SAPPHIRE TOXIC HD6950 Video Card Review @ [H]

Ahh.. I'm checking back in here to late..Lesson learned, but to late as I left the fan on 100% and the motor blew on the fan
and it's now completely busted.

I'll keep the next one at 67% tops.
 
That should never happen. Any decent fan should run at 100% duty cycle for at least a couple of years before it fails. The fan was obviously faulty to start with, and would have failed anyway.
 
Even 67 % may be overkill for running the fan to be honest. However Sammorris is right in that a fan should be able to run at 100% duty cycle for a couple of years before it fails. Most fan products have a ETOL (estimated time of life) of hundreds of thousands of hours at max RPM.
 
The fan control options on Trixx are excellent. The temperature threshold you want is basically determined by how much sound you can handle. You can pretty much dial it in however you like, but here is my fan profile, and its working pretty well for me.



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Gets a little noisy when getting into some serious gaming, but fan speed hasn't reached over 80% ever and drops quickly to 50-60% . Was just playing Rift Demo and it never went over 69c and fan speed never went over 60% that way.
 
Isn't this basically the same thing that afterburner has, but with a worse interface? That said, if it supports dual GPUs properly, it has an advantage over afterburner.
 
Lord_Exodia said:
Yes, sapphire has indeed kept their promise on flashing the new cards they shipped out with the new bios. I have also flashed my cards with this bios and it's more stable than a standard 6950 bios. The only thing sapphire is falling short on is supplying this bios to the few people who were affected by the first batch. When my buddy called them the other day they acted like the bios didn't exist. He asked them to ask their other techs and the engineering department and they basically told him that there is no bios to send him. Anyway he was upset and his poor 550 watt psu that was on it's knees in his setup was pretty sad too. Thanks to Spudsdude he now has the updated bios flashed on his card. He and his psu couldn't be happier :D



Spudsdude

++++REP!
Click to expand...
I tried the bios that Spudsdude had, and I still need to set the power to +13 to keep it from throttling in furmark, so I am going to assume the bios is the same as the one that came with my card.

Wish the fixed bios that HardOCP had their hands on was available to us.

I'm surprised they haven't been reading this thread or replied to my email about the fixed bios that Sapphire never released. :(
 
infospace said:
I RMA'd the card hopefully the next one has a better fan and it unlocks 1536 shaders
Click to expand...

it was a different bios then others had, see this post
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1037782078&postcount=237
my card does not require any power setting changes with this bios, maybe the flash did not take on your card

backup the bios on your card (use gpuz to do it)
then take the backup of the bios on your card and compare to the newer one

To do a file compare (fc) in windows between the two the command (used from a command prompt) is
fc file1 file2
 
I was posting this in another thread, but I've read through this thread and have the same problem with not being able to unlock my 6950. First time I tried I got the completion method after forcing a flash in the command prompt, but then it didn't load with any drivers and only has 700 something shaders. I dl'd the drivers and it wen't back to 1408.

Can someone link me to a successful bios version that is newer than the ones given on techpowerup at this link, http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/...ufacturer=&model=HD+6970&interface=&memSize=0

I used the most recent Sapphire release (the one from march) and I'm still stuck at original shader count.
 
Epilon said:
I was posting this in another thread, but I've read through this thread and have the same problem with not being able to unlock my 6950. First time I tried I got the completion method after forcing a flash in the command prompt, but then it didn't load with any drivers and only has 700 something shaders. I dl'd the drivers and it wen't back to 1408.

Can someone link me to a successful bios version that is newer than the ones given on techpowerup at this link, http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/...ufacturer=&model=HD+6970&interface=&memSize=0

I used the most recent Sapphire release (the one from march) and I'm still stuck at original shader count.
Click to expand...

The second bios on this card is already a unlocked bios, if your still showing 1408 shaders it's because your shaders are laser blocked.

Back up your bios using RBE
Load that bios in RBE
Make sure it says 6950 for the device id under vendor id/device id
Go to the last tab in the upper right and make sure 6950->6970 shaders is checked off.

It should be, and if so, then your not going to be able to unlock your gpu. Remember it's luck of the draw with these gpus as some are unlockable and others aren't.
 
Thanks. At this point I just want to confirm if it is even unlock-able. I assume if I can't flash the bios, I won't be able to overclock it either?

Also, a second problem: When using the HDMI port on the back of my Toxic, while it is hooked up to my HDTV, It won't load the Asus splash screen, or the bios. It just pixelates the splash screen, and then goes black. I can get in if I am using the DVI port to a monitor however. I haven't tried an HDMI connection on a monitor yet, but I'm wondering if it is just my television, or a specific problem with the card, or possibly the motherboard.
 
Hey guys - Can somone explain how to check whether I need to do the 20% power deal as described in the review?

