6950 2Gb Unlock

[area512003]

I am interested in purchasing two 6950's and unlocking them via one of the two known methods.

Ive heard that some 6950's are now unable to be unlocked.

Please can someone advise me what 2gb 6950's are unlockable still with OCUK?

Thanks.

 

[R.C.Anderson]

You need a Rev1 card, and from what I can see the only two cards that are Rev1 on OCUK are: this and this However for that price, you would be better off going for a 6970, or just saving some cash and OCing a standard 6950

 

[area512003]

Thanks for the reply R C Anderson.

Is there an obvious visible difference between rev 1 and rev 2 6950's.

 

[R.C.Anderson]

Not that I know of, you'll just have to check descriptions to see if they say they're Rev1, but they'll be getting less, and less common now, as they were discontinued quite a while ago, so it just depends what stock manufacturers/etailers still have of the chips/cards.

 

[Surveyor]

There's no point in buying an unlockable 6950 for £250 when you can buy a full fat 6970 for £260.

You remove any risk involved in flashing the BIOS and a proper 6970 has higher speed rated VRAM.

Either buy a 6970 for £260 or a none unlockable 6950 for closer to £200 and live with what they are.

 

[tommybhoy]

As above, there is no point now as the over inflated price of a rev 1 is just not worth an extra £90-£100 for two cards.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-272-SP
I imagine the Sapphire flex will be quieter and cooler (due to the vapour chamber cooler) than the frozers if your thinking xfire, that's the ones I'd go for myself as they are on special this week (ps you can give me the extra Dirt 3 voucher for pointing you in the right direction.)

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

The unlockable 6950's inflated price has spoilt that particular bargain - having said that two stock 6950's are fairly impressive and can be overclocked if needed (wanted).

 

[area512003]

Thank you guys for the responses.

I think it make sense as advised to go 6970 at such a little price difference and saves messing around with bioses.

 

[tommybhoy]

6950's are much better bang for buck considering they will overclock the same as 6970's as they are essentially the same cores. Imo I don't think the performance difference is worth/justified any where near an extra ~£100 for xfire but it's your money.

Take note that stock 6970's in xfire are going to run very hot and loud too compared to custom cooled 6950's.

I have 6950>70 xfire myself and changed the stock coolers as they run hot(even more if they sit on top of each other) but more so for the noise as the stock blowers are shocking when they ramp up.

Here's mine:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18270697

 

[girafferider]

I imagine the Sapphire flex will be quieter and cooler (due to the vapour chamber cooler) than the frozers if your thinking xfire

6870 vapor-x/flex are slightly noisier and hotter at load than either of the MSI twinfrozr counterparts, I s'pose the same will happen for other models. If you want one of the custom cooled cards my advice would be to stick with MSI, especially since their warranty and RMA support are much better than Sapphire's.