked shaders works better than a full 6970 bios flashed. Try the unlock instead.

Interesting, thanks for the links. I literally spent all day today trying to find the answer to this, guess my googling needs some work. Much appreciated. So looks like just doing shader unlock + MSI afterburner for OC is the way to go on Z77.

[dragoskid10]

Thx, just unloking the shaders of 6950 worked perfectly.

[contaboa]

hey guyz, help me plz. i unlocked my sapphire 6950 to 6970 , and when i restarted the system its doenst starts, what can i do about it ? How can to original bios if i cant start the win ?
Thx