How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[ramguerra]

Originally Posted by manofthem

This guide is great, give her a go
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...ad.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?

Ok I will try that. And Ive tried both. Using the stock Bios and modding it with RBE and downloading the 6970 BIOS. Hopefully its just a driver issue and the shaders aren't cut.

[Power22]

Hey w1zzard,

I hope you can help me out. I got a MSI 6950 Twin Frozr III!

I got my card 14th april 2011. I tried to flash the msi r6950pex bios (from MSI) but it won't unlock the shaders. I also tried to flash a 6970 bios but then my computer won't boot up. I got it fixed by setting the switch in the other position and then flashed the orignal bios back. Now I got both of the switch positions working again.

I tried flashing via atiwinflash and dos and by both I got the problem.

Is my card laser cutted?

Here is a pic of my card with serial number etc.

My PC:

CPU: Intel core i7-2600k
Motherboard: MSI P67a-GD65 (B3)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance CL9 1600MHZ
GPU: MSI 6950 Twin Frozr III (driver version 12.1, maybe the driver is blocking it?)
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 Desktop Class HD502HJ
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2
DVD Player: Samsung Super-WriteMaster SH-S223C
PSU: Be Quiet Straight Power 700W
Case: CoolerMaster CM690II Advanced.

[goldfingerfif]

Originally Posted by W1zzard

packaged the hd 6950 bios modding script.

www.techpowerup.com/wizzard/Mod_BIOS_HD_6950.zip

give it a try and let me know how well it works

Thanks so much. I wanted to tell you this worked with my GIGABYTE GV-R695OC-1GD Radeon HD 6950 1GB GIGABYTE GV-R695OC-1GD Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit ...

I ordered this card 1-26-12

I was scared to order it since I was building a "gaming" computer for my girlfriends brother on a very tight budget since he wanted a computer when he saw mine with an 8800gts, my girlfriends i7-920 with a gtx285 i built her blew him away. Then he seen my 1100t with 4 6870's (crossfired powercolor 6870x2) and scrounged money together, after hours looking up cards I am glad I went with this even though the 1gb success rate seems lower. I am glad I can now give him a 6970 in his new computer.

I ran your script in windows (w7 x64 ultimate) and then used ultimate boot cd 4 win and selected NTFS for dos, I didn't want to waste my time with the Windows version of ATI Flash since if it failed and ruined the card I didn't want to buy him a new one or give up one of mine.

I saved everything in a folder c:\6950 and used
atifla~1 -f -p 0 modded.bin

[Power22]

Is there absolutely no one who can help me out?

[Noci]

@Power22,

despite all your efforts and the luck some others had, realise it could be possible that your card is equipped with a GPU that actually is crippled (not fit to be a 6970, but a good 6950).

Eventhough the yields from AMD are/where good, there can always be some chips that are not 100%. I can't imagine AMD implements randomly lasercutting on good chips. I've the same with my Phenom II x4 690T CPU, it will not unlock the 2 additional cores.

On the other hand it can be something in the MSI BIOS, as my card (VTX3D HD6950 1GB) unlocked (RBE) easily and was flashed with winflash, without any drivers removal or software issues whatshowever. I've done the trick in app. 5 minutes.

For understanding and digging into the BIOS programming, most of us (including me) are not capable.
So try your luck with MSI afterburner to gain some extra graphic power and forget the few percent gain unleashed with the shader unlocking. With your CPU, your system has enough potential and you could always consider CF or a graphic card upgrade.

[Power22]

@Noci

Thanks for your replay. I got the clock speeds unlocked and got it now clocked as a 6970 without the shaders. I have a 3DMark11 performance score of 6292 so I'm happy.

I just got bad luck I guess, althrough my card is from 14th April 2011.

