How to enable additional shaders on Radeon HD 6950

[bardoczx]

How safe is unlock shaders and raise the clocks 840/1325 (CCC overdrive limits)???
Improvement the min FPS, worth for Crossfire, decrease the life time???
Thanks.

 

[jayc]

I tried both the BIOS mod and the 6970 bios. The 6950 mod simply didn't do anything (tried both switch positions). With the 6970 bios, I think I flashed successfully, but when I restarted my pc it wouldn't load. I don't have a second pc to check it with. I had to flash back by starting my pc with the BIOS switch in 2nd position, and while the pc was running I switched to the 1st.
I'm using MSI 6950 Twin Frozr iii Power Edition.

Hmm should I try another manufacturer's BIOS, or try modding the previous version of Twin Frozr BIOS?

Vicc,

did you try this guide for the Frozr III?
http://www.ocdrift.com/2011/04/msi-r6950-twin-frozr-iii-peoc-unlocking-guide/

 

[metilic]

How safe is unlock shaders and raise the clocks 840/1325 (CCC overdrive limits)???
Improvement the min FPS, worth for Crossfire, decrease the life time???
Thanks.

When I flashed my first card, I didn't notice such a big improvement...maybe around 5% with those settings; 6950 in Crossfire doesn't need modding, except if you play on huge resolutions or Eyefinity. Most of the people here did not report bad things happening from unlocking just the shaders, the tricky part was flashing to a 6970 bios, which had different memory timings and voltage. Only time will tell the effect on life time, but I personally believe that just unlocking the shaders and OC-ing to CCC limits at stock voltage can't harm your card. The decision is yours my friend; keep us posted with your progress

 

[bardoczx]

When I flashed my first card, I didn't notice such a big improvement...maybe around 5% with those settings; 6950 in Crossfire doesn't need modding, except if you play on huge resolutions or Eyefinity. Most of the people here did not report bad things happening from unlocking just the shaders, the tricky part was flashing to a 6970 bios, which had different memory timings and voltage. Only time will tell the effect on life time, but I personally believe that just unlocking the shaders and OC-ing to CCC limits at stock voltage can't harm your card. The decision is yours my friend; keep us posted with your progress

When I unlocked shaders with those settings my improvement was around 4 extra average FPS in games like Aliens v/s Predator and Resident Evil 5. In Heaven Benchmark my increment was 1 FPS However, I have not yet valid conclusions about the increase of min FPS (the most important for me).

I agree with you, those setting can't harm my card. Thanks

 

[metilic]

This depends also on the driver version and related issues; glad to be of any assistance
I got mine on May 2nd, and before doing anything to it I read all the 103 pages of this thread, call me a geek blah blah
Best of luck with your overclocking endeavors mate.

 

[foxy@OC'd]

Unlocking shaders doesnt actually give you that big of a performance increase to risk bricking your card now, does it?

 

[Vicc]

Vicc,

did you try this guide for the Frozr III?
http://www.ocdrift.com/2011/04/msi-r6950-twin-frozr-iii-peoc-unlocking-guide/

Thanks for the link. I'm gonna check it out once I'm back from work.

 

[manofthem]

Unlocking shaders doesnt actually give you that big of a performance increase to risk bricking your card now, does it?

Unlocking the shaders is an optional free performance upgrade. I haven't heard anyone brick their cards from unlocking shaders. There exists the possibility of a bad bios flash, which won't allow the card to boot. Without a bios switch, it takes a few more steps to correct abd reflash to a working bios.

 

[garretth9090]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=322873&CatId=7005

Has anyone had luck unlocking this card?

 

[metilic]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=322873&CatId=7005

Has anyone had luck unlocking this card?

Non-reference 2 GB model, but possibly with no dual-bios switch; i guess it could work, but i wouldn't flash a card with no dual bios frankly Do you have the card or just plan on buying it?

 

[milesc]

Hi, I hope this hasn't been answered too many times... I've read through about 60 pages thus far.

I have a Sapphire 6950 1GB. I would like to unlock the additional shaders. I have followed the directions to obtain my bios, patch it with RBE, and then write it back. Writing from RBE doesn't work. Also, if i drop to command line (with administrator privs) and run the two commands:
atiwinflash -unlockrom 0
atiwinflash -f -p 0 unlock.bin

Both command display the flashing window with progress bar for a few seconds, before exiting silently. Upon reboot and also uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers, I still show the default number of shaders.

