AMD Radeon HD 6950 Software Unlock to Radeon 6970 BIOS Flash Linus Tech Tips
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- Опубликовано: 28 дек 2010
- www.ncix.com/search/?categoryi...
This might be the coolest thing ever. I don't say this often, but go and buy a Radeon 6950 right now... 
Наука
7 years later and I am thinking of buying it..
me too :)
just won my on ebay for 36 bucks 2gb version
Got mine at a PC Recycling place in Seattle for $9 😂
I just bought one for about 60usd and i adore it :DD
Rather not, AMD discontinued Driver Support in 2015, if you can get one extremely cheap, ok but when not, better get a GCN-based card (HD 7730 and higher/newer).
I have 2 HD 6950 from XFX unlock to 6970. It works fine.
Epic 😲👍
happy new year pal.
best b with u this new year.
I was about to build a ryzen 2400g PC but then I acquired a reference 6950 card and I will OC that soon. Thanks Linus
thank you for the download links
Hello! Future's here, 2019 XD
i found out about this for a long time, but u just prove it was possible, awesome i subscribed immediately
i had already decided on this card for my rig. This is just the icing on top of the cake!!!!
5 year report on my card. it died at 4 years 6m old of to high heat
+ultimadriver Still rocking mine! :D
still rocking 6970 1gig @920mhz max temp 73. what was your full load temp for the card that died? :P
EstMovies around 90-95c full load (synt) medium load (gaming) was 85-90 idle at 60-70 because it was running att 500/1370mhz (i have a 120hz screen so it wont clock down to the lower setting) btw i bitcoinmined on my for 2 months~ and the computer was always on.
ultimadriver that explains. i cant get to 90 even eith furmark so i guess im fine. and these cards dont like memory oc at all and you cant tell if its unstable because its ECC and corrects itself so im keeping mine at 1250. 😃
the memory was discolored :P so its prolly it that died
i love this channel, makes me feel good for having to wait a long time to get customer service at ncix. ;P lol
Even 10 years later, I'm happy because finally I'm going to install a 6950 xfx edition in my PC ;)
Same here
Thanx man! you've even enspired me to buy this card!
@OGRMaster are you running 3dmark11 or the older one, this new one is quite more demanding i think (dont quote me, only saying what i said based on what ive read elsewhere)
@commandercasey Please check out my video on NCIXcom about the "binning" process. Hopefully that will help improve your understanding of what's going on here.
This is actually an entirely risk-free procedure. You flip the BIOS switch, flash it, and test. If you run into any problems you turn the computer off, fire it up with the stock BIOS and no harm done.
You'd be a "Stupid Canadian" if you DIDN'T try it ;)
@fuggotry from what I head the physical memory on the 6970 is higher spec than that of a 6950. So while the unlock may work to open up the shaders there can be issues in terms of memory frequency bumps to match the 6970 speed it may cause problems for you in the long term reliability of your card. I got 2 of these cards on orders. I think I may do a manual unlock just on the shaders but leave the memory speeds alone.
@DeanBoie Nice, do you know how much volts you were using on the card when overclocked?
@LinusTechTips:
which video was it you showed artifacts in ?
i can't find it
hey linus any score improvement on the card when u run 3dmark11 benchmark?
OMFG!!! It's back!!!
So awesome! This is truly amazing!
@MegaAbzzzzz The thing is that the cores are there all along. The 6950 cards are the 6970 cards that couldn't handle the higher clock (they where "broken"). So instead of throwing them away they downclocked them, turned of a few cores and sold them cheaper as the 6950
@Mrbeanstalk4 So it's smarter to buy the referebce version than the new DirectCU II one? : P Will it affect the temperature or the lifetime of the card?
9 years later and just won the frozr ii on eBay for £25 to replace my 560ti which I chose in 2012 over this 6950 for the very slight higher performance and it’s funny because with this upgrade I’m actually technically upgrading from the 560ti
@1spaghetti32 That's just what I was writing to someone else. The 6970 has higher spec ram and flashing to a normally clocked 6970 bios could cause long term reliability with the card. What I may do myself is only unlock the shaders which should not be a problem while doing only a modest overclock otherwise. There's a reason after all that the 6970 has an 8 pin connector on it. The chips need to draw more power.
@LinusTechTips Doesn't this cut the life span of the card in half by doing this? And is this just with the reference cards because I was going to get the Twin Frozer version from MSI
@MortalSIX you can generally tell which cards can be unlocked because the have an AMD logo where the cards plugs into the pci-e slot, this means it is reference, 99% of the time, and ~90% of the time reference cards can be unlocked.
@Fixer420 are you able to still change the power consumption in CCC? mine's gone and when running furmark it keeps throttling the clock speed
btw what clock speed do you have yours on? got mine at the 6970 speeds; this is not too much of an overclock is it? and do you know if 23 amps for the +12V3 rail is too much (this is for the GPU)?
cheers man
@kjakur that vid talked about overclocking and artifacts but it didnt show any artifacts. is there a vid that shows the artifacts?
Very nice...I may have to do this!
