6950 Shader Unlock question (drivers)

Zion Halcyon

Zion Halcyon

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 28, 2007
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So, today I am getting my 2 6950 cards and have full plans to unlock the shaders, but not fully upgrade the bios to 6970 as I don't want to fry the RAM.

A helpful person gave me this tutorial to follow:

http://www.overclock.net/ati/923129-hd-6950-810-1250-mhz-shader-4.html

So, before I do this, I want to ask:

1) is the tutorial above the best one out there on just unlocking the shaders? I plan on OCing this through either CCC or AMD Overdrive (suggestions?)

2) Drivers - once I complete the steps above, will I have any issues updating to say, the latest Catalyst drivers? Or once I unlock, am I stuck with using whatever drivers are in that downloadable file on the site that I linked?

First timer doing this, so any help/advice/knowledge would be great. And I did search through the forum a bit, but didn't see an answer to thise specific questions, so figured I'd ask.
 
In reading the OC.net tutorial, you will be flashing with the ASUS BIOS which is overclocked and overvolted, you might want to re-think that.

Here's what i did.

1) downloaded latest ATIwinFlash from TechPowerUp.
2) downloaded latest GPU-z, same source.
3) downloaded the MSI 6970 BIOS from TechPowerUp. This is the same vendor as my MSI 6950 cards.....the 6970 BIOS is a stock BIOS.

4) flashed the cards according to the TechPowerUP tutorial, I flashed each one individually using the Cat 11.4 preview drivers as a platform....I used a bench motherboard with a clean install of W7 and just the bare essentials listed above all running at stock and made sure the bench board was rock stable.

5) I ran Afterburner after the cards were flashed and the computer restarted to downclock to 825/1275 to start and then gradually upped the values to meet the 6970 stock and no higher......I used Kombuster to test the cards.

Remember the little BIOS switch on the card.....#1 is a writable BIOS, #2 is not and is the baseline BIOS. Set position #1 for flashing. In ATIwinFlash SAVE the original BIOS BEFORE you do anything else.

you don't have to use the 6970 stock clock speeds.....you can always downclock the cards if the speeds make you nervous.

The driver version doesn't matter, you'll be able to use any future versions you like....all you are manipulating is the card BIOS, not the drivers.

I like Afterburner because I can make a custom fan profile or just run the fans flat at 50-60% to keep the cards cool. You can't do that with Overdrive.

I haven't had much time with the cards yet, but they are monsters and do OC to stock 6970 in a heartbeat and run like crazy.
I wish I'd done this before....2 cards for less than 500 dollars that rival my 580GTX SLI and have 2GB of VRAM.
 
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I was going to follow this.....

Hi, I'm new to the Bitcoin community. I started last week, and I thought I'd share my experience with optimizing performance on my 6950 under Windows. I'm currently getting 324 Mhash.

USE THEM ON YOUR OWN RISK. I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE ANY OF MY SUGGESTIONS MAY CAUSE. But then I'm fairly anonymous and in a country where they would just laugh at you if you tried...

General tips

Overclocking (potentially dangerous to your card, use with caution)
Get MSI Afterburner. Install it, then open the file MSIAfterburner.cfg in the Afterburner directory in notepad. If you use Windows 7 and possibly some other versions, you need to run notepad as Administrator, otherwise you will not be allowed to save it.

Make sure the ATIADLHAL looks exactly like this:

[ATIADLHAL]
EnableUnofficialOverclocking = 1
UnofficialOverclockingEULA = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
UnofficialOverclockingMode = 2
AccessibilityCheckingPeriod = 0

This will allow you to overclock the card more than specified by the driver. It will also allow you to control the fan, which is important to keep the temperature down. I prefer staying under 80C.

The normal frequency on my card is 800 MHz on CPU and 1250 MHz on memory. For mining you want the CPU to be as high as possible. Memory on the other hand is hardly used at all, so it should be low to avoid adding unnecessary heat and power consumption. My current speed is 890/500, giving about 324 Mhash. It seems to work at 900 but crashes at 910, so I give it a bit extra headroom.

