Cannot Unlock Asus HD 6950 2GB DirectCU II

[Snaptrap]

I bought one of these cards in April and one last month. I unlocked the newest card easily with RBE but when doing the same steps with the older card I haven't been able to unlock the shaders. I tried the CMD method without success. The BIOS seems to be flashing, just no shaders. Not sure if there any other methods I could use.

 

[Snaptrap]

I found the problem. It's with GPU-Z. I used AIDA to check my shader total after flashing and it's 1536 but when I use GPU-Z it shows 1408. I don't think I'll be buying Asus products anymore. Too flaky.

 

[OneMoar]

its not asus's fault the card didn't unlock and I would trust GPU Z over AIDA ( AIDA is probably polling the bios info string and not actually checking the shader count )

let me re;iterate
NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED
NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED!!!

 

[bbmarley]

what you trying to say OneMoar?

 

[NinkobEi]

its not asus's fault the hard didn't unlock and I would trust GPU Z over AIDA ( AIDA is probably polling the bios info string and not actually checking the shader count )

let me re;iterate
NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED
NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED NOT ALL 6950's UNLOCK YOU TAKE A CHANCE EVERY TIME YOU TRY IT IS BY NO MEANS GUARANTEED!!!

you seem upset. can I offer you a sedative? *tssss* there there. sleep. sleep.

 

[OneMoar]

upset yea ... people that jump to conclusions do that to me ... sorry about that

 

[mediasorcerer]

Is there really such a performance benefit that unlocking is needed anyway? Whats wrong with plain old overclocking, then you get a performance boost without all the hassles of bios bricking and potential differences in voltage that may cause damage to the 6950 using bios for 6970 etc.
I got a 6950 and its fine just how it is. Btw, Asus make great quality gear.

 

[OneMoar]

meh the befits to unlocking vrs Heavy overclock really depend on what you are doing
games that are shader /post effect intensive see the biggest gains when unlocked and run at stock'ish speeds ( batman arkham city need for speed the run ) while games with lots of textures and HUGE draw distances will gain more from a high core/mem speed ( battle field 3, skyrim )

 

[Frizz]

Is there really such a performance benefit that unlocking is needed anyway? Whats wrong with plain old overclocking, then you get a performance boost without all the hassles of bios bricking and potential differences in voltage that may cause damage to the 6950 using bios for 6970 etc.
I got a 6950 and its fine just how it is. Btw, Asus make great quality gear.

If you got it, flaunt it . Took me 3 minutes to unlock both of mine it's not really a hassle, but people really shouldn't be doing this without the BIOS switch, way too risky.

 

[OneMoar]

the odds of a (unrecoverable) brick are very low if you leave the POST block alone if you have a spare pcie card or onboard video then you have nothing to worrie about
I would't try it with a elCheapo bottom line 6950 tho... the vrm's may not be strong enough and could self destruct

 

[Snaptrap]

If you got it, flaunt it . Took me 3 minutes to unlock both of mine it's not really a hassle, but people really shouldn't be doing this without the BIOS switch, way too risky.

The video mode switch on the Asus card I have does pretty much the same thing because both modes have a different BIOS. I decided just to put both cards back to their original settings and overclock instead, especially since I'm not getting consistent shader stats on the older card. Strange how the newest card unlocked with no problem. You'd think that the ability to unlock these cards would've been impossible by now.

 

[OneMoar]

The video mode switch on the Asus card I have does pretty much the same thing because both modes have a different BIOS. I decided just to put both cards back to their original settings and overclock instead, especially since I'm not getting consistent shader stats on the older card. Strange how the newest card unlocked with no problem. You'd think that the ability to unlock these cards would've been impossible by now.

thats because AIDA sucks and Gpu-z is probably right AIDA determinate s specs based on a database where as GPU-z Actually checks to see if the shaders are `enabled rater then assume they are just because the bios says its a " 6970 "

 

[Athlon2K15]

Millhouse:shadedshu

 

[mediasorcerer]

The video mode switch on the Asus card I have does pretty much the same thing because both modes have a different BIOS. I decided just to put both cards back to their original settings and overclock instead, especially since I'm not getting consistent shader stats on the older card. Strange how the newest card unlocked with no problem. You'd think that the ability to unlock these cards would've been impossible by now.

Ha funny you should say that, i bought a sapphire [cheapest 6950 i could find 2gb]few weeks back , its definately the lower end but not a bad card anyhow, it flashes no worries but i decided it wasnt worth the risk so i flashed back to original, it has the switch and ive heard that many folks can unlock these sapphire 6950,s[its the dirt 3 edition but without the game included]
First thing i did though, was to redoo the thermal paste and lap the copper heatsink, instantly 3-5c cooler just from that, its almost summer here getting hot ambients up to 30c but it still idles at 35-39c most days, doesnt go over 55-60c under full load,
and it plays all my games at full specs pretty easy, bit of oc, and bobs your uncle!!

 

[Snaptrap]

thats because AIDA sucks and Gpu-z is probably right AIDA determinate s specs based on a database where as GPU-z Actually checks to see if the shaders are `enabled rater then assume they are just because the bios says its a " 6970 "

That doesn't account for the performance changes.