6950 -> 6970 Unlock Shaders on Non-Reference Cards

[i_max2k2]

^Thank you!

There is quite some potential here,

Single card in Crysis 2 HQ/1920x1200/ultra/4xAA before unlock at 840/1325 did ~39fps, after unlock at same clocks did ~41fps, for reference 1 GTX 580 overclocked @ 940/4100 did 57fps. Single card unlocked @ 900/5500 was doing ~ 44fps, both cards in CF at same clocks did 85fps, I'm really impressed, and at this price point we are really looking at a fast GTX 580, and getting performance worth of 6990.

[Zanex09]

For those wanting to increase the upper limits on their cards download radeon bios editor. In one of the tabs you can change the limit of the "upper limits". I had a 5770 where core maxed at 960 and memory maxed at 1425. With rbe I was able to set core max to 1100 and memory max at 1600.

This does however involve you modding your bios and reflashing with the new bios so make sure you keep a file of the original bios somewhere.

[i_max2k2]

Originally Posted by Zanex09

For those wanting to increase the upper limits on their cards download radeon bios editor. In one of the tabs you can change the limit of the "upper limits". I had a 5770 where core maxed at 960 and memory maxed at 1425. With rbe I was able to set core max to 1100 and memory max at 1600.

This does however involve you modding your bios and reflashing with the new bios so make sure you keep a file of the original bios somewhere.

A easier way w/o flashing the bios is by modifying the afterburner config file.

Find the Enable Unofficial Overclocking EULA in the afterburner config file and put this after it: I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it

Change Enable Unofficial Overclocking to "1".

[Komikus]

Successfully unlocked my 6950 twin frozr II using the guide on first page. Not a huge improvement over stock but an additional performance for free is always welcome :-)

Thanks, Wicked. Cheers!

Btw, I have a question, is there a way to completely change my stock clock from 810 to 880 including Memory from 1250 to 1375? I know this can be done by tweaking it in Afterburner but I'd like to know if there's another way around by means of flashing BIOS but keeping stock voltages and timings.

EDIT: Forget it, I just read about RBE.

[i_max2k2]

Originally Posted by Komikus

Successfully unlocked my 6950 twin frozr II using the guide on first page. Not a huge improvement over stock but an additional performance for free is always welcome :-)

Thanks, Wicked. Cheers!

Btw, I have a question, is there a way to completely change my stock clock from 810 to 880 including Memory from 1250 to 1375? I know this can be done by tweaking it in Afterburner but I'd like to know if there's another way around by means of flashing BIOS but keeping stock voltages and timings.

EDIT: Forget it, I just read about RBE.

I noticed it takes much more voltage for similar overclocks for unlocked shaders, so before you flash try to make sure the overclock is completely stable.

[Zanex09]

Originally Posted by i_max2k2

A easier way w/o flashing the bios is by modifying the afterburner config file.

Have you actually tried doing that?? Doesn't work last time I tried it.

[i_max2k2]

Originally Posted by Zanex09

Have you actually tried doing that?? Doesn't work last time I tried it.

Worked last night, It could probably take you to 1400mhz or something, cant remember, I could stabilize my card to 950/1375. Try the newest version, and do add the disclaimer part.

Additional Comment:

Btw what would be max safe 24/7 voltages for these cards.

Thanks

[sherminator6]

I wanted to thank everyone - I was able to unlock using the 14 steps posted on the first page! I have a recently purchased (August 2011) HIS 6950 ICEQ X Turbo 2GB, and it has successfully unlocked the shaders to 1536! I have not yet played games or tested however it seems to be perfectly stable going on the internet to write this so I'll post again once I've done some in game testing!

Thanks,
Sherminator6

[i_max2k2]

Originally Posted by sherminator6

I wanted to thank everyone - I was able to unlock using the 14 steps posted on the first page! I have a recently purchased (August 2011) HIS 6950 ICEQ X Turbo 2GB, and it has successfully unlocked the shaders to 1536! I have not yet played games or tested however it seems to be perfectly stable going on the internet to write this so I'll post again once I've done some in game testing!