You need to figure out how much your card can take on your own. Do small increments (5-10 MHz) and let it run for a few minutes. Eventually it will freeze your computer, which means you've reached your limit. Back down 15-20 MHz and keep it there.


poclbm parameters
Just -w 64 without -v gives the best performance with my 6950.


6950 specific
I do not recommend using the 6970 firmware. Instead use your original firmware, but modified with the "shaders unlock" patch. There have been several reports of permanent damage, probably because of the different voltage and timings used in the 6970 firmware. It will also make the card use more power, which means higher cost and quite a lot more noise from the fan.

To patch, download these files:
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1920/HD_6950_to_HD_6970_Flashing_Tools.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/wizzard/Mod_BIOS_HD_6950.zip

Unpack both them and download this file: http://pastebin.com/fLTmqWby and save it as flash_to_6950mod.bat to the same directory (flash_to_6970.bat, flash_to_6950mod.bat and run.bat should be in the same directory). Then run flash_to_6950mod.bat. You need to run it as administrator, at least under Windows 7. What this does is save your current firmware, modify a copy of it, and then flash it back.

After flashing the first time you should make a backup of the directory, to make sure you can flash back the original firmware if you need to. If you like you can also try flashing to 6970 using the appropriately named .bat file. If you want your original firmware back you run flash_back_to_6950.bat.

At 890 MHz I actually get slightly higher performance using the 6950 modded firmware compared 6970 firmware, and to keep it under 80C the fan only needs to spin at 36% instead of 46%. My guess is that the 6970 firmware makes the card uses more power than it can supply, and starts throttling.

Flashing the modded firmware is pretty safe because the card has two firmwares, one of them read only. If your card stops working after flashing turn it off, flip the switch on the card and reboot. When it has booted and is running, flip it back to 1 and flash back your original firmware.
Click to expand...
 
I can't understand why you would go to all the trouble of trying to flash some complicated BS to your card when you could just use the 6970 BIOS of your vendor's card and then downclock or adjust the card as needed.

You are trying to accomplish the following:

1) unlock the shaders of the 6950 to a 6970.
2) overclock the card to match the 6970 speed.

So you now have a card that matches the 6970 for about $150 less.

You can ALWAYS flash it back.
You can always downclock it if it artifacts at the 6970 level.

:D
 
the reason why its advisable not to simply flash straight to 6970 is that after a period of use, theres been reports of perm damage to the 6950. it could be that even tho the parts are all the same, the timings may be different. thats why its safer to simply unlock shaders and overclock manually...as opposed complete bios change and downclock.

6950 specific
I do not recommend using the 6970 firmware. Instead use your original firmware, but modified with the "shaders unlock" patch. There have been several reports of permanent damage, probably because of the different voltage and timings used in the 6970 firmware. It will also make the card use more power, which means higher cost and quite a lot more noise from the fan.
Click to expand...
 
snoozininsomniac said:
the reason why its advisable not to simply flash straight to 6970 is that after a period of use, theres been reports of perm damage to the 6950. it could be that even tho the parts are all the same, the timings may be different. thats why its safer to simply unlock shaders and overclock manually...as opposed complete bios change and downclock.
Click to expand...

^ This.

There was a tool I used about a month ago, when I did it. It copies the card's stock BIOS, uses a batch file to unlock shaders, and then you flash the card with that BIOS.

If you flash a HD 6970 BIOS, it overvolts the GPU, and runs the memory more aggressively. The memory is what causes the problems. Some people have physically damaged memory with the 6970 BIOS. There's no fix for that besides getting a new card. You can always flash it back to 6950, but if you screwed up the memory, that won't fix it.

Also, having the lower voltage should help with temperature and power consumption. 6950 is 1.100v, 6970 is 1.175v.

I have shaders unlocked, and was able to hit 900MHz on the core (faster than stock HD 6970) at the stock 1.100v. I was also able to push memory up significantly. Shader unlocked 6950 BIOS is the way to go.
 
magoo said:
I can't understand why you would go to all the trouble of trying to flash some complicated BS to your card when you could just use the 6970 BIOS of your vendor's card and then downclock or adjust the card as needed.

