• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Poll: What caused your flashed 6950 permanent damage?

Your 6950 started having permanent damage while flashed/clocked as such:

  • 6970 bios, Stock 6950 memory (1250), overclcocked gpu (800+)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Modded 6950 (shaders enable only) bios, stock memory speeds (1250), overclocked gpu

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Modded 6950 (shaders enable only) bios, stock gpu speeds (800), overclocked memory

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    33

searingmage

New Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
37 (0.01/day)
So, now that the new driver is coming out, let's see if the status of those who has damaged card changed. Perhaps it is driver issue only all along, or perhaps it's really damaged.
 

ctn

New Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2011
Messages
9 (0.00/day)
17 dead cards were send to RMA last week from the shop, that I'm working in. Here (on TPU) there is more than 5 persons with problems (not driver related) with HD6970 bios on a wrong card. 2 or 3 on Xtremesystems. On three polish forums tham I'm addicted to (nvision,purepc,benchmark), there are more than 10 permanently damaged HD6950. All damaged cards have HD6970 bios.

I don't want to spend more time arguing that HD6970 bios on HD6950 card is bad thing since there is proper and simple solution (modded HD6950). This is my last post in this discussion, because it's just stupid. People like to learn on their own mistakes I think.

:cool:

Do you have any screenshots/pictures of these artifacts?

Best way to put this to rest.
 

SoCalRailRoader

New Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
6 (0.00/day)
Location
Redwood Valley, NorCal(97-now)/SoCal Born N Razd(7
1. Yes even 1 hour of wrong bios can damage the card.
2. When you have damaged card, you will see it in regular use. If green dots are showing you damaged your card. Mine HD4850 showed them after 2 weeks.
3. Unlocking shaders is safe. OCing with unlocked bios is also safe (somehow).

I used the Modded 6950 BIOS Method, do I need to raise the voltages at all? I have the PowerColor HD 6950-

http://powercolor.com/us/products_features.asp?id=311#Specification

Thanks guys! I'm brand new to these forums, though not the tech world by any means :D I have found a lot of other good stuff on here, I'm looking forward to getting involved!
 

BababooeyHTJ

New Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
907 (0.17/day)
Processor i5 3570k
Motherboard Gigabyte Z77 UD5h
Cooling XSPC Raystrom
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 1600mhz
Video Card(s) 7950 crossfire
Storage a few
Display(s) 27" Catleap
Case Xigmatek Elysium
Audio Device(s) Xonar STX
Power Supply Seasonic X1050
Software Windows 7 X64
No you shouldn't need to touch the voltage with a modded bios.
 

xt486

New Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Messages
2 (0.00/day)
System Name Haf eXpectant
Processor Intel i7 950 o/c 3.8 ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte UD5-X8a Rev.2
Cooling corsiar H70, cpu cooler,
Memory 6g Ddr3 Kingston Hyper X 2000mhz @ 9-10- 9-27
Video Card(s) Gigabyte HD6950 o/c to HD6970
Storage 120gig OCZ V2 os drive, 2 x 1.5 tb Samsung, & 2tb Samsung
Display(s) Asus VE278 27" LED monitor
Case CoolerMaster Haf-X, 2x 200mm extract & 2x 200mm intake fans
Audio Device(s) on board
Power Supply Antec New True Blue 750w
Software Win 7 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores not much
Jitters on new HD6950 to hd6970 o/c

Sorry for piggybacking off your topic, but since I o/c my card to HD6970 bios, while doing general surfing and e-mail stuff I have noticed jitters and artifacts on the screen, this happens while not playing any games or videos. Sometimes it goes black for second, I have connected my screen to my laptop but no evidence of the faults, I have moved the card to another PCI slot, but still the same happens, Have I fried my card? Should I just take it back? it is 3 weeks old, Thanks Xt486
 