Is my bios unflashable or am I doing something wrong?

Thank you for any help,
milesc

 

[tdbone1]

hi all:
i just sold my 5870 crossfire setup (because bfbc2 problems)
i was going to get a gtx 580 but really it benches lower then the 5870 crossfire setup i just got rid of

but it would be quieter if i got the 580 and probably not as many problems with the game itself since i would not be in cfx

anyhow here i am in the 6950 bios thread.

im thinking about buying (2) 6950`s for cfx again..i know i cant believe it either but the game i really want is BF3

anyhow i just want the CHEAPEST 6950`s that can be flashed to a 6970 and that cfx will still work good.

i would have two cards so i dont need a reference card with dual bios do i?

anyhow your thought would be appreciated.

thanks

 

[Kaj]

Hey guys,

I followed this guide to flash my 6950 club3d card but things aren't working out for me. The normal process described in the OP did not work, I had to go through the BIOS and do the EXTRA WORK thingie. It said a succesful flash was completed and reboot was nescessary, it also showed me a window with some info in it, things like: new device id and old device id or something.

After the reboot me monitor went on and showed INPUT NOT SUPPORTED! Message. I tried a few bios versions: the club3d 2gb 6970 and the xfx/sapphire 2gb 6970 BIOS. All with the same result: "input not supported".

I also tried a different guide:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1608/5/

This gave me exactly the same results, the flash is succesful but after a reboot the monitor displays a input not supported message. Specs will be below, I hope someone can help me out here!

Thanks

Specs:

Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB, 7200rpm, 32MB, SATA
Asus P7P55D PRO, S1156, P55, 4xDDR3, 3xPCIe, ATX
CLUB3D HD6950 2GB GDDD5 (with 2 coolers on it and the 1-2 bios switch)
Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz, 8MB, S1156, Box
Corsair Dominator 4GB(2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz
Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Midi Tower,500w

Monitor: Acer AL2216W

 

[ace80]

Hi, I hope this hasn't been answered too many times... I've read through about 60 pages thus far.

I have a Sapphire 6950 1GB. I would like to unlock the additional shaders. I have followed the directions to obtain my bios, patch it with RBE, and then write it back. Writing from RBE doesn't work. Also, if i drop to command line (with administrator privs) and run the two commands:
atiwinflash -unlockrom 0
atiwinflash -f -p 0 unlock.bin

Both command display the flashing window with progress bar for a few seconds, before exiting silently. Upon reboot and also uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers, I still show the default number of shaders.

Is my bios unflashable or am I doing something wrong?

Thank you for any help,
milesc

I got exactly the same problem, mine is the Sapphire 2gb non reference model without bios switch, does yours have the switch.

Have you tried flashing from a bootable usb device, i alway get the rom not erased message, check my post at top of page 103 for screenie.

 

[SyRenity]

Hi.

Having hit performance issues in Witcher 2, I decided to give a go to flashing my launch-day XFX card.

Reading this thread, I see that recommendations have quite changed, and instead of flashing a 6970 BOIS, the recommendation now is to re-flash the card with modded original 6950 BIOS that came from the card, then tune the clock speed via MSI AB, correct?

On another hand, I see the RBE tool mentioned here several times - so perhaps the best way do all above from RBE?

Also, what clock timings/voltages are considered safe?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[capital]

I tried the hp usb boot method with no luck once again on my Visiontek 6950 card.

- Used wizzards .bat patch with one of my original bios files, saved as modded.bin
- boot to dos
- "atiflash -unlock 0" (got ok) "atiflash -f -p 0 modded.bin (http://i.imgur.com/HikZi.jpg)
- removed usb, powered off system
- checked GPUZ, nothing changed.

- opened RBE and loaded original bios file again; saved file as modded.rom
- checked off 6970 shaders option
- boot to dos
- "atiflash -unlock 0" (got ok) "atiflash -f -p 0 modded.rom (http://i.imgur.com/HikZi.jpg)
- ...
- GPUZ, no changes.

So I'm at a loss as to what's going on. Is there a difference between the .rom and .bin file? I saved my bios in RBE in both positions. The file that was created with the switch to the far right (away from CF, which I understand is bios 1) comes up as an error when I rename it as original.bin and run wizzards patch: "could not find byte sequence in file."
Whereas if I load the bios file that was saved from what should be bios 2, wizzards patch runs fine.

I came across another thread, either here or somewhere else that had someone successfully flash their 6950 which had the bios switch and aftercooler fans installed.

