HD 6950 unlocking

[cmg5217]

Hi,

I'm in the market for a new graphics card and I've done a lot of reading and settled on a Radeon HD 6950 with hopes of flashing the 6970 bios to it. In my search for more information I saw that some of the cards coming out now can't in fact do this. Is there any info out there on which cards can and can't be unlocked or are all the new ones physically disabled?

 

[phishy714]

Hi,

I'm in the market for a new graphics card and I've done a lot of reading and settled on a Radeon HD 6950 with hopes of flashing the 6970 bios to it. In my search for more information I saw that some of the cards coming out now can't in fact do this. Is there any info out there on which cards can and can't be unlocked or are all the new ones physically disabled?

Any reference card should be unlockable.

You know its a reference model when it has the very rectangular design and has the AMD logo on the pci-e connection. If it doesn't have any of these, its not a reference model.


Most importantly, don't unlock a 6950. Get a good non reference model and overclock it. you get the same performance for less work and much less risk.

 

[metallicaus]

JUST MAKE SURE ITS 6950 ==REFERANCE MODEL== .
GOT THE TWO BIOS STWITCH in case something went wrong.

because after flashing my card it's perfomance became terrible. even after flashing it back . .

so think a lot before doing that. at the moment all i want is my card running as normal .. but its seems it won't lol .

good luck

 

[bystander]

Things have changed, even reference models often have locked bios or laser cut shaders. I don't know what your chances are, but people are having mixed results lately. Here is a guide I wrote up that works for all cards, assuming the shaders aren't cut or the bios isn't locked:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/316974-33-radeon-6950-shader-unlock-instructions#t2368661

The last post on the thread includes a link to another site that used this technique with reference and non-reference designs, and it appears to be about the same odds either way.

 

[cmg5217]

Maybe I'll just do as Phishy714 suggests. Any suggestions? Wish Tom's had a 6950 roundup.

 

[cmg5217]

Best answer selected by cmg5217.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey