HD 6950 810/1250 MHz, Shader Unlock, 1.175V GPU, 1620/2500 CCC Limits - Page 8

Well , I know a bit about Sapphire HD-6950's so ...
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by armandmtnz 

first of all sorry for reviving this dead post
i searched the thread to find a way to do this to my sapphire card
but from what i understanded it is unstable with sapphire cards am i correct?
if not what should i do?

A. ) You need to be taken out back and beaten for this Necro-Bump of an old dead thread

B. ) What Sapphire HD-6950 card do you actually OWN ? Sapphire makes EIGHT different HD-6950 models, the more we know the more we can help you.

C. ) What are you trying to  DO exactly ? Just UNLOCK your Card ? increase the voltage ? overclock it ? ALL the above ?

D. ) Nothing is "unstable" just because it's a "Sapphire" card ...  so in that sense NO ... In fact I'd say Sapphire makes some of the BEST 6950's on the market, however ANY excessive OverClock, OverVoltage, etc. can make ANY BRAND of graphics card unstable if you don't know what you're doing ... so in that sense YES ... again it begs the question WHAT are you trying to DO ?

 E.) What you should DO is let us know WHAT you are trying to DO ?  

F. ) Did I mention about ... being taken out back and beaten for this Necro-Bump of an old dead thread  

LOL ... I was just giving you a hard time
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by armandmtnz 

B) my sapphire is the 6950 100312-3L
C) what im trying to do exactly is turn my 6950 in a 6970 by unlocking overclocking etc

HERE IS THE HELP YOU NEED ....
 

Sapphire actually is the BEST Company for EASE of attempting the 6950 to 6970 Upgrade because they install the unlocked Shaders ON the card from the factory on the 2nd BIOS and there's a little " Dual BIOS Switch " you flip to see if your GPU Chip can either UNLOCK successfully, or has been Laser Cut by AMD and you can't Unlock your card/GPU Chip.

Follow these instructions to UNLOCK and OVERCLOCK your Sapphire HD-6950 to HD-6970 levels (Keep in mind my Tutorial was geared for My TOXIC edition, so your clock speeds and voltage will be less at Stock than mine) ...

The SAPPhIRE HD-6950 TOXIC Edition has the highest successful UNLOCK rate of any Non-Reference HD-6950 on the market today at somewhere between 66-85%, and it's also the easiest HD-6950 card to attempt to unlock the 6970's shader as it's already on the 2nd BIOS from the SAPPhIRE Factory and all you have to do is flip the switch to find out if your GPU Chip will unlock or not. Just Follow my Step-by-Step Guide below ...

Step-by-Step Guide to Un-Locking a Sapphire (and PowerColor) DUAL BIOS Card w/ Switch, Thanks to LA_Kings_Fan

Originally Posted by LA_Kings_Fan

 

Step #1 - Install the card, turn on your computer and windows will most likely install the current driver before you can even install the CD software that came with the card.

Step #2 - You can install the CD software, but to be honest the WIN 7 driver the system auto loads for you should work too, so you could skip to Step 3 I guess ?

Step #3 - With things running, install GPU-Z and/or TriXX software or both ... then open the programs to review the Factory defaults of your card, note shaders and Core clocks etc.

Step #4 - In GPU-Z or TriXX SAVE your factory BIOS of the card. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. You might just need it in case something goes wrong and need to reinstall the factory BIOS file in case position #2 Unlocked BIOS FAILS, and flipping the switch back to position #1 won't reload the original BIOS for some reason. THIS shouldn't happen, but better SAFE and SAVED than sorry and SOL.

 {Note: If you don't know HOW to save the BIOS, in GPU-Z you click on the Little GREEN Arrow to the far Right of the BIOS version number}

Step #5 - Shut Down Windows and turn off your Computer.

Step #6 - FLIP the little Dual BIOS switch near the back plate / SLI Bridge area to position #2.

 

Step #7 - Turn on Computer and reboot up.

