RADEON 6950 some help please

[reader64]

Hi guys

i just picked up two
HIS iceQx 6950 2gb versions that come pre clocked at 880
but ive now found out there is sappire 6950 2gb dual fan cards that have a switch and that automatically unlocks the extra shaders on the parts ending in SKU 41g and 50 g ( im hearing u dont even need to flash it )

question is this
is it worth me taking my HIS cards back to swap them for the sapphire cards so i can unlock them to 6970 specs or is the performance gain not really worht the hassle considering the HSI cards can go up to 940clock with no problems

need to know what to do as i can only take them back for 6 days

 

[Darkleoco]

I would say it depends, are you going to overclock the cards regardless of which you have? Also do you know if the cards you have are unlockable since I think it would be simpler to just unlock what you have if possible and disregard the switch in separate cards.

 

[reader64]

well the his comes come at 880 straight out box
and can go from reviews and ppls experince all the way to 935 before u have to start tweaking voltage so yeah i might tinker a little bit

all im worried about is im missing out on liek massive increase of performance by not unlockign the shaders as i dont think u can unlock these HIS cards
some ppl say u can others say u cant as the shaders are phyiscally lasered off

so what im wondering is swap em or keep em

 

[Darkleoco]

The performance increase is rather minimal unlocking the shaders only 3-5 % I've been told so I haven't even tried unlocking my Twin Frozr's if you are going to overclock the cards then I really wouldn't worry too much about it since that will result in a much more significant increase in performance.

 

[reader64]

yeah im just a little worried ive been seeing results that worry me where the 6970 destorys a 6950
but its only for skyrim and battlefield 3 so im hoping two of the crossfired 6950s will be enough

so for that 5 percent increase its better for me to keep them than have to find some BS excuses to give to chairman mao so he exchanges them (clarify the bloke owns pc store he dead set looks like chairman mao)

normally id not buy the HIS cards as they look like a stick of gum after a hard night out with a few girls but i now have no side window so i dont care and i hear the coolers preety good


so
KEPP EM OR SWAP EM

 

[Darkleoco]

I would keep them and if the battlefield 3 beta was anything to go by my stock 6950's in crossfire tear through it easily let alone the optimized final release of the game and improved crossfire profiles combined with your overclocking.

 

[reader64]

ahh so they worked good did they urs ulcoked or not

yeah ill be playing at 2560x1440 i like to max everything will that work

also i didnt ask when i bought them i only have a 900w psu will that be enough

good thing about pc gamign right now everyones using OLD tech theres nto much apart from bf3 that will be demaning at elast for next 6 months

hopefulyl by then well see gtx 600 and 7900 series why i didnt buy a 6970 or 580 no point with new architecture coming soon

 

[reader64]

oh wat is it true the HIS is limited to 880mhz oc on some models i only just found that out can somone confimr this
i might swap them for the the sapphires then if this is confirmed which i find strange however i think these ppl tryign to oc it are onyl in powertune not using MSI ab so no iea how far u can push it in AB

 

[Darkleoco]

If you have them installed I would just advise a simple test OC to 890 or 900 and use GPU-Z to confirm it worked and then that would give you a definitive answer on that. Also I was using my cards at standard settings, no overclocks at all on the BF3 beta and was easily breaking 100 fps on max settings though they are only the high settings for the full game, ultra is not going to be unveiled until release day.

 

[reader64]

yeah tehre not installed havent opened em yet gotta pull my pc outta its cave on saturday and do it then


man these better overclok good only has 1 fan compared to sapphires 2 though so a little worried

 

[reader64]

swapped em an hour ago for the sapphires
can confirm it does just have the 6970 switch as bloke at shop has one in his rig so will post how it goes