Joined
Aug 25, 2008
Messages
429 (0.08/day)
Location
Bydgoszcz, Poland
System Name "Złotko"
Processor AMD 1055T @ 3600 MHz
Motherboard Asrock 880G@890GX
Cooling Thermalright 120 Xtreme (lapped)
Memory A-Data 1600 Plus
Video Card(s) Asus HD6950 unlocked - WOW
Storage many more than you can imagine
Display(s) Acer AL1923 and Philips 40PFL5605H
Case Fractal Define R3
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Music / onboard
Power Supply Seasonic M12D 850W
Software viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, adware, rootkits
Benchmark Scores 2.3 promile of alcohol in my blood and still standing
@xt486
Yes, you probably killed your card while using HD6970 bios. Why didn't you used the HD6950 bios with unlockes shaders? Your PSU looks ok, so it's not PSU problem.
 

BababooeyHTJ

New Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
907 (0.17/day)
Processor i5 3570k
Motherboard Gigabyte Z77 UD5h
Cooling XSPC Raystrom
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 1600mhz
Video Card(s) 7950 crossfire
Storage a few
Display(s) 27" Catleap
Case Xigmatek Elysium
Audio Device(s) Xonar STX
Power Supply Seasonic X1050
Software Windows 7 X64
Sorry for piggybacking off your topic, but since I o/c my card to HD6970 bios, while doing general surfing and e-mail stuff I have noticed jitters and artifacts on the screen, this happens while not playing any games or videos. Sometimes it goes black for second, I have connected my screen to my laptop but no evidence of the faults, I have moved the card to another PCI slot, but still the same happens, Have I fried my card? Should I just take it back? it is 3 weeks old, Thanks Xt486

Was it ever stable after the flash? Did you try and increase powertune? That seems to help some people.


Flip the switch to position 2 and uninstall your current display drivers and either reinstall or install the latest display drivers. Then do a little testing. If it works fine flash back to the factory bios.

@xt486
Yes, you probably killed your card while using HD6970 bios. Why didn't you used the HD6950 bios with unlockes shaders? Your PSU looks ok, so it's not PSU problem.

You were able to diagnose his machine based on that short post alone. Thats amazing. ;)
 
Last edited:

Wijkert

New Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Messages
62 (0.01/day)
System Name 2500k
Processor 2500K @ 4.5 (1.365v)
Motherboard Z68X-UD3H-B3
Cooling Mugen v2
Memory Ripjaws 1600mhz
Video Card(s) 2x 6950 Dirt 3 edition
Storage Agility 120GB, C300 64GB, Spinpoint F1 1GB
Display(s) 3x u2311h
Case CM 690 II Adv.
Power Supply XFX Pro 650W
Software Windows 7 Ultimate
@xt486
Yes, you probably killed your card while using HD6970 bios. Why didn't you used the HD6950 bios with unlockes shaders? Your PSU looks ok, so it's not PSU problem.

I have to agree with BababooeyHTJ. You seem to scare a lot of people with your statements about their cards being dead. You can't know for shure before they have been tested extensively.
 

searingmage

New Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
37 (0.01/day)
Sorry for piggybacking off your topic, but since I o/c my card to HD6970 bios, while doing general surfing and e-mail stuff I have noticed jitters and artifacts on the screen, this happens while not playing any games or videos. Sometimes it goes black for second, I have connected my screen to my laptop but no evidence of the faults, I have moved the card to another PCI slot, but still the same happens, Have I fried my card? Should I just take it back? it is 3 weeks old, Thanks Xt486

Try reverting it back to 6950 bios. Then see if the problem persist. If it persist... then... maybe your card is fried, or maybe there's some other problems. But anyways, modded 6950 with unlocked shaders is safer from what I observe so far.. So, if your card isn't fried, change it to modded 6950 instead of using 6970 bios. OC the core only, don't oc the memory. And, if it's fried, hopefully you can still unlock your shaders after rma.
 
