Solved Radeon HD 6950 2GB Flash Mod

[MadSupra354]

No, if you damage the card you can't. It's in the VRAM that the 6970 has it set to a different voltage, so after a week you get artefacts and you can't revert back. It's permanently damaged.

Thats why Im not using the 6970 bios, I still have the 6950 bios but unlocked with the extra shaders, so Im not upping the vrams voltage unless i choose to do the OC

So the the instructions on TechPowerUp are wrong? I have to download a BIOS and flash it.

 

[sygnus21]

Thats why Im not using the 6970 bios, I still have the 6950 bios but unlocked with the extra shaders, so Im not upping the vrams voltage unless i choose to do the OC

What BIOS is this? Link?

 

[MadSupra354]

Thats why Im not using the 6970 bios, I still have the 6950 bios but unlocked with the extra shaders, so Im not upping the vrams voltage unless i choose to do the OC

What BIOS is this? Link?

AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod | techPowerUp
Scroll down to the instructions. It says "download the HD 6970 BIOS"

 

[DarkXeno]

Unlocking Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Here is the site I used and it links to TechpowerUp so its another source of info for everyone.

Here is a pic showing my shaders and when its not OCed

 

[sygnus21]

Thats why Im not using the 6970 bios, I still have the 6950 bios but unlocked with the extra shaders, so Im not upping the vrams voltage unless i choose to do the OC

What BIOS is this? Link?

AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod | techPowerUp
Scroll down to the instructions. It says "download the HD 6970 BIOS"

So that one just unlocks the shaders and nothing else? What do you get with it?

I actually downloaded it but hadn't did the update yet.

Thanks

 

[DarkXeno]

What BIOS is this? Link?

AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod | techPowerUp
Scroll down to the instructions. It says "download the HD 6970 BIOS"

So that one just unlocks the shaders and nothing else? What do you get with it?

I actually downloaded it but hadn't did the update yet.

Thanks

What i have found out is when doing the 6970 bios I couldnt OC the card, but with just unlocking the shaders I can OC the card and keep it stable and cool.

 

[sygnus21]

Did you have to increase the Power slider to +20, and did you have to increase the fan speed???

Those are my two main issues as I'd like to keep cool & quiet.

Not worrying about a power supply issue as my PS is more then capable.

Thanks.

 

[DarkXeno]

Im lucky that I bought an MSI card they use a program call Afterburner and with it i can setup different profiles with using the slider. When i Up the MHz on the chip and ram, I have the fan set to be 10% more then the heat. so if the card is at 30C the fan is at 40% as it gets hotter the fan spins up so when at the max which i have seen with my card of 49C my fan sits at 59-60%

PS the afterburner software is based on RivaTuner you might want to look into that software too.

 

[MadSupra354]

So you where able to increase the RAM voltage with Afterburner?

 

[DarkXeno]

As you can see from my screen shot AfterBurner only lets me change the MHz clock on them not the voltage, this might be the a safety setting im not sure.

 

[sygnus21]

Finally flashed my 6950

Well I finally took the plunge and flashed my Sapphire 6950 to a 6970 using these procedures - Unlocking The AMD Radeon HD 6950 to 6970 - BIOS Flash Mod Guide - AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Modification - Legit Reviews - worked like a charm

Here's the before and after specs..... (had to use an existing GPU-Z screen for the before shot since I hadn't taken one before the new update)




Some basic benchmark numbers using Heaven DX11 Benchmark - before and after....



Fan speed and noise levels seem to be about the same at idle, at load the card gets a little louder, but nothing you'd notice unless listening for it.

Temps remain the same as before the flash at idle, and don't appear to get much hotter during load after the flash.

Outside that no artifacts or anything else. I will say that I've not attempted to overclock the card past the stock 6970 Sapphire BIOS used.

Also I've not adjusted anything on the AMD Overdrive tab in the Catalyst Control Center.

So far all is good. I'll keep a close eye on things in the coming week to see if any issues arise. I'll also try a number of games to see how it performs.

That's it for now.

 

[essenbe]

Good Job. Congratulations on your new card.

 

[sygnus21]

Good Job. Congratulations on your new card.

Thanks, but it's actually not new since I've had it since February - http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/138499-ati-6950-a-4.html

 

[essenbe]

Good Job. Congratulations on your new card.

Thanks, but it's actually not new since I've had it since February - http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/138499-ati-6950-a-4.html

No, what I was referring to is you had a 6950 in Febuary, now you have a 6970.

 

[sygnus21]

I get it now

Thanks

 

[sygnus21]

Update on my flash....

So a month after falshing the card and doing some heavy gaming - Fallout New Vegas, FEAR 3, and Oblivion with the high texture packs, I can report that all is good. No artifacts, no over-heating, no increase in fan noise, no stability issues.

All is good

And again, all I did was unlock to 6970 specs. I have not overclocked the card from there, and have not touched the Performance tab under the Catalyst Control Center.

Peace

 

[DarkXeno]

So a month after falshing the card and doing some heavy gaming - Fallout New Vegas, FEAR 3, and Oblivion with the high texture packs, I can report that all is good. No artifacts, no over-heating, no increase in fan noise, no stability issues.

All is good

And again, all I did was unlock to 6970 specs. I have not overclocked the card from there, and have not touched the Performance tab under the Catalyst Control Center.

Peace

Nice Sygnus21, thats very good news. I can second its been two months of unlocked and heavy gaming so this mod works great.

 

[sygnus21]

Yeah I was worried about things going crazy after awhile, but I figured that if I didn't overclock the card from the flashed BIOS I wouldn't/shouldn't have a problem. Looks like that's the case here.

Glad to see you have the same success

 

[Terronium 12]

My pursuit was an absolute failure, but at least it still works.

I still wanna investigate with this card though...there could be a way to flash DCII"s.

 

[sygnus21]

My pursuit was an absolute failure, but at least it still works.

I still wanna investigate with this card though...there could be a way to flash DCII"s.

Well I see from your posted message that you got this issue sorted. Thoughts?