[jokapo]

im a having 2 sapphire hd6950's in my system. 1 that is unlocked. the other one i have tried several things but gpu-z keeps saying 1408 shaders. does anyone know how i can unlock.

i allready did follow the howto unlock here on tech

[roymustang16]

Hi everyone, i search in this topic but cannot find the anwser, is there any 6950 1GB bios modded like a 6970, i have two bios on my Sapphire 6950 1GB, one with the normal shader and the other one with the unlock shader but i would like to overclock my GPU to 6970 frequency, so i would like to know if it's possible and if a modded bios for a 1GB 6950 @6970clock already exist?
I can actually overclock my 6950 with Sapphire Trixx, it work perfectly with 880 and 1375 Mhz and stock voltage but everytime i try to flash a modified 6950 bios with this frequency i get a BSOD at the boot.

[Noci]

Originally Posted by roymustang16

Hi everyone, i search in this topic but cannot find the anwser, is there any 6950 1GB bios modded like a 6970, i have two bios on my Sapphire 6950 1GB, one with the normal shader and the other one with the unlock shader but i would like to overclock my GPU to 6970 frequency, so i would like to know if it's possible and if a modded bios for a 1GB 6950 @6970clock already exist?
I can actually overclock my 6950 with Sapphire Trixx, it work perfectly with 880 and 1375 Mhz and stock voltage but everytime i try to flash a modified 6950 bios with this frequency i get a BSOD at the boot.

As far as I know there are no 1GB 6970 cards, so also no available BIOS'ses. But if you get the shaders unlocked and can run at the 6970 stock speeds, what is the added value of a 6970 BIOS? There's no gain, unless you want to push the limit even further and take the risk of frying your card

An available option is to start studying programming, do some reversed engineering on your BIOS, re-program/test it and share it with the rest of the world.

Common sense is not so common!

[Yo_Wattup]

Originally Posted by Noci

As far as I know there are no 1GB 6970 cards, so also no available BIOS'ses. But if you get the shaders unlocked and can run at the 6970 stock speeds, what is the added value of a 6970 BIOS? There's no gain, unless you want to push the limit even further and take the risk of frying your card

An available option is to start studying programming, do some reversed engineering on your BIOS, re-program/test it and share it with the rest of the world.

Common sense is not so common!

Shaders dude.

Common sense is not so common!

[chevy350]

Originally Posted by jokapo

im a having 2 sapphire hd6950's in my system. 1 that is unlocked. the other one i have tried several things but gpu-z keeps saying 1408 shaders. does anyone know how i can unlock.

i allready did follow the howto unlock here on tech

I have the same issue but with a Diamond 6950, flashed just fine but still only shows 1408 shaders?? Is this just a common thing with running 2? I flashed it with the unlock.bin, saved bios from other card, and Diamond 6970 bios and all have shown 1408.

[roymustang16]

Originally Posted by Noci

As far as I know there are no 1GB 6970 cards, so also no available BIOS'ses. But if you get the shaders unlocked and can run at the 6970 stock speeds, what is the added value of a 6970 BIOS? There's no gain, unless you want to push the limit even further and take the risk of frying your card

An available option is to start studying programming, do some reversed engineering on your BIOS, re-program/test it and share it with the rest of the world.

Common sense is not so common!

No in fact i juste would like to have this OC frequency as the stock frequency because i format frequently and i don't like using another software to do it.

[Noci]

Originally Posted by roymustang16

No in fact i juste would like to have this OC frequency as the stock frequency because i format frequently and i don't like using another software to do it.

English is not my native language, that's why I didn't understand the "shaders dude" remark from down under.
I've read your OP again, but with the info above I now understand. I would like to try this also on my VTX3D HD6950 1GB cards, as I can not even reach the 6970 stock speeds without getting artifacts.
Anyway, I think we'll have to wait untill some whizzkid programms a 6970 BIOS for a 1GB card, or enlightens all of us how to mod the BIOS strings without messing it up. Atm this is way over my head tech stuff. The BIOS'ses are copyrighted by AMD, so I don't see this happening outside off the OC scene.

