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Overclocking your HD6950

three4seven said:
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.
Click to expand...

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...

So is this considered a safe voltage bump? From what I've been reading when people flash to 6970 bios the coltage difference is what is bridling the cards. Thisodofied 6950 bios has increased voltage but I guess not enough to screw up the card?
 
i used the overclock.net one, and the voltage isonly 1.1v? do i need to set the power control to 20%?
 
Does powertune even work with smart doctor? I've heard quite a few reports that it smartdoctor disables it as well as Trixxx and from what I hear so does afterburner with unoffical overclocking enabled.

I haven't needed to overclock my card as of yet but since I really haven't needed to. I'm sure that I will at some point.
 
Hi guys!

I have a AMD HD 6950 unlocked with 1536 shaders as well as overclocked at 1000/1400 (Core/mem). My voltage is at 1.3v and I have a Thermalright Shaman cooling my beast. At this speed and shaders, my performance is roughly slightly less than a GTX 580, I mean literally I am off by a few fps in a few benchmarks. At times I even surpass the GTX 580 but that, unfortunately, doesn't happen very often.

First, some pictures for you guys:





And now some benchmarks:

Metro 2033

I maxed out everything I could see on the menu and turned on everything I could.

My Results at 1920x1200 - Quality Very High - DirectX 11 - AAA - AFx16 - Tessellation ON - DOF ON

MIN: 20
AVG: 33.947
MAX: 57

Reference: http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-soc-review/16

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Priyapat
I used the same exact settings as the ones listed in the reference.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Reference: http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=23490&page=24

BFBC2

I just played BFBC2's first level with everything maxed out and vsync off.
MIN: 18
AVG: 67.862
MAX: 127

Reference: http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-soc-review/18

Crysis - The original beast


For this game I used the benchmark tool on 1920x1200 resolution everything set to Very High with 2xAA and 16xAF - Basically the same settings Alienbabeltech used in their benches.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Reference:http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=22392&page=15

AvP :

Same settings as Reference

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 750 @ 2.67GHz
CPU I Intel64 Family 6 Model 30 Stepping 5
Motherboard: ECS P55H-A 1.0
Installed RAM: 3.99 GB
Operating System: Windows 7 x64
Video adapter: AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
Video Processor: ATI display adapter (0x6719)
Video driver: Catalyst 10.11 (8.82.2-110119a-112250E-ATI)

1920 x 1200/Very High/High/16/SSAO On/TS On/AS On/2X
Used AvP_D3D11_Benchmark.exe

Number of frames: 5083
Average Frame Time: 20.6ms
Average FPS: 48.5

===========================================

Reference:http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=23490&page=27


I used FRAPS to record my FPS as I was playing through the games (except for Call of Priyapat, AVP and Crysis).

For about $310 that spent (260 for the 6950 2 GB and the Shaman cooler) I think I got a pretty good deal, my results indicate performance right in the ballpark with a GTX 580, sometimes exceeding it which I think it pretty awesome.

Any games you guys want me to test let me know, I will test them if I have them. If anyone wants the CSVs that FRAPS creates, send me a PM I will gladly send them over to you.

I will of course add more benchmarks as I have time - Thanks for looking.

NOTE: The sites listed as reference are the setting I was using in an attempt to create a fair comparison, if anything seems off please let me know.

You may have seen my post at Anandtech.com or TPU.

Specially for Hardforum (I haven't posted this one in other forums yet)

Heaven Benchmark 2.1:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Reference: http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=23490&page=33
 
badb0y said:
Will Kombuster do? I don't have Furmark on my computer right now and Kombuster is essentially the same thing.
Click to expand...

yes..kombuster will do :)

I am still deciding between Shaman and Xtreme Plus ..