I installed the card, installed the bios, and voila, unlocked shaders. I didn't even flip the switch, but maybe it was already flipped on the 6970 position. Anyways, I'm not sure if I need to do the 20% power or not? Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Lord_Exodia said:
The second bios on this card is already a unlocked bios, if your still showing 1408 shaders it's because your shaders are laser blocked.

Back up your bios using RBE
Load that bios in RBE
Make sure it says 6950 for the device id under vendor id/device id
Go to the last tab in the upper right and make sure 6950->6970 shaders is checked off.

It should be, and if so, then your not going to be able to unlock your gpu. Remember it's luck of the draw with these gpus as some are unlockable and others aren't.
Click to expand...

Sigh, was able to confirm I got a dud. Saved bios from both bios 1 and 2,

2 was 6950, 1 was 6960-6970 unlock checked.

Both bios were from 8/16/11. I get the feeling though from the condition of the box, this might have been opened. Isn't new toxic supposed to be sealed in a anti static bag ? Not just hanging out hlaf way with no sticker or tape on the seal ?

Just curious
 
ptrout said:
Sigh, was able to confirm I got a dud. Saved bios from both bios 1 and 2,

2 was 6950, 1 was 6960-6970 unlock checked.

Both bios were from 8/16/11. I get the feeling though from the condition of the box, this might have been opened. Isn't new toxic supposed to be sealed in a anti static bag ? Not just hanging out hlaf way with no sticker or tape on the seal ?

Just curious
Click to expand...

Not sure 100% if it was supposed to be packaged that way. Anyone who recently bought one in this thread could confirm for you though, However keep in mind that toxic had to re-flash their cards after hardocp pointed out there was an issue with their release bios. They may have opened it just to reflash it and then shipped it back to the reseller. Getting a unlockable card is luck of the draw. Either way I'm sure you'll love the card. Especially if it overclocks well. 1408 shaders or 1536 shaders, if you can get 1Ghz/1400 you should be a happy camper. Note that you may have to up the voltage to do that.
 
I got the card solely so I could use it my s27a750d. So far gaming in 3D, it does okay. Got it to 950 and 1400 without any voltage increase. Ill try to get it upto 1 Ghz. If my bios is from 8/16/11 does it already include the fix for something +20% in ccc ?
 
MrArizona said:
Hey guys - Can somone explain how to check whether I need to do the 20% power deal as described in the review?

I installed the card, installed the bios, and voila, unlocked shaders. I didn't even flip the switch, but maybe it was already flipped on the 6970 position. Anyways, I'm not sure if I need to do the 20% power or not? Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing. Anyone?
 
Murkon said:
I was wondering the same thing. Anyone?
Click to expand...

run furmark, extreme burn in mode
if the gpu speed varies (from 880mhz to something slower), you have the old bios
if it does not, your good to go

The change in power, as I understand it, attempts to keep the card within the tdp power level you have set, so if you increase the +20% it won't throttle the card if it's power use is at it's rated +20% of the max.

i.e. setting it to +20% won't harm anything, but the card isn't going to slow down to save on power usage. It doesn't cause it to use more power then it's rated at, it just won't throttle the card if you hit that mark.

the issue is the older bios would throttle the card at stock speeds (no overclocking by you) to a slower value

if you wanted to save on power you could cause the card to throttle automatically by -20% when fully loaded.. which with this card would just be silly
 
Spudsdude said:
run furmark, extreme burn in mode
if the gpu speed varies (from 880mhz to something slower), you have the old bios
if it does not, your good to go

The change in power, as I understand it, attempts to keep the card within the tdp power level you have set, so if you increase the +20% it won't throttle the card if it's power use is at it's rated +20% of the max.

i.e. setting it to +20% won't harm anything, but the card isn't going to slow down to save on power usage. It doesn't cause it to use more power then it's rated at, it just won't throttle the card if you hit that mark.

the issue is the older bios would throttle the card at stock speeds (no overclocking by you) to a slower value

if you wanted to save on power you could cause the card to throttle automatically by -20% when fully loaded.. which with this card would just be silly
Click to expand...


Cool, thanks for explaining... I'll run furmark because Im curious, but it sounds like running at 20% regardless wont hurt anything...
 
I bought one of these early on newegg and another one two weeks after. One unlocks and the other doesn't, but I'm pretty sure they're both the old BIOS settings, yeah?
Also, I was gonna use one of these for my buddy's comp, but the 6970 is on sale for only $300 now, so I just got him that. Now, I'm thinking of running them in crossfire in my new build, but I won't be able to utilize the unlocked one :(
Should I still try to OC the cards if I crossfire (would there be problems?) or should stock still be beastly?
 
Epilon said:
I was posting this in another thread, but I've read through this thread and have the same problem with not being able to unlock my 6950. First time I tried I got the completion method after forcing a flash in the command prompt, but then it didn't load with any drivers and only has 700 something shaders. I dl'd the drivers and it wen't back to 1408.

