AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod

so curious why does the 6970 have the 8pin power is it not needed ?
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Good question indeed.
Stability and reliability may be impacted over the medium/long term.
 
The HD6950 isn't the same card physically as the HD6970. The differences go beyond the power connectors. The HD6970 has higher end GDDR5 memory (rated at 6GHz), while all HD6950's come with GDDR5 rated at 5GHz, which means that on the HD6950's the memory is already maxed out. Further more, the fans aren't the same. The HD6970 comes with a better fan, which can deliver higher airflow. While this difference is subtle, it is there. I own a pair of ASUS HD6950's, and I got them at launch. I'm pleased with the performance, because I prefer multi GPU setups. I also plaid with a Sapphire HD6970.

It is human nature to be happy about getting something for nothing, but this isn't the case. While this mod might seem to work, it will ruin allot of cards. For those of you who bought a HD6970 don't feel sorry, you got what you've paid for: an amazing card with amazing overclocking potential. Those of us who got a HD6950 (two in my case), we got what we've paid for: a very good card with limited overclocking potential.

In conclusion I hope that at least some of you are true enthusiasts and not dumb enough to fall for this. Nothing in life is free. Neither is a HD6970 for the price of a HD6950. You almost always get what you pay for. Sorry to burst your bubble.
 
wolfman3k5 said:
The HD6950 isn't the same card physically as the HD6970. The differences go beyond the power connectors. The HD6970 has higher end GDDR5 memory (rated at 6GHz), while all HD6950's come with GDDR5 rated at 5GHz, which means that on the HD6950's the memory is already maxed out. Further more, the fans aren't the same. The HD6970 comes with a better fan, which can deliver higher airflow. While this difference is subtle, it is there. I own a pair of ASUS HD6950's, and I got them at launch. I'm pleased with the performance, because I prefer multi GPU setups. I also plaid with a Sapphire HD6970.

It is human nature to be happy about getting something for nothing, but this isn't the case. While this mod might seem to work, it will ruin allot of cards. For those of you who bought a HD6970 don't feel sorry, you got what you've paid for: an amazing card with amazing overclocking potential. Those of us who got a HD6950 (two in my case), we got what we've paid for: a very good card with limited overclocking potential.

In conclusion I hope that at least some of you are true enthusiasts and not dumb enough to fall for this. Nothing in life is free. Neither is a HD6970 for the price of a HD6950. You almost always get what you pay for. Sorry to burst your bubble.
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I dont have either card. if you really dont care that much why the negative angle to the situation? You sound like you are hurt and trying to tell people not to do it. Why would they ruin their cards. Their is a simple fall back switch on the card in case you run in to an issue where the back up bios takes over. All those things you explained make sense, but in this case some people are getting the 6970 performance for free, whether you like it or not. I have a gtx 480 and I am happy for those this works for.
 
I just made a poll in the AMD section asking those who tried to unlock if they were successful. Please vote if you have made an attempt. Thank you.
 
Successfully flashed 2 XFX 6950 cards to the Sapphire 6970 bios with the batch file included in the techpowerup zip file (so a subsystem ID error with the GUI utility).

I flashed them individually with one card in at a time to avoid any potential issues.

One strange thing - GPU1 is idling at 70C! GPU2 is idling at 40C. Is this normal behavior?
 
NKD said:
I dont have either card. if you really dont care that much why the negative angle to the situation? You sound like you are hurt and trying to tell people not to do it. Why would they ruin their cards. Their is a simple fall back switch on the card in case you run in to an issue where the back up bios takes over. All those things you explained make sense, but in this case some people are getting the 6970 performance for free, whether you like it or not. I have a gtx 480 and I am happy for those this works for.
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I don't have a negative attitude. I documented myself very well before I started talking here. A HD6970 requires more power to run, and also comes with higher end memory. Also to run higher end memory at 5.5GHz, and to be able to overclock it you will need more power. Anyway, I can ramble about this all night long, but the bottom line is this: a few weeks from now, maybe even days in some cases you are going to see allot of people that have tried this with damaged cards, especially with damaged RAM on their cards.

As for your GTX 480: Gigabyte just released a GTX 470 build on a GTX 480 PCB with their special 3 FAN cooler. It comes with an 8PIN + 6PIN power connector, as well as all RAM chips. That looks like something I would actually try to flash to a GTX 480. I hope that you can see my point. You can find the card here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125351
 
wolfman3k5 said:
I don't have a negative attitude. I documented myself very well before I started talking here. A HD6970 requires more power to run, and also comes with higher end memory. Also to run higher end memory at 5.5GHz, and to be able to overclock it you will need more power. Anyway, I can ramble about this all night long, but the bottom line is this: a few weeks from now, maybe even days in some cases you are going to see allot of people that have tried this with damaged cards, especially with damaged RAM on their cards.