Shaman's 4-pin and size concern me a lot though :(
 
The fact that so many arctic acceleros have destroyed cards already places me firmly in the Thermalright camp. The fact that of the two GPU coolers I have owned, an Accelero S1 Rev. 2 and a Thermalright HR-03 Rev. A, the S1 destroyed the card, and the HR-03 has kept the card (a sizeable X1900XT) running fanless for four years without incident, only re-affirms that.
Thermalright coolers may be a bit cumbersome and pricey, but they do their job very well.
 
shansoft said:
yes..kombuster will do :)

I am still deciding between Shaman and Xtreme Plus ..

Shaman's 4-pin and size concern me a lot though :(
Click to expand...


Uploaded with ImageShack.us
I only ran it for 5 minutes but there wasn't any movement beyond 67 degrees celsius - it kept moving up and down from 67 degrees to 66 degrees and back, I lowered my clocks to 950/1300 simply because I am afraid Kombuster may kill my card (I have no way to monitor VRM temperatures) BUT my voltage was still fixed at 1.3 (which I use to run 1000/1400).

My ambient temperatures are also high right now because my parents have the heat on and my computer is right next to the radiator(w/e that thing where heat comes out of is called). Last time I ran this, my temperatures maxed out at 62-63 degrees celsius but I guess my room temperature is affecting the results.

At 100% fan speed I can't hear it over my Scythe S-Flex Fs( I have 2 in my case as intake) and my 2 Antec case fans that are blowing air out.

If you need more information, PM or post here and I will try to help as much as I can :) .

As soon as my Scythe "slipstream" gets here I am going to mount it on the side panel and have it blow air onto my card as a precaution to cool my VRMs, even though I don't think it's needed - I just like to keep it safe.

EDIT:
shansoft said:
Shaman's 4-pin and size concern me a lot though :(
Click to expand...
Totally forgot to address this, if you want to use the graphics card board for the fan, you will need this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/PCI-E-Express-C...186?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c2940de2

It converts the fan from a 4 pin PWM to mini 4 pin pwm which will fit a any PCI-Express card's 4 pin connector fine :D .
 
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samuelmorris said:
The fact that so many arctic acceleros have destroyed cards already places me firmly in the Thermalright camp. The fact that of the two GPU coolers I have owned, an Accelero S1 Rev. 2 and a Thermalright HR-03 Rev. A, the S1 destroyed the card, and the HR-03 has kept the card (a sizeable X1900XT) running fanless for four years without incident, only re-affirms that.
Thermalright coolers may be a bit cumbersome and pricey, but they do their job very well.
Click to expand...

Xtreme Plus is a lot different from what I am seeing, therefore I highly doubt it will destroy any of my card.

badb0y said:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us
I only ran it for 5 minutes but there wasn't any movement beyond 67 degrees celsius - it kept moving up and down from 67 degrees to 66 degrees and back, I lowered my clocks to 950/1300 simply because I am afraid Kombuster may kill my card (I have no way to monitor VRM temperatures) BUT my voltage was still fixed at 1.3 (which I use to run 1000/1400).

My ambient temperatures are also high right now because my parents have the heat on and my computer is right next to the radiator(w/e that thing where heat comes out of is called). Last time I ran this, my temperatures maxed out at 62-63 degrees celsius but I guess my room temperature is affecting the results.

At 100% fan speed I can't hear it over my Scythe S-Flex Fs( I have 2 in my case as intake) and my 2 Antec case fans that are blowing air out.

If you need more information, PM or post here and I will try to help as much as I can :) .

As soon as my Scythe "slipstream" gets here I am going to mount it on the side panel and have it blow air onto my card as a precaution to cool my VRMs, even though I don't think it's needed - I just like to keep it safe.

EDIT:

Totally forgot to address this, if you want to use the graphics card board for the fan, you will need this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/PCI-E-Express-C...186?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c2940de2

It converts the fan from a 4 pin PWM to mini 4 pin pwm which will fit a any PCI-Express card's 4 pin connector fine :D .
Click to expand...

That looks quite promising.... Thanks for the information ;)
 
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What's wrong with the AC coolers that caused them to damage the cards? I feel like I've been living under a rock...

