Unlock your ATI 6950 to a 6970 Thread

PcGamingRig · 12 Oct 2011 at 22:23

Has anyone reported any problems after a long term period doing this? Like artifacts or cards dying?

I was thinking about doing it, can I?

I have an asus 6950.

This version:
http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/AMD_Series/EAH69502DI2S2GD5/

PcGamingRig · 12 Oct 2011 at 23:08

ok i did it.

Is this how it should look?

fowler002 · 12 Oct 2011 at 23:17

hedgey said:
the toxic is even more expensive than a 6970. ergo just buy a 6970.

where? the cheapest 6970 I've seen is £260+.

ocuk have slowly increased the price of the toxic since it relase, £239.99 then slowly creaping up and currently as just under £260. I got it at £229.99 pre-order, was initially £224.99 but they increased it on the day I ordered it(was £225 at the time I initially had it in the basket in the afternoon but didn't finish the order, came back later in the evening/night and it had gone up). yes I know prices go up as well as down, but in this case it seems to be going up(apart from the odd this week only/today only offers but still more expensive than the initial £239.99 release price).

I know we're not ment to talk about compatitors but like everything else the toxic can be found cheaper else where but stock seems to be lacking.

blackice8r said:
guys...quick question

would this card: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-274-SP

overclock to 6970?

I found the same card, on a competitor sire, with 220£ , "Toxic" and the manufacture's part nr is the same, same specs in the description, AND it comes with Deus Ex

so if you could answer my question it would be great...I know this won't be 100%, but it seems to have high chances with the Toxic version...and at 220£ it's a steal.

or, would this one overclock? : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-128-MS&tool=3

Some ppl in the reviews say yes, but which one are higher chances of overclocking? The Toxic?

from what I've read all 6950 oc to 6970 speeds(well the vram on the 6950 don't quite oc to 6970 level but not too far off), its the shaders that are the issue here.

for the toxic have a read of http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/29/sapphire_toxic_hd6950_video_card_review

witpig said:
Hi, sorry to hijack your thread but my question is pretty closely related to what you are discussing so thought I'd give it a go.

Can you just use Sapphire's Trixx utility to overclock or do you need to use it in conjunction with powertune?

I'm running an overclocked Sapphire HD6950 Toxic edition which has the nifty little bios switch flicked so I now have the 1536 shaders. I am currently running along quite happily at 950MHz GPU clock, 1390MHz memory clock with voltage increased to 1.25v

I'm only asking because even though all is well I keep reading about how you need to use powertune to compensate for the error-correction that will stop you obtaining peak performance and can cause games to misbehave. I originally used powertune along with Trixx, but on each Windows startup powertune would reset the memory clock back to zero.

Surely if it is overclocked it is overclocked no matter what method is used? (Yes I'm completely new to this!)

Advice appreciated

make sure you have the apply oc at startup option ticked in the trixx program, I use msi after burner and powertune.

KNiVES · 13 Oct 2011 at 22:12

Both my Sapphire Toxic 6950s courtesy of OcUK unlocked to 6970s.

I flipped the switch over to 2 before I even installed them for the first time.

(note the second card is in a PCI-e x4 slot, however this actually has virtually zero effect on performance)

Edit: the best thing is, this is both cheaper and faster than a 6990 by a significant margin.

~Divine~Wind~ · 15 Oct 2011 at 01:56

Recieved a paira of MSi 6950 TFIII PE's today.
Will be installing em tomorrow.

If Im looking at flashing which Bios would people advise for these cards?
have checked and they both have the Bios sswitches on them.

Which is the "performance" option on the switch? Ill Install em and check with GPUz in both switch positions.

hedgey · 19 Oct 2011 at 22:51

flash the msi 6970 bios with atiflash (not atiwinflash). there's a guide somewhere..

Lynx · 19 Oct 2011 at 23:21

hedgey said:
flash the msi 6970 bios with atiflash (not atiwinflash). there's a guide somewhere..

This??? http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/msi_r6950_twin_froz_iii_power_edition_unlocking,1.html

-Ad- · 20 Oct 2011 at 12:48

Anyone recently got a 6950 Toxic from OcUK and had success with the BIOS switch unlock to 6970 1536 shaders and clocks/memory?

