How safe is unlocking the 6950?

[richieuk]

A friend linked me an article and guide to unlock the 6950 to a 6970 - Is it safe and is it worth it?

[ehhhhhhh]

having unlocked both my 6950s I can say that it seems fairly safe.

If you experience problems then you can always use the switch to go back to factory default settings.

I use them on full 6970 spec (e.g: unlocked shaders, +mem and +gpu clock) and the performance difference is perceivable in GPU limited situations.

[jimborae]

Not had any issues with mine either, having said that there is a thread on here about the various merits & dangers of flashing 6970 bios to a 6950 card. Apparently just unlocking the shaders and overclocking the memory is the safer route. Also bear in mind that more recent 6950's can't be unlocked.

[superlattice09]

Not had any issues with mine either, having said that there is a thread on here about the various merits & dangers of flashing 6970 bios to a 6950 card. Apparently just unlocking the shaders and overclocking the memory is the safer route. Also bear in mind that more recent 6950's can't be unlocked.

Is there a way to know which can be unlocked and which can't before purchase?

[Max Tractor]

double post

[Max Tractor]

You need a rev 1 card 2GB, although have read of other unlocking. Yes I agree, the shader unlock is a safer unlock

cheers

[dfour]

I have no problem with mine running at 6970 speeds as well and the shaders but there are some custom bios that only unlock the shader is your worried. You can always overclock later.

[Yojimbo108]

Just to add that its better to unlock + overclock than to flash the BIOS from what I've heard.

[NightshadowUK]

Apparently it's down to the faster memory timings that're built into the 6970 BIOS. If you just flash your 6950 with a stock 6970 BIOS, there's a chance the memory won't be able to cope and according to some folk this has caused permanent damage to their card.

This being the case, I'd say it was better to edit your 6950 BIOS with something like RBE.

[IronWarrior]

I'm about to buy an 6950 ASUS from Scan and plan to flash it to a 6970.

If something goes wrong with the first BIOS and you reset to the default, does that mean you can no longer use the second BIOS to try again?

[dfour]

No it mean you boot up under the first bios and flick the switch to the second bios before you flash the card. The first bios is a safety net so you dont brick your card.

[ssharpuk]

I thought the 6950 with a bios switch werent available any more? correct me if I'm wrong because I was thinking of getting a 6970 instead now

[EvanJackPenn]

I thought the 6950 with a bios switch werent available any more? correct me if I'm wrong because I was thinking of getting a 6970 instead now

I was also thinking this. Is there anywhere to buy the AMD board rather than an ASUS/MSI/etc? I read on reviews that it wasn't very safe without dual BIOS switches.

You'll also be able to unlock the BIOS on the vanilla HD 6950 sans sweaty brow because of the twin BIOS on the standard boards.

The lack of hardware switch on the MSI card is either a massive oversight or something it decided to remove on purpose.

Thanks. This could sway my choice of purchasing this card

[Singh400]

I thought the 6950 with a bios switch werent available any more? correct me if I'm wrong because I was thinking of getting a 6970 instead now

They are definitely available. Scan has at least one model in stock.

[IronWarrior]

Well I brought a MSI 6950 from Overclockers.co.uk and unlocked the shaders by modding my own BIOS then I OC'ed the Core and Memory to 6970 levels and added 10% to power in CCC, had no problems, it works like a charm.

Hoping to OC it further soon.

[planet436]

Unlocked shaders is the guide I used. Being able to use CCC for overclocking instead of third party program is a plus.