As for your GTX 480: Gigabyte just released a GTX 470 build on a GTX 480 PCB with their special 3 FAN cooler. It comes with an 8PIN + 6PIN power connector, as well as all RAM chips. That looks like something I would actually try to flash to a GTX 480. I hope that you can see my point. You can find the card here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125351
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I doubt you can unlock it...
 
at0micgarden said:
Successfully flashed 2 XFX 6950 cards to the Sapphire 6970 bios with the batch file included in the techpowerup zip file (so a subsystem ID error with the GUI utility).

I flashed them individually with one card in at a time to avoid any potential issues.

One strange thing - GPU1 is idling at 70C! GPU2 is idling at 40C. Is this normal behavior?
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I would say YES and NO. YES because when two HD6950's are in CrossFire the first card will idle at 58C, the second one just under 40C. The first card always gets hotter, especially when CrossFire is enabled. Disable CrossFire and you will see a slight drop in GPU 1 temps. NO because no video card should idle at 70C. Basically this happens for two reasons:

  1. The HD6950 fan can't deliver the same amount of airflow as the HD6970 fan (they may be the same diameter, but they have different types of blades and motors).
  2. Your cards are missing the 8PIN power connector, so the card can't get as much power as it wants, so it will get hotter.
People, please document yourselves before doing stuff like this.

To prove my point that the cards aren't the same, please check the following two links that show a dismantled HD6950, and a dismantled HD6970:

http://techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6950/4.html

http://techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970/4.html
 
shansoft said:
I doubt you can unlock it...
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It uses the same PCB as the GTX 480 (it's actually a reference GTX 480 PCB), comes with all the RAM chips, has 6PIN + 8PIN connectors, and the RAM is rated at 4GHz. Not to mention that the GPU clocks to at least 850MHz, which is what the a reference GTX 480 clocks to as well if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, that card at least comes with proper power connectors and proper cooling to attempt an BIOS - GPU - unlock. The HD6950 lacks the 8PIN power connector, fast enough RAM and a high CFM fan.
 
wolfman3k5 said:
Your cards are missing the 8PIN power connector, so the card can't get as much power as it wants, so it will get hotter.
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I'm wondering what others' idle temps are in Crossfire for GPU1... I've read of the other pins being absent but never of any significant issues - but then again these setups have only been running a day or so. Perhaps they will overheat if temps aren't monitored.
 
It was a pain in the butt and had to go back to stock several times but I finally got my xfx 6950 to unlock. In the end I had to flash via the command prompt using an xfx 6970 bios. So far everything is smooth. Ran the heaven benchmark and playing a little BC2 right now.
 
I'm going to try this someday, but not right now. I think until I build a Sandy Bridge system.
 
AMD HD6950 moded in crossfire seem to be a perfect match for my upcoming Sandy built. How loud are these cards in idle?
 
If you are going to crossfire, I suggest don't sandwich the cards and give a space in-between. At idle they're quiet, but during gaming they are still somewhat quiet, but throw on a benchmark like 3DMark11 that puts full load on all GPUs and they get really loud. The bottom card tops out at around 85C while the top card gets to 95C or even more (seen mine hit 101C) with the fan at 50%+.
 
wolfman3k5 said:
I don't have a negative attitude. I documented myself very well before I started talking here. A HD6970 requires more power to run, and also comes with higher end memory. Also to run higher end memory at 5.5GHz, and to be able to overclock it you will need more power. Anyway, I can ramble about this all night long, but the bottom line is this: a few weeks from now, maybe even days in some cases you are going to see allot of people that have tried this with damaged cards, especially with damaged RAM on their cards.

As for your GTX 480: Gigabyte just released a GTX 470 build on a GTX 480 PCB with their special 3 FAN cooler. It comes with an 8PIN + 6PIN power connector, as well as all RAM chips. That looks like something I would actually try to flash to a GTX 480. I hope that you can see my point. You can find the card here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125351
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Actually you are being negative. Going by what you are saying, overclocking damages hardware .. doh! Thats the risk you take when you overclock ANY hardware. Its how you go about it that determines whether your hardware is safe.

Only a 6950 modded to a 6970 AND its memory overclocked to 6970 speeds will have an issue .. if any that is. The memory on this HIS 6950 goes from 1250Mhz to 1540Mhz when overclocked. The 6970 memory runs @ a default 1375Mhz so you are pretty safe there. The only thing you should worry about is the overall power draw of 252W that is 12% beyond the spec of 227W for the 6950. Again my personal opinion is that this would still not damage the card, esp.since you have 2 6-pin power connectors feeding the card.

