AMD Radeon HD 6950 Can be Unlocked to HD 6970

Freaking awesome!!!! Thanks a lot wizz! just flashed my Sapphire 6950 to 6970 bios and it worked!

[/IMG]

 

Unlocking 6950 article on Maximumpc......

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/amd_radeon_hd_6950_reportedly_shipping_unlockable_shaders

just thought it was pretty cool they posted it and gave props to TPU

 

This means that none will buy 6970 anymore....
Also the prices are going to get crappy

 

AMD i garantee will fix this. either that, or what i think they'll do will happen. HD 6970/6950 wasn't their origional release. It wouldn't surprise me if they did have a 1920SPU chip, the real HD 6970, and the HD 6950 will be phased out, or start coming standard with the 1536SPU's.

Be a banging idea for AMD to surprise nvidia and have a card up their sleeve incase shit gets deep for em.

 

Great Scott! I'll buy the xfx xxx 6850 if I can flash it with the 6990 in xfire

 

Dude, AMD were well aware of this... its a marketing stunt which seems like will work very well in their favour. Trust me, they're smarter than you or me.
You should be saying thank you instead...

 

Well I just ordered my 6950 yesterday expecting it to hit 6970 bios

I really think AMD chose to software-limit the 6950 instead of lasercut it so that de 6950 will boost AMD sells. However I do think the new 6950's in production will be lasercut.

 

Hi,
W!zzard, I allready wrote you yesterday that in unlocked my Sapphire 6950.
Now I have a "problem":
At +10%PT I get the best results in Crysis Warhead (PCGH Benchscene).
With +20% I loose a lot of Frames.
Can I see somewhere if my GPU runs into the Limit?

I hope you can understand it

New-Bee

 

It sounds like your PSU can't handle the output when set to the full +20% just keep it at +10 : ]

 

ok thx...
It's a beQuiet Dark Power P6 600W. Do you think it's to old? It's not my PSU and I want to buy a new one. If I buy this one :http://gh.de/a583752.html
will it work with +20%?

 

Hmmm well I may have to take that back, that PSU should be able to run things fine.

Good brand as well.

 

It could be that the PSU is a little bit wracked. I tried a 4870 CF and it didnt work (a lot of arifacts) but with a 450W bequiet it was finde.
I'll try it again with the new PSU.
Thanks

 

The sapphire version sold out on amazon, now it's been replaced by one with a red pcb. Would be interesting if this new one doesn't unlock. There wouldn't have been time for it to be a reaction to this unlocking craze.

 

I think everyone wanting to do this will be good for at least 30 days, and probably longer. IF AMD decided to change approach, then first, factories in Asia need to modify the production process. Then they need to ship them here. Then old stocks in stores need to run out.

 

I've tried with my card, a sapphire 6950 and it worked well. Thx !!

 

I have to say i really don't understand why so many assume that AMD will start fully disabling the future chips, with having unlockable CPU's for so long now i would expect AMD to know about the GPU unlocking and just be glad it helps sway people towards their product due to great value.

Depending on the core AMD has single cores that unlock to dual cores, dual cores that unlock to triple or quads and triple core's that unlock to quads, do people expect AMD to stop that as well?

I'm really tempted to get a 6950 and unlock it once i have the cash but depending on the overall success rate other people have in the near future i could be willing to go for a 6970 but either way I'm in no major hurry due to my 6870 doing so well with most games.

 

I've succesfully unlocked a Sapphire 6950. Got it up to speed to match the 6970 speeds but i'm hearing this strange buzzing sound from the card when it is under load. I checked the cooler but it is not the one that's making the noise. Any ideas on this ? Anyone else experienced something similar ?

 

Yes, I hear it on my modded HIS 6950 as well. Mine more a high pitched electronic whine.

 

Are you in XP or Windoze 7?

 

A lot of higher end nvidia cards do that. It's probably normal for a card under heavy stress, and since you're running an 8+6pin card on a 6+6pin, that's why it's whining.

 

From what I've read it's a coil vibrating. I initially had this problem with my 1st 4890, but it magically went away. But do these vid cards even have any coils on them?

 

I'm on windows 7 64 bit. Thought about it being from coil vibration, but i still think it's not normal. And it was making the noise before i flashed it, also. I returned the card and i'm waiting for a new one. Hopefully it will not make the same noise, as it was very annoying and quite audible, even higher pitched than everything else inside / outside the case (7 vents).

 

Hmm, doesnt flashing void the warrenty?

 

I don't know.. i used a sapphire bios.. does it?