Unlock your ATI 6950 to a 6970 Thread

Sunbed · 14 Jul 2011 at 13:37

Does anyone know if the XFX ATI Radeon 6950 XXX will unlock?

TJM · 16 Jul 2011 at 16:10

Hi guys, what's the cheapest 6950 2GB that can be flashed to a 6970? I was going to go for the £200 Sapphire that is on sale this week, but I see from the last page that it can no longer be flashed.

MOOGLEYS · 16 Jul 2011 at 16:12

TJM said:
Hi guys, what's the cheapest 6950 2GB that can be flashed to a 6970? I was going to go for the £200 Sapphire that is on sale this week, but I see from the last page that it can no longer be flashed.

It makes very little difference in game. You would be better getting the one that comes with the best cooler and overclocking it.

Luke86 · 18 Jul 2011 at 16:42

Can the DirectCU II version be flashed?

Lum · 18 Jul 2011 at 21:40

It's been asked a few times in the thread, I don't think anyone knows.

To be honest, given that all the new revisions of the cars have removed the ability to flash or removed the switch I think the horse has bolted on this one and unless you're lucky enough to get old stock it won't be happening.

Out of interest has anyone with one of the new switchless cards been brave enough to try flashing it anyway?

Eebo · 20 Jul 2011 at 22:35

I got a vtx from a competitor last week. It has the switch and flashed no problem apart from having to use the dos box. Not bad for £182, no glitches or lockups.
HTH
Eebo

z0mbi3 · 29 Jul 2011 at 14:42

Sundance said:
Does anyone know if the XFX ATI Radeon 6950 XXX will unlock?

A bit late here, but the shaders on my XXX unlocked fine.

Akagi · 30 Jul 2011 at 12:59

please everybody be careful if you wish to buy a 6950 and unlock to a 6970 rom, i know that there are multiple success stories, but this is with the mk.1 cards.

AMD are now shipping cards that do not have the extra shaders to stop people from continuing to do this.

Make sure to get an older card.

Also, even though the shaders and a few other bits and bobs are designed for the 6950 and 6970, meaning that the cards can be unlocked, there are still a few other components on the cards that are not designed to run at 6970 specifications. So be warned.

kmufc77 · 5 Aug 2011 at 18:33

Im guessing that the newer cards wont unlock now?

Ive had to buy this : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-273-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

Will this unlock any success storys ?

Do i have to move the Bios switch? as currently is turned on to the left if you get me?

EDIT:

I have tried to unlock the shaders and the flash was successful and i rebooted,GPUZ still says the shaders are 1408,so i guess this card cant be flashed.

This review says they have flashed the card? http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...s-card-review-3dmark-11-2nd-bios-flashed.html

Oh well time to just OC to 6970 speeds.

Cavallino · 7 Aug 2011 at 11:41

Hi folks.

Ok I wanted to update you.
Over the past few months I've noticed that that the green dots that appear randomly on desktop have suddenly reappeared. Now I dont know whether this cooincided with my plugging in an HDMI cable to power my 37" sammy in my room (as well as the DVI to plug into my main 24" PC monitor).

Could there be any link between the HDMI cable and this green artifacting?
Do you think I should perhaps RMA? Originally I had thought this was all due to the result of flashing the bios, but I have since gone back to the 6950 almost immediately.

Lum · 7 Aug 2011 at 18:03

I have heard about the green dots issue before, it was common in the Hazro monitor thread and seemed to happen more often with people using HDMI cables and Playstation 3s. Some people also found it happened with ATI cards when connected to one port but not the other, something to do with one port being driven by the ATI chip itself and the other by a separate unit that was higer (or lower, I forget) quality.

It's quite possible that this is what is happening to you. The most obvious test would be to switch back to the DVI cable, or maybe swap over the ports used for your two monitors?

Cavallino · 7 Aug 2011 at 18:50

Thanks for the feedback Lum.

I have one HDMI connected to a 37" Sammy (as a secondary monitor).
And a DVI connected to my 24" DGM (as my main desktop PC).

I have unplugged the HDMI cable for now, and the effect so far seems to have subdued, albeit it did appear once more earlier on.

I may switch from one DVI port to another...

Cavallino · 21 Aug 2011 at 17:20

Ok just an update. I have unplugged the HDMI cable and atm just using the DVI into my main PC 24" monitor. And the dots would still appear.

May switch the ports at some point and see if that works...

blim · 27 Aug 2011 at 01:22

hi,

just wondering if any of the 6950 cards from overclockers can still be have the shaders unlocked? I really would like to buy one other wise going to a street shop thats most likely got one over priced and hasnt sold it yet for that reason but still better price than 6970. I bet i just too late and hav missed out on this deal. just wish I found out about this sooner.

pluse I dont like the idea of having a card thats had its gpu attacked with a laser XD

fowler002 · 27 Aug 2011 at 01:37

blim said:
hi,

just wondering if any of the 6950 cards from overclockers can still be have the shaders unlocked? I really would like to buy one other wise going to a street shop thats most likely got one over priced and hasnt sold it yet for that reason but still better price than 6970. I bet i just too late and hav missed out on this deal. just wish I found out about this sooner.

pluse I dont like the idea of having a card thats had its gpu attacked with a laser XD

you've missed the boat, well the sapphire toxic version is the only one with possibility of unlock. with that you don't need to bother with the bios flashing as sapphire has already flashed a modified bios on 1 of the 2 bioses, but again its a lottery.

blim · 28 Aug 2011 at 00:51

shorly somone from oc can tell us if the card is a older modle? Ive spent so much money here, be nice to get some feedback

Bradmax57 · 28 Aug 2011 at 01:58

blim said:
shorly somone from oc can tell us if the card is a older modle? Ive spent so much money here, be nice to get some feedback

shorly?

sd_dracula · 28 Aug 2011 at 12:14

Don't suppose anyone has tried this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-128-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752 yet and does it unlock/have dual bioses?

SeraphX · 28 Aug 2011 at 21:23

sd_dracula said:
Don't suppose anyone has tried this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-128-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752 yet and does it unlock/have dual bioses?

Chances are it won't
i bought one 2nd hand a few weeks back and the original owner couldn't get it working unlocked

Jay794 · 3 Sep 2011 at 11:12

I tried this with the Power Edition of the 6950 and it didn't seen to work, I used WinATIflash, followed the instructions and rebooted but nothing changed, the shaders are exactly the same.

UPDATE: HELP! I tried flashing the card numerous times and it didn't work at all.

Can someone confirm which is position 1 and which is 2? My PC only recognises the monitor when the gfx card switch is switched to the right side. I would assume that makes it position 1 since that cannot be flashed. Looks like I flashed position 2 (closest to the back of the case) with a corrupt or wrong file, although ATIwinflash said verified nothing changed. Any help?