Rumour: AMD preparing "revision" for HD 6950/6970?

Durzel · 1 Jan 2011 at 18:02

Aside from the possibility of them stopping the 6950-6970 BIOS mod (somehow?) does anyone think there is anything good or bad to come from them using lower-cost VRMs?

I don't imagine this cost reduction would be passed onto the consumer in any event so wouldn't the more expensive VRMs (i.e. on the cards that are currently in stock) be better? Thoughts?

Cleeecooo · 1 Jan 2011 at 20:38

Do you think there would be any chance of them offering a free upgrade to people who were stupid enough to buy the current one? (ie. ME)

sadbuttrue · 1 Jan 2011 at 21:07

Why would you want to upgrade to what is expected to be the same card with cheaper (and possibly less overclockable) components?

bru · 1 Jan 2011 at 21:20

Triggaaar said:
Any alteration? It gives you 2 Bioses, so that you can flash one. So it's definitely ok to flash your bios. What makes it ok to flash it with some Bioses and not others?

Well maybe, but aren't you jumping to conclusions? For example, increasing the voltage may invalidate some warranties, but OCUK cover you when overclocking CPUs and GCs, so what's special about this particular overclock that means you're not covered.

your not talking about an overclock, your talking about completely changing the operating parameters of the product.

taken from the Sapphire website, it took all of two minutes to find.

"Product Warranty will not be valid even if returned after purchased for the following cases:
-Products that are defaced or physically damaged and modified by customer."

sapphiretech warranty

Nelly · 1 Jan 2011 at 21:21

Will just be the same thing what happend with the 5850/5870's in my opinion, just won't clock as high. I don't think they will flash from 6950 to 6970 either.

Buy a card now if your going to buy one, before present stock runs out.

mmj_uk · 1 Jan 2011 at 21:53

sadbuttrue said:
Why would you want to upgrade to what is expected to be the same card with cheaper (and possibly less overclockable) components?

Third party heatsink/waterblock support may be an issue on the current cards, if they're such a limited run I can't imagine companies queueing up to support them.

sadbuttrue · 1 Jan 2011 at 22:30

Has either company ever released 2 cards with the same model number yet with different "reference" designs?

555BUK · 1 Jan 2011 at 22:55

A revision so soon means something pretty major must be wrong with the current design.

From a consumer point of view it would be nice if AMD rectify the following issues.
i). Too hot. Why does a chip that is ~30% smaller than Fermi run just as hot?
ii). Poor overclocking headroom. So far VRM's have not been "unlocked" and core clocks are comparatively poor for the 6970. Perhaps AMD will provide better power regulation and core efficiency?

From AMD's point of view I bet they are unhappy with 6950 to 6970 unlocks, Others (who have no proof otherwise) will argue, but I think this was an error that will be corrected within the new revision. They will also fix the 8-pin "sandpaper bug" which was quite frankly a laughable error for production cards.

Durzel · 1 Jan 2011 at 22:57

Regards BIOS updates, it would be a bit peculiar to refuse warranty based on the customer having performed a BIOS update when:

1) the cards don't come with a read-only BIOS
2) the manufacturers often list BIOS updates as downloads on their own support websites (I flashed my XFX 5970 BE with an XFX BIOS file downloaded from XFX's website)
3) the cards are designed with a dual-BIOS feature to mitigate problems caused by end-user flashing!

Obviously if you returned a functional but faulty-in-some-way 6950 card with 6970 BIOS installed they might get funny, but if it's DOA I'm not sure how they'd ever know.

555BUK said:
From AMD's point of view I bet they are unhappy with 6950 to 6970 unlocks, Others (who have no proof otherwise) will argue, but I think this was an error that will be corrected within the new revision. They will also fix the 8-pin "sandpaper bug" which was quite frankly a laughable error for production cards.

Could you elaborate please?

555BUK · 1 Jan 2011 at 22:59

sadbuttrue said:
Has either company ever released 2 cards with the same model number yet with different "reference" designs?

Nvidia refreshed their GTX295 by moving from dual pcb's to a single pcb. AMD also dropped "reference" 5800's after OEM's found cheaper alternative methods of manufacture. I am sure there are many other examples.

555BUK · 1 Jan 2011 at 23:02

Durzel said:
Could you elaborate please?

Most naked 6970's show manual filing/sanding to one corner of the 8-pin power connector. This was performed at the very last moment when AMD discovered that the reference heatsink would fit the refernece pcb.

Durzel · 1 Jan 2011 at 23:32

Wow that is bad if it's systemic, technically could even be a breach of CE regulations? (no expert but I assume the black plastic shroud on the connectors is there for safety reasons)

Laney88 · 2 Jan 2011 at 11:58

This is just making more waiting for me then

Been wanting to get a 6950 since xmas but now I'm going to have to wait and see what gets confirmed and then decide whether to buy one now or get one of the new revision ones depending if they are still unlockable or not. Also I would be planning to add a 2nd 6950 later on down the line for crossfire so would ideally like the cards to be the same revision.

