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6950 flash to 6970 help!

SonniLombardi

SonniLombardi

SonniLombardi

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6950 flash to 6970 help! - SOLVED

Hello all

I just got a Sapphire HD 6950 2GB which I am trying to flash to a 6970.

I saved the original BIOS in ATIWINFLASH and downloaded the 6970 BIOS to flash it with, the GPU is set to position 1.

I proceed to flash the card in ATIWINFLASH but then it just goes black screen, I can see the mouse and that's it nothing happens.

So I restart the PC and it's back to normal, so I try in CMD prompt

atiwinflash -unlockrom 0

atiwinflash -f -p unlock.bin

It then gives error file unlock.bin not found

so I tried:

atiwinflash -unlockrom 2 (there is nothing else plugged into my motherboard)

this options does the same as the tool does with black screen..

does this mean my 6950 is from a not flashable batch?

Regards
 
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I've tried two Sapphire 6970 BIOS's both do the same thing, hmm maybe I'll try with bootable USB then, I just don't want to mess it up and not be able boot into windows and reflash to stock, mind you I can do it via bootable can't I? or blind?
 
Ok I've tried with the HP USB Storage tool and formatted a memory stick with the bootable usb dos files, and transferred the atiflash tool files, but it won't boot into dos.

I've fiddled with settings to make it boot but won't go.

Looks like going to have to stick with standard 6950 settings then I suppose! my card must be a non flashable batch as I'm doing everything correctly.. gutted.
 
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I've done it, redone it in windows in CMD prompt but this time I just done:

atiwinflash -unlockrom 0

atiwinflash -f -p 0 bios.rom

And worked great, rebooted reinstalled drivers, rebooted again, GPU span up really high for 10 seconds then went back to normal, now running a 6970 for £30! bargain imo, I upgraded from a 6770.

c.png


Edit: Didn't realise it was a 5 year old card now! couldn't really afford to get anything newer right now so this will do for now.
 
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Be careful with the 6970 bios, iirc there were issues with the memory chips burning out due to higher memory voltages as the 6970 used higher end chips. Still though best gpu I've had, had mine since launch which makes it 4.5 years old (£220 at the time!) running with unlocked shaders and @ 900Mhz core
 
I just ordered:
OcUK Tech Labs 240mm+ Kraken Extreme VGA Cooling Upgrade Bundle - Premium - Black Shroud £60.22 1 £60.22
Silverstone SST-FW91 FW Series 92mm PWM £5.79 1 £5.79
Three Fan Bundle - CM Megaflow 200mm LED Fan - Blue £0.81 1 £0.81
FREE SHIPPING

and plan to fit it to my 6850. I was looking at ways I could bump the core voltage up and I decided to flash a 6870 bios obviously I don't expect to unlock anything except more gpu voltage and higher clocks at stock. The only thing is I don't know if I've got elpida or hynix memory chips. The 6870 only came with hynix.

This is the bios I'm using currently:
http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/129472/asus-hd6850-1024-110616-2.html

and this is the bios I'm thinking of flashing:
http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/109702/asus-hd6870-1024-110719.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/how-to-use-atiflash.57750/

Just checked its Elipida, I'll probably have to mod the default volt in its own bios, CCC limits are already 1000/1250.
 
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Gammawolf said:
Be careful with the 6970 bios, iirc there were issues with the memory chips burning out due to higher memory voltages as the 6970 used higher end chips. Still though best gpu I've had, had mine since launch which makes it 4.5 years old (£220 at the time!) running with unlocked shaders and @ 900Mhz core
Click to expand...

Think I'm better using standard BIOS for 6950 and modding it with RBE? is that what you done? don't really fancy burning out my memory to be honest lol.
 
rtho782 said:
~£66 on a cooler for a 6850?

I sold my old 7970 for £80.
Click to expand...
I've never bought a 2nd hand graphics card (not likely to either with this bitmining malarky).

Its reusable and its value will not depreciate like silicon technology. I can play BF3 with min higher than 60 fps with ini tweaks same with payday 2 & firefall. I'll look at getting a new graphics card when the dust settles, in the meantime I have a little more overclocking headroom should I feel the need.

I bought an x1900xt for £275 and couldn't bring myself to sell it for £50 notes so I kept it as a backup. You won't find me buying a titan x. I'm just happy to let the technology filter down to the mainstream, I don't find that silly tbh.

I spent ~£100, £15 was for 2 200mm to 120mm fan adapters. £0.81+vat was for 3 x 200mm megaflow fans, the bundle is now @ £25. I've got it heatsinked up (with some thermaltake ramsinks hacked up a bit).

I'm disappointed that I did not get the chance to enter the "Geforce Garage competition" as it would have been a slightly different take on watercooling (my phone camera is broken).

I did one cable tie sink for the main VRM, arctic alumina + a dab of superglue for the ram (don't panic tried and tested method ever notice how much suction thermal paste has) & thermal tape for what looked to be the memory VRM (because of the size difference compared to the ram chips).

I'm still using an x1900xt while its sitting on the side - I hope to fit it today.

Looking at your sig, I'm not even going to begin to pick holes.

Actually here you go, have LinusTecTips school you:
https://youtu.be/JPuywNBctvg?t=1m45s

You have 12Tb of data at 3 times the risk of losing all data?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SqL8z-UgQ8
Back to school for you my friend.
 
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megatron - offtopic question

did you use to play quake 3 around 10 years ago? I just remember a guy with the same username I think and same location lol:p
 
Yes your drive configuration is a bit dumb rtho... Put them in RAID 1 or get more drives and put them in RAID 10. :p
 
ozaudio said:
megatron - offtopic question

did you use to play quake 3 around 10 years ago? I just remember a guy with the same username I think and same location lol:p
Click to expand...

Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament came out in '99. Of the two UT was my favorite but I played Tactical Ops mod (despite the dispicable hacking) more. If u mean the username in sig, then it is old. I used it for BF1942 in 2002 and its been my gamertag since.
 
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