Is HD 6950 still unlockable?

[siddharthmukul007]

So i am getting an opportunity to upgrade from HD 6850 to HD 6950 for around 20$.

Now i was wondering if it will still be a good upgrade?

I heard the 6950 was unlockable to 6970(last updated till Dec 2012)....is it still possible?

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137136&page=130

I will upgrade only if that is possible or else not.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ubercake]

I think that firmware trick only lasted a couple of months after the release of the 6950.

I'm pretty sure AMD put a stop to that.

 

[Fokissed]

Yes, it is possible. http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/159
It's less likely to work on a non-reference board though.

 

[bystander]

There was an alternate method that continued to work for much longer. Though technically, it did not make it register as a 6970, but it did unlock the shaders non the less. After a while, the manufacturers often locked them with added circuitry. It is unlikely it would still work, but it did on a few up to a year ago.

If you are daring, it is possible to do it with these instructions, but your odds are less than 50%:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/316974-33-radeon-6950-shader-unlock-instructions

I don't even have 6950's anymore and I won't be able to help you if things go wrong, as you can see it did for a couple people (though they did get it working eventually).

 

[siddharthmukul007]

actually i am a bit confused if this trick still works


updated my post with a link

 

[Fokissed]

I think that firmware trick only lasted a couple of months after the release of the 6950.

I'm pretty sure AMD put a stock to that.

The would require a silicon modification. AMD did not change the GPU (baselayer respin or otherwise), and a board modification is very unlikely on reference boards (since the reference would have to be changed). Non-reference board are more likely to have this implemented (unlikely, but other incompatibilities may exist).

 

[siddharthmukul007]

yes i am aware of the circuit.

there is a bypass to it.....the so called "bubble gum method"

 

[bystander]

yes i am aware of the circuit.

there is a bypass to it.....the so called "bubble gum method"

I gave you a link to the alternate method, that works on non-reference designs as well, and there is even a link to some people who disabled the locking methods used on some cards, but it is buried in the post. I still wouldn't do it at this point, but if you are more adventurous than I, go for it.

 

[siddharthmukul007]

the one that i am getting is of course is the non reference version

it is the sapphire

reference models are not available here

 

[ubercake]

The would require a silicon modification. AMD did not change the GPU (baselayer respin or otherwise), and a board modification is very unlikely on reference boards (since the reference would have to be changed). Non-reference board are more likely to have this implemented (unlikely, but other incompatibilities may exist).

That makes sense. So it was the manufacturers implementing methods to control this rather than AMD changing any spec.

 

[siddharthmukul007]

I still wouldn't do it at this point, but if you are more adventurous than I, go for it.

why did you say that(at this point)?

why not try to get the performance of a 6970 for just 20$ right?

 

[maxinexus]

I would not try it if you have nonreference card. You can get a nice bump in FPS just by giving the card more juice ~20%
I was successful modding 3 out of 4 (2 out of 2 reference, and 1 out of 2 non reference)
The non reference cards got crewed up even after I flashed it back to original bios it never worked as great as before( it scored in line with 6850) so I RMA it and got new one which I kept as 6950 in my wifes PC.

 

[bystander]

why did you say that(at this point)?

why not try to get the performance of a 6970 for just 20$ right?

Because the chances of success are smaller now than before, and the risk hasn't changed.

 

[siddharthmukul007]

yeah that is correct.

the risk factor for me does not have that huge a role to play since it is just 20$

how less can it get right?

 

[bystander]

That's cool. Let us know how it goes.

 

[siddharthmukul007]

@maxinexus

how long is it since you last unlocked a 6950?

just to be sure if present cards have changed any how

 

[siddharthmukul007]

@bystander

yeah sure...actually I have never unlocked it before since I did not have access to the card
now that I have a chance to do it myself,I am very eager to do it.

just to get the after feeling of doing it...hope you understand what I an trying to say

 

[Fokissed]

6950s have a dual-bios, so there isn't much to lose by trying.

 

[siddharthmukul007]

yeah...indeed.

actually nothing to loose at all.

how much can I loose with 20$ right?

 

[bystander]

6950s have a dual-bios, so there isn't much to lose by trying.

Only the reference cards do, with a few rare exceptions.

 

[siddharthmukul007]

@bystander

say something goes wrong
I can again re flash the card with the original one right?

is there any specific number of times that a card can be flashed?

before say the card becomes totally dead

 

[bystander]

You can reflash it, but probably will need a 2nd card in the primary slot, and possibly use a boot disk with the bare required tools. The couple guys with issues had to do that.

 

[Fokissed]

Only the reference cards do, with a few rare exceptions.

Very true. However with another VGA most (all?) botched BIOS' can be flash without issue.

 

[siddharthmukul007]

how do I go about using boot disk?I don't know how to do that.

will it be ok if I use the Intel igpu and flash the card in safe mode?

 

[bystander]

I have never had to create a boot disk, but you can google it. It would likely be best to do that ahead of time, so you are prepared.

Whether you'd need it depends on how bad the flash goes. Sometimes it will allow you to boot with the bad flash, but not use acceleration or game with it, other times you can't even boot with it in the system. It's the latter that requires a boot disk to fix.