ATI/AMD HD6950 unlock potential intentional?

buddatech · Jan 14, 2011

Do you think the HD6950 unlock potential was intentional? Like to here your thoughts yes/no and possible reason(s)

I believe it was left open to help boost sales, even though that would hurt the sales of the HD6970 but.... 6970 would still reign supreme performer ultimately it would overclock higher and not everyone is willing to do the 6950 to 6970 unlock.

a_ump · Jan 14, 2011

I do, obviously if anyone out of AMD can figure out how to unlock their tech, they're certainly aware it.

f0d · Jan 14, 2011

i think it was kind of accidental
maybe they diddnt have enough time to laser cut the 6950 for the release time and instead of holding them back they just thought
"ahh stuff it just let them go - hopefully nobody will notice and we will disable the shaders in the next batch"

Tatty_Two · Jan 14, 2011

Accidental IMO, although as you say many would be unwilling to perform the flash and with a higher clock the 6970 would still reign... not sure about that one, if someone overclocks by nature, I think they would be quite likely to risk a flash on a dual Bios card, it could be deliberate of course, however, the enthusiast community is only a small % of users so therefore I don't think this will have a "huge" impact on either 6950 or 6970 sales.

gaximodo · Jan 14, 2011

it happened way too often to AMD/ATi, you think they aren't learning?
Way too obvious this is an intentional move. Bastards luring their customers take on risks to boost their sales over competitions.

jimmyz · Jan 14, 2011

Definitely intentional.Why the switch and the protected Bios if not?the fact they stuck to extremely similar specs, the comment in the press release slides about end users flashing when AMD uses a Digital signature to lock their Bioses.
It all adds up to the obvious. AMD knew this would stir up a frenzy of buying and the $300 ea from the 6950s is more than enough to cover cost of manufacture and R&D.
AMD saw the unlocking of their CPU's as a positive thing, People were buying CPUs that may not simply out of trying to get a bargain. You haven't heard a peep out of them trying to block the CPU unlock have you?

sliderider · Jan 14, 2011

Yes and No. Yes, they did release it intentionally because they were under time pressure to get the parts out before Christmas so flashing 6970 parts that couldn't quite cut it speed wise was faster than putting those parts through a laser cutting process, but no because they did not want people to buy them and then unlock them and cannibalize sales of their higher end part which has a higher profit margin.

buddatech · Jan 16, 2011

Come on guys like to see some more votes/opinions. Thanks to all that have took the time already

erocker · Jan 16, 2011

I'm not sure. It depends if it is cheaper for AMD to just permenantly disable the extra shaders, or just make 6970 GPU's and sell the lesser binned GPU's as 6950's. My guess is the latter. There has to be a binning process here, though it could just be based off of the VRAM chips. With this 2nd run of the 40nm process (technically the 3rd if you include HD 4770), yeilds are good and chips are cheap. It all comes down to what is the most cost effictive for the company.

christian27 · Jan 17, 2011

I think yes, AMD/ATI is known already for applying this marketing tricks on its products, people like it (of course)

Disparia · Jan 17, 2011

Voted yes. Because I just ate a sandwich.

Mp0wer · Jan 17, 2011

I say yes, because it makes amd all that more popular, every forum i go to there's people talking about this mod.

ale86cuba · Jan 17, 2011

Yes, I think it was intentional. Now look, more peeps are buying ati/amd cards. I used to be an nvidia guy and now this is my first ati and im loving it!

badb0y · Jan 17, 2011

I think it was intentional because the unlocking BIOS not only causes higher sales for the 6950 but also because there is a lot of buzz about the card. Just look nearly every major technical forum has discussion about this and it has been covered extensively. How does this help AMD? To answer that simply, there is no amount of money they could have spent in marketing that would beat the hype this unlocking method has created. Win/Win for everyone in my opinion.

buggalugs · Jan 20, 2011

Yes They did it on purpose

buddatech · Jan 20, 2011

badb0y said:
I think it was intentional because the unlocking BIOS not only causes higher sales for the 6950 but also because there is a lot of buzz about the card. Just look nearly every major technical forum has discussion about this and it has been covered extensively. How does this help AMD? To answer that simply, there is no amount of money they could have spent in marketing that would beat the hype this unlocking method has created. Win/Win for everyone in my opinion.

Very interesting outlook!

Andrei23 · Jan 22, 2011

to say it was unintentional is to say that amd designed the 6950 by chance

2wicked · Jan 22, 2011

It was as accidental as the Bios Switch on the card.

Ecto Plasma · Jan 22, 2011

No. If this was intended, then all of the cards would unlock, but this is not the case.

sliderider · Jan 22, 2011

badb0y said:
I think it was intentional because the unlocking BIOS not only causes higher sales for the 6950 but also because there is a lot of buzz about the card. Just look nearly every major technical forum has discussion about this and it has been covered extensively. How does this help AMD? To answer that simply, there is no amount of money they could have spent in marketing that would beat the hype this unlocking method has created. Win/Win for everyone in my opinion.

Higher sales for the 6950 at the expense of the 6970. Trust me, they want people looking for that level of performance to buy the 6970 with it's higher markups. They don't want everyone buying their bargain basement card at a discount.

sliderider · Jan 22, 2011

2wicked said:
It was as accidental as the Bios Switch on the card.

The BIOS switch was for overclockers to create their own BIOS and have the ability to switch back to the standard settings for games that were uncooperative with overclocked cards. It isn't there so you can unlock things that were never meant to be unlocked.

It is also there for redundancy in case the BIOS accidentally gets wiped and you are unable to restore it you have another to fall back on.

badb0y · Jan 22, 2011

sliderider said:
Higher sales for the 6950 at the expense of the 6970. Trust me, they want people looking for that level of performance to buy the 6970 with it's higher markups. They don't want everyone buying their bargain basement card at a discount.

People who want to buy a 6970 will buy a 6970 no matter what the 6950 will do. The people who buy a 6950 and unlock it are bargain hunter. The notion that a 6950 can unlock makes it all that tempting to buy a 6950 vs anything else in that range which at the moment is nothing (soon to be GTX 560?).

Natslx · Jan 22, 2011

I think it was intentional for the 6950 to flash to the 6970, but not for it just to have the unlocked shaders, I think they did it so just so then the BIOS of the 6970s increased voltages would break your 6950, and you would have to buy a new one.

Andrei23 · Jan 22, 2011

Natslx said:
I think it was intentional for the 6950 to flash to the 6970, but not for it just to have the unlocked shaders, I think they did it so just so then the BIOS of the 6970s increased voltages would break your 6950, and you would have to buy a new one.

what sense would that make? in that scenario all but the most brave (stupid) amd fanboys would try again - customer alienation is real

dom99 · Jan 23, 2011

Natslx said:
I think it was intentional for the 6950 to flash to the 6970, but not for it just to have the unlocked shaders, I think they did it so just so then the BIOS of the 6970s increased voltages would break your 6950, and you would have to buy a new one.

I dont know who else knows this but the powercolor hd 6950 PCS+ will ship with a stock 6950 bios and a 6970 switchable bio.

link: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=28578

Im sure they wouldnt do this unless they got the OK from AMD

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ATI/AMD HD6950 unlock potential intentional?

Unlock Potential of the HD6950 intentional

Yes

No

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