Can someone link me to a successful bios version that is newer than the ones given on techpowerup at this link, http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/...ufacturer=&model=HD+6970&interface=&memSize=0

I used the most recent Sapphire release (the one from march) and I'm still stuck at original shader count.
Click to expand...

I thought flashing to 6970 bios proved harmful to your 6950 after a while?
 
Anyone know if the original unlocked reference 6950 bios will fly on these cards?
 
This is the bios that my card's came with (all 3 of them)

I don't have to use any powertune +20 settings

Some folks had to use +12% with it, I don't know why.
Here's the filecompare against the known old bios
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1037782078&postcount=237

And here's the link in my quoted post below

It would be awesome if we could do a filecompare (in binary mode) with the Bios [H]ard got from Sapphire just to confirm this is the same one (which I suspect it is as my cards all work great)

Spudsdude said:
My cards came with the updated bios (about a month ago) so I would say it's a safe bet the new ones also have it on there.

One of the first things I did is submit it to techpowerup's site (vga bios area), it still never appeared there.

Here's the bios on rapidshare, mod's if this is against the rules please remove the link.
https://rapidshare.com/files/4045339177/6950_toxic_2gb_unlocked_bios.rar
MD5 of the bios is included in the file.

The MD5 Hash is as follows
7a0a79a46b18f1cb0522142c671fda4b Cayman.bin
Click to expand...
 
Got mine on 10/28. The 6970 BIOS unlocked the shaders with no problem.

Here's what's weird -
My factory clock is 850 MHz, not 880. I pushed it to 880 in Trixx and it works fine. Anybody else have a recent card to compare stock speed? Dunno if it's worth an RMA or not.
 
i got mine last thurs. mine came clocked at 880. flipped the switch and it was unlocked. set it to 900/1375 and its been running great. the only time i have seen it down clock is running the furmark torture test. in games like bf3 it never down clocks. max load temp is 72-73c with the default fan profile.
 
rhexis said:
i got mine last thurs. mine came clocked at 880. flipped the switch and it was unlocked. set it to 900/1375 and its been running great. the only time i have seen it down clock is running the furmark torture test. in games like bf3 it never down clocks. max load temp is 72-73c with the default fan profile.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I guess mine's just an oddball. Since it runs fine at 880 I think I'll keep it. My luck a replacement won't unlock.
 
Rattle said:
anyone
Click to expand...

I don't think it'll work to be honest. Why would you want to use the regular reference bios anyway? The bios on this card is overclocked and the second bios has 1536 shaders unlocked, also both bioses have the 6970 voltage of 1.175 right out of the box which makes overclocking easier.

If your thinking that you want to lower the voltage and clock speed you can simply back up the bios that comes on the card, edit it in RBE to run at 800mhz core 1250mhz memory 1.10v for vid 3 and vid 4 under GPU registers button in RBE (Radeon Bios editor) save that modified bios and flash it onto the card.
 
got mine on 10/26 and it seems the power tune issue still exists. unlocked, overclocked to 960/1375mhz with 1.200v on trixx. Is that a high voltage for those speeds? I feel like I've been seeing a lot of people able to do those speeds just at stock voltage.
 
I own one that didn't unlock. I'd still like the try the updated BIOs, but so far it seems like Sapphire was all talk about releasing an update for their owners to use. Maybe some of you got the updated BIOs on cards that you purchased later, but not sure it will have a new number or if they simply made changes to the current version. All-in-all, this experience, and the complete silence on Sapphire's part, is making me think I won't buy another Sapphire product again expecting enthusist-level support... dissapointing. :(

Looks like Newegg has discontinued the TOXIC HD 6950 in their inventory too... :eek:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102951
 
Yanger said:
got mine on 10/26 and it seems the power tune issue still exists. unlocked, overclocked to 960/1375mhz with 1.200v on trixx. Is that a high voltage for those speeds? I feel like I've been seeing a lot of people able to do those speeds just at stock voltage.
Click to expand...

Nah, you're good. The unlocked BIOS defaults to 1.175V, so 1.2 is just a tiny bump anyway.
 
Interesting Thread :)

I've got a vanilla Sapphire 6950 (totally reference pcb) unlocked successfully, almost a year, and just recently came to my attention the +50% powertune "hack" ;)
I did flashed it successfully with Toxic's 1536SP bios and worked ok (might gained a few mhz for the same VID). It was the 1st time i saw the card at 1000/[email protected] to have constant clock at OCCT stress test (with +50% of course ;), and only for 20 sec test... because vrms would pop ), but another problem occured.. After SHUTDOWN the card stucks at 1.15volt on all power states (Even at 250mhz), any idea how to overcome this?(I can do Infinite reboots, and powerplay works ok, only when shutdown the pc -> vga is powered off ;), the "1.15v mode" strikes). The only solution to this "1.15v mode" is to flash agian with my previous 6950unlocked bios, reboot, flash again to Toxic bios, reboot. But IF i repeat, shut down the pc.. the same procedure again... Like that it's unusable... :(
 
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