@ Yo_Wattup, common sense is not so common!, is not to offend anybody. It's just a personal observation. When you start reading randomly through topics, you'll know what mean.
I sign most of my posts with it, hoping to trigger people not to overlook simple things in solving complex problems. Also, stupid questions don't exist, wrong answers ans ignorance do!

Common sense is not so common!

[Noci]

Originally Posted by roymustang16

No in fact i juste would like to have this OC frequency as the stock frequency because i format frequently and i don't like using another software to do it.

Originally Posted by chevy350

I have the same issue but with a Diamond 6950, flashed just fine but still only shows 1408 shaders?? Is this just a common thing with running 2? I flashed it with the unlock.bin, saved bios from other card, and Diamond 6970 bios and all have shown 1408.

I've recently purchased my second VTX3D HD6950 1GB and set up my first CF succesfully. I've had no time yet to unlock the new card, but probebly will try this weekend.

Did you guys check the cards shaders with GPU-Z, but with only one card installed at a time? If they both show 1536 shaders in a single card configuration and later on one with 1403 shaders in CF, it could also be a glitch in GPU-Z. Putting the card in a CF configuration does not change the BIOS, so GPU-Z should read the same info.

Common sense is not so common!

[lokito50]

Does anyone know where the thread for the posted results is? The one where ppl said which unlock they performed and how long running without problems? Ive had my 6950 unlocked to 6970 shaders only for over a year and no problems so now i want to go to the full 6970 shaders and clocks bios. Or is it better to just oc mine? Thank you

[chevy350]

Originally Posted by Noci

I've recently purchased my second VTX3D HD6950 1GB and set up my first CF succesfully. I've had no time yet to unlock the new card, but probebly will try this weekend.

Did you guys check the cards shaders with GPU-Z, but with only one card installed at a time? If they both show 1536 shaders in a single card configuration and later on one with 1403 shaders in CF, it could also be a glitch in GPU-Z. Putting the card in a CF configuration does not change the BIOS, so GPU-Z should read the same info.

Common sense is not so common!

Yes, I checked and flashed each card seperately. The newer card still only shows 1408 shaders but has the 6970 clocks. I ended up flashing both back to the original bios for each card as I was getting CTD's in games, after that no issues. I will try them again possibly this weekend and see if they both show correct shaders.

[chevy350]

Still a no go on the Diamond card. it takes the 880, 1325 and 1.175v but still no extra shaders. I tried both methods in the OP and have run out of ideas why. Only 124 pages of posts to go through on this so I guess I should start now and see if there was anyone else with this issue and if it was resolved.

Looked through 75% of the post's in this thread and still not able to get the shaders unlocked. Flashed the Diamond card in slot 1 and 3 with several 6970 bios and the unlock ones in the OP and can only guess that they can't be unlocked on this card. Shame because it has the 1-2 bios switch. Checked it with the supplied GPU-Z in the OP and the latest version and still shows 1408 shaders but has the 6970 voltage and clock's. Guess I'll just leave them both with 6950 bios and play from there.

[Fitseries3]

worked on my asus 6950 DCuII 2gb. thanks W1zz

[Volkszorn88]

Sucks that my 2x xfx 2gb 6950s can't unlock D:

[aflatonios]

After unlocking my asus 6950 2GB Direct CUII
everything worked well and the temperature was good around 50-55

but the problem started after trying to do a Furmark test to check the power consumption .
after 15 seconds testing , the computer crashed . I tried to reboot but the GPU is not working .
i can hear the windows start up sound and all fans are working even the gpu fans but nothing on the screen .
the VGA LED on the motherboard is on (maybe indicating a problem )

I switched the BIOS to position 1 , but the same result . I cant boot the gpu.



i got the gpu two weeks ago from amazon and i can replace it but what i am worried about is that i can't change the BIOS back to default so they may wont accept the return .

any ideas ?

