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Overclocking your HD6950

T

theone1989

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 14, 2008
Messages
162
I've only been able to overclock it to 860mhz core and 1340mhz memory with unlocked shaders. That really dissappoints me because I felt like I should have been able to push it to stock HD6970 settings (880mhz & 1350mhz) or more when I hear some people getting 900mhz/1400mhz out of their HD6950s.

Btw, I take Haven not crashing with display error as a sign of stability. And I can run Crysis Warhead at 1920x1200 on full enthusiast settings @ 4xAA @ 860mhz n 1340mhz stable, no artifacts and no funny business.

Do I just have a particularly poor HD6950 batch? I initially bought 2 HD6950 in preparation for building new rig, sent one back. I'll probably be forever kicking myself because I sent the wrong card back.:(
 
How are you cooling the card? It seems these cards don't like going over 70c when overclocked. The stock cooler on auto will not keep it below 70c.
Otherwise, cards will vary in their abilities to overclock. Some are luckier then others. Since you've unlocked the card you won't be able to tweak the voltage via MSI Afterburner.
But there is a reason the 6970 costs more...higher rated memory and probably better binned cores.
 
Bad ConNecTioN said:
How are you cooling the card? It seems these cards don't like going over 70c when overclocked. The stock cooler on auto will not keep it below 70c.
Otherwise, cards will vary in their abilities to overclock. Some are luckier then others. Since you've unlocked the card you won't be able to tweak the voltage via MSI Afterburner.
But there is a reason the 6970 costs more...higher rated memory and probably better binned cores.
Click to expand...

My card stays below 60C reaching 62C on GPU Temp#2 & #3 when I monitor by GPU Z when oced to it's (admittedly poor) limit and at full GPU load @ +20% powertune. I set fans to 42% and this combined with the airflow from my Coolermaster HAF X keeps the thing fairly cool

I was under the impression that a HD6950 is a rebadged HD6970 and buy buying the former I was getting a free lunch.By unlocking and overclocking, I have had some lunch, but I am not satisfied because the dessert is poor.
 
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theone1989 said:
I was under the impression that a HD6950 is a rebadged HD6970 and buy buying the former I was getting a free lunch.By unlocking and overclocking, I have had some lunch, but I am not satisfied because the dessert is poor.
Click to expand...

Then you should have done more research. As bad connection said, the 6950 has slower ram and (may) be lower binned chips. A real 6970 should clock better and outperform an unlocked overclocked 6950 at the end of the day.
 
krakerman said:
Then you should have done more research. As bad connection said, the 6950 has slower ram and (may) be lower binned chips. A real 6970 should clock better and outperform an unlocked overclocked 6950 at the end of the day.
Click to expand...

Well what I have read around is people unlocking their hd6950, then taking it straight to 900mhz/1400mhz. Which I am unable to do.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/amd_hd6970_hd6950_review/6.htm

And even on a proper review site, they overclocked their hd6950 to pretty much same as 6970.

I suppose it still runs any game I want it to and will max games coming out this yr and if i still feel strongly about this issue come xmas time, I'll sell it on and upgrade.
 
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You paid for a 6950 and that's what you got. It's not a bad card. It's only slightly slower than the 6970, which costs more, but the premium goes somewhere; namely the faster ram and improved cooling in order to handle the 50w extra power draw. Buying a 6950 expecting it to be a 6970 was unrealistic because the cards are not made the same. Just because people are reporting faster speeds doesn't mean that it's the norm, there's a ton of variation, and it's a complete crapshoot what you end up with. The only gaurantee is that you end up with what you paid for.
 
Jalidi said:
Buying a 6950 expecting it to be a 6970 was unrealistic because the cards are not made the same.
Click to expand...
Tell that to a lot of the other users here. Most people consider buying a 6970 retarded because it's "guaranteed" that a 6950 will unlock to a 6970, and refuse to accept that some cards don't work, or don't necessarily last at that specification, regardless of the method you use.
 
Sounds like you just got unlucky. I believe there is a beta version of afterburner that lets you adjust the core voltage on an unlocked 6950, but I could be wrong as I haven't actually tried to use it. If that's the case, you can probably get to where you want by increasing the core voltage. If nothing else, I'm sure that at some point in the future afterburner (or something similar) will be able to adjust core voltages.

samuelmorris said:
Tell that to a lot of the other users here. Most people consider buying a 6970 retarded because it's "guaranteed" that a 6950 will unlock to a 6970, and refuse to accept that some cards don't work, or don't necessarily last at that specification, regardless of the method you use.
Click to expand...