Would be great to know What would most people do, buy now or wait for a new revision card?

Skyrocket · 2 Jan 2011 at 12:04

You flash 6950 with a 6970 bios and you brick the card.
You won't be covered!
I flash my 470gtx with 580gtx bios and it gets bricked? Some ppl are saying you would be covered. LoL! No no. It's your responsibility to flash the correct bios for your card. You mess up you void your warantee.

Of course you "might" not to tell them...that you did ^^^so.

mmj_uk · 2 Jan 2011 at 12:12

Durzel said:
Regards BIOS updates, it would be a bit peculiar to refuse warranty based on the customer having performed a BIOS update when:

1) the cards don't come with a read-only BIOS
2) the manufacturers often list BIOS updates as downloads on their own support websites (I flashed my XFX 5970 BE with an XFX BIOS file downloaded from XFX's website)
3) the cards are designed with a dual-BIOS feature to mitigate problems caused by end-user flashing!

Obviously if you returned a functional but faulty-in-some-way 6950 card with 6970 BIOS installed they might get funny, but if it's DOA I'm not sure how they'd ever know.

AFAIK flashing the BIOS will not affect the warranty, overclocking/overvolting and basically running the card outside of its designed specification certainly will which is what you are doing when flashing a 6950 with a 6970 bios.

Whether you can get away with it or not is a different matter... but if you take such risks with your components you should be man enough to take responsibility for the outcome imo.

FlukeRogi · 2 Jan 2011 at 13:25

bru said:
your not talking about an overclock, your talking about completely changing the operating parameters of the product.

taken from the Sapphire website, it took all of two minutes to find.

"Product Warranty will not be valid even if returned after purchased for the following cases:
-Products that are defaced or physically damaged and modified by customer."

Hmmm, depends on how you read that. To me it sounds like it's saying that you can't return it if you damaged it due to physically modifying the card (e.g. replacing the cooler).

Then again, I guess they could argue the point in their favour.

bru · 2 Jan 2011 at 13:33

hehe just reading on the HIS website and they are talking about sending in a photograph of the cards serial number before they will send you a link for the new cards bios.

now this was for older cards, but i bet they are loving AMD's idea of a bios switch encouraging people to flash their new cards.

gareth170 · 2 Jan 2011 at 13:39

basicly if u buy a card from ocuk, your allowed to oc it without messing up the warranty with ocuk.

so if the card fully dies or if the card starts to get graphic problems just flash it back then rma it to ocuk...

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=18015669&postcount=627

Gibbo said:
No it won't void your warranty.

We allow our customers to overclock their cards as much as they wish, we are overclockers UK afterall.

The only way you will void your warranty is if you start removing the cooler or modifying the card in someway like soldering different resistors on it etc.

ashmanuk67 · 2 Jan 2011 at 14:06

would there be any truth in there being a Bios update to allow 6970 to unlock more stream processors ?
And do we no for sure that there will be a re design soon ? if so then that stinks and we should all be able to get our cards swooped over to the new design.

I have always been with ATI/AMD from 9800pro then onto HD2900XT which was a flop then onto HD4870 then bought one more for Xfire and now onto the 6970 and was thinking of getting another one for Xfire.
I like the Bang per Buck way but do not screw me around i dont have lots of money to always splash out on latest kit so i buy for the long term and now i here there is a new design coming because there is a problem with the JUST LAUNCHED 6950/6970 CARDS.

Swampster · 2 Jan 2011 at 14:16

ashmanuk67 said:
would there be any truth in there being a Bios update to allow 6970 to unlock more stream processors ?
And do we no for sure that there will be a re design soon ? if so then that stinks and we should all be able to get our cards swooped over to the new design.

I have always been with ATI/AMD from 9800pro then onto HD2900XT which was a flop then onto HD4870 then bought one more for Xfire and now onto the 6970 and was thinking of getting another one for Xfire.
I like the Bang per Buck way but do not screw me around i dont have lots of money to always splash out on latest kit so i buy for the long term and now i here there is a new design coming because there is a problem with the JUST LAUNCHED 6950/6970 CARDS.

The revision is currently just a rumour, and even if it turns out to be true it appears to be more of a cost saving exercise than anything else, by using different components (read cheaper) for the power regulation. These 'new' components were the original spec items from the outset and were only replaced last minute in an effort to get some cards out the door before xmas, due to delays in production of these cheaper components. I'll be quite surprised if there's any kind of leap in performance and/or incompatibility with regards to xfire with original spec cards.

The mention about the block to flashing the bios I am guessing is while definitely possible is likely to be mere speculation by the article author.