@commandercasey Of course... It is more like the same thing with the Phenom X3s. Not all are damaged, because the demand for the lower end cards is usually higher than the amount of damaged cards.
@LinusTechTips whether the Acer G245HAbid glossy monitor? that the monitor is better for gaming G245HAbid or Dell U2311H?
@jookur that is because this card is a reference card. hence the stock cooler and no decals from third parties
Hey there! just bought a 6870 black edition, wondered what you're using for your benchmarks. Cheers!
@MyRikudo I have read somewhere that AMD have done something to not allow this anymore and the ones that could be unlocked have been discontinued but its worth a try and if all goes wrong just flip the switch back to goto original BIOS settings and remember to save a back up of your original BIOS settings
@ejemm what virsion of gpu-z have you got?, just curious as to why mine says 1600 on gpu-z 0.4.9
linus, i have a question: I just bought an XFX 6970 and I don't have an 8pin to run it. My Psu is RocketFish 700w so it should run the single card fine. Now, XFX says i shouldn't use any 6pin to 8pin adapter but i really don't wanna buy a new Psu, So does NCIX have any dual molex to 8pin adapters or any other options i could do? If i would have to get a new psu, I'm thinking OCZ EliteXstream 800w, so is it a futureproof one?
@ZeroInhibition Of course there was. It turns it into a 6970...
This is epic 👍😻👍
Hey linus, what sandybridge cpu do you have in that P8P67 motherboard?
@T0MMYC123 Which card do you have? Was it a powercolor card?
@JohnnyGivancicCacic you need to have display port adapter for 3rd monitor. Display port run around 70-100 dollars for the adapter.
@riado4351 yes, works for any brand's reference card. if you get an error after flash the bios, simply just switch the bios pin to 2 position after turn off your computer, and restart it. then switch back to 1 bios, and flash it back to your original bios. that's why you have to always save your bios before doing any flashing stuff.
Linus will this work in crossfire mode (so 2 6950s modded bios) = 6970's? or do you have to have a 6970 and a 6950 modded?
@1spaghetti32
I used the RBE (Radeon BIOS Editor) to enable shaders in new BIOS. Nothing else changed.
Same crashes in BFBC2.
Flipped switch back to position 1 and no more problems.
Going to try custom power settings through CCC.
@LinusTechTips
will this affect the voltage,wattage, or lifespan of the graphics card? i am known for bad luck and want to be safe but want better performance. please reply
@Mestitiamortis yeah i know, but i mean how it performs in games and such, if u notice any difference at all?
COOL CONTEST!
@nirvanastrike what games that shows u the black screen?
Cool video!
i dont know if anyone has brought this up, but say you wanna crossfire the 6950, is it still possible to flash both cards ??
@codaassasin Yes it might well do. The VRAM in the 6950 was cheaper stuff and can't be clocked/won't take the voltage to the same as a 6970 without risking damage and reduced life span. As far as I know, unlocking the shaders has no risks with the exception of the actual flashing.
and also will this work on the new XFX non reference cards or do i needa get a Diamond 6950 with the dual bios?
@JosFcGamesta thank you very much :D
I remember getting 2 of these to unlock to 6970 :D
MAKE SURE YOU GET A REFERENCE VERSION CARD!!! A reference version, for those who don't know, is a card that DOESN'T have custom coolers/shrouds. The reason to make sure you get a reference version is because the NON REFRENCE VERSIONS do NOT HAVE BIOS SWITCHES!
@MainlyFlames If you go to TechPowerup page, Basically XFX, msi, Gigabyte and a few others haven't had their cards die because of the flash.
@Strife56 Short answer is no, long answer is yes if you dare to open the card and short a chip without damaging the card.
@AL666MAGGOT yeah, pcb is the same, but the different is that 6970 uses 8pin x2, so it gets more power to overclock..
Which manufacturer makes that 6950 you have? I like the black with red accents.. but all the cards I find have graphics printed on it
thank you 11 year old linus
not paying BS prices in current time, reusing old stuff !
@JosFcGamesta If you only unlock the shaders and do not OC the memory(let it stay 1250mhz) there won't be any problem since the core is much more tolerant to higher clocks than memory.
just a noob question, can you get that benchmark thing as a permanent case?
would be sweet
When doing this please keep in mind that AMD probably had good reason selling these GPUs as HD6950s rather than HD6970s. So results may vary and are in no way guaranteed. For example, your unlocked HD6970 will probably not reach the same clockspeeds as "real" HD6970s and may use more power.
The HD6950s also use slower RAM-chips than the HD6970s which will limit clockspeeds even further.
Some chips might have downright broken shaders and show artifacts when unlocked. Please keep this in mind.
@EarthWorms77
you can have two bios. You can bounce back to working bios if your flash fails~
@Gurkdream Well, thats what I thought too, but i wanted to hear this from somebody else :) Thank you bro.