98% success rate does imply a 2% failure rate, after all :)
 
That 2% is from the outset. Seen plenty of cards that have only lasted a week or two at 6970-spec before having to be flashed back.
 
samuelmorris said:
That 2% is from the outset. Seen plenty of cards that have only lasted a week or two at 6970-spec before having to be flashed back.
Click to expand...

Hmm, interesting. Well, fact is they were binned differently for a reason, so I believe it. Only time will tell, and besides, the whole 6950 -> 6970 probably won't last much longer I would guess. Especially once the reference cards get hard to find.
 
OP...you payed for a 6950, and that's what you got. You managed to unlock the shaders, and even OC a little. I don't get how you are so pissed off.
You got more then you payed for.
 
samuelmorris said:
Tell that to a lot of the other users here. Most people consider buying a 6970 retarded because it's "guaranteed" that a 6950 will unlock to a 6970, and refuse to accept that some cards don't work, or don't necessarily last at that specification, regardless of the method you use.
Click to expand...

The only reason I bought the HD6950 is because from reading lots of posts people got them to work as a HD6970. It's not the fact that I was too poor to afford the extra $70, afterall I just splashed out $$$ for a new build.

But because why spend extra $70 when you don't have to? I subscribe to the high performance/low cost mentality (relatively so, since budgets between people differ).

So yes, I am dissappointed in that my HD6950 is failing to work at 6970 specs because when I was abroad in the holiday season I read about how excited everyone was flashing their cards and as soon as I got back I rushed to buy one.

The expectation is why I'm quite happy having gone for an i5-2500k, because I never expected it to be the 2600k (although unlock codes in the future? who knows). And I'm even quite happy running that @4.6ghz and not 5.

Still reading people's reports of 900/1400mhz on unlocked 6950s doesn't help my mood much.
 
Bad ConNecTioN said:
OP...you payed for a 6950, and that's what you got. You managed to unlock the shaders, and even OC a little. I don't get how you are so pissed off.
You got more then you payed for.
Click to expand...

I was going to say the same thing. Most, but not all, 6950's can even achieve 6970 clocks. You got a deal.
 
OP, you're in a sour mood over nothing in particular. In fact, you should be happy at what you got. You paid 100% of a 6950's cost, and you received 98% of a 6970's performance. Some people aren't able to unlock shaders at all because their 6950s are real duds. You on the other hand, are 2% away from a stock 6970.

Don't base your satisfaction on everyone else's experience. Be happy with what you have, rather than unhappy with what you don't have.
 
OP: here's a "feel good" story for you.

Out of the two 6950s I bought (both from the same batch, the serial #'s are super close) only one of them will run at 6970 speeds. The other one isnt any good past 1325MHz on the memory and in crossfire for some reason doesn't like going above 1300MHz on the RAM.
 
unlocked shaders on asus 6950 with core at 902mhz @ 1.117v. Stable through Metro 2033.

I am happy with purchase.
 
silasbear said:
unlocked shaders on asus 6950 with core at 902mhz @ 1.117v. Stable through Metro 2033.

I am happy with purchase.
Click to expand...

Come on man... WTH... Are you trying to stick a fork in a guys back :rolleyes:

I feel for the OP, because I just recently got MSI GTX460 cyclone 1GB (open box), based on reviews and feedback from users the card should run over 900Mhz on core... Guess what I only got 840Mhz on the core... with 1025V bump, even if I pushed volts to 1087V it wuold not help. My case HAF 922 has a good airflow with 200mm side fan blowing on the card....

At the end o/c is a big lottery... Even though 840Mhz is still pretty good, I don't feel satisfied and I'm still having second thoughts if I should keep or return the card to buy somehting better... i.e. HD6950 2Gb and try my luck....
 
amd7674 said:
Come on man... WTH... Are you trying to stick a fork in a guys back :rolleyes:

I feel for the OP, because I just recently got MSI GTX460 cyclone 1GB (open box), based on reviews and feedback from users the card should run over 900Mhz on core... Guess what I only got 840Mhz on the core... with 1025V bump, even if I pushed volts to 1087V it wuold not help. My case HAF 922 has a good airflow with 200mm side fan blowing on the card....

At the end o/c is a big lottery... Even though 840Mhz is still pretty good, I don't feel satisfied and I'm still having second thoughts if I should keep or return the card to buy somehting better... i.e. HD6950 2Gb and try my luck....
Click to expand...

What kind of VRM sinks does it have and what are your load temps? If the VRM sinks are puny it might be worth a shot to get some Enzotechs.

EDIT: Sorry OP, forgot this wasn't amd's thread.
 
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Wow, ask for help and get a bunch of "shut up and be happy" replies... Let's ask a few questions, shall we???

You did not mention voltage in your post. Are you adjusting it? Did you adjust the "Power Control setting" in CCC to +20%? You will almost certainly need to do that.

