There is a penalty it seems in power and heat pushing the 6950 to 6970 levels, here they mention 25 watts. Definitely not a big deal for most, but heated debates have raged over as many watts, lol.
Make sure your psu is big enough, especially with 2.
http://www.semiaccurate.com/2010/12/27/radeon-hd-6950-flashable-6970/
202 would be if you ran the card at 6950 clock speeds, but most WON"T, because the bios flash puts on the 6970 clock speeds automatically. You would have to purposely down clock every boot, or mod the bios for lower clocks.I think Semiaccurate is quoting the results wrong. Here is what Wizzard found while testing:
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159
So a stock 6950 uses 169W, an unlocked 6950 uses 202W, and a stock 6970 uses 228W. Yes you do have more power draw with the card unlocked but it looks like it still uses less energy than the 6970.
Also make sure you have a decent power supply, as the card will go from using about 169W at default settings to 202W with the Shaders unlocked all the way to 252W with the card overclocked to the same speeds as a 6970. That means you're actually using 24W more than what a real 6970 would do, again, not likely to be a huge concern for anyone that just wants a bit of extra performance out of their card.
202 would be if you ran the card at 6950 clock speeds, but most WON"T, because the bios flash puts on the 6970 clock speeds automatically. You would have to purposely down clock every boot, or mod the bios for lower clocks.
^+1 So why did NV insist that reviewers in the 6800 series reviews use O/Ced factory 460's? What makes you think partners won't use this other bios to get a few extra bucks and still keep warranty. Strange World ya live in . AMD goes to the trouble of adding this feature To BOTH cards . Yet people come into this thread trying to down play it. Same as I did on the O/Ced 460's running against 6800's. Strange world . It was widely known befor launch that AMD had great yeilds . befor launch . Go back look . I clearly said AMD would likely allow those shaders to be unlocked . As AMD did it with the 3 core cpu's
Yes I did And as I said This isn't over. Drivers will add 15-20% , Test 580 against 6970 with the 480 release drivers . There almost even . AMD usually getts more from follow up drivers than does NV. Than there is that bios switch setting there on the 6970 . Whats that for???. I haven't been hiding . Been busy ordering parts for daughter as she has orders for 27 SB gamers. Bought a Top of the line Ski Doo that the kids and grandchild love . 45 inches of new snow in Dec . Busy busy . If ya go over to Toms hardware . You will see clearly I was bragging up the 6950,s As the best card of 2010 . Befor it was released. I was banned here. Also I was getting results with a highly O/Ced SB . Since I have know NV parts in my shop nor are they allowed I had no way of knowing what increases the 500 nv series has You want to compare Just released drivers to mature ones . This is why NV isn't allowed around my place . Daughters sells NV . But not from my shop . Few years back I did sell NV even tho I hated to . But now I just won't allow it . Same with sell phones you come into my shop and phone rings . I will tell ya to leave and not come back. You NV guys picked out High res befor the 6900release to rally behind . Now you flip high res off like its nothing . Very transparent you people are thus the reason I don't allow NV.
I don't know if he is trolling or if he is actually serious.Que?
Has anyone done a comparison of the performance of an oc'ded 6950 versus a flashed 6950??? I would like to see the performance difference between these two versions of the same card. If oc'ing works as well as flashing, then why are people raging to flashy their 6850 and possible void the warranty?
If performance difference between oc'ed and flashed is like 2-3%, then it ain't worth it.
I'm having issues with my 6950, ATIWinFlash does not work, I get "cannot erase rom" error and the switch on the card is set to 1.
I can't seem to get the commands for dos to work either, not that the program has an error, but i simply don't know how to use the commands correctly?
I'm using Win 7 Pro 64 bit, what exactly would be the steps from opening a command prompt?
I have a really hard time believing that AMD did not see this coming... Pretty sure that little lever switch was designed for this type of thing... Oh well, I guess we will never know unless AMD comes clean.
^ OK Nemesis dude. Let me remind you that you said the 6970 would beat the 580 at lauch. Now you're changing your words again and say let's give the 6970 time to mature and the drivers will push it another 20%? (Yet another bold claim). Go read your post again man. You keep making bold claims and then changing your tunes. Blah blah blah. Sometimes I have a feeling you're talking to your psychologist, not an online forum.
Like I said dude, you make a bunch of bold claims. If a claim stick, then you come back and take bold credits. When it doesn't, you disappear for a few ways because of family problems. lol
Que?
It's OK Nem. Although I'm sure you were embarassed on launch night, there is no need to take your frustration out by derailing another thread with "predictions" and ramblings.