6950 MOD to 6970! WINNNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNERRR

[daveatx]

locked shaders present in the 6950!


very easy process. took about 4 mins.
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159

Before

After with OC ( which is also unlocked )

[Paradigm Shifter]

Hm... can't say I'm not tempted...

[Delphium]

Ohhhh interesting x]

[01Boxer]

It's even more interesting with the dual Bios feature. If it doesn't work, reverting to the factory Bios is a flick of a switch away.

[Resistance156]

Ohh man... Now that does make me tempted to return my 6870's for a pair of 6950's...

[Abram]

Dual BIOS = awesome. I've always been far too paranoid of bricking something i shelled out 400 bones for to attempt a BIOS change.

[daveatx]

It worked the first try for me, and techpowerup has yet to find a single person who has said the flash didn't work.

I think one single person said they got artifacts.

Because the 6950 runs pretty cool (38c) and OC max settings in CCC easily with no adjustments, this is ideal to do.

Now my card runs around 41-45C idle OC and actually give the fans on it a purpose. I had an issue where my card overheated while playing medal of honor eyefinity 5040x1050, but I found out the fan doesn't get adjusted during the flash ( and it doesn't seem to compensate well for heat ).

I created a fan profile with msiafterburner, so it can power up my fans alot more when its getting to 65C+
The sound is still not anything compared to a 4780, and at load sounds alot like the 5770 when it was idle. Just so you guys know, the 6950 stock without oc is whisper quiet.. in case thats what youre going for..dont unlock

I'm really pumped about my upgrade. FREE FRAMES! :rockout

[Mach1.9pants]

2x 6950s ordered, this was what I needed to make me upgrade...

2x6950 = 1000NZD
2x6970 = 1450NZD
1x580 = 900NZD (altho none available for that price, 1000 only)

That is some good deal, CF6970 for the price of a single GTX580

[Abram]

A free 15fps boost? That's pretty spiffy.

After looking at this thread, i checked out the price difference between the two 69xx cards. It was less than $100. That difference for you in NZ is quite insane.

[Mach1.9pants]

yeah I have no idea why the prices have ended up that way... but this hack makes me a happy camper!

[geniv2]

I ordered the 6950 a few days ago. from newegg

though I"m kinda pissed that on my current 5870 the DisplayPort is now a MIniDisplayPort on the 6950.

now I have to pay an additional $30 to get a MDP-> DVI adapter. and my current $30 DP-> DVI adapter will be no use.

EDIT: damn. the 6950 is comming today via UPS..

but the MDP->DVI adapter is by USPS and I have no ETA. most likely on monday. so a weekend of looking at the card and not have any Eyefinity fun

[Abram]

Uhh.. just keep your 5870 in until the MDP adapter shows up?

[atf300]

I ordered the 6950 a few days ago. from newegg

though I"m kinda pissed that on my current 5870 the DisplayPort is now a MIniDisplayPort on the 6950.

now I have to pay an additional $30 to get a MDP-> DVI adapter. and my current $30 DP-> DVI adapter will be no use.

EDIT: damn. the 6950 is comming today via UPS..

but the MDP->DVI adapter is by USPS and I have no ETA. most likely on monday. so a weekend of looking at the card and not have any Eyefinity fun

didnt you get a mini displayport to displayport adapter with the card , i got it with my saphire 6970

[Hurleybird]

but the MDP->DVI adapter is by USPS and I have no ETA. most likely on monday. so a weekend of looking at the card and not have any Eyefinity fun

USPS... good luck with that :wink:

Just flashed my 6950's into 6970's. Worked without a hitch. Perfectly stable. Now I just need to wait for the extra long crossfire bridge to come in that I just ordered from ebay. Shipping via... USPS :lol:

[ViciousXUSMC]

Id like to up my single 5870 performance some dual 6950 modified would be great, but i learned from my dual 4850 setup from before that I prefer a single card a lot more so wonder what the next 1 card wonder is going to be to up the ante on the 5870... (and this time shooting for a 2GB card and hopefully no "line" issue in my eyefinity mode!)

There is no like direct replacement for the 5870 that I can see for the first part of 2011



So wonder when it will be out.

[RED-FROG]

Hm I've ordered a 6970 around 11 days ago. Still not here but I don't really care, I will also not cancel it. (I couldn't care less about these few bucks - ordered a special edition anyway)

Noticed the news about the 6950 but I still prefer to get the 6970 because the power supply is different (2x6pin vs 6pin+8pin) and most likely also a lot of other parts are simply more durable and made of higher quality on the 6970. Well I can only hope on the latter.

I've had two 5870 VaporX and before the (crappy) 6970 released, I thought I should sell one 5870. (I name the 6970 crappy because it is no match for two 5870... it's barely ANY difference from ONE 5870 so whats the deal. I'm just getting the facts straight and not being a lover or fanboy - it's a NEW GPU architecture!!)

I was planning to replace (kinda) these two power suckers with one 6970. But what the 6970 offers is almost the same as a 5870....and even much closer to a 5870 2GB.
Then I had to hear about the 6950vs6970 fake which made me even more upset. AMD expects the enthusiasts to pay, what the 6950 customers doesn't pay. It's almost the same card but for a higher price.

Oh lord, I like AMDs hardware, but if the GTX580 had surround support I'd have gotten that one without even thinking one second about it.

[daveatx]

Ive definitely thought about the Nvidia route before. Every benchmark tells me that two ati cards will be better at higher res then two nvidia though =/.

So I don't question it anymore.

[geniv2]

I don't recall the exact site but the day I ordered the 6950. I read read a review/game benchmark of the 6970 and it seems to be about like 30% to 35% faster. (I don't recall the exact settings though resolution, aa, af)

I'm saying 5870 vs 6970 since the 9650 I ordered is essentially a 6970 once unlocked.

I play at 6028x1200 with 16xAF and 0xAA. I hope there's a noticable FPS gain from my 5870 or else I will be a sad panda.

btw: I just ordered:
POWERCOLOR Video Adapter ACTIVE MDP TO SL DVI-D ADAPTER-C Mini DisplayPort to DVI Interface
$27 shipped - opened box
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815309008&cm_re=mdp-_-15-309-008-_-Product
* this is single link and can go up to 1920x1200 resolution only.

and also ordered 2x of those MDP->HDMI adapter from monoprice: $14.5 shipped
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=5311&seq=1&format=4#feedback
a reviewer said:
"All I can say is buy it. Used with ATI 5870 in Eyefinity configuration. Flawless. "

if you think about it. theres only two version of the 5870
1) 3 display (DP + 2xDVI + HDMI)
2) 6 display (6x MiniDP)

as you can see it has to be for the 6 display MDP version.
those can run off passive adapter that would normally not work on the 5870 3 display version.

Maybe on the 6950, I can run 3 display eyefinity off 2x MDP+DVI
with two of those low cost monoprice adapters.

This would be a better deal (if it actually works) as it is
1- half the cost of the newegg cable
2- I get an extra adapter for later use if I disassemble my eyefinity setup

even if it doesn't work. I'm sure in the future there will be more devices/laptops graviting toward MDP instead of HDMI. and all my current monitors/HDTV no got displayport so the adapters will come in handy later.

[Unknownsock]

[quote]didnt you get a mini displayport to displayport adapter with the card , i got it with my saphire 6970

I didn't with my two HIS cards, which i find abit ridiculous consindering how rare they are in the UK.

But yeah, worked like a charm last night for my two cards, absolute bargain.
Once i clock my 2600k up, I'll be pimpin' those games out!