[Copak]

Hello

After flashing my my asus 6950 i got this



I used this bios http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/9...48.110106.html , since it says 013.010.000.009.000000 exactly like my 6950 said in gpuz before flashing.

Any ideea what i'm doin' wrong? I followed everything it says here... http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/...ng/vidcard/159 to the letter

before flashing, gpuz was like this http://tpucdn.com/articles/159/images/before.gif

so... why everything changed but the shaders value didn't? even smartdoctor says EAH6970... pfff

what to do, what to do

this means my shaders are laser-cut? damn Jedi, they messed up my card

[Noci]

Originally Posted by Copak

this means my shaders are laser-cut? damn Jedi, they messed up my card

Hi Copak,

Looks like the AMD jedi was playing with his light saber, may the force be with you....

at least you've got quite some gain in the GPU and RAM speeds and if the temps are OK tou'll have to learn to live with it .

[Copak]

Originally Posted by Noci

Hi Copak,

Looks like the AMD jedi was playing with his light saber, may the force be with you....

at least you've got quite some gain in the GPU and RAM speeds and if the temps are OK tou'll have to learn to live with it .

thank you! so far temps are ok! 31-32-33 celsius

tho' i notice a change at bus interface it was 2.0x16@2.0x16 now is 2.0x16@1.1 and vcore changed it's voltage from 1.1 to 1.25.

I hope the dark side will not swallow my gpu and render those shaders dead due this voltage increase... so... may teh force be with all our gp units


ps. i forgot to mention, i used ATI Winflash 2.0.1.18 + this bios maybe i should try ati winflash 2.0.1.17 and see what happens

[manofthem]

Originally Posted by Copak

Hello

After flashing my my asus 6950 i got this

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...k/7a7cf23b.jpg

I used this bios http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/9...48.110106.html , since it says 013.010.000.009.000000 exactly like my 6950 said in gpuz before flashing.

Any ideea what i'm doin' wrong? I followed everything it says here... http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/...ng/vidcard/159 to the letter

before flashing, gpuz was like this http://tpucdn.com/articles/159/images/before.gif

so... why everything changed but the shaders value didn't? even smartdoctor says EAH6970... pfff

what to do, what to do

this means my shaders are laser-cut? damn Jedi, they messed up my card

Way back when I first flashed a 6970 bios to my 6950, the clock speeds changed but the shaders dd not, until I reinstalled the driver. If you haven't already done that, it may be worth a shot, even though it may be all for not.

Also, it seems like 1.25v is a little high for 890mhz.

[Copak]

Originally Posted by manofthem

Way back when I first flashed a 6970 bios to my 6950, the clock speeds changed but the shaders dd not, until I reinstalled the driver. If you haven't already done that, it may be worth a shot, even though it may be all for not.

Also, it seems like 1.25v is a little high for 890mhz.

I thought so too! but it was set like so after overclocking, when smartdoctor pop'd up 1.25 was there.
I did another 2 fl one with an older driver from asus website and didnt worked at all, said can't find the driver after reboot and 2nd with this: catalyst 2.12

after 2nd one smartdoctor & gpuz says



1.175 voltage set by bios after flash, i still have those 1408 shaders there but the bus interface says 2.0 x 2.0 instead of 2.0 x 1.1 - i guess is just a minor bug or it has to do with that sharing pci lanes inside my mobo?! dunno, i'm not good at all at this things...

also did a quick test and got P5735 3DMarks with those basic settings, couldn't set anything high and the temp was at most 45 celsius. dunno how to stress the gpu to see how high the temp gets and monitor the temp same time

and yes, i figured so too, it has to do with the driver installed, bios version and ati winflash version and i bet other things too pfff so damn complicated

and Noci was right, it's not a matter of life and death, its more to see those shaders there cause i wanna crossfire my card and i again i feel like i dont know what im talking since i dont know exactly how much will improve and how many apps and games that supports cross. or sli. etc. many?

can you tell me what version, manofthem? (the driver)