See W1zzard's explanation below: http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159
power.jpg

"I did some additional power consumption tests and it seems that AMD's PowerTune power limiting system does not get "upgraded" by the BIOS flash. We see that even when modded, the HD 6950 (at HD 6970 shaders and clocks) runs into the PowerTune limit earlier than the regular HD 6970 which results in reduced power draw but also reduced performance in Furmark. With a power consumption of 202 W, the modded HD 6950 is well below the 225 W specification limit of the HD 6950 power configuration.
Once we up the power limit in Catalyst Control Center by +20%, we see that the modded HD 6950 draws 252 W, which exceeds its specification (225 W) by 27 W. This move also improves rendering performance by a good deal, so I would recommend it to all users who perform this mod and have a half-decent power supply. Going 12% beyond the specified power limit will not have any ill effects on your hardware and is well covered by manufacturing tolerances and overspeccing, but it reduces the possibility of stuttering or other performance slowdowns caused by AMD PowerTune."
 
rUmX said:
If you are going to crossfire, I suggest don't sandwich the cards and give a space in-between. At idle they're quiet, but during gaming they are still somewhat quiet, but throw on a benchmark like 3DMark11 that puts full load on all GPUs and they get really loud. The bottom card tops out at around 85C while the top card gets to 95C or even more (seen mine hit 101C) with the fan at 50%+.
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That is nothing mate. :D I have to set my GTX260 SLI fans to 75 percent in BC2 and one of the cards reaches a toasty 75 degrees.:D
 
rUmX said:
If you are going to crossfire, I suggest don't sandwich the cards and give a space in-between. At idle they're quiet, but during gaming they are still somewhat quiet, but throw on a benchmark like 3DMark11 that puts full load on all GPUs and they get really loud. The bottom card tops out at around 85C while the top card gets to 95C or even more (seen mine hit 101C) with the fan at 50%+.
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Do you have the cards in that MicroATX case from your sig?. If so, no one should take your temperatures as relevant because it is obvious temperatures are going to be higher in such a small case.
 
Iching said:
That is nothing mate. :D I have to set my GTX260 SLI fans to 75 percent in BC2 and one of the cards reaches a toasty 75 degrees.:D
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You really don't want to hear any of these cards (69xx) above 50% fan speed if you have sensitive ears :D
 
Lorien said:
Do you have the cards in that MicroATX case from your sig?. If so, no one should take your temperatures as relevant because it is obvious temperatures are going to be higher in such a small case.
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If I set all my case fans to 100% I have pretty good air movement in there. Cooling is fine. Right now I'm running a single card and it doesn't get over 82C on default fan. Can't hear it at all (unless my case fans are on low). For such a small case it has 4 fans circulating air.
 
rUmX said:
If I set all my case fans to 100% I have pretty good air movement in there. Cooling is fine. Right now I'm running a single card and it doesn't get over 82C on default fan. Can't hear it at all (unless my case fans are on low). For such a small case it has 4 fans circulating air.
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If anything we should take your temperatures and sound report as nearly a worst case scenario.
In terms of temperature you NEED those 4 fans to circulate air because ambient temperatures would be pretty high due to having all the heat generating components in close proximity to each other. Acoustics are also going to be much higher than on a regular mid or full tower case. Your case is literally acting like a speaker enclosure amplifying every sound inside. Larger cases do so as well but to a lesser degree since the noise generating components are more spread out throughout the case and they have more vents/slots through which sound waves can escape instead of reverberating inside like in your case.
 
wolfman3k5 said:
[*]Your cards are missing the 8PIN power connector, so the card can't get as much power as it wants, so it will get hotter.
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Nonsense. The two extra pins are grounds for increased stability. Most high end PSUs will have no problems with this. The card will not draw more power nor will it get hotter for some inexplicable reason.
 
wolfman3k5 said:
It uses the same PCB as the GTX 480 (it's actually a reference GTX 480 PCB), comes with all the RAM chips, has 6PIN + 8PIN connectors, and the RAM is rated at 4GHz. Not to mention that the GPU clocks to at least 850MHz, which is what the a reference GTX 480 clocks to as well if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, that card at least comes with proper power connectors and proper cooling to attempt an BIOS - GPU - unlock. The HD6950 lacks the 8PIN power connector, fast enough RAM and a high CFM fan.
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first of all, GTX 480 is 700Mhz stock...

The GTX 470 you show me is obviously no way you can unlock to GTX 480...

