6950@70 CF options ?

CSA · 16 Oct 2011 at 19:12

Im thinking about adding another 69xx card for some crossfire goodness but i have a dilemma,i currently have a HIS 6950 unlocked to 6970 , now do i try and find another 6950 that may or may not unlock to 70 and take the risk of it unlocking ? obviously if it fails to unlock i'll have to run both cards at 6950 speeds

OR do i buy a 6970 so no need to unlock anything,then while running in crossfire the 6970 will downclock slightly or run less Stream Processors/shaders i pressume to match the other card ? so both cards would run at what speeds my card is running at right now ?

im guessing option B would be easier but the more expensive option,im taking a wild guess that even the new 7xxx single gpu cards wont beat a 69xx CF set up ?

ThePengu1n · 16 Oct 2011 at 20:06

TBH 1 6970 is enough for anything at the moment especially as you're not running 2560x1600. That said, if I were you, I would splash the cash on a proper 6970 as the new 6950's don't unlock, so you can utilize all that power

old gamer · 16 Oct 2011 at 20:21

I have a unlocked 6950 crossfired with a 6970 and overclock the 6950 to 6970 speeds

Howling · 16 Oct 2011 at 20:24

You don't need 2 cards running the same speed for xFire... it's xFire not SLi. lol. The faster card won't slow down to the slower card speed.

CSA · 16 Oct 2011 at 21:22

Howling said:
You don't need 2 cards running the same speed for xFire... it's xFire not SLi. lol. The faster card won't slow down to the slower card speed.

I didnt know that,i thought the faster card would always run at the same speed as the slower card

neonraver · 16 Oct 2011 at 23:06

I asked the same question somewhere else and didn't really get a definitive answer so I ended up just getting at TFIII 6950 2GB and it unlocked without a hitch first time to 6970 shaders. Then I overclocked with a registry hacked CCC both cards to 880/1400 and they work great. So new cards DO unlock. Just not all of them.

Cleeecooo · 16 Oct 2011 at 23:10

wait for next gen???

tommybhoy · 16 Oct 2011 at 23:15

^Lol, the amount of this gen youv'e owned and you give out this advice! You ordered your next lot yet? Any joy with the screens/gpus?

Who knows when they arrive, low end at christmas, possibly up to Q2 for the high ends!

The toxics come with an unlocked bios(success is high):
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-274-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

But is it worth the extra over this one that will probably hit the same clocks:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-042-HS

CSA · 17 Oct 2011 at 07:40

yeah those toxics seems quite expensive when you consider you can get a full 6970 for 3 quid more

can any one else confirm that the cards will run at their own independant speeds and a faster card will not downclock to match a slower card,its not that i dont believe Howling its just ive always read that the speeds will always match

scousegit · 17 Oct 2011 at 07:43

i've mentioned this before to others on here about the 6950 > 6970 being locked etc,

I have two HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo 2048MB bought from ocuk, purchased within the last 4 weeks and BOTH unlocked to 6970 shaders fine.

If you want to unlock a 6950 go for http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-036-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

I can even email anyone the modded bios that works fine on these cards.

Howling · 17 Oct 2011 at 16:19

CSA said:
its not that i dont believe Howling its just ive always read that the speeds will always match

Don't worry, you might be right to not believe me. It's in my head that SLi dropped to slowest speed and ATi didn't - can't seem to find any source though so it could just be my mind playing tricks on me.. Is 25 old enough to go senile?

I'm gonna keep looking anyway

Edit: The only thread I found addressing the 6970+6950 issue was http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=262&threadid=152638&enterthread=y

JaffAWood · 20 Oct 2011 at 14:00

CSA said:
yeah those toxics seems quite expensive when you consider you can get a full 6970 for 3 quid more

can any one else confirm that the cards will run at their own independant speeds and a faster card will not downclock to match a slower card,its not that i dont believe Howling its just ive always read that the speeds will always match

I have 2 6950's one is the ASUS 'overclocked' version @ 810 the other is a sapphire @ 800. I can confirm when i installed them and before overclocking the sapphire to 810 (and did my first benchmarking) i noticed in MSI AB that the sapphire clock maxed at 800 and the ASUS @ 810.

CSA · 20 Oct 2011 at 17:52

Interesting,thanks for the info jaffa

ray168 · 20 Oct 2011 at 18:00

thanks was thinking of getting a pair of 6950's and trying to unlock them.

JaffAWood · 20 Oct 2011 at 18:09

They are a nice cards especially for the price. Even if they won't unlock, bang for buck can't really go wrong....

Least I'm happy upgrading from a 5750! Lol

old gamer · 20 Oct 2011 at 20:42

Did a bit of benching with my 6970 +6950 and can confirm the cards will indeed run at there own speeds, out of intrest i left the 6950 at stock and just overcked the 6970 a few times and the heaven scores did improve with every overclock

Howling · 20 Oct 2011 at 21:51

old gamer said:
Did a bit of benching with my 6970 +6950 and can confirm the cards will indeed run at there own speeds, out of intrest i left the 6950 at stock and just overcked the 6970 a few times and the heaven scores did improve with every overclock

Thanks for confirming ^_^ yay I'm not going senile !!

BlackBat · 20 Oct 2011 at 23:32

If you're still after a 6950 that should unlock to a 6970 there's this in 'clearance lines'.

CSA · 21 Oct 2011 at 07:58

Howling said:
Thanks for confirming ^_^ yay I'm not going senile !!

I never doubted you