You are trying to accomplish the following:

1) unlock the shaders of the 6950 to a 6970.
2) overclock the card to match the 6970 speed.

So you now have a card that matches the 6970 for about $150 less.

You can ALWAYS flash it back.
You can always downclock it if it artifacts at the 6970 level.

:D
Click to expand...


This is bad advice, I went over the same thing in your thread if I remember correctly. The 6970 bios is said to have different memory voltages and timings so it is known to cause damage to the card and general lack of stability when used on a 6950. The best thing to do is unlock the shaders and THEN overclock the card and not flash your 6950 with a 6970 bios. If you're interested OP I flashed my cards with a nice custom bios that unlocks the shaders, boosts the vcore to 1.175 (6970 stock voltage, as apposed to 1.1) and also unlocks the amount you can OC to in CCC. This custom bios is a 6950 bios and keeps everything else to 6950 spec.
 
master noran said:
This is bad advice, I went over the same thing in your thread if I remember correctly. The 6970 bios is said to have different memory voltages and timings so it is known to cause damage to the card and general lack of stability when used on a 6950. The best thing to do is unlock the shaders and THEN overclock the card and not flash your 6950 with a 6970 bios. If you're interested OP I flashed my cards with a nice custom bios that unlocks the shaders, boosts the vcore to 1.175 (6970 stock voltage, as apposed to 1.1) and also unlocks the amount you can OC to in CCC. This custom bios is a 6950 bios and keeps everything else to 6950 spec.
Click to expand...

That's precisely what I am looking for. The main issue is I am also looking for a tutorial on how to do this and have the right bios for the cards, since this is my first time flashing the bios on a graphics card.
 
master noran said:
This is bad advice, I went over the same thing in your thread if I remember correctly. The 6970 bios is said to have different memory voltages and timings so it is known to cause damage to the card and general lack of stability when used on a 6950. The best thing to do is unlock the shaders and THEN overclock the card and not flash your 6950 with a 6970 bios. If you're interested OP I flashed my cards with a nice custom bios that unlocks the shaders, boosts the vcore to 1.175 (6970 stock voltage, as apposed to 1.1) and also unlocks the amount you can OC to in CCC. This custom bios is a 6950 bios and keeps everything else to 6950 spec.
Click to expand...

Sorry to ruffle feathers here.

I was NOT under the impression the voltage was changed in the 6970 BIOS excepting for the ASUS variety.

You are absolutely correct if there is a chance to burn up the memory from increased voltage and/or screwy timings.

My mistake.:D

I looked over that article and I'll probably flash my MSI 6950s using that custom BIOS, it seems the right way to do it.

I misunderstood and thanks for the informatioin.
 
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if you only want to flash with unlocked shaders and no other changes you can use TechpoweredUps RBE. It has a unlock shader feature on there to make a a new bios for your card.
 
I went back and reflashed my two cards with the linked software from extremesystems.

The technique was easy and worked flawlessly.

I have two 6950 cards with the ASUS BIOS, the shaders are unlocked, and the clocks are currently 810/1250...voltage reads 1.175 under stress.....all verified with GPU-z version latest.

I increased one of my cards to 830/1300 and it ran Furmark flawlessly, I'm sure there's alot more there.

I used the SmartDoctor thing to unlock CCC and it's seemingly working just fine as well.

Cudos to master noran for the good information.

Can't wait to enable my EyeFinity tomorrow and see what happens.:D:D
 
I followed the techpowerup instructions usinga sapphire bios on my xfx card to unlock shaders only. The card runs perfectly. I maxed the core clock to 840 in CCC. I left mem at stock 6950 speeds. All the voltages stayed the same as stock 6950, I checked in GPU-z.