This is driving me crazy.

edit - maybe I should just try another vendors bios file found here on TPU.

It's still weird if I do one of the other methods where it changes my clock speeds but does not unlock the shaders.

 

[mm540]

Another Successful 6950 mod

I just wanted to add my success to this forum. I had posted a few months ago and wanted to update my experience. I have an XFX 2gb Reference card. I tried a couple of different mods over the months and have the best results with the shader mod using Sapphire TRIXX. Core is 884mhz and Memory 1366mhz. The system runs the most stable with these settings. Unique Heaven was the hardest Bench to set. Furmark and 3D Mark 11 did not present any problems at all. Scores for Unique 1094, 3D Mark 11 5617 Performance preset, Furmark is 2998. Maybe not the highest scores, but good enough for what I do. Hope this helps someone.

 

[b0uncyfr0]

Im having some trouble unlocking the shaders on my Gigabyte 6950 1 GB. One guy did it before but the other was having trouble, same as me.

Has anyone had any luck getting it to work??

 

[menacenz]

Yeah I've still not managed to unlock that Gigabyte card though I'm yet to try the dos usb bootdisk method.

On a side note they are sexily overclockable. So far I'm stable at 920/1425 at stock voltage and just a fairly standard fan curve in Afterburner. Hottest I've seen it thus far is 60 degrees and it run witcher 2 at 100% GPU utilization very well without artifacts or crashes. Must be the 3 fans they put on these cards. Best stock card I've ever had anyway.

 

[Bengie]

With the shaders unlock only, how can you get it to past 840mhz in CCC? I've heard you can use MSI AB... but when I installed that program I noticed the speeds and voltages are limited to the 6950 bios settings (max 840/1325)... Can anyone point me towards the information I need to OC my 6950 without flashing to 6970 bios???

I found this on the web and have been using it. I would normally use AB/Trixx/etc, but Punkbuster has been having issues crashing computers that use ANY software that probes the video card. Even GPUz will make PB crash(BSOD). So, to OC using CCC, I have this in a .reg file, then just run the file. I don't know what it all means, but I found the exact same file linked from a few sites

Probably have to restart after applying it, can't remember.

  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
   
   
  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000]
   
  "PP_PhmSoftPowerPlayTable"=hex:6f,01,05,01,00,04,04,10,18,58,00,68,00,b8,00,e8,\
    03,e8,03,58,00,00,80,01,00,0f,00,00,02,08,3c,00,00,68,00,b8,00,00,18,01,09,\
    00,18,01,26,01,83,01,00,00,a0,0c,00,00,30,01,40,01,4b,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
    aa,00,00,00,78,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,56,01,0a,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
    00,01,01,02,03,02,02,02,04,03,02,02,04,80,38,01,48,e8,01,01,ff,7e,04,00,00,\
    01,00,00,00,a8,61,00,98,3a,00,84,03,b6,03,00,00,01,00,00,00,50,c3,00,48,e8,\
    01,e8,03,7e,04,00,00,01,00,00,00,68,3c,01,48,e8,01,01,ff,7e,04,00,00,01,00,\
    00,00,34,1b,01,48,e8,01,01,ff,7e,04,00,00,01,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,78,00,00,\
    00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,78,00,00,00,\
    00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,04,00,00,7a,00,00,00,00,\
    00,00,f0,d2,00,00,40,9c,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,7a,00,00,00,00,04,\
    00,70,11,01,00,c0,da,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,06,94,11,c4,22,54,24,60,09,3c,\
    0f,88,13,0a,00,d0,78,02,00,90,d0,03,00,03,40,9c,00,84,03,50,c3,00,e8,03,68,\
    3c,01,01,ff,02,98,3a,00,b6,03,48,e8,01,7e,04,02,98,3a,00,84,03,48,e8,01,e8,\
    03,04,84,03,11,00,00,00,e8,03,1a,00,00,00,4b,04,28,00,00,00,4c,04,28,00,00,\
    00

  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001]
   