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Messages
517 (0.11/day)
Location
St. Louis, MO
System Name Desktop
Processor Intel i7 13700K
Motherboard MSI Z790 Tomahawk D4
Cooling Corsair XC7 Block / Corsair XG7 Block EK 360PE Radiator EK 120XE Radiator 5x EK Vadar Furious Fans
Memory 64GB Corsair Dominator DDR4-3200
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio
Storage 1TB WD Black SN850 / 4TB Inland Premium / 8TB WD Black HDD
Display(s) Alienware AW3821DW / ASUS TUF VG279QM
Case Lian-Li Dynamic 011 XL ROG
Audio Device(s) Razer Nommo Pro Speakers / Creative AE-9 w/ Beyerdynamic MMX 300
Power Supply EVGA P2 1200W Platinum
Mouse Razer Naga Pro
Keyboard Deathstalker Pro
I think I might be one of the few that has attempted this mod with success and I did use a 6970 BIOS on my 6950.

I have a 6950 from XFX and I used the 6970 XFX BIOS from the collection. I have yet to find a link to a BIOS that is modded for just shaders only. I tried that pack that was linked on page 3 and I do believe that is the same thing that W1zzard linked in his article as a helpful "kit" to help people and it still has a 6970 BIOS or at least on mine it changed the speeds and shaders to the same thing that the XFX BIOS did.

I have left the XFX 6970 BIOS on my card, turned the fan up to about 75% and I am not having any temperature issues/artifacting/tearting or anything like that. I did have a bad driver install because I used the 11.1a hotfix.

I went back to the 10.12a hotfix and I have no more problems as described in my other thread.

I have tried FurMark, Unigine, Source Benchmark, and Lost Planet 2 with no issues whatsoever.

With the 10.12a drivers and the 6970 BIOS I noticed in FurMark on my particular card that the fan wasn't kicking on and just sat at 25%. My temps went from 25C up to 91C. After manually adjusting the fan they don't get above 60C in FurMark.

I have not had any problems with my card and do not see anything wrong with it.

Should the time come and it does end up dead on me, I invested the extra $30 at the time of purchase and got a replacement plan on it. So if needed, I can get a new card and not shell out the extra $300.
 
Last edited:

xt486

New Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Messages
2 (0.00/day)
System Name Haf eXpectant
Processor Intel i7 950 o/c 3.8 ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte UD5-X8a Rev.2
Cooling corsiar H70, cpu cooler,
Memory 6g Ddr3 Kingston Hyper X 2000mhz @ 9-10- 9-27
Video Card(s) Gigabyte HD6950 o/c to HD6970
Storage 120gig OCZ V2 os drive, 2 x 1.5 tb Samsung, & 2tb Samsung
Display(s) Asus VE278 27" LED monitor
Case CoolerMaster Haf-X, 2x 200mm extract & 2x 200mm intake fans
Audio Device(s) on board
Power Supply Antec New True Blue 750w
Software Win 7 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores not much
HD 6950 flicker

Mr Goat, that plan of the $30 scheme is good, I will up my card fan to 55% then play some games, run Furmark and see what happens.
 

gareth170

New Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2007
Messages
39 (0.01/day)
i can show you videos of what i thought was a failure but is nothing but driver/game engine bugs
like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDHvow6ILpQ
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NX96OHZ-lw



edit: sorry for the double post :(

yeah i get that.... it's just a driver bug....

anyway if people's 6950 are breaking after flashing it's either they using the 6970 bios or pumping way to much voltage though it or letting it get to hot or driver bugs or they don't know what they doing....

my 6950 has been perfectly fine for many weeks now using the 6950 unlocked shaders bios, i game at 930/1450 1.175v
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Messages
245 (0.05/day)
bah
neither modded bios nor 6970 bios seem to work without crashing for me so I went back to just a plain old 6950
 