Thanks,
Sherminator6

Thanks good to know, Microcenter sells the same card, could think of it little later, btw if you could, pls post on how well the card overclocks.

On the same note, I have been able to take my card to 940/5700 @ 1.225v, and even on full load the card doesn't gets hotter then 75c, I was wondering if running it on this voltage is safe?

Thanks!

[sherminator6]

I have HIS 6950 IceQ X turbo 2GB NON-reference.

Fan settings were kept at 70%:
WITHOUT increasing voltages:

- I unlocked my 6950's shaders. I was able to achieve 880Mhz GPU (6970 equiv.) and get up to 1325Mhz Memory without any issues in game.

(These are the AMD CCC limitations for me at the moment)

- However, my games (And I did test with several different games) did freeze if I played any at 880 - 900Mhz GPU core. Memory speed had nothing to do with the freezes. I pushed my fan to 100% and still no difference. The interesting thing is - that when my shaders are NOT unlocked, (1408) I can overclock to 900Mhz fine and run any games without freezing.

- I thought this had to do with lack of power to the card - so I tried to push the power control settings in CCC to +12% and it made no difference to the freezing of 880+ Mhz GPU. (It still froze with +12% power)

Temps are never going over 50 Celcius.

I will post if there are any more issues. So far so good! Thanks guys!

Sherminator6

[bluehill29]

This guide worked perfectly on a MSI Twin Frozr ii (non OC version) I recently purchased from Newegg.

Thanks!

[Gramp-pops]

I just received this card yesterday : http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=60...r&promoid=1373

I unlocked the card without any issue, with Atiwinflash using the Techpowerup guide. I did run into an "ID mismatch" error, but the Windows command worked like a charm.

Now I just need to do some test to see if it's stable.

Edit: The card seems stable, I run Furmark and I played some games and I haven't encounter any issue yet.

[Tomek]

^^ Very cool mate! Thanks for reporting. Not a bad price right now either!
Soo tempting! Perhaps if I flog my two 4870s for $180, I'd only have to kick in another $100...

[DarkTower87]

Originally Posted by Tomek

^^ Very cool mate! Thanks for reporting. Not a bad price right now either!
Soo tempting! Perhaps if I flog my two 4870s for $180, I'd only have to kick in another $100...

I upgraded from 2x4870. Made a pretty decent jump in most games.

[Tomek]

Thanks DT. Half a year ago, I built a box for my friend w/ a 6950 flashed to 6970 so I have an idea of what to expect.

Seems his one 6970 was a bit faster in the games we tried over my two 4870s.

The big deal was that the 6970 was running the games at DX11!

I'm hoping I'd likely see better min frames too.


So while I wouldn't expect a huge jump in frame rates,

I wanna snag one so I can start playing everything in DX11 as more and more titles, come out.

That and I want to save some AC power, sell these things while I can still get something for them,

as well as open up the option to drop another (user) one in a year or so..

[Vengeance]

I went from a 4870x2 to a 6970 and I've seen a good improvement in some games. Not to mention that it runs cooler and draws less power as well.

[Tomek]

Cheers Vengeance!

Gramp-pops, have you tried to OC it? Can you increase the voltage, etc...

[Gramp-pops]

Well kind of, but I haven't really tried yet.

What I mean is since I flashed my card using a 6970 bios, the default clock of the GPU and the memory changed to 6970 value.(I only notice this last night )

So... GPU: 800->880
Memory: 1250->1375

I'm still new to overcloking, so I don't really know about the voltage. However, the voltage changed from 1.1 to 1.175 after flashing the card.

Temp looks ok for now, the card is idle a 35, and after 60 min in Furmark Burn-in test, the temp never goes above 72 with fan speed at 75%.

I played a few games too, and still no artifact.

I'll try to pushed the card a little more when I'll have the time.

[Tomek]

wicked, just pulled the trigger on two of them (one for me and friend).

So you're certain all the pipeline unlocked?

Thanks for the tip!

Tomek

[Gramp-pops]

See by yourself

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/09/21/7au.png