What Are The Unlockable HD 6950's? - Page 2

My Dirt 3 unlocked and flashed easy. Not sure how typical that is.

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This is going to be a long read but all you need to know about 6950 TFIII are in here.

 

 

I have an unlockable 6950 Twin Frozr III I am selling. He is welcome to buy it. Price is $225 shipped if he lives in the US.

Mine did, and overclocked really well, but ran hot as hell. If you don't do any mods, and can mind gaming with 100% fan speed, you can probably keep her in the 70's @ 1000/1500mem/1536 shaders @ 1.3 volts. Do not run furmark at those; however, as it will die.

Also, sapphire toxic is way better, even if mine doesn't overclock near as well.

This really should be stickied for as many times as this gets asked, and I've Posted one form or another of this, but Here You Go AGAIN ...

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First off ... the only way to be 100% SURE you get HD-6970 performance ... is to BUY a HD-6970 Card ... PERIOD !

After that, you have varying levels of succes rates at unlocking a HD-6950 into a HD-6970 and different cards offer different methods of doing so.

The Sapphire TOXIC HD-6950 card simply offers the end user the combination of the EASIEST and MOST SUCCESSFUL chance at doing so ...

 

Chances of UNLOCKING Non-Referenced HD-6950's ;

ULTIMATE +/- 90% = OLD Original REFERENCE cards = THE BEST w/ almost +/- 90% chance of success ANY BRAND too, however also almost 99.9% chance you CANNOT find a NEW one of these can maybe buy USED. Also the cards required FLASHING though, the Unlocked Shaders NOT on the 2nd Bios from Factory like the Sapphire TOXIC edition and MSI PE/OR TF3 edition.

(Note: Look for the AMD NAME & LOGO across the bottom of the PCI-e Slot to be sure it's an ATI / AMD Reference Card.)

BEST = Sapphire TOXIC edition (Model #100312TXSR) @ about 66-85% {w/ just a simple DUAL BIOS Switch flip, the 6970 shaders are ON the card from the Factory no need to Flash, but can also be FLASHED safely IF Needed}

Was $270.00 After MIR @ NewEgg ... Out Of Stock just about EVERYWHERE in the USA, Canada still has some, and in Europe they're Over-Charging for Sapphire products for some reason ?

Note: As Admin of the TOXIC club, I can state our 2 latest Owners List reviews came back with an 84% success rate last report, and this weeks report a 77% success rate, it's the BEST option you'll find IF you can find a TOXIC 6950 for sale.

 

VERY GOOD = MSI Power Edition/OC TwinFrozr III 2GB (Model #R6950 Twin Frozr III PE/OC) @ about 50-66%+/- {requires FLASH to install the 1536 shaders onto Bios #2, but has a Multi-Function Dual Bios/Fan Profile Switch.}

$300.00 @ NewEgg ...

FAIR/GOOD = Asus EAH6950 DCUII/2DI4S/2GD5 edition (Model #EAH6950 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5) @ about 40-50%+/- {w/ FLASHING only, Shaders NOT on Card, It has a Multi-Function Switch that's a DVI/Display-Port option and a BIOS switch, but Asus does not install the 6970 Unlocked Shaders on the Card from the Factory like the Sapphire cards or the PowerColor cards} (Note: WIDE Card, will take up 3 Slots, but also single Card supports SIX Monitors.)

$270.00 After MIR @ NewEgg ...

GOOD = Sapphire DIRT3 edition (Model #100312-3SR) & Sapphire FLeX edition (Model #100312FLEX) @ about 33-50%+/- {w/ Dual Bios Switch, same method as the TOXIC Edition.}

$260.00 After MIR @ NewEgg ... (I've seen reports all over the map about the DIRT3's unlocking potential, especially now with the Antilles GPU Bios on so many of them, so? Suggest reading this diclaimer convo.)

 

 

FAIR/POOR = PowerColor ++PCS CoD edition (Model #AX6950 2GBD5-P22DHG) & PowerColor ++PCS edition (Model #AX6950 2GBD5-P22DH) @ about 30%+/- {w/ Dual Bios Switch, same method as the TOXIC Edition}

These Models NOT SOLD @ NewEgg ...

 

 

FAIR/POOR = HIS 6950 IceQ X Turbo X 2GB (Model #H695QNX2G2M) @ about -30% {w/ FLASHING or Dual Bios Switch, have seen people BOTH say that it HAS and DOSE NOT HAVE a Dual Bios switch ?}

$300.00 @ NewEgg ...

 

FAIR/POOR = Sapphire HD-6950 Dual Fan 2GB edition (Model #100312-3L) @ about -30% {w/ FLASHING or Dual Bios Switch, have seen people say BOTH it HAS and DOSE NOT HAVE a Dual Bios switch ?}

$240.00 After MIR @ NewEgg ... (The reports are even MORE all over the map about This Card than the DIRT3's unlocking potential, so? Suggest reading this diclaimer convo.)

 

FAIR/POOR = DIAMOND HD-6950 Dual Fan 2GB (Model #6950PE52G) @ about -30% {w/ FLASHING or Dual Bios Switch, have seen people say BOTH it HAS and DOSE NOT HAVE a Dual Bios switch ?}

$250.00 @ NewEgg ... (The reports are all over the map about This Card's unlocking potential, so Buyer Beware ?)

 

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VERY POOR = Most ALL XFX, VTX, VisionTek, Club, Gigabyte and ALL Other HIS, PowerColor, MSI, ASUS, Diamond, and Sapphire cards NOT mentioned by Named Edition/Model# above

@ about -25% {w/ FLASHING only NO DUAL BIOS switches on ANY other cards not named and Pictured above}

    

       

 

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NOTE - If I were buying another HD-6950 I would ONLY Buy one of the Handful of Card I have listed & pictured above not in the VERY POOR section, almost every other HD-6950 than that small handful is NOT worth buying IMO, but hey sometimes people DO get LUCKY ... so good luck IF you do.  

WHAT EVER YOU DO ... DO NOT BUY a HD-6950 Card w/o the DUAL BIOS Features, and DO NOT Buy a HD-6950 Card w/ only 1 GB of VRAM !

Disclaimer Note: Your result may vary of course 

Edited by LA_Kings_Fan - 1/20/12 at 10:17pm

I have to say that my PowerColor AX6950 2GBD5-2DH has a dual BIOS switch. I have yet to try and unlock it. I have my AMD ES 6950 2G unlocked. The PowerColor that I have I got through the AMD EPP. I was suprised that it still had the switch since most of them have been removed.

The Diamond 6950 2gb is also unlockable.

and I have 1 that's unlocked

I know someone else said this but I'm going to say it again, the sapphire flex is. I have one and simple flip of a switch and I was golden

I want to buy a second one but I can't find them anywhere