Which HD 6950?

[PaulC_1]

Hi guys,
So I'm in a bind between which Hd 6950 to choose, here are the two ones which I am thinking of:

http://www.dabs.com/products/sapphire-technology-ati-radeon-6950-hd-800mhz-2gb-pci-express-hdmi-7K58.html?q=hd%206950&src=16

and

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-hd-6950-twin-frozr-iii-power-edition-oc-pci-e-21-5200mhz-gddr5-gpu-850mhz-1408-cores

Now the reason I am stuck between them is because the Sapphire (well according to the two reviews on dabs) it can be unlocked to the 6970 shaders jut with a flick of the dual bios switch, if anyone on this forum has this card then it would be great if you could confirm this, but then the MSI has better cooling, but it is almost impossible to unlock the shaders, so that's why I'm torn against them, if it turns out that the sapphire can't be unlocked as easily as that then I'll just go ahead and get the MSI version, so anyway what one should I get? Does the better cooling really make much of a difference? Again if anyone has that Sapphire card could you please confirm that it can be unlocked this easy,

Thanks in Advance,
Paul.

 

[jockey]

A non-reference card isn't the best for unlocking the bios, even if it has the features. Since they are both 2gb cards, I would recommend the MSI.

 

[Earnie]

chances are very good(but never a guarantee ) the sapphire will unlock the shaders with the bios switch.Most sapphire 6950's that came with dirt3 are the same as the one you linked.both of mine unlocked fine.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=350307

 

[PaulC_1]

chances are very good(but never a guarantee ) the sapphire will unlock the shaders with the bios switch.Most sapphire 6950's that came with dirt3 are the same as the one you linked.both of mine unlocked fine.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=350307

did you use the bios switch to unlock them? or did you use the method in the forum you posted?

 

[Earnie]

did you use the bios switch to unlock them? or did you use the method in the forum you posted?

bios switch.

not to mention the cooling on the sapphire is great and its quiet!

 

[joewena]

Check out the Gigabyte Radeon 6950 1Gb, Toms had a review of all the 1gb 6950's, the gigabyte and MSI 1gb clocked cards rocks! The gigabyte has got awsome cooling aswell, i bought one about 4 months ago and im more than happy with it!

 

[PaulC_1]

Hey guys,
So I've made my decision I'm going to go with the MSI because unlocking only proves to have about a 0-5 fps boost, so in my opinion it's not really worth it and its proven that you can get better results by overclocking and my case doesn't have the best airflow, so it could really benefit from the extra cooling, anyway thanks for all your answers,
Paul