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Any successful Sapphire 6950 2GB non-ref flash BIOS to unlock shaders?

yacoub

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I'm curious if anyone with this specific Sapphire 6950 card has been able to successfully unlock the extra shaders via BIOS flashing.

I have one on order, but in viewing the lengthy thread here, I have seen two recent reports from users with this exact card that reported they were unable to flash the BIOS successfully to unlock the extra shaders no matter which method they tried. (users RedLine888 and NameonPrime.)

I'm curious to know if anyone with that card has been able to unlock the extra shaders so I know whether I should even bother attempting it and risk bricking the card (it does not have dual BIOSes like the reference model).

Thanks.
 

yacoub

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I was thinking of it (the unlocking) but then decided to go for HD6870 Toxic which is usually as fast as HD6950 but much cheaper. Some say that unlocks don't work with new revisions of HD6950. I think no one really knows for sure, but it makes sense though. It was the same with Radeon 9500 in the past. First versions were unlockable, later on they were not anymore.
 

SpaceGhost

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I'm curious if anyone with this specific Sapphire 6950 card has been able to successfully unlock the extra shaders via BIOS flashing.

I have one on order, but in viewing the lengthy thread here, I have seen two recent reports from users with this exact card that reported they were unable to flash the BIOS successfully to unlock the extra shaders no matter which method they tried. (users RedLine888 and NameonPrime.)

I'm curious to know if anyone with that card has been able to unlock the extra shaders so I know whether I should even bother attempting it and risk bricking the card (it does not have dual BIOSes like the reference model).

Thanks.

Hey Yacoub - did u ever successfully flash the BIOS? I bought this card with a view to increase the shaders but am having similar issues. I suspect it is not possible. I'd be interested in what you found.

Cheers.
 

LordJummy

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Get a reference card. Get a reference card. Get a reference card.
 
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As it turns out i'm getting the HD6950 after all. It'll be from MSI. I'll try to flash it, maybe it'll work. I have nothing to lose anyway.
 

LordJummy

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even if it doesn't unlock it can be OC'd to hell, and it will match and beat a 6970 easily. The shaders don't make that much of a difference, but heavy overclocks do.
 
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Well you still hit an overclock wall eventually but if you can unlock + overclock, that's even better.
If cooling is good and if VRM part is a bit more advanced i think it's perfectly possible.
 

LordJummy

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Does the model you're looking at have the nice backplate that the reference models have?
 

LordJummy

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It is connected to the back of the GPU and the RAM AFAIK. It definitely conducts heat away from the RAM. I don't know if it's connected with thermal tape or anything but it definitely conducts heat :)
 
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I don't see anything on the back of a 6950/70 that looks like it needs a backplate for cooling. No chips to speak of anyways.

This particular card does not have a dual bios switch, I would try looking at a different model if you want to unlock.
 
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The MSI does have a switch. It's marked as Silence/Performance but in the nutshell, it's a dual BIOS thingie. One BIOS is tweaked for silence and another for performance. At least that's what ppl are saying here.
 
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I was refering to the Sapphire card. :)
 

LordJummy

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Actually, not sure if the frozr 3 is unlockable. I was thinking of a different card. I think most people have reported that one does not unlock. Who knows.
 
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Oh well. Just flashed it and shader count hasn't changed. Anyway, at least cooler is perfectly silent in idle and i have plenty of overclodcking headroom left. Maybe someday someone will come up with a solution to unlock these cards as well.
 

LordJummy

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I think most of the ones that don't unlock are impossible to. I think some of them are locked at a hard ware level. I am thinking about buying all the unlockable reference cards at my local store and selling them on ebay unlocked or something.
 

Evolved

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this specific Sapphire 6950 card

Wow, that's the american price?

That's the price of a 6870 here in Canada. Our 6950's are $279 :(
 

LordJummy

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Wow, that's the american price?

That's the price of a 6870 here in Canada. Our 6950's are $279 :(

Most of them are about the same price as yours. The $239 one is extremely cheap. Most are around $270-300 still.
 
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powercolor 6950's are supposed to be able to unlock, my 1gb model should be here in a few days...
 
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