EDIT: Thanks for the response and the warning sam :). Ouch, for one of the best heatsinks available, that's a crying shame.
 
Last edited:
All of them use horrific mounting systems that cause destruction of cards during, or shortly after installation. In the case of the S1, it was crushed GPU dies due to a very high force required to attach the cooler applied directly to the die. In the case of the accelero 4870X2, the cooler shorted out critical areas of the card destroying it. In the case of the accelero 5970, it shorted out the final output stage, rendering one or both of the DVI ports inoperable. The X2 coolers had around a 40-50% destruction rate, but were 'fixed' with a modified mounting bracket supplied. The 5970 had a failure rate of around 80-90% and was never fixed.
 
samuelmorris said:
All of them use horrific mounting systems that cause destruction of cards during, or shortly after installation. In the case of the S1, it was crushed GPU dies due to a very high force required to attach the cooler applied directly to the die. In the case of the accelero 4870X2, the cooler shorted out critical areas of the card destroying it. In the case of the accelero 5970, it shorted out the final output stage, rendering one or both of the DVI ports inoperable. The X2 coolers had around a 40-50% destruction rate, but were 'fixed' with a modified mounting bracket supplied. The 5970 had a failure rate of around 80-90% and was never fixed.
Click to expand...

Accelero Xtreme Plus from what I am seeing, lots of people are using it without a problem.

I know a couple reviewer IRL who used it on 5870, GTX 460, GTX480, GTX 580,GTX 570 5970 without a single issue. All were heavily tortured. None of them cripple out.

IIRC, those who were destroyed are due to non-proper mounting on VRAM heat spread, and some of them were pressing too hard on mounting bracket that caused damage to GPU.
 
three4seven said:
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.
Click to expand...

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...

So is this considered a safe voltage bump? From what I've been reading when people flash to 6970 bios the coltage difference is what is bridling the cards. Thisodofied 6950 bios has increased voltage but I guess not enough to screw up the card?
 
It's not over voltage to the core that is causing peoples 6950's to die when flashed to a 6970 bios it's overvoltage to the ram combined with tighter ram timings, because 6950's use lower rated gddr5. flashing to to a shader unlocked 6950 bios and upping the voltage in afterburner only affects the core voltage not the ram voltage and is therefore generally considered perfectly safe.

that being said obviously do it at your own risk.
 
kinjo said:
It's not over voltage to the core that is causing peoples 6950's to die when flashed to a 6970 bios it's overvoltage to the ram combined with tighter ram timings, because 6950's use lower rated gddr5. flashing to to a shader unlocked 6950 bios and upping the voltage in afterburner only affects the core voltage not the ram voltage and is therefore generally considered perfectly safe.

that being said obviously do it at your own risk.
Click to expand...

Stop spreading that nonsense. I have yet to see a confirmed case of a 6970 bios killing a 6950. I have seen countless threads with people thinking that their card is dead due to driver issues. AMD had a laundry list of games that artifact now. this thread lists quite a few and the op even sent his card in for an rma because of some of them. There are other games that artifact that aren't even mentioned in that thread btw.
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
Stop spreading that nonsense. I have yet to see a confirmed case of a 6970 bios killing a 6950. I have seen countless threads with people thinking that their card is dead due to driver issues. AMD had a laundry list of games that artifact now. this thread lists quite a few and the op even sent his card in for an rma because of some of them. There are other games that artifact that aren't even mentioned in that thread btw.
Click to expand...

What harm can that do? It's not if overvolting the memory and screwing with the timing is going to get you vastly improved performance. It's better to be safe than sorry.

With a modded hd6950 BIOs with modded voltage and shader, you simply can't go wrong. Simply overclock from there.
 
theone1989 said:
What harm can that do? It's not if overvolting the memory and screwing with the timing is going to get you vastly improved performance. It's better to be safe than sorry.

With a modded hd6950 BIOs with modded voltage and shader, you simply can't go wrong. Simply overclock from there.
Click to expand...