What tool(s) are you using to overclock?

Are you trying to ramp core speed and memory speed at the same time? I suggest ramping the core speed first, finding its limit, then start ramping the memory speed.
 
As a point of reference, I have been able to take my MSI 6950 to 920/1325 @ 1.16v in Afterburner. I am not ready to declare it 100% stable, but I can run furmark and 3dmark11.

So far I have been unable to hit 940 core, even at 1.2v, as furmark will lock up.
 
Why are you disappointed? You got 99% of the performance of a 6970 for what -- 70 bucks less? Why is that a disappointment? Overclocking is never a sure thing. If you absolutely had to have X clock speed, should have bought the 6970 and gone from there.
 
[H]ocusPocus;1036762549 said:
Not true if you just unlock the shaders. It is true if you flash to a 6970 bios.
Click to expand...

That's not true, I flashed my HD6950 with modified 6950 bios from using Wizzard's batch files from Techpowerup, then I used the autoflasher (easy way instead of cmd) but instead I renamed my own modified bios file and so it auto flashed that instead.

I know I did not flash to HD6970 bios because after flash stock speed was still 800 and memory 1250 and CCC would only let me OC to 840mhz. Obviously if CCC detected a HD6970 bios, settings would be different.

Having said all that, I do NOT get an option to change voltage on MSI afterburner. However, I do have an XFX card and not MSI.
 
[H]ocusPocus;1036762544 said:
Wow, ask for help and get a bunch of "shut up and be happy" replies... Let's ask a few questions, shall we???

You did not mention voltage in your post. Are you adjusting it? Did you adjust the "Power Control setting" in CCC to +20%? You will almost certainly need to do that.

What tool(s) are you using to overclock?

Are you trying to ramp core speed and memory speed at the same time? I suggest ramping the core speed first, finding its limit, then start ramping the memory speed.
Click to expand...

Voltage is at stock 1.1v.

Power Control is @ +20%

I am using both MSI and CCC, because the MSI oc profiles have a habit of not sticking, then when I do apply it or change it, it disables the fan option and Power Control option. So I have to go back to CCC to set power +20% and fans 42%.

I was ramping both core and memory, I am stable at 860/1340mhz, I then tried 880/1320mhz, Haven crashed. I then tried 870/1340mhz, well I stopped the test because I saw random flashes of blue and where blue wasn't supposed to be.
 
theone1989 said:
That's not true, I flashed my HD6950 with modified 6950 bios from using Wizzard's batch files from Techpowerup, then I used the autoflasher (easy way instead of cmd) but instead I renamed my own modified bios file and so it auto flashed that instead.

I know I did not flash to HD6970 bios because after flash stock speed was still 800 and memory 1250 and CCC would only let me OC to 840mhz. Obviously if CCC detected a HD6970 bios, settings would be different.

Having said all that, I do NOT get an option to change voltage on MSI afterburner. However, I do have an XFX card and not MSI.
Click to expand...

Are you using the v2.1.0 beta 6 Afterburner? You need that version. Also, voltage adjustment is not enabled by default, you have to enable it via a checkbox on one of the tabs (I forget which).
 
[H]ocusPocus;1036764027 said:
Are you using the v2.1.0 beta 6 Afterburner? You need that version. Also, voltage adjustment is not enabled by default, you have to enable it via a checkbox on one of the tabs (I forget which).
Click to expand...

I'm using v2.0.0.

Btw I just got BSOD after running Crysis for an hour or so. So I guess 860/1340mhz isn't as stable as I thought.

At this rate I might just well uninstall Afterburner and just use the CCC's 840/1325mhz max overclock limits cos CCC and Afterburner interferes with each other constantly and I have to random check whether the settings are sticking.

FML
 
I agree the overclocking tools available right now are a bit painful. I'm really just trying to find the approximate limitations of my card with the hope that a future version of RBE will be able to adjust the overclocking limits in the bios so I can just use CCC.
 
theone1989 said:
Voltage is at stock 1.1v.

Power Control is @ +20%

I am using both MSI and CCC, because the MSI oc profiles have a habit of not sticking, then when I do apply it or change it, it disables the fan option and Power Control option. So I have to go back to CCC to set power +20% and fans 42%.

I was ramping both core and memory, I am stable at 860/1340mhz, I then tried 880/1320mhz, Haven crashed. I then tried 870/1340mhz, well I stopped the test because I saw random flashes of blue and where blue wasn't supposed to be.
Click to expand...

Did you try going through the steps/using the bios from the following walkthrough?

