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Unlock your ATI 6950 to a 6970 Thread

ok i did it.

Is this how it should look?

flashed6950.gif
 
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.


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


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.
 
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.

Jxo80.gif Wx1IO.gif

(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.
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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. :)
 
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!
 
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:

6950-BiosSwitchPosition1.png


went to

6950-BiosSwitchPosition2.png


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

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 ;)


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 :)
 
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 ??
 
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. :D 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...



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