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
1,554 (0.24/day)
Location
The Gulag Casino
System Name ROG 7900X3d By purecain
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7900X3D
Motherboard ASUS Crosshair X670E Hero
Cooling Noctua NH U12A
Memory 64Gb G.Skill Trident Z5 neo RGB 6400@6000mhz@1.41v
Video Card(s) Aorus RTX4090 Extreme Waterforce
Storage 990Pro2Tb-1TbSamsung Evo M.2/ 2TbSamsung QVO/ 1TbSamsung Evo780/ 120gbKingston Now
Display(s) LG 65UN85006LA 65" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV
Case Thermaltake CoreX71 Limited Edition Etched Tempered Glass Door
Audio Device(s) On board/NIcomplete audio 6
Power Supply Seasonic FOCUS 1000w 80+
Mouse M65 RGB Elite
Keyboard K95 RGB Platinum
Software Windows11pro
Benchmark Scores [url=https://valid.x86.fr/gtle1y][img]https://valid.x86.fr/cache/banner/gtle1y-6.png[/img][/url]
Mr Goat, that plan of the $30 scheme is good, I will up my card fan to 55% then play some games, run Furmark and see what happens.

i would flash the card back as you may be damaging the card using it with that bios...

although i doubt it, just flash back to be safe....

try the bios switch on the card first.... good luck with it...
 
Joined
Jul 9, 2009
Messages
26 (0.00/day)
Hardware failures happen even without unlocking etc. You should have added an option for "No malfunctions" so we see the failure quantities in perspective.

And I've got a feeling that some of these "failures" are due to user not reading instructions carefully, not hardware :)
 

ghen

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
34 (0.01/day)
People, I cannot get this 6950 shader unlock bios working... I was using 6970 bioses but Im afraid to go on anymore :D

I downloaded the file,there's a run.bat , a folder called php , mod.php file . I put them into same folder with my stock bios named original.bin , and i run the run.bat , it says press a button , and then displays the error "System cannot find the path specified."
 

zhadlp

New Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2011
Messages
80 (0.02/day)
Location
Philippines
System Name Project Whitewater
Processor Intel i3 550 @ 4.8GHz 1.35v
Motherboard Asus P55 Maximus 3 Gene
Cooling XSPC 240 Rad / XSPC RASA CPU / Swiftech MCW80 GPU / XSPC 750 Dual Bay Res + Pump
Memory 2 x 2GB G.Skill DDR3-1600 @ 2000 cas7 with Arctic-Cooling AC heatspreader
Video Card(s) Sapphire HD6950 w/ HD6970bios 900/1450
Storage Corsair F60 SSD / 1TB Seagate HDD SATA2
Display(s) 24" Samsung P2470
Case Modded Lian-li PC-A04b
Audio Device(s) Creative X-fi XtremeMusic
Power Supply Corsair HX620
Software Win7 Ultimate 64bit
my 1st unlock HD6950 had an issue with the fan after 2 weeks, not sure why, but its stuck at 100%, tried a lot of programs to adjust the fan speed, but even if I set it to 20%, worked fine before the fan issue though, no game issues whatsoever.

my 2nd unlocked HD6950 has had no issues running HD6970 900/1450 clocks for a month now, and this machine is running almost 24/7, no glitches, artifacts, or fan issues, so I'm happy with it... :)
 

ghen

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
34 (0.01/day)
Ok just flashed my 6950 to 6970 Bios with Asus this time.
Is there anything wrong here ? I followed the steps from :
http://www.overclock.net/ati/923129-hd-6950-810-1250-mhz-shader.html

It says Your GPU voltage will now be 1.175V , should I play with the voltage or it should stay the same?
But the case is,they use 6950 bios-shader unlock, but I cannot apply that,so I went with Asus 6970 bios..


 

Intelman

New Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
7 (0.00/day)
Hm maybe my card is dying. 11.1a seems to have introduced quite a bit of instabilities for me. Not cool. I will try reverting. 11.1a improves 69xx performance though with its new shader model.