Step #8 - Re-open TriXX and/or GPU-Z and check your Shaders ... if it's 1536, CONGRATS your card UNLOCKED and you have a HD-6970 now no BIOS FLASH required it's ON the card from Sapphire ... if it's still 1408, Bummer dude no Factory Un-Lock , you could still then try FLASHING it to Unlock it, but YES this can be slightly risky and CAN void your warranty if you BRICK the card by Flashing it, most likely you have a card that Will NOT unlock, remember it's NOT 100% Guaranteed.

 

BEFORE .......... VS. .......... AFTER *

(* Note: These GPU-Z Screen shoots are NOT from a Sapphire HD-6950 TOXIC Card.)

 

 

 

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The SAPPhIRE HD-6950 TOXIC Edition is the FASTEST production HD-6950 on the market today, it comes Factory OverClocked to 880 MHz core / 1300 MHz memory clocks. However it doesn't stop there, the TOXIC can be pushed much further with additional overclocking by the end user, Just Follow my General OC'ing Guide below to see how far you can go ...

 

Sapphire HD-6950 TOXIC Edition Basic OverClocking Guideline, Thanks to LA_Kings_Fan

Originally Posted by LA_Kings_Fan

 

First off ... Use TriXX ... DownLoad for FREE here = ( www.sapphireselectclub.com/ssc/TriXX/TriXX.aspx )

... it's Sapphire's own product, it's free download off Sapphire's website, and it does everything and MORE that MSI Afterburnner or other 3rd party Utilities can.

Also PLEASE keep in mind it's different for each individual Graphics Card / GPU chip. Same like CPU OverClocking, some get lucky and can push it to the Limit, while others get a dud that are barely good for anything over factory stock, it's the luck of the draw and can be hit or miss, so only use these numbers as a general Guideline towards your OC'ing efforts.

As you know the Sapphire HD-6950 TOXIC cards come FACTORY over clocked at 880 MHz Core clock, and 1300 MHz Memory clocks, and you should have a VERY GOOD (66-85%) chance at Un-Locking the Shader Clocks to 1538, or very close to Stock HD-6970 levels of 880 / 1375 / 1536.

IF you haven't already done it, the first thing I'd do is see if that card can UnLock or not ... use my Step-by-Step Guide as outlined Above.

Or here - http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/1136272-unlocked-sapphire-hd6950-dirt3-edition-6.html#post15253189, it's easy and can UnLock a potential 5-10% boost in performance.

NOW, as for OC'ing the TOXIC even more, you should be able to be stable at stock voltage, which is already at 1.175v, somewhere within ...
= 900-960 MHz Core Clocks
= 1375-1450 MHz Memory Clocks
= Shaders Unlocked to 1538 via the BIOS Switch of course

with a slight bump up to 1.25v MAXIMUM don't over-volt above this, you should be close to the cards limits at ...
= 960-1000 MHz Core Clocks
= 1450-1500 MHz Memory Clocks
= Shaders Unlocked to 1538 via the BIOS Switch of course

I'd also suggest you review OrangeBunnies Sapphire 6950 Toxic 2GB Overclocking & Unlocked thread.

ALSO this OverClockersClub Review I think took the TOXIC to it's outter most limits and he got lucky with a very strong GPU chip, but he got the TOXIC to 1010 MHz core clock & 1500 MHz Memory clocks.

 

Originally Posted by OverClockersClub Review
I might add! I was able to get the core to 1030 MHz and memory to 1550 MHz, but that required 1.3v and the performance increase didn't warrant the additional voltage and in some cases, hurt performance.

Originally Posted by Bojamijams
Another note, not sure if anyone is even reading the ones I posted but...
The memory on the 6950/70 has ECC so if you clock it too high to have errors, it'll automaticlaly downlock itself. So while you might think that you have an incredible card that can do 5.8ghz effective on memory, it may very well be slower then if you did 5.6ghz.
Make sure you benchmark.
Also if Furmark is causing your GPU clocks to go down, that means you're hitting the TDP limit and the BIOS that you have is the old one that requires PowerTune in CCC to be set to 20%.