I'm not disagreeing with you but I have seen no proof that any harm has come from a 6970 bios. Having to use software that messes up powertune and powerplay to hit the same clocks as the 6970 bios is also a pain. I really wish that you could edit the clock speed with RBE on Cayman.
 
actually MSI after burner 2.1 beta 7 which just came out works fine with power play so now there really is no reason not to just flah a 6950 shader unlock bios. I do agree that most people who flashed 6970 bioses did not harm their cards in any way... but with a 6950 shader bios you can get the same performance and be pretty much 100% safe (or at least I would assume so given that manufacture are now offering shader unlock 6950's for retail sale I.E. the power color 6950 pcs ++).
 
kinjo said:
actually MSI after burner 2.1 beta 7 which just came out works fine with power play so now there really is no reason not to just flah a 6950 shader unlock bios. I do agree that most people who flashed 6970 bioses did not harm their cards in any way... but with a 6950 shader bios you can get the same performance and be pretty much 100% safe (or at least I would assume so given that manufacture are now offering shader unlock 6950's for retail sale I.E. the power color 6950 pcs ++).
Click to expand...

I want the bios from that 6950 pcs++. That would be perfect.

Damn it's a non-reference pcb.


On a side note does Afterburner mess with powertune still?
 
Last edited:
I ran a 6970 bios for about 2 weeks with no problems, and switched over to the modified 6950 bios out of paranoia. I know the 6970 bios did something different with the memory for sure, because with the 6970 bios the memory was stable at 1450, but with the 6950 bios I can only reach 1425.

Is there any verdict on what is safe for core voltage? I'm assuming the 1.175 volts on the core is, in a way, running the core at stock (since it's the same design as the 6970 core), and that the 6950 stock core voltage is really an undervolt.
 
madhatter340 said:
I ran a 6970 bios for about 2 weeks with no problems, and switched over to the modified 6950 bios out of paranoia. I know the 6970 bios did something different with the memory for sure, because with the 6970 bios the memory was stable at 1450, but with the 6950 bios I can only reach 1425.

Is there any verdict on what is safe for core voltage? I'm assuming the 1.175 volts on the core is, in a way, running the core at stock (since it's the same design as the 6970 core), and that the 6950 stock core voltage is really an undervolt.
Click to expand...

I'm using 1.3v @ 1000core with no problems. Have aftermarket cooling, though.
 
Search around the hardforum, there's a few instances of it here, as well as elsewhere. I'm not saying the percentage is high, but there are a fair few cases of it around. I think anyone willing to unlock a 6950 should always buy one over a 6970, but I personally still stand by the choice that I made.
 
samuelmorris said:
Search around the hardforum, there's a few instances of it here, as well as elsewhere. I'm not saying the percentage is high, but there are a fair few cases of it around. I think anyone willing to unlock a 6950 should always buy one over a 6970, but I personally still stand by the choice that I made.
Click to expand...

I have yet to see one case with someone who could actually describe what was going on. I'm sorry but the problem is that there are just way too many people doing this who have no business flashing a vga bios.
 
Is there a way to get rid of the 840/1325 OC restrictions without unlocking shaders/BIOS?
 
Superhuman said:
Is there a way to get rid of the 840/1325 OC restrictions without unlocking shaders/BIOS?
Click to expand...

Download and install Asus Smart Doctor. Run the program and go to settings, check enable overclocking range enhancements. Apply, reboot system, remove asus smart doctor and you'll be able to overclock all the way up to 1620 core 2500 Memory Although we know that your not going that high unless you have LN2 on the gpu lol :D
 
I installed Smart Doctor and at the end of the install it asked me to reboot, so I did, but when I rebooted into Windwos I got an error from Smart Doctor saying "Can not find graphics card information."

Did I do something wrong?
 
Superhuman said:
I installed Smart Doctor and at the end of the install it asked me to reboot, so I did, but when I rebooted into Windwos I got an error from Smart Doctor saying "Can not find graphics card information."

