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Unlocking the 6950

zombiegenesis

zombiegenesis

zombiegenesis

Associate
Joined
1 Dec 2010
Posts
230
Location
Winchester, UK
First off I want to say I realise there's a sticky on this, the only problem is, I'm having a hard time understanding it :confused:
I've seen a fair few 'methods' and many different downloads.

I run Windows 7 Home Premium and an MSI 6950 on stock. How would I go about flashing the BIOS in the simplest (and hopefully safest) way? I hope nobody minds me asking.
 
if its a twin frozr, it cant be done
its the price you pay for having such a uber cool looking card
 
ah thats good then
if you follow the sticky on the top page, it really is quite simple, i managed it, and im very very cautious about anything to do with my computer, just read slowly and follow step by step.
1 thing though, i would highly reccomend the asus 6950 unlock bios, and not a full on 6970 bios.
 
use gpuz to get the bios off your card.

follow the instructions to use the batch file to modify it to a shader unlocked bios.

save the original bios somewhere safe.

create a dos bootable usb pen using hp tools.

put the modified bios and atiflash on the pen.

set machine to boot from usb.

reboot and enter in the commands in dos.

set machine to boot as normal and there you go.

you might have to look into the details but they are the steps in basic.
 
MikeHiow said:
Flashing to 6970 BIOS is bad advice. The 6970 BIOS is not suitable for the 6950 card. There is speculation of it being the cause of many failures, but at a best case it is responsible for instability for others.

I posted a guide to unlocking shaders only here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=18392579&postcount=911
Click to expand...
I would have to disagree on you saying it's bad advice, I know not all 50's can go the full 70 route mostly due to the memory not taking the 70's clocks, but if you don't try then you won't know will you?
My His 6950>70 (and there are loads of other 6950>70's on this board alone) has had no problems whatsoever with the full fat 6970 bios.
 
Yeah but some can't do full 6970 bios so it is a much better idea to get unlocked 6950 bios, then clock it to 6970, all timings are correct and your not really asking the card to be something it can't do well

You will find the bios on tpu I think it's titled as ASus unlocked 6950, I could be wrong tho, but it is there
 
tommybhoy said:
I would have to disagree on you saying it's bad advice, I know not all 50's can go the full 70 route mostly due to the memory not taking the 70's clocks, but if you don't try then you won't know will you?
My His 6950>70 (and there are loads of other 6950>70's on this board alone) has had no problems whatsoever with the full fat 6970 bios.
Click to expand...

DDR5 is quite fragile, and people have reported failures and permanent damage after going to 6970, even after going back to the stock BIOS.

I'm not going to speculate whether this is the cause, but given the evidence and considering there is almost no gain from using a 6970 bios, then I'm fairly confident in my assessment that using a 6970 bios is a bad idea.
 
I don't mind taking the 6950 Modded over the 6970 really.
However as I have found the switch is not on the face of the card but somewhere behind (where I can't get to it) I've decided not to do it now, as I don't much want to try unwrenching it yet.
Unless they come set to '1' as default? As I've never touched it.
 
It doesn't really matter which position it is in, just be aware that you'll need to get to the switch if something goes wrong (either that, or you'll need another graphics card to boot with to re-flash).
 
zombiegenesis said:
However as I have found the switch is not on the face of the card but somewhere behind (where I can't get to it) I've decided not to do it now, as I don't much want to try unwrenching it yet.
Click to expand...

Right next to the crossfire connector, it is pretty small, you may have missed it.
biosswitch_small.jpg
 
Right, that's good by me :)
Now I just need to figure out what file I need to select when I do 'Load Image' in Winflash. The Zip of the bios folder or just the mod.php...
 
It's alright I found what he's said :) Using Winflash was impossible as on both switch 1 and 2 it was unable to overwrite bios (apparently a problem with this brand only) so I used the manual DOS install. Running modded HD Sapphire 6950 BIOS and all shaders are unlocked! Woo.
Up to 30FPS average on maxed out Metro 2033 benchmark. Might tinker with OCing soon.
 
Although for some reason now my afterburner fan jumps to like 50 and sounds like a jet engine... the hell? I also got a message saying my computer is running slow and if I'd like to use the Windows Basic colours to improve performance :?
If this keeps up I might switch back anyway.
 
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