  "PP_PhmSoftPowerPlayTable"=hex:6f,01,05,01,00,04,04,10,18,58,00,68,00,b8,00,e8,\
    03,e8,03,58,00,00,80,01,00,0f,00,00,02,08,3c,00,00,68,00,b8,00,00,18,01,09,\
    00,18,01,26,01,83,01,00,00,a0,0c,00,00,30,01,40,01,4b,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
    aa,00,00,00,78,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,56,01,0a,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
    00,01,01,02,03,02,02,02,04,03,02,02,04,80,38,01,48,e8,01,01,ff,7e,04,00,00,\
    01,00,00,00,a8,61,00,98,3a,00,84,03,b6,03,00,00,01,00,00,00,50,c3,00,48,e8,\
    01,e8,03,7e,04,00,00,01,00,00,00,68,3c,01,48,e8,01,01,ff,7e,04,00,00,01,00,\
    00,00,34,1b,01,48,e8,01,01,ff,7e,04,00,00,01,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,78,00,00,\
    00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,78,00,00,00,\
    00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,04,00,00,7a,00,00,00,00,\
    00,00,f0,d2,00,00,40,9c,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,7a,00,00,00,00,04,\
    00,70,11,01,00,c0,da,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,06,94,11,c4,22,54,24,60,09,3c,\
    0f,88,13,0a,00,d0,78,02,00,90,d0,03,00,03,40,9c,00,84,03,50,c3,00,e8,03,68,\
    3c,01,01,ff,02,98,3a,00,b6,03,48,e8,01,7e,04,02,98,3a,00,84,03,48,e8,01,e8,\
    03,04,84,03,11,00,00,00,e8,03,1a,00,00,00,4b,04,28,00,00,00,4c,04,28,00,00,\
    00

 

[tomigun]

Sapphire hd6950 1gb non-reference

I have a Sapphire 6950 1gb non-reference that I tried to unlock the shaders on . BSOD Dead. think I corrupted bios?
I was using winflash and had modded a bios using RBE to unlock extra shaders.
I had saved the bios as a .rom and I think that may have been an issue?
Lucky for me I had just dumped the original bios using the sapphire software Trixx.
in .bin format.
I restarted using my intergrated graphics and tried to flash with winflash.
I keep getting "cannot read Rom " error.
after following this link http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...6&postcount=19 using the command prompt and the original .bin bios I managed to restore my card.
I tried again to unlock the shaders this time saving the modded bios as a .bin , but with no luck.
Shaders stayed the same, funny thing is memory increased to 1325mhz,
haven't experimented anymore yet.
lucky to still have a working card I guess.

Regards

 

[blinzi]

I got exactly the same problem, mine is the Sapphire 2gb non reference model without bios switch, does yours have the switch.

Have you tried flashing from a bootable usb device, i alway get the rom not erased message, check my post at top of page 103 for screenie.

i have the exact same problem with my sapphire 2gb (bios p/n: 113-4E18600-S42)

this card seems to be hardware locked on the PM25LV010 Flash Memory.

you have to use a SOIC8 Clip to bridge the WP# and the VCC pin.

never tried it tough cuz of the risk

good luck!

 

[tomigun]

Sapphire hd6950 1gb non-reference

Well I managed to alter my bios I think, the card would not work ,

cannot read bios error message.

BSOD when flashing.

Then working again after attempting to reflash original bios, with unlock command.

Maybe there is hope for us non-reference owners.............

 

[Zhorn]

Yeah I've still not managed to unlock that Gigabyte card though I'm yet to try the dos usb bootdisk method.

On a side note they are sexily overclockable. So far I'm stable at 920/1425 at stock voltage and just a fairly standard fan curve in Afterburner. Hottest I've seen it thus far is 60 degrees and it run witcher 2 at 100% GPU utilization very well without artifacts or crashes. Must be the 3 fans they put on these cards. Best stock card I've ever had anyway.

Yep those Gigabyte 1 GB OC cards are awesome. After unlocking the shaders you may find that you can't O/C it as high, possibly owing to the extra voltage needed for the unlocked shaders? That's what happened to me. I havent tried upping the voltage on it yet tho. It still runs fine at it's factory OC speeds (870/1250) with shaders unlocked. I guess you'd need to decide what gives better performance.. locked shaders at 920/1425 or unlock shaders at 870/1250?

The key to flashing that card for me was to 1) save the bios using GPU-Z (not winflash as I read it saves corrupted bioses for some cards) 2) edit with RBE and save 3) flash it using ATIflash from a bootable USB or floppy.

 

[milesc]

It seems people (including myself) are still not having any luck unlocking the shaders on the newer non-reference Sapphire 6950s. So, I ask again, has anyone been successful, and if so, what were your steps?

Second question: even though the dual bios switch is not there, I still see the 1 and 2 printed on the PCB as well as the pads to which the switch would have been attached. Would it be possible to solder a switch in there?