Unlocked 6950 and 6970 in xfire?

[vollman1]

Can you xfire a 6970 to an unlocked and overclocked 6950 and get the same performance as a pair of 6970s in xfire?

 

[wolfram23]

If the 6950 is flashed with a full 6970 BIOS then yes that should work. However, why not save the money and get another 6950 and flash it as well?

 

[Rockdpm]

yea, i agree. You could run into some stability issues if you try it but it should work.

 

[bystander]

A 6950 without being flashed can still be crossfired with a 6970.

 

[wolfram23]

That's true bystander, but the performance wouldn't be the same as two 6970s

 

[willard]

I'd think it would work, but with stability problems. If it weren't such a crap shoot on whether or not any given 6950 would unlock, I'd suggest picking up another one to unlock for crossfire.

I think you're treading in some fairly new territory.

 

[bystander]

Given the odds of getting an unlockable 6950, I would say just get a 6970.

 

[vollman1]

Given the odds of getting an unlockable 6950, I would say just get a 6970.

Yeah that's why the question came up. I was lucky to get one card that unlocked.

If adding one 6970 is going to give the same performance as two in xfire, I have another option than taking a chance at another unlock.

If it matters, I just unlocked the shaders on the 6950; didn't flash a 6970 bios to it.

What stability issues would you think may come up?

 

[wolfram23]

I don't see there being stability issues besides those inherent with flashing a 6950.

If you only did the shader unlock though... well, 6970s operate with slightly lower VRAM timings and of course different clocks and voltage. The memory timings might cause some stuttering issues, and the clocks would basically go to waste unless you OC the 6950 to the same levels as well.

 

[vollman1]

It is OCd as well, just wanted to point out that a 6970 bios wasn't flashed to the card

 

[vollman1]

After a little research, it looks like the difference between 6950s in xfire and 6970s in xfire is not that great.

I am thinking that another 6950 may be the way to go here.

 

[bystander]

After a little research, it looks like the difference between 6950s in xfire and 6970s in xfire is not that great.

I am thinking that another 6950 may be the way to go here.

A lot of that would depend on the resolution you play at. At 1080p, you'll find you'll get CPU bottlenecked rather easily with crossfire, and you also go beyond your monitors refresh rate often, however at high resolutions there is a bigger difference. That said, it still isn't huge, so it may not be a bad idea to relock your 6950 and get another. It'll run quieter and cooler too.

 

[vollman1]

I am running at 1080p, but with three monitors using Eyefinity and at 60Hz. Not sure which way to go on this yet....

 

[bystander]

In that case, you will need every ounce of power you can get.

 

[vollman1]

You thinking the 6970 route would be better?

My i5 is OC'd to 4.8GHz fwiw.

 

[vollman1]

Bah, I am going to go for another 6950. Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[vollman1]

Best answer selected by vollman1.