XFX 6950 was on 6970 for a week, then switched to 6950 unlocked. All was fine until 11.1a.
 
Joined
May 6, 2005
Messages
2,792 (0.40/day)
Location
Tre, Suomi Finland
System Name Ladpot ◦◦◦ Desktop
Processor R7 5800H ◦◦◦ i7 4770K, watercooled
Motherboard HP 88D2 ◦◦◦ Asus Z87-C2 Maximus VI Formula
Cooling Mixed gases ◦◦◦ Fuzion V1, MCW60/R2, DDC1/DDCT-01s top, PA120.3, EK200, D12SL-12, liq.metal TIM
Memory 2× 8GB DDR4-3200 ◦◦◦ 2× 8GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical LP DDR3-1600
Video Card(s) RTX 3070 ◦◦◦ heaps of dead GPUs in the garage
Storage Samsung 980 PRO 2TB ◦◦◦ Samsung 840Pro 256@178GB + 4× WD Red 2TB in RAID10 + LaCie Blade Runner 4TB
Display(s) HP ZR30w 30" 2560×1600 (WQXGA) H2-IPS
Case Lian Li PC-A16B
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Corsair AX860i
Mouse Logitech MX Master 2S / Contour RollerMouse Red+
Keyboard Logitech Elite Keyboard from 2006 / Contour Balance Keyboard / Logitech diNovo Edge
Software W11 x64 ◦◦◦ W10 x64
Benchmark Scores It does boot up? I think.

ghen

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
34 (0.01/day)
People, I cannot get this 6950 shader unlock bios working... I was using 6970 bioses but Im afraid to go on anymore :D

I downloaded the file,there's a run.bat , a folder called php , mod.php file . I put them into same folder with my stock bios named original.bin , and i run the run.bat , it says press a button , and then displays the error "System cannot find the path specified."

Noone?
 

BababooeyHTJ

New Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
907 (0.17/day)
Processor i5 3570k
Motherboard Gigabyte Z77 UD5h
Cooling XSPC Raystrom
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 1600mhz
Video Card(s) 7950 crossfire
Storage a few
Display(s) 27" Catleap
Case Xigmatek Elysium
Audio Device(s) Xonar STX
Power Supply Seasonic X1050
Software Windows 7 X64
Those in the 1st vid are rendering glitches and not RAM errors. Such "sparklies" are typical GPU errors, RAM errors would look like corrupt/missing/flashing textures.
And I don't see anything wrong in 2nd vid.

Actually they are both known driver issues.
 
Joined
May 6, 2005
Messages
2,792 (0.40/day)
Location
Tre, Suomi Finland
System Name Ladpot ◦◦◦ Desktop
Processor R7 5800H ◦◦◦ i7 4770K, watercooled
Motherboard HP 88D2 ◦◦◦ Asus Z87-C2 Maximus VI Formula
Cooling Mixed gases ◦◦◦ Fuzion V1, MCW60/R2, DDC1/DDCT-01s top, PA120.3, EK200, D12SL-12, liq.metal TIM
Memory 2× 8GB DDR4-3200 ◦◦◦ 2× 8GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical LP DDR3-1600
Video Card(s) RTX 3070 ◦◦◦ heaps of dead GPUs in the garage
Storage Samsung 980 PRO 2TB ◦◦◦ Samsung 840Pro 256@178GB + 4× WD Red 2TB in RAID10 + LaCie Blade Runner 4TB
Display(s) HP ZR30w 30" 2560×1600 (WQXGA) H2-IPS
Case Lian Li PC-A16B
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Corsair AX860i
Mouse Logitech MX Master 2S / Contour RollerMouse Red+
Keyboard Logitech Elite Keyboard from 2006 / Contour Balance Keyboard / Logitech diNovo Edge
Software W11 x64 ◦◦◦ W10 x64
Benchmark Scores It does boot up? I think.
Right-o...
So pretty much everyone using a 6900-serie card gets artifacts?
 
Top