Even if it have similar PCB, it doesn't mean it can be unlock... especially that card its nearly impossible...

if its unlockable, people would have done it already..
 
Unbelievable.. wish I was in the market for cards right now.. I'd totally get two and Xfire them! :p
 
Godmachine said:
Wow thats just awesome. Just like the days of old , the old 9500 pro. It always feels like your sticking it to the man when you get something like this for nothing.
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I retired my flashed 9500 pro earlier this year from my kids pc. Now I'm thinking about getting a 6950 for me :)
 
There loud..really loud if you turn them up past 50%. Why im going to water cool my 6970s. I have oly heard it ramp up a few times but when it does you know it.
 
I did this using the supplied batch files to my XFX and it was successful. I increased fan speed, but didn't notice because it's still much quieter than my old GTX280. I didn't bech it, because it was CPU limited by my CPU even as a 6950! Wish Sandy Bridge would just release already...

Funny thing, when I went to register my card with XFX, using the serial number, it came up as a 6970.
 
Iching said:
I cannot believe they are that loud. Are they?:eek:
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They aren't that bad. I set mine on 60% and leave it there so I don't have to listen to my fans ramp up and down. I find that more annoying than the 60% fanspeed.

As an FYI, I've contacted Scythe concerning the upcoming availability of their Musashi cooler for the 6970 and am awaiting their response. I should hear back from them in a few days (considering the holidays they are likely to be slow responding)
 
it's already been stated, that the 8pin power connector, the 2 extra pins are not power, they are extra grounds, for safety? I forget, but Dan chimed in on this a while ago, you can get the same power from 6pin as you can get from 8pin.
 
Rawr. I hate seeing stuff like this.
With some Amazon credit I have on hand, I could grab a 6950 for under 200$ and unlock that bastard...
Now I'm wrestling with the prospect of stepping up from a 5870, and i'll have to do it soon 'cause these current gen 6950s are going to fly off the shelves...
 
naninani said:
Rawr. I hate seeing stuff like this.
With some Amazon credit I have on hand, I could grab a 6950 for under 200$ and unlock that bastard...
Now I'm wrestling with the prospect of stepping up from a 5870, and i'll have to do it soon 'cause these current gen 6950s are going to fly off the shelves...
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lol dont you hate that. Im very happy wiht this news, im still running a gtx 260 (192 version) and decided that its time to go with ati and eyefinity. I ordered my 6950 and 2 days later heard about being akle to unlock it to a 6970 I was pysched. Patiently awaiting for the store to ship out my card (dam holiday hours) so untill then my gtx 260 is putting along with 1 monitor.
 
Well I did this last night. I used the sapphire bios. It failed the first time, I just rebooted and tried again and the second time it went through fine.

So been running it at 880/1375 and no problems. Haven't noticed much difference in games, but, I have noticed a rise in temps. Before the mod I never saw temps higher than 70 degrees, now I am noticing temps of nearly 80. Not really an issue though.

So it seems the 6950 is a very good purchase right now. And when the next round of drivers come out it should get even better. Just very happy with my purchase :)
 
Where is th ebest deal on HD6850? Gigabyte card on newegg is sold out. )-:
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
it's already been stated, that the 8pin power connector, the 2 extra pins are not power, they are extra grounds, for safety? I forget, but Dan chimed in on this a while ago, you can get the same power from 6pin as you can get from 8pin.
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Not to mention the whole thing is bollocks to begin with. The 6 pin cable officially supplies 75w to a graphics card. The 8 pin cable officially supplies up to 150w to a graphics card.

6 pin amperage 6.25a
8 pin amperage 12.5a

A 6 pin connector is typically made of 3 strands of 18g wire, having a total ampacity of near 45a. The entire 6/8pin thing is a spec, and you're not magically going to stress your card more if you surpass this spec, even by a full 100%.
 
Arcygenical said:
Not to mention the whole thing is bollocks to begin with. The 6 pin cable officially supplies 75w to a graphics card. The 8 pin cable officially supplies up to 150w to a graphics card.

6 pin amperage 6.25a
8 pin amperage 12.5a

A 6 pin connector is typically made of 3 strands of 18g wire, having a total ampacity of near 45a. The entire 6/8pin thing is a spec, and you're not magically going to stress your card more if you surpass this spec, even by a full 100%.
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Absolutely. Fear mongering because you may somehow damage the card by flashing the bios to the 6970, that is insane. 6950s clearly are just re-binned 6970 parts. It is likely that the chips exceeded AMD's specs for the 6970 so they just use a different BIOS and bam, you have a 6950. Great way to recycle silicon.
 
Great news for those who could use it.

Too bad I could use a 6990...No unlocking a 6970 to get that.
 
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