Trouble Unlocking Sapphire 6950

[Razerian]

I recently bought a new 6950, model # SAPPHIRE 100312-3L, they didn't have the dirt 3 edition with the free game in stock at the time so I just bought this one. It came with one of its bios' set to unlock the shaders, according to RBE, but gpu-z read 1408 shader count the whole way. So I flashed it with the stock bios from the backup chip on the card, then modified that with RBE and flashed it back onto the first bios. Atiwinflash said the flash was sucessful both times. I then uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them but still no dice; gpu-z reads 1408 shaders. I then uninstalled the drivers again and shut it off for a few minutes and upon rebooting this is what I have:

My system specs are in my profile.

Anyone experienced with this know what I'm doing wrong or is this one not unlockable?

 

[Blunderbuss]

I think I'm in the same boat as you, and would also appreciate some help!

Edit: Nevermind, I flashed the original 2nd bios back and rebooted, gpu-z now shows all shaders unlocked. Good luck with yours!

 

[lal102]

Please, can you share your BIOS?

Please confirm if you have the Sapphire 100312-3L

 

[Blunderbuss]

Which BIOS do you need, the one with unlocked shaders or the default?

 

[lal102]

Can you send me both files?

 

[Blunderbuss]

Can you send me both files?

Yes, I'm at work right now and can backup and upload both BIOS files later today- if it's an emergency, I can remote into my home machine and snag a bios file I have backed up, but I can't recall if it's the unlock shader one (I think it is) or the stock one.

 

[lal102]

dont worry, is not an emergency

thanks for all

 

[LordJummy]

No one can say for sure if your card us unlockable.

I've never heard of a reseller including a BIOS that is pre-unlocked. Seems like that would violate agreements with AMD. Hmmm.

Try fresh OS install. If RBE has the shader unlock ticked on the secondary bios, then it *should* unlock them, but some cards have proven to not unlock. Could be your extra shaders are bad, or hard locked in some way or another.

Fresh OS install is your best option to really see if they are unlocked. Have you tried benching with the locked bios and the unlocked BIOS to see if there is any performance increase? It wouldn't be huge but it should be noticeable in a synthetic like Vantage performance setting. Sometimes the shaders don't show up in GPU-Z even though they are there. I have a feeling yours just doesn't want to unlock though.

Good luck.

 

[lal102]

Hello,

thanks for the reply.

I'm going to test the benchmark in order to know if the shaders are unlocked.

I can't make a fresh OS install, because i have too much things installed xD

Best regards.

P.D: sorry for the english level dudes.

 

[LordJummy]

Hello,

thanks for the reply.

I'm going to test the benchmark in order to know if the shaders are unlocked.

I can't make a fresh OS install, because i have too much things installed xD

Best regards.

P.D: sorry for the english level dudes.

Oh, I was talking to the OP, but go for it !

 

[lal102]

We have the same problem, and the same graphic card....

can i make the tests with FurMark?

 

[LordJummy]

We have the same problem, and the same graphic card....

can i make the tests with FurMark?

I'm sure you do, but my comment was directed at the OP's situation. I don't know your current situation, so don't take my advice directly. I'm not responsible for any damage you might incur

Furmark is okay, but use at your own risk. Stress tests can KILL YOUR HARDWARE You have been warned. I recommend using OCCT or EVGA's OC Scanner or something. Those tools can actually give you good data logs of temps, voltages, stability, artifacts, etc. I'm a big fan of OCCT.

Oh btw furmark is not a good test to compare the performance. Not at all.

You need to use a less intense synthetic benchmark like 3dmark vantage on the performance setting. This will give you a more accurate numerical value for performance.

 

[lal102]

Same results on both benchmark

I will wait for OP's reply. We are in the same situation.

 

[Blunderbuss]

As promised, here are my bios files. I am 85% sure that bios.rom is the stock backup bios that occurs when the bios switch is toggled in the position that is closest to the outside of the case, and 100% sure that the shaderbios.rom is the unlocked shader bios that occurs when the switch is farthest from the case. To extract these, I used winflash 2.0.1.14 and just clicked save when the program opened- if this is not a valid method of saving the bios' then do not flash these! As usual, anything you do with these files you do at your own risk, and I am not liable for you screwing up anything whatsoever.

http://www.multiupload.com/J8V34GNN6L

 

[LordJummy]

Another option is to extract the stock bios.rom using GPU-Z's bios dump tool, open up RBE and load the BIOS file, tick the unlock shaders box, save the bios, load into atiwinflash, switch the Bios switch to the writable mode, flash, reboot, reinstall drivers, reboot again. If no go, OS reinstall may help but I doubt it. I think you should just overclock the card and forget shaders. They make hardly ANY difference at all. Clock speeds make a world of difference, however.

!!!

 

[lal102]

Thanks!

I'm going to test both of them

 

[LordJummy]

Thanks!

I'm going to test both of them

There's no point to that bro. Only one of the bios switch settings allows you to write to the card. One of the modes is a locked bios that can't be overwritten. It's a security feature, and not originally intended for shader unlocking. Just FYI.

Be careful, you may brick your card.

 

[Blunderbuss]

I would just try flashing shaderbios.rom in the writable bios switch position (switch farthest from the case), if you so choose

Edit: I included a GPU-Z printout from when I was running the shaderbios.rom, look at it and make sure it's what you want. I'm 95% sure that this is the exact model card I have or I wouldn't have posted in this thread, but it was a long time ago that I was looking at this.

 

[lal102]

Don't worry all my tests are done with the BIOS in position number 1. If I have any problem i will recover it with the position number 2.

BTW, i though the shaders were the most important thing...

 

[LordJummy]

Don't worry all my tests are done with the BIOS in position number 1. If I have any problem i will recover it with the position number 2.

BTW, i though the shaders were the most important thing...

You thought wrong. The performance difference between 6950 and 6970 shaders with identical clocks is negligible. You get the real performance boost from core clock increase, and a bit from memory clock as well. I would stick to around the stock 6970's memory settings (1375MHz) if you aren't a seasoned OC'er. You could easily kill the VRAM and ruin your card. For core, try for something like 950MHz first, and adjust voltage as needed. There are a couple cards factory OC'd to 950 MHz so that range should be fairly safe (note voltage adjustment).

 

[Blunderbuss]

I do the shader unlock and an OC in Sapphire Trixx, 880 core clock, 1375 memory, 1100 gpu voltage (stock voltage)

 

[LordJummy]

I do the shader unlock and an OC in Sapphire Trixx, 880 core clock, 1375 memory, 1100 gpu voltage (stock voltage)

1.1V is stock for a 6950. It might be unstable with stock 6970 settings 880/1375. Stock 6970 comes with 1.175V by default. Keep that in mind.

 

[Blunderbuss]

1.1V is stock for a 6950. It might be unstable with stock 6970 settings 880/1375. Stock 6970 comes with 1.175V by default. Keep that in mind.

I've never noticed any stability issues personally

 

[LordJummy]

I've never noticed any stability issues personally

First of all, I thought your card wouldn't unlock properly? Did you manage to get the shaders unlocked and tested?


Secondly, how do you stress test your card to make sure it's stable under sustained load?

Make absolutely sure it's stable. These cards use very high end, yet sensitive components. I have killed a couple by pushing them way past their limits. That's a good sign if your core is stable at 6970 clocks with 6950 stock voltage.

 

[lal102]

Hello!

The .bin doesn't unlock my shaders (i think i have a unlockable? card)

I have configure TRIXX with the values of a 6970 stock card.

I will make test before, but i think battlefield is not going to work at 60 fps maxed out.