What's so wrong/risky about trying to flash a HD6950?

ToTTenTranz · Jan 5, 2012

Hey,

Being the recent purchaser of a XFX HD6950 with a non-standard PCB (the only one that would fit my HTPC case), I've wondered if I'll be able to flash it to a HD6970 (I've seen a statement in this forum from someone who successfully flashed it).

However, I've also seen many statements discouraging the BIOS flash.. and I don't really get why.
As long as we have another card/IGP, aren't we able to flash the card back to its original BIOS, even if it gets bricked?
At least that's how it was back in my HD3870/HD4890 flashing times..

Sure, it's a marginal upgrade, but if it's free, why not? What am I missing?

LAN_deRf_HA · Jan 5, 2012

The only negative I know of is that flashing to a 6970 can damage your vram. That's why now everyone just unlocks the shaders with a modified 6950 bios.

Jarman · Jan 5, 2012

yer id like to do the 6950 i have too (one of the originals), but was put off when people started to get problens with nenory (the reason i cant use a certain key is that ny keybaord is danaged, sounds like in typing with a cold lol.)

ToTTenTranz · Jan 5, 2012

LAN_deRf_HA said:
The only negative I know of is that flashing to a 6970 can damage your vram. That's why now everyone just unlocks the shaders with a modified 6950 bios.

Yeah I can just modify the bios through w1zzard's hack application (I couldn't do it any other way since there's no HD6970 with that PCB).

But the comments I've seen seem to suggest it might be permanently fatal to the graphics card, and I'd like to know if this is really true.

Mussels · Jan 5, 2012

basically some of the cards were locked to 6950 for a reason, and they'll error or outright die if you flash them.

you cant really be sure if yours is a bad one or not, so people recommend against it. i think what a lot of people did was unlock the shaders but leave the rest at stock (modding your original BIOS), for a performance boost without the risk of frying RAM/VRM

Processor	Ryzen 9 5900X
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro
Cooling	AiO 240mm
Memory	2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast 3600MHz CL18
Video Card(s)	Radeon RX 6900XT Reference (amd.com)
Storage	O.S.: 256GB SATA \| 2x 1TB SanDisk SSD SATA Data \| Games: 1TB Samsung 970 Evo
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Motherboard	DFI NF4 SLI-D
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Storage	> 1.5 TB
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Case	Coolermaster ATCS 101
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Software	XP serv pack 2

Processor	Ryzen 9 5900X
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro
Cooling	AiO 240mm
Memory	2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast 3600MHz CL18
Video Card(s)	Radeon RX 6900XT Reference (amd.com)
Storage	O.S.: 256GB SATA \| 2x 1TB SanDisk SSD SATA Data \| Games: 1TB Samsung 970 Evo
Display(s)	LG 34" UWQHD
Audio Device(s)	X-Fi XtremeMusic + Gigaworks SB750 7.1 THX
Power Supply	XFX 850W
Mouse	Logitech G502 Wireless
VR HMD	Lenovo Explorer
Software	Windows 10 64bit

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
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Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
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Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
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Software	Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores	Nyooom.

What's so wrong/risky about trying to flash a HD6950?

ToTTenTranz

LAN_deRf_HA

Jarman

New Member

ToTTenTranz

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator