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Need Advice on a 6950

Zion Halcyon

Zion Halcyon

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 28, 2007
Messages
2,105
I'm looking to make sure the card I pick up is a reference card that can be unlocked to a 6970, and that my 500w power supply can take it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125356

Thats the card I am looking at. Sadly, I do not know what type of PSU I have, just that it is 500w. Rest of my build is in my sig, and I got my CPU OCed to 4ghz (haven't updated the sig yet).

Thanks!
 
Fairly sure that is a reference card. It has the reference cooler and it's a 2GB so unless "new" 2GBs have made it to retail (and I don't know if such a thing even exists, yet, or ever will, it's just something people worry about) it should be fine. As of now, in so far as I know, all 2GB 6950s are potentially unlockable, it's the 1GB cards that do not unlock. There is of course some risk with all cards that you will get artifacting, but the rate of success seems very high.

You really need to find out what kind of PSU you have, since you may well need a new one if it's not a solid performer.
 
Yeah, was afraid of that. I also read a review I need comments on:

I already posted 1 review, felt the urge to update. Still love the card, have got 130-200 fps in bioshock maxed at 1440x900 widescreen. 150-175 fps in left4dead 2 maxed, 1440x900 widescreen. new vegas just stays at 60 cause vsyn cannot be disabled and locks it at 60. Farcry 2 maxed 1440x900, give 85-110, massive action might get it down to 81. My best advise, after reading about unlocking this card by flashing a 6970 bios is NOT TO DO IT. the ram is different and too high of a percentage of these cards die for it to be a prudent choice. Heres the best course: keep the 6950 bios but unlock the shaders. then bump the CCC settings to 840 and 1325 (maxed). this is exactly half way between the 6950 and 6970 clocks, but with all the shaders. that means its better than half way between the cards. if your hungry get afterburner and clock further. the unlocked shaders + oc to 6970 (BUT KEEPING THE 6950 BIOS) is way safer and gives the same performance.​

Thoughts to the validity of this? And how would one just unlock the shaders?
 
500 w unknown psu is likely not enough. Plan on upgrading your psu. Visit the psu forum to learn about what a good psu is. There's a list of brands / models to stay away from.
 
RBE has a check-box to unlock shaders without changing memory timings / voltage now, so it's much easier than it once was. You get ATIWinFlash and RBE, pull your bios with RBE, back it up, copy it, edit the copy with RBE to enable shaders and maybe change core voltage if you want to do that / change clocks in various modes (look up a tutorial, not that hard), save it. Flash the card with the new VBIOS using ATIWinFlash, reboot, good to go.

Yes, the concerns over "borking" the onboard RAM via tighter timings and higher voltage (by using a 6970 BIOS on a 6950) are valid, and the shader-unlock and OC route does appear to be safer and 99.9% as fast in real world usage. I did not do a straight crossflash 6950 -> 6970 on my card, and I do not recommend doing so.
 
it's got the two position BIOS switch. It's the reference design.
 
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