• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

6950 1 or 2GB?

Col_M

Col_M

Col_M

Soldato
Joined
17 Jan 2005
Posts
3,822
Location
London
Ok so my 4850 was causing some crashes last night. This morning I took the side of my case and found half the memory and all the VRM heatsinks resting on the back of the cooler LOL :D seems like the thermal adhesive wasn't all that and they had fallen of at sometime or another :p
I bodged them back on but I'm still getting crashes so it looks like the damage has been done.

I'm looking to get a 6950, I don't really want to spend any more than that, however the price between the 1GB and 2GB isn't that much and I'm wondering will I notice a difference?
Machine spec in sig. and my screen is 1680x1050
 
Go for the 2GB, easier and more likely if not guaranteed to unlock to the 6970 clocks/shaders. Do make sure you buy a revision 1 6950 though.
 
Go 2GB if you can find a rev 1 unlockable to a 6970, a good hike in speed for no cost is always a good thing. I'm not sure of the availability of rev 1s now but I got the Asus OC HD6950 rev 1 and it unlocked.

The 1GB versions cannot be unlocked to 6970 spec.
 
Any revision 1 card will do as they are all the same regardless of vendor, but the Msi one above is currently on special offer.
 
Last edited:
The Asus is the same part number as mine so should be fine. The gigabyte has a suspicious looking -B on the end which could be rev B, which could mean the software flash won't work.

Reference cooler doesn't mean rev 1. It just means it's fitted with the reference lead blower cooler.

I hear that some of the custom cooler fitted ones can flash to 6970 too.
 
1. buy 2x asus 6950 2gb
2. install both cards and xfire.
3. unlock both cards to 6970's using a 6970 oc bios.
4. congrats now you have a set up that's better than a single 6990.
 
Last edited:
Tealc said:
The Asus is the same part number as mine so should be fine. The gigabyte has a suspicious looking -B on the end which could be rev B, which could mean the software flash won't work.

Reference cooler doesn't mean rev 1. It just means it's fitted with the reference lead blower cooler.

I hear that some of the custom cooler fitted ones can flash to 6970 too.
Click to expand...
Ah thanks, the Asus was cheapest so I'll probably go for that one :)

Will get it on Tuesday, I would get it from OcUK like I usually do but I have a TON of loose change here and the shop here in Prague has self service pay machines so I'll just spend 10 mins feeding coins into one of them and the card will effectively be half price :D

I also only have a 520W power supply, I hear these cards have a BIOS selector dip switch so I can flash one with the 6970 BIOS and if my PSU can't cope then I can just flip it back right?
 
Dirty-Blade said:
Is that unlocking the shaders and then overclocking? or is it flashing to 6970 bios?
Click to expand...

Col_M said:
Ah thanks, the Asus was cheapest so I'll probably go for that one :)

Will get it on Tuesday, I would get it from OcUK like I usually do but I have a TON of loose change here and the shop here in Prague has self service pay machines so I'll just spend 10 mins feeding coins into one of them and the card will effectively be half price :D

I also only have a 520W power supply, I hear these cards have a BIOS selector dip switch so I can flash one with the 6970 BIOS and if my PSU can't cope then I can just flip it back right?
Click to expand...

You can also unlock the shaders only as some cards can't cope with the memory clocks of the 6970, also with the files below your card will stay @1.1V instead of the higher 1.175V of the 6970.

Fantastic that you can buy a 6950 with loose change at your store!:D

tommybhoy said:
Very simple instructions and all files to unlock the shaders only, there is also asus smart doctor included in order to unlock ccc oc'ing limits as well.

With this pack(I originally got from shayper :D) you can flash both cards at the same time.

The instructions are very clear and it really is simple to do, just take your time and follow them to the letter and in two minutes you will have unlocked both cards.

Shaypers-6950 Shader Unlock
Click to expand...
 
Dirty-Blade said:
Is that unlocking the shaders and then overclocking? or is it flashing to 6970 bios?
Click to expand...

ah sorry I mean unlock both 6950's to 6970's using a 6970 OC edition bios - an ASUS bios preferably.

You then go into catalyst control center and overclock it to 890mhz while keeping the memory clock at a minimum.
 
I ended up getting the ASUS. I'm very impressed so far, it destroys all the games I have and I'll be ready for BC3 :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom