Unlock your ATI 6950 to a 6970 Thread

[MichaelM]

Well if this is true, the 6950 which is already possibly the best buy out there at the moment will be turned into definitely the best buy.

With the duel bios system it really would be insanely great value if this is true and rumor has it the yields where great so they would have 6950's out there with processors equally capable as the 6970's.

 

[Helios1234]

People are saying to flash bios 1 as bios 2 is the backup bios.

Yup, BIOS 2 is the protected factory default setting. BIOS 1 can be flashed.

 

[nbkpsycho]

Come on easy, Get it done lol. I need to see if this is possible and if so ill sell both of my 5870's

 

[Final8y]

and turn it into what exactly?

LOL!!

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

Yup, BIOS 2 is the protected factory default setting. BIOS 1 can be flashed.

Cool. I bricked a 5900xt though a few years ago by flashing it with a 5950 bios as the memory could not take it and it caused permanent damage. For this reason I won't be the first one to do it!

The twin bios thing sounds good - Does this mean that the manufacturer actually willingly allows the 6950 to be flashed?
Also, why are there two bios's in the first place and how do I switch between the two?

 

[Greg0986]

Cool. I bricked a 5900xt though a few years ago by flashing it with a 5950 bios as the memory could not take it and it caused permanent damage. For this reason I won't be the first one to do it!

The twin bios thing sounds good - Does this mean that the manufacturer actually willingly allows the 6950 to be flashed?
Also, why are there two bios's in the first place and how do I switch between the two?

There is a switch next to the crossfire bridge connectors.

 

[straxusii]

Will this work for the 6970 too?

Yup, turns it into a GTX580

 

[GJ02]

Yup, turns it into a GTX580

Lol that made me laugh

 

[pinkacidbootson]

This is amazing if true. Someone do it!

 

[555BUK]

ATI have trod on a banana or two recently. First the 6970 failed to live to the hype (almost everyone expected GTX580 like performance), and now even it's hobbled little bother can match it's performace. £200 for a "6970" sounds like a complete bargain if all or most of these 6950's unlock. I bet ATI will get the laser cutters out pretty sharpish to prevent a complete collapse of 6970 sales.

edit: but so far only one person seems to have done it so maybe pie in the sky...

 

[easyrider]

edit: but so far only one person seems to have done it so maybe pie in the sky...

Loads of people have done it over at Xtremesystemfourms

 

[kitch9]

ATI have trod on a banana or two recently. First the 6970 failed to live to the hype (almost everyone expected GTX580 like performance), and now even it's hobbled little bother can match it's performace. £200 for a "6970" sounds like a complete bargain if all or most of these 6950's unlock. I bet ATI will get the laser cutters out pretty sharpish to prevent a complete collapse of 6970 sales.

edit: but so far only one person seems to have done it so maybe pie in the sky...

Only an idiot would have expected 580 performance for 2/3rds the price. AMD have a history of successfully unlocking chips with their x3 phenoms.

The 6950 would still be profitable if they all unlocked as the chip isn't monolithic like their competitors chips, so the balls in their court.

Will somebody test this already?

 

[easyrider]

Will somebody test this already?

Its working on some and not on others. I want to make sure it will work on mine before I do.


I'm going to clock my ram up to 1400 first I know it can do 900mhz on the core.

If all is well I'll flash.

 

[555BUK]

Only an idiot would have expected 580 performance for 2/3rds the price.

ATI did not release 6900 prices until the day of release. Most people (idiots or not) anticipated higher performance and higher pricing. Whilst people are mostly happy with the price, many are disappointed by performance. I certainly expected ATI's new architecture to get much closer to NVidia's top card "refresh" than 5870 got to GTX480. I am not disputing that both cards are well priced for the performance offered. After all, the 6970 is as good as a GTX570 for a similar price, and if £220 6950's can unlock to 6970's that is even sweater.

 

[bridder]

Remember the power connectors though, the 6950s are only equiped with 2x 6pin meaning theoretical top draw of 225, maybe you can unlock them but you may have to temper your overclocks, just a thought...

J.

 

[danceforfreedom]

Any one tried this yet....

Seriously though if it doesn't work cant you just switch to the other bios.... as in very little risk!?

I was expecting the next news about a 6950 to be voltage tweaking has been done... now Im hearing theres locked shaders on the card...

Please some one try it!

 

[Seal100]

This might be a stupid question, but do you think the next driver update might stop people unlocking their 6950's? Or will drivers not have any affect on this?

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

This might be a stupid question, but do you think the next driver update might stop people unlocking their 6950's? Or will drivers not have any affect on this?

Doing that would be a major shot in the foot for a manufacturer as it would really hack people off.
If they did that then I would never buy an AMD/ATI card again.

 

[tomos]

the drivers see what the bios tells it iirc

 

[easyrider]

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159