@Aearian Nice bro, Im enjoying mine too ^_^
yes it works... i just did today unlock my shaders ... flashing my card bios.. i din't know this was possible but i did.. i got a powercolor hd 6950 2g and unlock to 6970. . i use a MSI flash bios. for my card i think this is the most powerfull outthere for now to unlock on hd 6950 2g if you have hd 5950 1g it will require different bios. full compatible test the witcher 2 no problems... looks awesome. people try read blogs are very help full .. YES YOU CAN DO IT.
I'm definitely going to consider picking up a 6950 for my new build
does it have to be a sapphire one? i have diamond and techpowerup gives u a sapphire flash thingy.
@Unknownz00 you could crossfire them anyway...back in the 4000 days you could cf a 4890 with a 4850. There's still some risk involved with flashing the 6950 as the ram chips arent rated for the same speeds as the 6970.
@kjakur It wont effect the lifetime of the card, cooling on graphics cards is really more of a marketing gimic than anything else, as long as your not consistantly pushing over 100c with overclocking you should be fine. Back to the question, a 6970 is the same card as the 6950 so it should have an identical lifespan and speed. Hope I answered your question :).
already have one, and unlocked it a couple of days ago. Overclocked to 920/1500! Vest value ever!
@Hotrod768 Actually it can. This whole unlocking thing is flashing a 6950 with a 6970 bios.
So this card is already running at 6970 clocks.
Hi, I've some questions about GPUs:
What are "ROPs"???
What work do the shaders?
i have the same brand of mother board. can i crossfire the larger cards on this board. I ask this because of the sata ports being stacked.
@fuggotry Yes. I've tried it.
Hi Linus
Hey Linus, will this unlock work with MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC?
did you ever find out about the 7950to 7970 im looking into
ur the best linus
@BeDuckie1 I flashed back to 6950 to be sure. Now everything is ok if catalyst driver are not installed. But when I install the driver i still got visual artifact. Dont really know what to do...
Can anyone tell me what an artifact is? Or link me to the video he is on about? Thanks.
Getting this card soon and flashing :P i was just wondering i'm running a Phenom 965BE @ 4.2GHz that wouldn't bottleneck this awesome card at all would it?
@vik2rrr the drivers are same for both cards anyway, and all the 6900 series for that matter
No prob brother, thanks for the invite, I don't have a PS3, I'm strictly PC gamer ; )
@sgwuerzbubi
if you have a 2nd bios you can always just test it out without issues
@LinusTechTips LOL nice one Linus.
what video card are you using did you where able to fix the problem..?
Hate to ask, but I'm thinking about buying this card, and in my computer I'm running a AMD Phenom II x4 @ 2.5 GHz, would this card be useable with my CPU, or would bottlenecking cause me too much difficulty?
This is great and all but won't the changed 8 pin from the 6970 cause problems when you're under load (like playing games). I mean what's the point if its going to end up breaking the card and then you just have to buy another one when you could have saved yourself all the trouble by buying the card that you originally needed. I'm not super tech savvy so was just wondering.
YAY! I was in a tough choice between a 6950 and a 6970, with a difference of £70. I somewhat reluctantly opted for the cheaper version... NOW I'M BUZZING!!
Idle temps - 7850 = 30c vs 6950 = 42c
full load temps - 7850 = 65c vs 6950 = 79c
Max Power consumption or TDP for the 6950 = 158 W vs 7850 = 106 W.
You need a at least 500 watt power supple for either card!
Hope this helps!!!
may someone answer a doubt that ive got please? im trying to flash my xfx hd 6750´s bios and for some reason i didnt find any xfx bios for this model over the web, so instead i downloaded a bios from the same model but, it is from a diferent manufacturer. is it risqi to go on like this? shall i abort flashing mi vga´s bios? plz help me!!
Hey man I need your advice, I own a single monitor running a AMD 1100T 6 core CPU, 8gigs of Ram and what not...now...I have 1200$ for GPU upgrades etc...should I buy a 6990 for 700$ or dual 6950's and then unlock them? Remember I own 1 monitor, not sure if I buy the 6990 I'll get microstuttering...but then again two 6950's could be an amazing boost...
pretty cool unlock :P
btw does this software unlock also boost the performance of the card or it need to be overclocked after the unlock? thank you :)
wow you're great, 1 hour after you upload this video you have 5 pages of comments
two questions, first is can you change it back to a 6950 or default settings? my second question is that i wanna use dual monitors with one card which is a 6950 2gb ddr5 i was told that my quality of games will go down and the reason for dual monitor is to play games on one screen still on all the settings on the highest setting available and to use second monitor to either browse the web or watch a walk through video and stuff like that. Thanks.
hey i have a question, i have an AMD A-8 3850 APU with Radeon HD 6550D. the question is, the last time i updated drivers for the 6550D it changed and now its reading as a SUMO 9640. is this normal?
kudos to techpowerup
So was this intended because I can see them getting a lot more sales of the 6950 now. And if it wasn't intended does that mean they will be removing this option somehow in the near future?
@selyss12345 they test only a few chips out of a batch. If the batch is good they get labeled 6970 if the batch is bad they are called 6950's. That doesn't mean every chip in the batch is a bad, it just means they have a higher chance of failure at the 6970 settings.