Did I do something wrong?
Click to expand...

I never ran into that problem before. But I found this thread here http://www.sevenforums.com/software/3999-asus-smart-doctor-win7-x64.html

And this one http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/307804-33-asus-smartdoctor-find-graphics-card-information

Edit: Or perhaps, I installed a asus unlock bios on my gpu. I'm thinking that you may need to have an asus bios for the program to work. I'm not sure. It has always worked for me.
 
Last edited:
Lord_Exodia said:
I never ran into that problem before. But I found this thread here http://www.sevenforums.com/software/3999-asus-smart-doctor-win7-x64.html

And this one http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/307804-33-asus-smartdoctor-find-graphics-card-information

Edit: Or perhaps, I installed a asus unlock bios on my gpu. I'm thinking that you may need to have an asus bios for the program to work. I'm not sure. It has always worked for me.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, I tried what was suggested in that thread and I still get the same error. FML. :(

EDIT: Yea maybe I need to have an Asus BIOS. I guess I'm just gonna have to OC with Afterburner...
 
Yea, I saw that.

It's just that I'm being a pussy and don't wanna risk killing my card with that 0.075 voltage bump...
 
Superhuman said:
Yea, I saw that.

It's just that I'm being a pussy and don't wanna risk killing my card with that 0.075 voltage bump...
Click to expand...

It's the same exact GPU minus the shaders being locked out in the bios. I doubt the .075v will kill the gpu, but if you don't want to risk it then I guess your overclocking will be limited.

You do realize that 99.9% of cards unlock and work fine with the unlock only bios. It's the 6970 bios that can kill 6950 cards because of the vram timings etc... This bios is considered very safe, but as always proceed at your own risk. I can tell you that it worked for me. It worked on both of my cards.
 
You can do the same thing with Afterburner. You just need to enable unoffical overclocking. You won't have to flash your bios and it's more stable than smart doctor.
 
I'm pretty sure Smart Doctor only works with Asus bios. I agree with Bababooey, just use Afterburner. Version 2.1.0 was apparently just released yesterday.
 
Use the latest version of afterburner beta. I'm using 2.1.0 beta 7, go into settings and enable voltage control, set your voltage to 1300mv. then open up CCC and under performance, AMD Overdrive, Power Control Setting - set to +20%.

Apply all settings.

Now reopen Afterburner and start tweaking your core and ram. On my XFX I was able to max my cards in crossfire to 938mhz core 1430mem on both cards @ 55% fan speed cards hit 62c under furmark multi gpu load.

I'm more limited by my 700w psu than my cards I believe. Once I get a newer psu I believe these guys will hit 1000/1450 much like my 6850's last week.

send me a pm if you need anything specific.

And yes smartdoctor requires an ASUS bios on your card. Brand of the card doesnt matter, my gigabyte 6850's were flashed as asus's for the increased core and mem speeds.
 
eViL_M@LuM said:
Use the latest version of afterburner beta. I'm using 2.1.0 beta 7, go into settings and enable voltage control, set your voltage to 1300mv. then open up CCC and under performance, AMD Overdrive, Power Control Setting - set to +20%.

Apply all settings.

Now reopen Afterburner and start tweaking your core and ram. On my XFX I was able to max my cards in crossfire to 938mhz core 1430mem on both cards @ 55% fan speed cards hit 62c under furmark multi gpu load.

I'm more limited by my 700w psu than my cards I believe. Once I get a newer psu I believe these guys will hit 1000/1450 much like my 6850's last week.

send me a pm if you need anything specific.

And yes smartdoctor requires an ASUS bios on your card. Brand of the card doesnt matter, my gigabyte 6850's were flashed as asus's for the increased core and mem speeds.
Click to expand...

This, but my 6950s can hit that speed on the core with stock voltage... almost. I don't think all the way up to 1.3 is necessary. E_M have you tried running that overclock with a lower voltage?
 
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