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

If not, you might give it a shot. I was running a straight 6970 bios on a 6950, then switched over to the bios linked in that walkthrough and I achieved the same core speed with both bios's. Only advantage of the modified 6950 bios that I know of is that you won't be potentially over-volting the memory.

By the way, if you use the bios in the linked walkthrough, the vcore for the gpu gets adjusted from 1.100 to 1.175. You mentioned you were running at 1.100 before, so that might be what's limiting you from reaching the 900+ speeds that people are posting about.
 
madhatter340 said:
Did you try going through the steps/using the bios from the following walkthrough?

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

If not, you might give it a shot. I was running a straight 6970 bios on a 6950, then switched over to the bios linked in that walkthrough and I achieved the same core speed with both bios's. Only advantage of the modified 6950 bios that I know of is that you won't be potentially over-volting the memory.

By the way, if you use the bios in the linked walkthrough, the vcore for the gpu gets adjusted from 1.100 to 1.175. You mentioned you were running at 1.100 before, so that might be what's limiting you from reaching the 900+ speeds that people are posting about.
Click to expand...

omg thanks for that, I'll definitely look into it. I'd say my hd6950 is semi stable at 870mhz. I also just realised that crysis crashing bsod was probably to do with my cpu which i downclocked now. So 860/1340mhz is still probably stable.

but yeah, volting it up may have the positive effect i'm looking for.
 
What are all the cool kids using to test overclock stability these days? Furmark? Also, is there a way to get the fan to ramp up sooner with heat? Got my card in and unlocked the shaders with the above flash in no time.

-edit answered my own question. Will give MSI afterburner and GPUtool a shot.
 
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madhatter340 said:
Did you try going through the steps/using the bios from the following walkthrough?

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

If not, you might give it a shot. I was running a straight 6970 bios on a 6950, then switched over to the bios linked in that walkthrough and I achieved the same core speed with both bios's. Only advantage of the modified 6950 bios that I know of is that you won't be potentially over-volting the memory.

By the way, if you use the bios in the linked walkthrough, the vcore for the gpu gets adjusted from 1.100 to 1.175. You mentioned you were running at 1.100 before, so that might be what's limiting you from reaching the 900+ speeds that people are posting about.
Click to expand...

SUCCESS! 900/1325mhz stable (Haven 2 loops with no error) on my now unlocked HD6950 set at 1.175v, powertune +20% in CCC, fan set to 45% n 65C core max temp. All with just using CCC.

Thank you so much for that.

I know a lot of people suggested in this thread that I should have been happy with what I had, but now I have more. So I should be happier, no? :D
 
theone1989 said:
SUCCESS! 900/1325mhz stable (Haven 2 loops with no error) on my now unlocked HD6950 set at 1.175v, powertune +20% in CCC, fan set to 45% n 65C core max temp. All with just using CCC.

Thank you so much for that.

I know a lot of people suggested in this thread that I should have been happy with what I had, but now I have more. So I should be happier, no? :D
Click to expand...

Grats on the OC.
 
theone1989 said:
SUCCESS! 900/1325mhz stable (Haven 2 loops with no error) on my now unlocked HD6950 set at 1.175v, powertune +20% in CCC, fan set to 45% n 65C core max temp. All with just using CCC.

Thank you so much for that.

I know a lot of people suggested in this thread that I should have been happy with what I had, but now I have more. So I should be happier, no? :D
Click to expand...

Fantastic, glad it helped :)
 
theone1989 said:
SUCCESS! 900/1325mhz stable (Haven 2 loops with no error) on my now unlocked HD6950 set at 1.175v, powertune +20% in CCC, fan set to 45% n 65C core max temp. All with just using CCC.

Thank you so much for that.

I know a lot of people suggested in this thread that I should have been happy with what I had, but now I have more. So I should be happier, no? :D
Click to expand...

Definitely. My main point of posting was to try and make you feel better about your situation, not tell you what to do. Congrats, hope you enjoy it.
 
arachn1d said:
So it's better to just overclock 6950 rather than unlock shaders?
Click to expand...

The modified 6950 bios unlocks the shaders and increases the vcore to 1.175 (stock for 6970), so you get both the shaders and the ability for higher clocks.

That being said, not EVERY SINGLE 6950 will be stable after unlocking the shaders, and people have varying degrees of success with stable overclocks. But using the modified 6950 bios should at least prevent any permanent damage to the card (as opposed to using a straight 6970 bios)
 
arachn1d said:
So it's better to just overclock 6950 rather than unlock shaders?
Click to expand...

Unlocking shaders isn't the issue, it seems to be the voltage. Some 6950s are unable to handle even the stock 6970 volts and clocks. Only time will tell whether or not the cards that are clocked and volted to and past 6970 specs will be able to survive.
 
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