Here is the link. Follow wizards instruction, but use a 6950 unlocked bios instead of the 6970. Look at post 19 in the link when you open it.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137136
 
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I used that tutorial a while ago with my crossfire xfx 6950s without any trouble at all. Much better to use ccc to oc than afterburner or trixxx or whatever else there is for me.
 
magoo said:
Sorry to ruffle feathers here.

I was NOT under the impression the voltage was changed in the 6970 BIOS excepting for the ASUS variety.

You are absolutely correct if there is a chance to burn up the memory from increased voltage and/or screwy timings.

My mistake.:D

I looked over that article and I'll probably flash my MSI 6950s using that custom BIOS, it seems the right way to do it.

I misunderstood and thanks for the informatioin.
Click to expand...

Np, I was just pointing out.

magoo said:
I went back and reflashed my two cards with the linked software from extremesystems.

The technique was easy and worked flawlessly.

I have two 6950 cards with the ASUS BIOS, the shaders are unlocked, and the clocks are currently 810/1250...voltage reads 1.175 under stress.....all verified with GPU-z version latest.

I increased one of my cards to 830/1300 and it ran Furmark flawlessly, I'm sure there's alot more there.

I used the SmartDoctor thing to unlock CCC and it's seemingly working just fine as well.

Cudos to master noran for the good information.

Can't wait to enable my EyeFinity tomorrow and see what happens.:D:D
Click to expand...


Thats good to hear, They run pretty good for me in eyefinity.
 
dccmadams said:
I followed the techpowerup instructions usinga sapphire bios on my xfx card to unlock shaders only. The card runs perfectly. I maxed the core clock to 840 in CCC. I left mem at stock 6950 speeds. All the voltages stayed the same as stock 6950, I checked in GPU-z.

Here is the link. Follow wizards instruction, but use a 6950 unlocked bios instead of the 6970. Look at post 19 in the link when you open it.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137136
Click to expand...

you don't even have to do that any more. TechPowered ups RBE will let you make your own xfx unlocked bios. So you don't have to download a bios from the internet. Safer imo. Glad they added that future.
 
snoozininsomniac said:
the reason why its advisable not to simply flash straight to 6970 is that after a period of use, theres been reports of perm damage to the 6950. it could be that even tho the parts are all the same, the timings may be different. thats why its safer to simply unlock shaders and overclock manually...as opposed complete bios change and downclock.
Click to expand...

Can you provide one case of this happening? I have seen no evidence that points to that being true. Every claim that I have seen on TPU (which is where that rumor started) ended up later saying that they were just seeing one of the many driver issues.

That every 6950 that I have used has been able to hit 6970 speeds with stock voltage on a shader unlocked bios. Since it uses less voltage than a 6970 bios it runs cooler and quieter.
 
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If you run driver sweeper, for instance, if you are switching from Nvidia. You will need to install the drivers before you flash. I had to flip the switch back to the stock bios to get the driver to install properly. Again, this was after running driver sweeper. If you already have an ATI card then you should be fine. Either way, it's only a switch away.;)
 
BallerX said:
If you run driver sweeper, for instance, if you are switching from Nvidia. You will need to install the drivers before you flash. I had to flip the switch back to the stock bios to get the driver to install properly. Again, this was after running driver sweeper. If you already have an ATI card then you should be fine. Either way, it's only a switch away.;)
Click to expand...

Indeed.
I set up a bare bone bench board for my flash.
I have a bunch of spare stuff, so I used a clean install of W7, and AMD 11.4 driver preview plus the ExtremeSystems guide stuff.

The process was entirely painless.
 
dccmadams said:
I followed the techpowerup instructions usinga sapphire bios on my xfx card to unlock shaders only. The card runs perfectly. I maxed the core clock to 840 in CCC. I left mem at stock 6950 speeds. All the voltages stayed the same as stock 6950, I checked in GPU-z.

Here is the link. Follow wizards instruction, but use a 6950 unlocked bios instead of the 6970. Look at post 19 in the link when you open it.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137136
Click to expand...

Which XFX card did you use?

I'm looking at getting a 6950 to unlock as well. Everything I've read says don't flash to the 6970 bios, keep it unlocked with the 6950 bios.
 
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