Trying to decide if it's really worth it, or just get the HIS/MSI 6950 and overclock it to 6970 type speeds anyway.

hedgey · 20 Oct 2011 at 18:14

the toxic will unlock but its not worth it. 6950 locked oc higher than unlocked so you end up with the same anyway.

Walter Sobchak · 20 Oct 2011 at 21:12

-Ad- said:
Anyone recently got a 6950 Toxic from OcUK and had success with the BIOS switch unlock to 6970 1536 shaders and clocks/memory?

Trying to decide if it's really worth it, or just get the HIS/MSI 6950 and overclock it to 6970 type speeds anyway.

Yep, the two I've just had both unlocked to 1536 shaders with the bios switch. Not tried overclocking them yet though.

-Ad- · 20 Oct 2011 at 21:48

Thanks guys.

Thinking I might just stick with the cheap and quiter HIS 6950 and sell on the Dirt code for a further reduction.

Not sure the extra £40 is really worth it when a native 6970 is not much more which will overclock even higher!

I hate choosing a gfx card!

SH4RKY · 21 Oct 2011 at 00:13

Just installed my Toxic 6950 I purchased on last Fridays daily deal....

Gonna be honest.... took me a while to find the switch. The big silver disc on the face of the card just wouldn't move!!!!

QUick check on google and an embarressed reboot later i can confirm my card has full unlocked shaders using the bios switch:

went to

Win.

delpy8 · 21 Oct 2011 at 00:40

SH4RKY said:
Just installed my Toxic 6950 I purchased on last Fridays daily deal....

Gonna be honest.... took me a while to find the switch. The big silver disc on the face of the card just wouldn't move!!!!

QUick check on google and an embarressed reboot later i can confirm my card has full unlocked shaders using the bios switch:

Hi just by flicking the switch or did you have to flash it? Im not to good with that kind of stuff

fowler002 · 21 Oct 2011 at 01:06

delpy8 said:
Hi just by flicking the switch or did you have to flash it? Im not to good with that kind of stuff

you just flick the switch no need for flashing the bios, the switch is hidden by the xfire connector and is NOT the big 'screw' on the cooler

SH4RKY said:
Just installed my Toxic 6950 I purchased on last Fridays daily deal....

Gonna be honest.... took me a while to find the switch. The big silver disc on the face of the card just wouldn't move!!!!

QUick check on google and an embarressed reboot later i can confirm my card has full unlocked shaders using the bios switch:

Win.

did you try 'taking' a screw driver to the sliver disc?

I saved myself that by having read the reviews before buy it so knew where the switch was

delpy8 · 21 Oct 2011 at 01:15

Cheers fowler002 i want two of these to xfire wish they were on special price

~Divine~Wind~ · 21 Oct 2011 at 09:30

Daft question time...

On the MSi TFIII PE which way around is the bios switch?
The included paperwork doesn't seem to say lol

At work at the moment, might try the bios flash tonight on one of them.

Zinth · 21 Oct 2011 at 12:33

I've had my 6950 a year now. And i think with bf3 upcoming im gunna unlock it to a 6970. But my question is to people who havedone this before. Does the card run perfect even after all this time ??

SH4RKY · 21 Oct 2011 at 19:38

fowler002 said:
did you try 'taking' a screw driver to the sliver disc?
I saved myself that by having read the reviews before buy it so knew where the switch was

Yup.

After it wasnt moving by hand, i actually took the GPU out the pc for a proper look... after looking at it 'properly' i then attempted using a coin on the bugger!? haha...

delpy8 said:
Hi just by flicking the switch or did you have to flash it? Im not to good with that kind of stuff

Yup, just flicked the switch.

Need to read the hardocp review about the issue they had with theirs to make sure its not happening on mine, but as far as i can tell, its working perfectly.

Its louder than my old GTX260 though... well... different sort of noise which i find more noticeable. Might look into an aftermarket cooler.

Lum · 21 Oct 2011 at 19:46

Zinth said:
I've had my 6950 a year now. And i think with bf3 upcoming im gunna unlock it to a 6970. But my question is to people who havedone this before. Does the card run perfect even after all this time ??

My Asus one is still working fine.

Stock Sapphire 6970 BIOS, no (further) overclocking.

delpy8 · 21 Oct 2011 at 19:48

Hi forum,

Took the plunge and bought two 6950 saphire toxics so hopefully this will be easy and
All I need to do is flick the switch

Competitor rules

Unlock your ATI 6950 to a 6970 Thread

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